<p>The only book I keep using so far is The Great Gatsby. I keep running out of ideas for examples. My essays really suck.</p>
<p><em>wave</em> My essays stink too D: You're not alone.</p>
<p>Well, girl, what else have you read?</p>
<p>Try War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, or something from Jane Austen, Shakespeare, etc. The possibilities are really endless, the only problem is that you might not remember themes, and such.</p>
<p>The Scarlet Letter usually works well.</p>
<p>is there a reason your examples have to be literary?</p>
<p>I am not good at coming with examples like analyzing current affairs, I tried and turned blank. So, I figured since literary examples have concrete themes, it could help my cause :)
The only other example I kept using was Marie Curie (non-literary).
The examples are giving me a headache :)</p>
<p>this might sound strange, but i think your problem might have more to do with your overall approach to the essay than it does with the examples themselves.</p>
<p>when you read the question for the essay, you should think of an answer to it first, before you worry about example. given the question on page 773 of the blue book, for example ("Do you think that ease does not challenge us and that we need adversity to help us discover who we are?"), your first step is to decide whether we need adversity.</p>
<p>if you feel that we <em>do</em> need adversity, then you have to ask yourself why you think that--what historical, literary, or personal events and have led you to this conclusion? those will be your examples.</p>
<p>in other words, try looking for examples <em>after</em> answering the question, not before. and feel free to use any type of example, even made-up ones, because SAT graders can't penalize you for getting your facts wrong.</p>
<p>I think the best literary books would probably be around the modern times.</p>
<p>The books I've seen that are used by far as examples are:</p>
<p>The Great Gatsby
Catcher in the Rye
1984</p>
<p>i've always heard that literary examples were great in essays.. i got a 12 on my essay and i used Gone with the Wind (i practiced by writing 10-15 timed essays using GW consistently). but other books are great as welll.. as long as you can connect the ideas i guess</p>
<p>The Grapes of Wrath</p>
<p>Brave New World</p>
<p>Yea the great gatsby is widely used but I advice u form ur own book which has the plot that best supports ur essay.</p>
<p>brave new world was an interesting book but confusing xD</p>
<p>gatsby usually works</p>
<p>The Great Gatsby usually works for most topics, but another good piece to use would probably be The Catcher In The Rye.</p>
<p>Walden
Beowulf
Catch-22</p>
<p>My strategy:</p>
<p>Think of 3 books before the exam and what concrete themes they have. Walk in and choose from one of the books as your example. It got me an 11.</p>
<p>The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. It can be used for virtually anything. Got me a 12! ;)</p>
<p>Remember that if anything, you can always make up an example from your personal life... just make sure to make it detailed.</p>
<p>Frankenstein
Great Expectations
1984</p>
<p>Have a look at how I used examples from them and plz give ur verdict.</p>
<p>I haven't been able to beat a ten (two fives) on two SATs, but I've found that my friends who score highly have a few things in common:</p>
<p>-One uses all Dickens, two books/short stories by him & personal experience.
-One uses all English reading.
-One uses an English reading book and then some example you wouldn't find in an English classroom (outside newspaper, made up story). He tends to do the best.</p>
<p>They're English teachers, so they want to see you pay attention in class, but they also don't want to read ALL English stuff. One literary thing the teachers will like, and another example interesting enough for them to agree with, but preferably something they haven't seen before.</p>
<p>Mostly, it's how wordy you are in the essay. The more wordy you are, the more likely you are to get 2 sixes. (Length has a LOT to do with it, unless it's illegible)</p>
<p>Do graders care about the legitimacy of your literary references?
What I mean is, if your question is about overcoming adversity and you write about... trying to think of a bad example of this... Fagin from Oliver Twist, your score go down?</p>