<p>I did the first practice test in the blue book, but have no one to score my essay. The topic is: Is it important to question the ideas and decisions of people in positions of authority?</p>
<p>My main concerns regarding the essay is the vocabulary. I'm an international student who's been trying to memorize more SAT words by implementing them in my speech, but as I normally learn them out of context, sometimes I misuse words. Could you tell me if some the more difficult words I've included aren't used appropriately?
My second concern is my examples. I haven't used any history or classical literature ones that people tend to use and score high with -- I've just made use of two recently popular sci-fi series. Is not sticking to arguments that could make you seem more ''smart'' in a way a bad thing, or does it not matter where you get your examples from?</p>
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<p>Would society progress if open-minded people did not emerge and challenge what has been considered orthodox for long periods of time? A plethora of situations in best-selling novels such as The Hunger Games and Divergent exemplify that adherring to the stagnant beliefs of authority may be beneficial in the short term, but innovate thinking is required in order for humanity not to reach an impasse caused by unwillingness to challenge what is universally accepted.</p>
<p>The world Suzanne Collins creates in The Hunger Games is led by a president whose obsolete views are slowly and unknowingly being adopted by the elite public, to the point where people do not question even for a fleeting moment whether their leader may have ulterior motives. There's a tenuous line between good and bad, right and wrong, that more often than not blurs into an indistinguishable mess. If a person such as the leading protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, did not emerge as a leader among commonfolk whose lives are perpetually being ruined by the elite, the annual competition hosted by the president in which every participant but the final winner is mercilessly killed would have continued to be hosted. Known as the "Mockingjay", Katniss becomes a symbol of change and hope for a better future by fighting against authority's views and revealing the hidden truth.</p>
<p>Similarly to Katniss, Tris Prior in Veronica Roth's Divergent series is also a force to be reckoned with when it comes to challenging the beliefs people have a penchant for adopting. The leaders of the faction in which Divergent's society is split have gradually imposed the mindset that people who are divergent — or in other words, do not belong and cannot conform to only one faction — are aberrations in humanity that should be exterminated. Tris sets out on an arduous quest of proving them wrong by all means necessary, and so by fighting against the widely-spread views, she utterly changes society: finally, it starts accepting those who are different.</p>
<p>It is an unequivocal truth that humanity needs people to take on leadership position, but it's important not to take authority's words and beliefs for granted. They say the path to Hell is paved by good intentions, and that couldn't ring more true — look underneath the underneath and challenge the higher-ups' beliefs.</p>