SAT Essay Tips and Examples

SAT and ACT Tests & Test Preparation SAT Preparation
#1

Hi, I was wondering if anyone could give me a list of examples for the SAT essay? Basically like good examples for common prompts for the essay? Uh like this basically

Prompt #1: list of examples
Prompt #2: list of examples
etc.

Like I know that you should use like books, movies, historical, current examples, but are there like specifically any? Because then I can sort of get to know those examples (like read the book or watch the movie or something lol) and hopefully do better and everyone else too :slight_smile:

Also does anyone have essay tips cuz uhhhh I need them. Very much. But like since right now I don’t have many good examples, my essay as a whole kinda sucks. Tips on analysis of examples too please?

Thanks ^-^-^

#2

Just a few to get you started!

Prompt #1: the War of the Roses, Cornelius Cardew, Mookie Blaylock
Prompt #2: Wyatt Earp, Eugene V. Debs, Valerie Solanas
Prompt #3: Dick Fosbury, Cookie dough ice cream, the Volkswagen Group
Prompt #4: Raisins, my cousin Morty, President Abraham Lincoln’s chess strategies
Prompt #5: The Battle of the Bulge, the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue (1997), Michelangelo’s “David”
Prompt #6: Mac vs. PC, instant coffee, skinny jeans
Prompt #7: Iggy and the Stooges’ “Funhouse,” Babe Didrickson Zaharias, left-handed badminton players
Prompt #8: Sun Yat Sen, Amartya Sen, the Washington Senators
Prompt #8: Penthouse Letters, Waldorf Schools (“Anthroposophy”), Roberto Bolaño’s 2666
Prompt #9: Vegan “cheese,” the feeling of being full but still kinda-sorta wanting to eat something, yo mama
Prompt #10: Doug Flutie’s shoe size, the Jersey Turnpike, people who say they aren’t racist but think affirmative action is totally racist
Prompt #11: Mexican cowboys, Oregon cowboys, young male cows

More later!

#3

Hi, and can people also say what the prompt is? Sorry lol :'D I meant like

Is hard work better than relying on natural talent?: Rock Lee from Naruto, Gattaca, etc.
Should people solve community problems first or nationwide problems?: examples

The prompts can just be anything you can think of, or common essay prompts, and the examples should just be good examples for those prompts.

Yeah thanks :slight_smile: ^-^ <3

#4

Prompt #12: ice cubes, Ice Cube, Snapple Peach Iced Tea ™
Prompt #13: The Book of Job, my summer job at Dairy Queen, Freddy Mercury
Prompt #14: White people with dreadlocks, Jamaican people with German cars, German-accented reggae singers
Prompt #15: Bataille’s “The Story of the Eye,” Daniel Paul Schreber, Annie Sprinkle
Prompt #16: Situationism, Anton LaVey, Genesis P’Orridge
Prompt #17: R. Crumb’s “The Religious Experience of Philip K. Dick,” cold sores, Jeremy Bentham’s “Panopticon”
Prompt #18: Steve Sax’s post-MLB career, Denardo Coleman’s hi-hate patterns, Cole Haan footwear
Prompt #19: The rise and fall of Volapuk, epicene pronouns, illiteracy in 14th century Alsace-Lorraine
Prompt #20: Yo mama’s weight problems, yo mama’s sub-par education, yo mama’s libido
Prompt #21: MAD Magazine’s “stupid answers to stupid questions,” Mothers Against Drunk Driving, *Mad About You/i
Prompt #22: Anthony Braxton & the Tri-Centric Foundation, Alvin Lucier’s stutter, Lucille Ball’s childhood pets
Prompt #21: The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Gilles Chatelet’s To Live and Think Like Pigs, adult bed-wetting

This is fun!

#5

If you just have a few basic examples, you should be fine, I don’t think you’ll need to study specifically for examples. I think I wrote about Candide and Frederick Douglass.

If you just remember some classic books from school (any books! Things like To Kill a Mockingbird, Brave New World, Great Gatsby, etc) and basic history (American Revolution, World War 2, etc) you will be fine. The prompts are usually broad enough that even if you pick examples in advance, you can make them work- I wouldn’t actually recommend this, but the point is you can write about pretty much anything and make it work.

#6

Prompt #22: Euler’s number, David Mitchell’s Number 9 Dream, De La Soul’s “3 is the Magic Number”
Prompt #23: Douglas Hofstadter’s Goedel, Escher, Bach, The Big Bang Theory, Bangkok
Prompt #24: Gilles Deleuze’s fingernails, fingerling potatoes, Mr. Potatohead
Prompt #25: Keith Rowe’s prepared guitar, Keith Hudson’s NYC period, Kool Keith’s performative perversion as “Dr. Octagon”
Prompt #26: Banksy, Tyra Banks, Pointy’s From the Muddy Banks of the Pointy River
Prompt #27: The Unholy Modal Rounders (et. al) and “Have Moicy,” the ontological lie behind “everything bagels,” false-advertising cases from “The Never-Ending Story” to “World’s Greatest Grandpa” mugs.
Prompt #28: Heteronormativity in the “Hokey Pokey,” pronoun usage in the songs of George Jones, The Frogs’ It’s Only Right and Natural
Prompt #29: Nathalie Sarraute, Djuna Barnes, Kathy Acker
Prompt #30: Sun Yat Sen, Aleksandr Kerensky, George Best
Prompt #31: Migratory patterns of the lake fowl of South America, super blue-green algae (not including spirulina!), “cleansing” hoaxes and pseudoscience.
Prompt #32: Yo Yo Ma, Yo Mama, Mama Cass, Ma Rainey, Bhob Rainey, Tom Waits’ Rain Dogs, Snoop Dogg
Prompt #33: Lin Yutang’s The Importance of Living, Michel de Certeau’s The Practice of Everyday Life, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest

#7

@marvin100 – I assume you are using some phone app to generate these lists :slight_smile:

But keep them coming!

#8

Nope! All from memory!

#9

@marvin100 what other tips would you give for one to guarantee a 10/11 ?
thanks in advance

#10

(sorry everyone–I thought it would be obvious, but my posts above are jokes.)

#11

OP: here’s a major tip. Your into should be three sentences max. I got straight 6s when I was in HS. Intro starts with one-sentence thematic observation. Second sentence = thesis statement. Third sentence = link thesis to TWO examples.

Yes, I used two good examples instead of three. Gives you more time to plan stellar examples so your essay contains REAL analysis and coherent topic sentences.

That should help you with organization and time management.

#12

Yes i realized ur posts were jokes -_-

#13

I completely agree with the above. It’s important that body grafs be very well developed, and in just two pages, it’s very hard to produce three fully-developed examples.

#14

^me too

#15

Random question, but what is your essay score?

#16

I dunno who ur talking to, but a 6 T_T