We received a question from Josh M about using quotations on SAT essays:
My English teacher loves quotes. She says that almost every paragraph in our papers needs to include at least one quote. It doesn't matter if it is from literature or a movie, just as long as it relates to the topic. So my question: Is adding quotes on the SAT a mistake? And if you misquote a piece of "classic literature," will the graders never let you forget it?
First, I want to comment on your teacher's fondness for quotes. I suspect she's emphasizing quotations in order to hammer home a very important rule of essay writing: Every point you make needs to be supported in some way. While direct quotes can provide effective support, you can also use facts, statistics, personal anecdotes, and historical examples. And you can paraphrase, which is a very important method for condensing your direct quotes. In fact, many teachers prefer paraphrasing to using direct quotes because it requires you to do more work: You're taking a little part of the quote and interpreting it, as opposed to filling up lots of space with a quote and leaving the reader to interpret its meaning.
Since the holidays are here and we're feeling all warm and fuzzy, let me take a minute to tell you what I love about you Sparklers. You're hard-working, smart and witty, and super supportive of each other. For example, look at the exchange posted in the comments section of the recent SAT vs. the PSAT post. Anonymoushorse posed the following question:
On the practice SAT that I took, it was the essay that lowered my writing score, my grammar score was higher. Any tips?
We recently received the following question from a reader:
My name is Wendy and I am a new subscriber in Sparknotes. I was reading the section about the SAT essay and I was wondering if it is okay to neither agree or disagree with the prompt. For example, the one on the website:"A good leader should be feared rather than loved", would it be okay to agree to both? Is that acceptable on the SAT or do they just want you to decide and think more so you can give a lot of reasons for just one?
That is a great question, Wendy, and one we hear often. After reading the prompt you mentioned, you may think, there are reasons a good leader should be feared, but also good reasons for a leader to be loved. Why not show them I can come up with good ideas for both?
Last week, we discussed some surefire ways to come up with great examples to use in your SAT essay. Today, we continue our discussion of essay examples by starting with an important warning: Great examples alone will not get you a good essay score. You need to fit those examples into rock-solid body paragraphs. And we're going to show you how it’s done.
Here’s a scenario: You’re taking the SAT and have boiled the wordy essay prompt down to “Money can’t buy happiness. Do you agree or disagree?” You know immediately that you agree with this statement. You even hit on three great examples to support it: Jay from The Great Gatsby, Kanye West’s drunken and disorderly behavior at the VMAs, and your uncle, Wayne, who left his job as a corporate CEO and joined a Buddhist monastery.
Recently, we received a message from Tami_29 asking for help with an all-too-common SAT essay predicament:
Can you post an article on how to write a decent SAT essay in 25 minutes? My problem is thinking up examples. I usually can think of only one good example to support my thesis, the rest of the time I have an internal clock ticking in my brain reminding me that there are only 23 mins. remaining....22...21...20.. which can be very daunting when you're trying to focus. Any tips on how to think of 2-3 decent examples within the first 5 minutes of testing time? I'll be really grateful if anyone takes the time to answer my comment.
Daunting, indeed. Add to this the fact that while you’re still sitting there waiting for inspiration to strike, everyone else is hunched over and scribbling furiously what you’re sure must be incredibly insightful prose. You’re on your way to a serious case of example block.
