Essay topic on SAT...agree or disagree??

Question

My SAT tutor has told me that if i write the SAT essay partly agreeing and partly disagreeing to the topic, i will get a higher mark, is this true??

So for example, if the topic is: honesty will always bring you success, I would have to argue that honesty doesn't always bring you success, but does bring you success sometimes. Does that sound right?

Answer 1

Yeah, when you're writing an SAT essay, it's important to explore both sides of the topic in your writing.

Answer 2

yes because your showing both points of view.

Answer 3

I actually disagree. You are being scored on if you can take a stance. If you choose to find a topic in between, you must be very specific as to when you agree with the prompt and when you disagree. Otherwise, the two people scoring your essay may be confused about your actual take on the issue.

It's okay to only take one side of the argument, as long as you support your point with plenty of evidence from history, literature, personal experience, etc. One way to make a very strong paper when you are only taking one side is to devote a paragraph as to why the other point of view is "wrong." For example, if you want to write that honesty always brings you success, one of your paragraphs can refute the other side of the argument. You can say that although some people get wealthy by dishonest means (scams, stock market fraud, etc), is that really "success?" Or, does "success" come from knowing that you have actually earned the rewards that you get from life?

Answer 4

Discuss both sides, but only support one. You could say something like "in rare instances, dishonesty brings success, but most of the time the success is ephemeral as the dishonesty becomes apparent and the fruits are lost." and then give examples to support this, like cheating, getting a good score, then getting caught.