<p>Hi, I'm preparing to write my essay for next Saturday's SAT. I'm thinking of using only one example (probably from literature or personal life) and developing it throughout the essay. This seems like it would work because many of the essay prompts have two sides or talk about overcoming adversity, etc.</p>
<p>I am planning to review the main books I have read in high school (Invisible Man, To Kill a Mockingbird, Macbeth, etc.) on Sparknotes and focus on the characters' development throughout the novel and how this connects to main themes.</p>
<p>For you people who have done this: Does it work? Any suggestions?</p>
<p>@Olleger: Could you go into a little more depth on why it’s a bad idea? I’ve seen a couple good essays that were written like this. For example, the ones that scored 6’s in the College Board blue book and the Barron’s SAT prep book.</p>
<p>^It works. I don’t know what Olleger is talking about. The essays in the BB that received 6’s all used one developed example.</p>
<p>It doesn’t work if you’re a weak writer. Many people on CC advocate the three example essay because it’s safe. I used one example on my October SAT and received a 12. (2250 composite).</p>
<p>I’m planning to use one example again this Saturday.</p>
<p>@Luminouzz: First of all, congrats on your score! I wish I could get that And good luck this Sat.
Thanks for the opinion. How exactly did you use your one example? Was it from literature, history, or personal, etc.? And how did you figure out how to link it to the prompt? (Was it chronological, compare and contrast, etc.?)</p>
<p>DON’T DO IT! I got an 8. Yes, if you develop it well you can do well but chances are you won’t be able to seeing as most of us can’t. Heck, I can’t even get a 12 on an essay with 3 examples and I have an A+ in AP Lang. The SATs are just weird…</p>
<p>The reason why I was thinking of only using one example is because essays with two or three examples can be choppy and have no sense of direction. I’m sure there are pros and cons with both though. Personally, I feel that one example would be easier.</p>
<p>honestly, the SAT essay is pure b u l l s h i t. Only 1 out of 8 2400 scorers on cc got a 12 on the January essay. hmmmm, that sounds accurate. I’m also taking March SAT next saturday, and my advice is to just not worry about subjective bs and focus on what you can actually improve on.</p>
<p>So wait, you can get a 2400 without getting a 12 on the essay section? What do you need (minimum) in order to maintain a 2400 average say? 8, 10?</p>
<p>I would recommend using one example if one is able to sustain a relevant dialogue for around 400 words. I always used one example from literature in my essays and scored two 12s and one 11.</p>
<p>I used Jane Austen’s novel Emma. It was a prompt on the importance of family. I wrote an essay about Emma falling in love with Mr. Knightley due to her lack of a competent father figure (her father is a hypochondriac).</p>
<p>I do agree that the SAT essay is complete BS.</p>
<p>I took the SAT two years ago, and I have to say, the essay was much better than my second attempt last year (jr. year). 1.5 pages, used one example and developed it into a pretty convincing argument (well, more so than the second time). Got an 8.</p>
<p>Second attempt: Honestly, it demonstrated a lower level of writing aptitude. Choppy, 3 examples, one to two sentence intros and conclusions that weren’t very well-developed. Filled the two pages up, however. Got an 11. </p>
<p>I think they do prefer more examples. In any case, College Board does appear to discriminate against shorter essays (same with the AP English tests). It don’t know, it seems rather likely that I scored higher the second time only because the essay was longer, and not so much because I used more examples. But who knows.</p>
<p>Yes, but I received an 11 on the essay. I should have taken it again in order to keep it blemish-free. (I say that flippantly :))</p>
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<p>I think that’s a nice conclusion. I would assume that overall writing quality, essay length, and penmanship have a greater effect on the final score than the number of supporting examples.</p>
And good luck this Sat.