<p>Should they actually be used when I write the SAT Essay? Or is it better to use examples from things like literature and history, etc.?</p>
<p>I realized that as long as your essay takes up the two pages, you use good vocabulary, good paragraph structure, and a decent introduction and conclusion, it really does not matter what you write your essay on. Both my friend and I wrote our essays on "personal experience" (we made up both examples completely!) I got a 9 and she got an 11. My other friend used 3 examples: 1 from literature, 1 from history, and 1 personal experience. He received a 9. When in doubt, try to use 2 examples: 1 personal and 1 more "scholarly" and make sure to put a tad bit of voice in there as well; those graders do get bored of reading incredibly boring essays.</p>
<p>If using personal examples provides good support for your thesis and allows you to write with better clarity and provide more insightful evidence, definitely use them as freely as you want.</p>
<p>agree with shs. my first example was a completely made up historical fact about a real general/leader from the early 1900s from my parents' home country [but no one would ever guess i made the rest of the story up, LOL.] total & complete BS.
and my other example was personal experience.
i got a 9. it was awesome :D</p>
<p>Some topics don't lend themselves easily to literature. Generally, if you can think of examples from history and reading, you should choose those instead. On the Jan. essay, I could only come up with two supporting points- music and science (does planning interfere with creativity). So I chose historical examples for both. I BSed Beethoven's life but, hey, I got a 12. </p>
<p>You really don't need 3 examples. Just make sure to write a lot, and always link your explanation to the paragraph thesis and of course your main position too.</p>
<p>i used two personal examples for january, one very thinly developed- i ended up with an 11</p>