<p>Eg the Reality television one and the Photography one. </p>
<p>And some guys have argued that they AREN"T specific, that they represent greater themes, such as Authenticity and Deception, or Perspective. DO they represent these themes? And if so, why not just say so? And if so, how do you make an essay based on those themes but still on the topic of the prompt? </p>
<p>Will the SAT keep making prompts like this?
And if they do, how much do antidepressant drugs cost?</p>
<p>The Great Agrasin once observed that SAT prompts have gotten more specific as years have progressed. He questions whether mundane topics can truly capture the overshadowing themes that should be addressed in every essay.</p>
<p>Assignment: Do these topics represent larger themes? How can one write such an essay? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. </p>
<p>…its like writing an SAT essay…about writing SAT essays…</p>
<p><em>gasp</em></p>
<p>SATCEPTION</p>
<p>my mind = blown</p>
<p>no but seriously guys.</p>
<p>@2redpartyhats,</p>
<p>I hope that’s not an actual prompt cuz that just made me LOL</p>
<p>I can’t respond more specifically because I’m not familiar with the prompts you cited. However, I can venture some answers to your questions. First, they don’t just tell you the theme of the prompt because they want to see whether or not you can tell them the theme of the prompt. Second, you can write about a wide variety of other subjects, so long as they are connected somehow to the issues raised by the prompt. The essay scorers are trained to accept that wide variety of interpretations of the prompt. Third, If you feel insecure, your opening paragraph can be the place where you explicitly draw the connection between the prompt and your subject and theme. The closing can do the same. You don’t have to beat it into the floor, either. (It’s most often better if you don’t.) Fourth, remember that the average reader can easily read a thousand of these essays. If you spend your entire essay focused closely on the subject of the prompt (reality shows or photography, for example) your essay will be on the same subject as at least 500 of those thousand essays. Hitler will account for another 150. The reader will welcome a thoughtful essay on just about anything else, just so long as it explores some connection to the prompt. Finally, above all else, the reader is looking for a well-written, well-organized essay with multiple layers of specific developmental ideas and details, and relatively free of egregious errors in style and diction. P.S. Write with a sharp pencil, in legible handwriting and preferably large enough script to be seen with the naked eye.</p>
<p>I just read your earlier post. I don’t think you need be too concerned about your Bernie Madoff example being made up. Those essay scorers are trained to overlook errors of fact and even outright fiction. They aren’t scoring the accuracy of content; they are scoring the quality of the writing. </p>
<p>I’m curious about your three examples. My uncle once told me that there’s a great deal of difference between ten years of experience and one year of experience ten times. I think the same is true of examples. Did you have three examples that each developed a different specific idea about your theme, or did you have a single idea and three examples to illustrate that same single idea? Lots of 3 and 4 essays do the latter. None of the 6 essays do.</p>
<p>Wood5440, thank you for the advice and all. About the last post, as far as I am aware, I do the latter. In the template that I always use, I try to somehow connect each example with my thesis (at end of intro) by saying: In the novel Animal Farm, Orwell demonstrates the benefits of doubt through the actions of Napoleon(for example). I write that as a topic sentence, and then I write something similar (but not annoyingly repetitive) as the ending sentence. </p>
<p>Is what I do bad? Should I use 3 examples to illustrate ONE point? Or break my thesis into a few parts, each of which I use an example to illustrate? </p>
<p>Thanks again.</p>