<p>Math, vocab, everything else can be studied for...but the essay intimidates me to no end. What I'm most scared of is the fact that you need examples to support your stand. Every time I do a practice essay, my mind just freezes up and I can't think of any good examples to back up my statements. </p>
<p>Can someone give me some tips on essays? Thanks!</p>
<p>Well don’t freak out too much. An SAT essay is nothing like an English class essay, so don’t write it like one.</p>
<p>I learned that the SAT essay should be a basic 5 paragraph, straightforward essay. Three examples are recommended and you can ever make them up. </p>
<p>The essay isn’t scary, it’s just tedious to “study”/ practice for it.</p>
<p>When i took the sats, the hardest thing for me was the essay - when i practiced, i spent half the time just thinking of what to write about. When it comes to examples, don’t sweat it: they can’t take off points for innacurate information. You could say that the Declaration of Independence, which was written on July 5th, takes away all of Americans rights - and as long as it supported your idea, you wouldn’t get points taken off (now, don’t say something like that, because I feel like the grader might take points off anyway)</p>
<p>Here are some of the most important things I learned</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Quantity = Quality. If you don’t fill up the whole two pages, you will most likely not get a 12. It’s stupid, but it’s true. Just use very detailed language and write big if you find you are sparse with your words. </p></li>
<li><p>Begin with a bang. The grader read TONS of essays in a sitting. Stand out.</p></li>
<li><p>Be prepared. Have a few books/current events down cold so that you can use them as examples - make sure they are versatile enough to work for a lot of different topics. (To Kill a Mockingbird will work for basically anything)</p></li>
<li><p>When in doubt, BS it. I wrote the majority of my essay on a completely made-up story about a made-up passion. I got an 11. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Don’t stress. Very few colleges even look at the writing section</p>
<p>I don’t know if this will help, but perhaps my story might give you some ideas:</p>
<p>The first time I took the SAT, I knew there was going to be an essay, but I didn’t prepare for it at all. All I knew was that you had to write very quickly. When I looked at the essay prompt (which was about whether we should judge leaders from different standards or not), I didn’t really know what to say. I thought the answer was obvious; duh, why wouldn’t we judge them from different standards?</p>
<p>I took the traditional intro-3bodyparagraph-conclusion approach to writing it. I came up with a quick introduction about my idea (although it was actually kind of long: 5 sentences when it could have been 2 or 3) and then thought of the most glaringly obvious examples ever. I used whichever examples sprang to mind first. I ended up using George Bush, Barack Obama, and Mohammad.</p>
<p>I don’t remember exactly what I wrote about them and I don’t think my arguments were very convincing. I didn’t give very specific information. I just used whatever I could think of… If I remember correctly, I ended up making it very general (this may or may not be true; I can’t remember), I filled up the entire space provided, and it was enough to merit me a 10 out of 12.</p>
<p>The next time I take the SAT, I think I’ll look up a few examples the night before (or maybe prepare a week or so in advance, we’ll see), but I’m not too worried about it. I just used a mix of visceral instinct for the examples and intellectual instinct for how to portray them in my writing, and I think that’s the best you can do (along with some preparation). Don’t sweat it too much; you should be fine if you’ve been writing essays and formulating arguments throughout your academic career.</p>
<p>Wow, thank you guys so much! I didn’t think I’d get such long, helpful answers. 
Thanks so much - it’s appreciated! Now I’ll need to start gathering some versatile material to use as examples.</p>
<p>The essay used to be daunting for me; the first time I wrote one I got a solid 6 (out of 12, score was a 3). You need to learn that this essay isn’t like your typical Advanced Placement English Essay - that is to say its easier. The prompts are very vague and can be molded into helping your argument alot (but not too far “Is technology good or bad?” –> “individualism” that’s just plain wrong). Come up with some thorough examples to use. Summer reading books tend to be great, modern movies/tv shows, etc. Just plan it out and practice it and you’ll get better, its very easy to get a solid 10. Good luck!</p>
<p>^Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention: Anything you learn in school can be used in your essay. I had just learned about Mohammad in history and I decided to use him in my essay because I knew a lot about him and the way he was viewed by his people. As the above poster mentioned, summer reading books and any books you need to read for school are good sources as well. Basically, take what you learn in school (for example, it could be from be a simple two-minute lecture of the life and work of Leibniz in your calculus class) if it is relevant to the essay prompt/your argument and use it.</p>