6 SAT Essay Examples to Answer Every Prompt

8/20/2019 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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm


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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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankensteinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein


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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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brownhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Michael_Brown


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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

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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.

6 SAT Essay Examples to Answer Every Prompt

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