<p>I usually have a hard time thinking up of what to write for the essay. Any suggestions that could help me? Maybe even list out some of the universal examples i could use. And also is it good to use personal examples (that way i could make them up) or do i have to use like historical, literary examples and such?</p>
<p>Literary/historical examples are always best. But I've read quite a few 12/11 essays that had personal examples in them.</p>
<p>In the end it comes down to HOW you present your examples and support your overall argument instead of WHAT you're using as the examples. So, yea, not a big deal.</p>
<p>Check out this Video to get a start on the essay (I know he talks really slowly but it did help me... ):
The</a> SAT Essay Prompt--Understand it so you can sco... - AOL Video</p>
<p>tyvm ill check it out any more suggestions would be great :)</p>
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<p>Before you guys start writing your essays, how do you guys plan on the examples?</p>
<p>I've actually always used the 4 paragraph formula: intro, ex 1, ex 2, conclusion.</p>
<p>I think it allows me to better explain my examples and go more in depth into my ideas. And I've always made a very brief outline before I started writing.</p>
<p>yeah but my main problem lies in coming up with good examples for the essay (im not a big reader or a history guy)...you guys know any universal examples i could use??</p>
<p>123456789.</p>
<p>i plan to just use personal examples. its me. i don't have to fake anything, or try to bust out history knowledge and crap. we've all had enough experiences in our lives to pull stuff from. just learn to apply. I need to do this tmr...</p>
<p>yeah i could do personal examples but i heard that it wasn't as good, but in any case i'll still need a literary example or history example to accompany it and im bad at thinking up of stuff like that on the spot heh</p>
<p>It can certainly help to have a broad knowledge of history and literature to draw examples from, but that's not what your essay will be graded on.</p>
<p>If you can't come up with any highfalutin examples, stick with what you know. Personal examples are fine. Focus on structuring a solid essay, keeping focused on the topic, building a sound argument, etc.</p>
<p>That said, I scored 11 on the SAT essay with a lot of fancy name-dropping (Shakespeare, Dante, Copernicus, et. al.), so showing off probably doesn't hurt.</p>
<p>^ ok if personal examples are ok, then the essay is probably much easier then what I stressed it to be</p>
<p>One good book I like to use is The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Just go to Sparknotes or something and read through the summary I guess?</p>
<p>Quickandslowly makes a great point.</p>
<p>It is probably better to know one or two literary works really well than to have a cursory understanding of the Western Canon.</p>
<p>For me, I love Shakespeare and Dante and Homer. I've read most of their works multiple times. No matter what the topic, I can find some way to use Shakespeare in the example.</p>
<p>If you have a favorite book (Grapes of Wrath, let's say), then make sure you know that book backwards and forwards, and build an argument that takes advantage of that knowledge.</p>
<p>I've read Lord of the Rings a dozen times. I could probably use it to talk about almost any reasonable essay topic.</p>
<p>If you've read the Harry Potter series over and over, think about how Harry Potter would grapple with the issue at hand, and use that.</p>
<p>If you've read the Bible, and know a few of the books very well (Genesis, Exodus, Job, the Gospels), then find ways to work that in.</p>
<p>Or, if you're a hard-core gamer, why not use a pop culture reference like Grand Theft Auto to make a point about the moral choices we all face?</p>
<p>In short, use what you know and stay on topic.</p>
<p>Ok tyvm everyone for such great advises ^^</p>