<p>Prompt: Can common sense be trusted and accepted, or should it be questioned?</p>
<p>While common sense may seem like logical thinking for one person, another person may come to a different conclusion. Common sense is something that everyone has; however, some tend to think differently. Common sense may also limit what others attempt. Their brain is telling them that their dreams are possible, while their heart tells them to pursue their aspirations.
Take Thomas Edisons invention of the incandescent light bulb, for instance. Common sense was constantly insinuating that this invention would never function properly. Had he listened to common sense and admitted defeat, the incandescent light bulb would not have worked for decades afterwards. When asked what motivated him to complete this endeavor, Edison said that defying all odds was a good enough reason to keep trying.
The invention of the airplane is yet another accomplishment that defied the standards of common sense. No one would ever have assumed that air travel was indeed possible. Many had tried, in their sophisticated ways, to fly via the construction of bird-like wings. However, none of them thought of building an actual machine until the Wright brothers did so in the early 1900s. Although mocked and ridiculed most of their life, the Wright brothers became heroes when their airplane maintained flight for nearly five minutes. If they had succumbed to the peer pressure presented before them, air travel may have very well never been invented.
With careful analysis of examples offered daily, one can easily deduce that common sense should be questioned and put to the test. If everyone stayed within the confines of logic principles without ever attempting to think irrationally, no one would ever attempt to do the unthinkable. Our world would be nowhere close to what it is today without the aid of creativity and the doubt of common sense.</p>
<p>I won’t comment on the essay as I haven’t formally taken the SAT yet and thus feel unqualified to advise. My comments would be on your ideas rather than the score you could achieve or how to improve. Sorry.</p>
<p>However, I think it would’ve been cool if you had mentioned Common Sense by Thomas Paine. :)</p>
<p>You don’t need to bump up your post 3 spots when there’s like 20 on the front page >.<</p>
<p>Last sentence of first paragraph is confusing. Your transition suggests an opposition, yet the clauses on either side of “while” agree in ideology.
Um, how does the existence of the light bulb defy common sense? Physics at the time did prove that it was possible…
So, what are these “sophisticated” ways you speak of? Also lots of people built machines before the Wrights, but they all failed. Historical falsehood, but graders won’t care imo (or even notice).
Examples offered daily? I don’t see any examples offered daily in your essay. I just see 2 examples that both happened over a century ago.
2 examples doesn’t necessarily mean that common sense should be challenged. It’s like saying “oops out of 200 cases the judge ruled 2 of them the wrong way”. Say instead that from time to time, common sense may not always be an accurate representation.</p>
<p>Your overall point is good, but somewhere in the essay you’ll have to admit that a degree of common sense is, in fact, necessary for the preservation of society. No common sense = fail civilization. Just say that the limits are not exactly well defined, and breaking the common expectation (i.e. creativity) is also necessary to promote progress.</p>
<p>More examples + longer essay would be nice.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your reply, Kyrix1. (Yeah, sorry about bumping the thread so much. I didn’t realize how few topics there were in this sub-forum.) </p>
<p>I have one question for you. Would you suggest a 4 paragraph essay or a 5 paragraph essay? </p>
<p>Again, thanks for the advice and insight. With 80 weeks of preparation left, I’m going to need all the advice I can get. As you can tell, writing is not my strong suit - hence me trying to get so much practice.</p>
<p>80 weeks is over a year. please don’t tell me you spend all 80 of those weeks studying the SAT. SAT =/= life. i have no idea what the heck you are worried about. In all honesty, 2 months of work (8 weeks, 1/10 of your time) is enough to bump a 1800 to a 2400 with sincere effort.</p>
<p>4/5 paragraph–up to you. and don’t ask me too much, i haven’t taken SAT yet</p>
<p>Hello, not much to say as it all has been said. More solid examples, maybe derived from history or literature. A good example would be the wright brothers who defied the status quo (the fact that flight was impossible) and achieved what was deemed to be impossible. Another example would be the Russian Revolution in which Lenin took the huge risk of starting the revolution without much military support. (He did not trust common sense and questioned it). Another example would be the Chinese Civil War, most notably the Long March of 1934 (Mao used very abnormal tactics that were actually nonsensical but nevertheless worked)</p>