Frequently, the essay prompt asks students whether they agree or disagree with a given quote or idea, such as: "Nothing requires more discipline than freedom."
For the purposes of the essay, you should either agree or disagree with the given statement.
Many students are wishy-washy, perhaps because they are afraid of giving the wrong answer. For example, an indecisive student might write:
Sometimes freedom requires great discipline, but sometimes it doesn't.This position statement is bad, because it does not take a clear and decisive stand. These kinds of openings tend to lead to essays that wander and are unfocused. They also tend to get low scores.
If you agree with the statement in the essay prompt, you might begin with a simple but effective affirmation of the idea, like this:
Freedom requires great discipline.If you disagree with the statement, you might begin by turning the idea on its head:
Freedom is the absence of discipline.Both of these statements make a clear point, and would lead to completely different essays, in part because they interpret the word freedom in radically different ways. The first approach might go on to discuss political freedom, while the second approach is likely to focus on personal freedom. Either argument could work as the launching point for a strong essay.
On the SAT essay, there is no "wrong" answer in the normal sense. If the essay is about the statement "crime doesn't pay," you may decide to argue that crime does pay. The judges aren't going to grade your opinions. Instead, they are looking at how well you can defend them.
In cases like this, you should either agree with the statement and defend your position, or disagree with the statement and defend your position.
Never try to argue both sides.
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3 comments:
I just came upon your website and it seems pretty useful in preparing for the SAT. But I just wanted to know a little bit about the credibility of the site first--how do you know all this advice about the SATs? Do you work for college board or something? Did you just get a really high score on the SAT yourself? You have excellent advice, but I just wanted to make sure that I am getting this information from a reliable, good source rather than just any old joe(/David). What I'm really asking is, "Who are you and why should I trust you?" Thanks.
You're smart to take all advice with a grain of salt, especially advice you find on the Internet.
I'm an SAT tutor in Southern California, in addition to being a working screenwriter in Hollywood. I earned my B.A. in Film/TV at UCLA and my M.F.A. in Screenwriting, also at UCLA. During my undergraduate studies I was the Arts & Entertainment Editor of the UCLA Daily Bruin. I spent about half my time as an editor correcting spelling and grammar.
I gave some of my background in earlier posts, so check those.
In terms of the SAT, in October 2007, as preparation for tutoring, I scored a "perfect" 800 on the Critical Reading section and a 790 on the Writing section, with 11 out of 12 on the essay. (I did quite well on the math, too, but I don't usually tutor math.)
I have been tutoring the Critical Reading and Writing sections of the SAT since January 2008. I have tutored for some brand-name companies, and also privately. I started this site in April of 2008. My professional writing schedule has kept me from posting here as frequently as I'd like, but I try to add some new advice as time permits.
Hope that helps.
And good luck on the test.
if you were an SAT tutor, you would know that an essay question is not written on the SAT as you have it. The way to be a good tutor is to use the OSSG and to use official SAT questions.
Again the prompt for the essay is NEVER written the way that you have it.
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