<p>I noticed that most high-scoring essays do not start off with a quotation, instead with a statement stating their side of the argument. Is there a reason? Is it better not to start off with a quote?</p>
<p>It’s your personal writing style, I like to put my thesis at the end of my first paragraph while others may begin with their thesis.</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter at all. They only care about you argument and how you support that argument. You should make the essay as straightforward as possible. Purposely using hard vocabulary, being fancy, and incorporating unnecessary elements into your essay does nothing to your score if it does not help your argument.</p>
<p>What if you can’t think of something good or unique to start your essay with? Should you just start off vague in the first sentence and then the second sentence go straight to your thesis? Then right into your body paragraphs…?</p>
<p>^Yes…do not waste time thinking of what to write in your intro paragraph. Just answer YES or NO to the question and move on! (Make a vague statement or something so the paragraph isn’t just one sentence.) You really can’t over-think things when you are writing the essay. You have to show your argumentation and reasoning skills, not your knowledge of events and plots. Your writing is important as well, but don’t focus so much on vocabulary and sentence structures. Just be as grammatical as possible, and use reasoning and logic to support your stance.</p>
<p>If you get a very generic prompt (with keywords like “conflict,” “responsibility,” “courage,” “change,” etc.), stick to what you know. Use Super-Man, Frankenstein, a recent movie you’ve seen, a classic story or historical event you know a lot about, etc. Don’t try to tie in a novel you read in English class that you know very little about.</p>