<p>An English teacher of mine told me to only write about one subject when writing an SAT essay, instead of drawing upon many subjects for support. For example, with a prompt, “Failing is learning”, it would be better to talk about how not practicing the piano and failing at a recital (in depth) is better than talking about piano, learning to study more often because you failed an exam, and how you learned the proper way to ride a horse after not listening to your instructor and falling off. In her mind, this establishes depth of argument, which can be obstructed with many examples because time/space is wasted with explanations of the new subject. </p>
<p>I am an adept writer (800 Lit SAT; 5 on the Lit AP; strongest english student at my high school; creative writing major) and I only wrote about one topic and got a 10 for lack of depth. I recommend at least two if not three topics. I think it’s lame, but it’s really the only safe way to go…
However, I still got an 800 on the writing section of the SAT because I got a perfect multiple choice, so a 10 on the essay is not the end of the world.</p>