How do they do come up with the three in the SAT Essay?

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
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<p>I am very astonished how students who get 12 in their SAT essays give 3 solid historical or personal examples. I would like to know how long it takes them to think of the examples before they even develop it. And another thing: How do many of these students use certain examples such as World War II, Martin Luther King, or Steve Jobs and apply them in different prompts; how can they use these examples by illustrating them in different perspectives. I, having done the SAT twice, received a score of 8 twice on the SAT essay and have used one personal (made up) example. Every time I read an assignment, for instance, “Is creativity needed more than ever in the world today?”, the first thought that comes to me is: “Write a story where you were once acting as clown in some festival; your usually quite funny with your friends but, now, the same jokes don’t move the audience at all although they were once the funniest in other places. With time, people become tedious from the old monotony works whether they are jokes by a comedy or gadgets from a company.” Then after about 3-5 minutes, I start writing my essay with no improvisation, writing the intro, thesis, the one (made up) example, and the conclusion from what just comes in my mind. Afterwards, having written my last word and not proofreaded, the supervisor shouts, “Stop!” and makes me feel like a thief caught in surprise; in fact, in my last Sat test, I almost jumped from my seat!</p>

<p>Can anyone give me an advice on how to use my time on the SAT Essay during the outlining time. How could I, if I have done some research on some historical events or stories, use them in different prompts. I mean is it ok to twist the example by mixing it with some lies or something?</p>

<p>Sorry about the thread title-please- no offense</p>

<p>Thank you</p>

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<p>There have been about 243 viewers of this thread,so far, and not even a single one replied?</p>

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<p>This is my opinion. Don’t use personal examples. I used 3 literature examples in my essay, although in retrospect I would have liked to use 2 literature / 1 history or vice versa. If you really can’t think of a third example that’s either from literature or history, then fall back on a personal one. </p>

<p>Re-read about 5 books you have read in high school. Then sparknotes them, understand them, and use ONLY those 5 books to write a practice essay. Also, remember the spelling of the title/authors. For a historical example, go research an example for a bunch of different topics. </p>

<p>Topics: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/764514-sat-essay-prompt-archetypes.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/764514-sat-essay-prompt-archetypes.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Here… I’ll do an example.
<em>Finding a random essay topic online</em></p>

<p>Prompt:
“A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.”</p>

<p>Assignment:
Do we learn more from finding out that we have made mistakes or from our successful actions? Plan your response, and then write an essay…</p>

<p>^^ I just found this online. I haven’t even read it yet, just copied/pasted. Now I’m going to choose 2 books I’ve read since high school and relate them in some way.</p>

<p>Step 1. Pick a side. I think we learn more from our mistakes.</p>

<ol>
<li> King Lear - mistake he makes by using an unwise competition to give his kingdom to his most loving daughter.</li>
<li><p>Crime and Punishment - Raskolnikov’s murder comes back to bite him.</p></li>
<li><p>(historical) - learning from the US’s mistakes after war.(Civil, WW2)</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Realize that these examples aren’t perfect, but I can relate them to the prompt and talk about each in at least a few sentences. I chose my side and conjured up my two books in roughly 45 seconds, no exaggeration. </p>

<p>Use the “how to write a 12 essay in 10 days” thread for a concrete way to write your essay, but realize that you have to put in the time for reading/research if you want your examples, and that will only guarantee you about a 10. It’s the actual writing that will get you a 12. </p>

<p>(pro-tip) make up statistics if you want a 2 digit score. </p>

<p>Example of me making up statistics for these^.

  • According to a ----- double blind study conducted in 2007 by the ----, 78% of people feel that mistakes shape who they are as a person.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

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<p>At the very least, you will get a 10/12 if you have:</p>

<p>(1) An insightful thesis that clearly relates to the prompt
(2) Proper grammar, varied sentence structure, and decent vocabulary throughout
(3) Logical progression using examples of your choice
(4) An insightful conclusion that does not rehash the intro paragraph.</p>

<p>It’s really that easy. All you have to do is spend the first 5 minutes (I know it’s tempting to start right away) thinking of a thesis, and your three examples. After that the essay writes itself.</p>

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<p>I used two literary examples and a historical example.
For my conclusions, I usually restate my thesis, and add something like “If people __<strong><em>, then </em></strong>”</p>