<p>I've heard that it is pretty cliche to answer a prompt in the introductory paragraph with statements like "I believe" and "I agree/disagree". Then again, it does establish your point as a thesis statement in your paragraph. Is stating directly stating your perspective with such idioms in the first sentence frowned upon? Should I not state my thesis like that?</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>no, i dont think you should. actually i think that you should completely avoid i believe and similar.</p>
<p>I agree with yosei. It's generally implied by the fact that you're writing this essay that this is what you think. You don't need to say it, and it can detract from the essay.</p>
<p>what about using words like we, us, our? For example "in our society.." or using "we" to refer to people in general.</p>
<p>Although College Board said there is nothing wrong with using first person in SAT essays, it is still good to avoid using it. You don't really need "our" in "in our society" because it is implied that you are talking about our society (try to use "in the modern society" or something like that) and you can easily replace "we" with just "people" or "one".</p>