<p>Hey all,</p>
<p>I'm currently in the process of compiling a list of possible examples for the SAT essay, and I have plenty historical, literary and personal examples already. That said, I am worried that when the time comes to actually write my essay, I may blank out on specific facts, dates, etc...so I thought it might be a good idea to add a few simple, easy to remember examples to my arsenal. </p>
<p>I got the idea of using children's stories, specifically Dr. Seuss, because they often contain important life lessons which mimic College Board's prompts on morality, success, etc. For example, if I get a prompt asking about corruption or conscience and have the idea to use Hitler in my essay but find myself unable to produce clear and concise evidence to support my claim, I could use Dr. Seuss' Yertle the Turtle. Same general idea and same issues of morality, but presented in a much more elementary way. That way I wouldn't have to recall much information, but would still be presenting a logical example.</p>
<p>I wouldn't let myself rely too heavily on examples like this, but I don't think it'd be a bad idea to have a list of 3-5 children's stories with literary/thematic implications as a safety net incase I find myself unable to provide better examples on testing day.</p>
<p>Thoughts?</p>
<p>Movies, children’s stories, and your own experiences probably aren’t as strong as historical examples or more generic literature and you should only use them if you’re REALLY out of ideas, like you said (unless you have some crazy or unique experience to relate at the age of 16, but not many of us do.) However, if you use your own experience it’s not impossible to get a 6 (as one of the Collegeboard examples uses one anyway.) Writing about history or some fancy classic as evidence for your argument just looks like you know more about what you’re talking about, I guess.</p>
<p>If you really want a safety net, you’re likely better off reading up on history and looking around for non-children’s books. I’m not relating any of my own personal opinion on picture books, but many people consider children’s stories as relatively trivial. People are going to be reading your essays, and so they can be biased in this manner.</p>
<p>I received an 8 on my first essay when I used the movie Alice in Wonderland as one of my examples (no, I was not able to use the book), but in general I didn’t argue the prompt too well in the first place. I pulled off a 10 the second time by using a historical example and one of my own experiences. </p>
<p>I’ve never heard of anyone actually using a children’s story in an SAT essay so I can’t say anything for sure about doing it. If you have a tutor or know someone who is very knowledgeable about the SAT, try asking them. If you’re aiming for a very high score, say over 2250 and possibly 2300/2400, however, I’d encourage moving away from using the children’s stories as they seem kind of risky. Remember the lowest possible essay score you can obtain for an 800 in writing is a 10, but that’s assuming you get only one or two MC questions wrong.</p>