Prepare for SAT Essay Part 2

How to Prepare for the SAT Essay

PART II

Let us now take a closer look at the outline we discussed above.

To come up with your thesis for the first paragraph, all you need to do is take the essay question and turn it into a statement which reveals your opinion. For instance, the essay prompt featured above is: Are people best defined by what they do. Your thesis statement then could be either, "I believe people are best defined by what they do" or "I do not think people are best defined by what they do." This will be your thesis statement. This method of constructing a thesis statement will work with any essay prompt. Simply take the question or statement and turn it into a 'yes or no' opinion.

Now that you have chosen one or another opinion, you can start to choose your three examples. You think people are best defined by what they do because.....choose examples from your life and from what you've read.

Cast a wide net when thinking of your examples. Do not be afraid to use yourself as an example, this is an essay that is asking for your opinions. It is acceptable to involve yourself in the answer. So your three examples could look like this:

Example #1: I am best defined by what I do. I am a student and a soccer player and these
two things are responsible for the positive attributes that comprise my personality:
desire to learn, competitiveness, fairness, leadership, ability to function under pressure, etc.

Example #2: Harry Potter is the fictional character in the wildly popular series of books
by J.K. Rowling. Potter is a boy who is best defined by what he does which is primarily to
be a wizard and to defend good as it battles against evil.

Example #3: Bono is the lead singer for the Irish rock band U2. He is a rock star with a
conscious and he uses his fame and notoriety to campaign for global causes that he thinks
are important, such as AIDS in Africa and world hunger. He is defined by what he does which
is to make music and to use his celebrity status to fight injustice.

Don't mistake the above for complete paragraphs. They are just sketches of paragraphs, just to give you an idea of how to come up with three examples that will prove your point.

Now that you have constructed one paragraph for each of your three examples, all you have to do is write your concluding paragraph in which you will restate your thesis [in a way that is somehow new], reference the examples you have constructed, and state that these reasons are why you think individuals are best defined by what they do.

Remember, you need to practice, practice, practice. You have no idea what essay prompt they will throw at you and the only way to be comfortable enough with the question is by being familiar with the format and how to construct an answer. And the only way to be comfortable is by practicing. The College Board website provides you with sample prompts and there are plenty of books published in the last several years that will provide you with sample prompts too. Good luck!

Article by College Connection - CollegeScholarships.com

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