6 sat essay examples to answer every prompt
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6 SAT Essay Examples to Answer Every
Prompt
A major secret to excelling on the SAT essay is to pre-plan the
examples and evidence you want to use. By preparing a collection
of reliable examples that can answer most prompts, you'll cut down
on planning time and significantly increase the amount you can
write.
In this article, we give you 6 good SAT essay examples to use thatcan answer nearly every prompt the SAT throws at you. By
memorizing these examples and practicing writing about them,
you'll be able to walk into every SAT essay confident.
Before You Continue
If you haven't already read our list of every single SAT prompt
ever given, check it out now. This will give you a good idea of therange of prompts you'll have to prepare for. Then come back to this
article.
The 5 Major Categories of SAT Essay
Prompts
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Opinions and ValuesThese questions are about weighing the value of things, including
the opinions of others.
> Should people weight all opinions equally, or place more weight
on informed opinions?
> Should people pay more attention to the opinions of people who
are older and more experienced?
> Should people always value new things, ideas, or values over
older ones?
> Should people be valued according to their capabilities rather
than their achievements?
> Is it better to be idealistic or practical?> Should books portray the world realistically or idealistically?
> Can working to reach an objective be valuable even if the
objective is not reached?
MoralityThese questions are about right and wrong.
> Are teams or groups beneficial for individuals, or does group
membership prevent individuals from forming their own moral
judgments?> Is it best to always suspect that others may have ulterior
motives?
> Is it better to decide one's own ideas of right and wrong or follow
the crowd?
> Can dishonesty be appropriate in some circumstances?
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> Can deception have good results?
> Is it necessary to make mistakes even when it harms others?
> Are people more motivated by conscience or by money, power,
and fame?
> Are bad and good choices equally likely to have negative
consequences?
Success and AchievementThese questions are about paths and obstacles to achieving goals.
> Is productivity the result of the demands of others?
> Is accomplishment the result of freedom to do things one's own
way?
> Are important discoveries the result of focusing on one subject?
> Can any obstacle be turned into something beneficial?
> Is it better to be consistent or to adapt when circumstanceschange?
> Is it better to use cooperation or competition to achieve success?
> Can success to be disastrous?
> Is success the result of being extremely competitive?
> Is achievement the result of expecting more of oneself than
others do of themselves?
> Is greatness the result of identifying and focusing on one's
greatest strength?> Is success the result of effort or luck?
> Does progress or improvement usually involve a significant
drawback or problem?
> Is it more important to do fulfilling or high-paying work?
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> Is the process or the outcome of an project more important?
> Is a successful community the result of individuals sacrificing
their personal goals?
Society and CultureThese questions are about the state of modern society.
> Should people look up to heroes instead of celebrities?
> Should people look up to celebrities?
> Should people challenge authority?
> Should people try harder to maintain privacy?
> Can average people be better role models than famous people?
> Do people underestimate the value of community due to our
culture of individualism?> Is the world changing in a positive way?
> Is the world actually harder to understand due to the abundance
of information now available?
> Do people overvalue getting every detail right?
> Are people defined by their occupations?
> Are people too materialistic?
> Do people value convenience too much?
> Is most of what people buy totally unnecessary?> Should citizens be more responsible for addressing local or
national issues?
> Do changes that make our lives easier not necessarily make them
better?
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Knowledge, Learning, and CreativityThese questions are about the conditions and situations that lead
to various kinds of learning and inspiration.
> Is self-knowledge the result of being forced into action?
> Do people discover more by exploring the unfamiliar or byexamining the familiar?
> Is it more effective to learn from others or to teach oneself?
> Is learning the result of experiencing difficulties?
> Is self-knowledge the result of interacting with others?
> Is self-knowledge the result of adversity?
> Is creativity the result of closed doors?
> Is the world in need of creativity now more than ever?
> Does planning interfere with creativity?> Can knowledge be a burden?
> Do people learn from the past?
> Is it better always to be original rather than imitating?
> Are people ever truly original?
> Is it preferable to care deeply about something or to remain
emotionally detached?
> Should people be guided by their feelings when making major
choices?> Is a person's identity established from birth or developed over
time?
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Preselecting Your ExamplesAs you can see, the SAT essay prompts cover a lot of common
ground. This means that you can have a pretty good idea ahead oftime of what you might see when you open the booklet on test day.
And because of that, you can prepare yourself with SAT essay
topics that involve more than one of these issues—we've provided
some ideas below.
In the SAT writing examples, we've tried to use books, people and
events that most high school students are already familiar with.
Remember that personal examples are just as valid as academicones, but since we don't spy on your life, we don't know what
personal examples are noteworthy in your life.
We've chosen 2 books, 2 examples from American History, and 2
current events that you can use as stellar evidence to support your
thesis. Play to your strengths - if you like English, you might
develop more examples in literature. If you're a news buff, you
might use current events that are on your mind.
For each example below, we also show you how you can use the
evidence to support your thesis across a range of prompts. This
should prove to you how effective pre-planned examples are.
So, without further ado, onto our list of multipurpose support for
any SAT Essay prompt.
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Examples from LiteratureBooks are great examples to use since they cover a wide range of
human experience and social issues. You don't need to have read a
book to write about it - you just need to understand key points
about the plot and be able to relate it to the thesis.
Animal FarmThis short novel written by George Orwell in 1945 is a parable (a
short story used to illustrate a lesson) about the Russian
Revolution. It describes a farm's animals banding together to
overthrow the farmer who exploits their work and products (milk,eggs, etc.) so they can take control of the farm themselves.
However, the pigs (with specially bred dogs as guards)
immediately begin scheming to control the farm themselves, and
ultimately take advantage of the other animals in the same way the
farmer did.
This is a literary classic, and for good reason - it touches upon
many core human struggles. Animal Farm can be used to support
the following theses, among many others:
(Opinions and Values) Should people pay more attention to the
opinions of people who are older and more experienced?
• Yes; in Animal Farm, the only animal who suspects the pigs'
deception is Benjamin, the oldest animal on the farm. He tries to
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warn the other animals that the pigs have sent the loyal horse,
Boxer, to be killed, but no one listens to him, and the pigs' reign of
terror continues to go unchecked.
(Morality) Is it best to always suspect that others may have
ulterior motives?
• Yes; the animals in Animal Farm would have been better off if
they had suspected that the pigs were planning to exploit them.
(Success and Achievement) Are important discoveries the result of
focusing on one subject?
• No; in Animal Farm, the success of the animals in running the
farm depends on their ability to teach themselves how to read, do
math, build structures, and harness electricity, among other skills.
FrankensteinThis classic novel by Mary Shelley, first published anonymously in
1818, tells the story of Dr. Victor Frankenstein, who alienates his
family by following his obsession with animating a man made of
corpses, creating artificial life for the first time. But he is horrified
by his creation, and the monster, lonely and miserable, wanders the
earth, rejected by everyone. He develops anger toward his creator
and kills Victor's brother, and then Victor's wife, on their wedding
day. Victor then chases the monster all over the world, trying to
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kill him, and dies in the process.
Frankenstein can be used to support the following theses, among
others:
(Knowledge, Learning, and Creativity) Is self-knowledge the result
of adversity?
• Yes; Dr. Frankenstein can only understand the horror of artificially
creating life (or "playing God") after multiple people are killed.
(Success and Achievement) Can success to be disastrous?
• Yes; in the first part of the book, Dr. Frankenstein sacrifices
everything to achieve his goal of bringing his monster to life. But
as soon as he does, his life becomes more and more miserable until
he finally dies in the Arctic.
(Morality) Is it better to decide one's own ideas of right and wrong
or follow the crowd?
• Follow the crowd; Dr. Frankenstein ignores everyone's warnings
that his obsession is dangerous. His creation of the monster is a
direct result of his deciding for himself what is right and wrong,
because his obsession clouds his judgment.
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Examples from American HistoryYou've likely learned a lot about American history in school, but afew notable examples stand out as compelling events that you can
use to support a wide range of prompts.
The Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
JapanDuring the last stage of World War II, after Germany surrendered
to the Allies, Japan refused to surrender. Instead of a military
invasion of the mainland of Japan, the U.S. decided to end the war
by dropping two atomic bombs on Japan with no warning: one on
the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and the other on the city
of Nagasaki on August 9. Japan surrendered on August 15, but the
immediate effects of the explosions killed 90,000–166,000 people
in Hiroshima and 39,000–80,000 in Nagasaki; about half of the
deaths in each city occurred on the first day. Over the next few
months, large numbers of people—mostly civilians—died from
radiation burns, radiation sickness, and other injuries, exacerbated
by illness and malnutrition.
The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki can be used to support
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the following theses, among others:
(Knowledge, Learning, and Creativity) Can knowledge be a
burden?
• Yes; some of the scientists who worked on the atomic bomb, in
1945, signed the Szilárd petition, which asked President Truman
not to bomb Japan without warning. This shows that their
understanding of the possible effects of the bombs was a burden on
their respective consciences.
(Morality) Are bad and good choices equally likely to have
negative consequences?
• Yes; the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused massive
civilian casualties, but had the cities not been bombed, many
Americans and Japanese would have died in further ocean- and
land-based warfare.
(Opinions and Values) Should people weight all opinions equally,
or place more weight on informed opinions?
• Place more weight on informed opinions; After Pearl Harbor,
many Americans hated the Japanese and wanted their whole
country eradicated. But the scientists who understood the awful
power of the atom bomb had a different view; they were wary of
dropping it on Japan with no warning. Many fewer civilians would
have had to die if the concerned scientists had been heeded and the
Japanese had been warned about the bombings ahead of time.
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The Life of Frederick DouglassFrederick Douglass (1818-1895) was an African-American social
reformer, public speaker, writer, and politician. Born a slave in
Maryland, he taught himself to read and write (despite literacy
being forbidden to slaves) and eventually escaped to the North. He
became an important leader of the abolitionist movement through
his persuasive writing in antislavery publications and the talks he
gave during his frequent speaking tours. He made it clear thatslaveholders' arguments about slaves' inferior intelligence were
fabricated and helped see the country through the Civil War and
out of the era of slavery.
The life of Frederick Douglass can be used to support the
following theses, among others:
(Opinions and Values) Should people be valued according to their
capabilities rather than their achievements?
• Yes; Douglass, like many others even today, faced nearlyinsurmountable difficulties in achieving even literacy. For these
people, opportunities for achievement are rare, and capabilities are
the only accurate measure of their value.
(Morality) Can dishonesty be appropriate in some circumstances?
• Yes; Douglass had to be dishonest with the slaveholders who
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'owned' him in order to learn how to read and write, because slaves
were not allowed that privilege. He later had a large influence on
the abolishment of slavery, so his dishonesty was well worth the
cost.
(Success and Achievement) Is productivity the result of the
demands of others?
• No; Douglass achieved and an unimaginable amount and published
a number of books despite the fact that he was a slave and nothing
at all was expected of him.
Examples of Current Events
Notable events happen constantly in the news. Many students willpull on these to support their topics, but the key is to understand
the topics thoroughly and be able to speak beyond a superficial
level. This will impress the grader since you rise above other
testtakers.
The Shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MOThe shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown occurred on August 9,
2014, in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Darren Wilson,
28, a white Ferguson police officer, shot the unarmed teenagerfrom a distance, but it was unclear whether Brown was
surrendering or threatening Wilson. The unclear circumstances of
Brown's death, the resulting nationwide protests, and police forces'
perceived overreaction to the protests all led to a serious national
debate about law enforcement's treatment of African-Americans in
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the United States.
The events surrounding the shooting death of Michael Brown can
be used to support the following theses, among others:
(Knowledge, Learning, and Creativity) Do people learn from the
past?
• Yes; despite widespread anger, the protests in Ferguson were
mostly nonviolent, reflecting the practices of earlier civil rights
protesters in the U.S. These nonviolent protests successfully led to
widespread awareness of the growing nationwide law enforcement
problems of racial profiling and use of excessive force.
(Success and Achievement) Is it better to use cooperation or
competition to achieve success?
• Cooperation; in the wake of the shooting, conflicts between
protesters and police in Missouri led President Obama to call for
funding to support initiatives to support cooperation between
communities and law enforcement.
(Morality) Are people more motivated by conscience or by money,
power, and fame?
• Conscience; The shooting of Michael Brown brought thousands of
protesters all over the country onto the streets to make a statement
against racial profiling and police brutality. Monitored by the
police themselves, these protests have potential for conflict, but
people attended them anyway, motivated by their conscience.
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The American Wealth Gap and the 1%In 2014, the Washington Times reported that the top wealthiest 1%
of Americans hold 40% of the nation’s wealth; the bottom 80%, by
contrast, hold 7%. Another way to put it is that the "richest 1% in
the United States now own more wealth than the bottom 90%."
The top 10% of Americans has 1,000% of (or ten times) the wealth
of the middle class; that increases another 1000% for the top 1% of
Americans. This means that the average employee needs to work
more than a month to earn what the average CEO earns in one
hour.
The wealth gap in the U.S. can be used to support the following
theses, among others:
(Success and Achievement) Is success the result of effort or luck?
• Luck; most of the wealthiest people in the U.S. were born into
wealth, and have been lucky enough to have their investments not
fail. Effort clearly does not factor into the wealth differences
between a CEO and a minimum-wage worker.
(Society and Culture) Should people look up to celebrities?
• No; celebrities, like other super-rich people, have all of their needs
handled by other people and lead lives that are totally different
from average people's. To look up to people who are rich because
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_the_United_States
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of modeling or acting careers is to compare ourselves to people
who live in a different world from average people because they
happen to be beautiful or good at acting.
(Morality) Are people more motivated by conscience or by money,
power, and fame?
• Power, money, and fame; The wealth gap implies that power and
money (which are strongly connected, of course) are such powerful
motivators that, once people become rich, much of their energy
goes into becoming more rich. This is the only way to build the
kind of wealth that creates the American income gap: to focus
completely on what will bring in more money, regardless of the
consequences.