SAT Essay Question

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

<p>In all preparation books I have read that one needs to take a side to argue for in the essay. What would happen if one writes [with examples] in support of each side and concludes that both have merits. Also, is it allowed to challenge the premise of the given essay prompt and write from there? To give you a clearer idea, here is a prompt "Do you think that the individual good outweighs the common good?" I simply cannot accept the premise of this question. There is no such thing as "common good". Whats a community? Its all of us. Together. </p>

<p>Are there specific instructions on SAT that you HAVE TO pick a side or do they just say write a response to the question?</p>

<p>Any input is appreciated.</p>

2

<p>ok i strongly suggest you DON’T challenge the premise of the prompt. never.</p>

<p>and umm you technically can argue both sides, but only if you’re a ridiculously good writer and can manifest that skill in 25 minutes. i tried last time and got an 8, lol.</p>

3

<p>Would you say that grammar and polishedness are somewhat negligible since one is only given 25 minutes?</p>

4

<p>yes they are negligible if the mistakes themselves are negligible.</p>

<p>i.e. don’t make ur thesis “i is agreeing with the prompt becuz” … nothing crazy and you should be ok.</p>

5

<p>I understand. Thank you.</p>

<p>P.S. I still encourage responses to the original post.</p>

6

<p>like the person before me suggested… i strongly suggest that you dont try to argue both sides of the prompt becasue there just isn’t enough time to write a nice cohesive essay in 25 min… but if you want your essay to stand out instead of arguing both sides. you could make you thesis very specific and say the conditions where your thesis would be true… for example. if the prompt was “is knowledge more important than imagination” or whatever, then you could be like imagination is more important because without imagination knowlegde is useless.</p>