Common SAT Essay Themes and Archetypes

The makers of the SAT use several themes from which they draw essay questions. By knowing
these themes ahead of time, you can prepare several preplanned examples to use for each theme.
For example, take Thomas Edison. He used over 6000 filaments before finding one that worked
in the electric light bulb. You could use this example for essays on adversity, success, history,
and progress. The following is a list of these themes and real examples of essay questions
produced by the College Board. The questions have been paraphrased for simplicity, but they
provide you with an idea of how the themes are recycled each year.
Theme: Adversity
Do people benefit from adversity?
Do people learn more from losing than from winning?
Do people learn more from difficulty or from ease?
Do people learn from their effort even if their goal is not reached?
Does humor help in difficult situations?
Theme: Success
Do people put too much stress on winning?
Can people be successful and ethical at the same time?
Is persistence more important than ability in achieving success?
Is optimism more important than realism in achieving success?
Is idealism more important than practicality in achieving success?
Is success a result of choices or of luck?
Do peoples expectations of themselves affect their success?
Can people be successful with low expectations?
Is it better to have low expectations and meet them or high expectations and miss them?
Do people have to aim for perfection in order to be successful?
What motivates people the most in their quest for success?
Does success result from improvement to ones best attribute or skill?
Can people succeed by repeating their past behaviors?
Are people more likely to be successful by compromising or by being inflexible?
Do memories help people be successful?
Are people more successful when they are under pressure?
Do all successes create new challenges?
Do all significant inventions and findings result from concentrating on a single area?
Can success ever be disastrous?
Is it important to sometimes take risks?
Theme: Creativity and Originality
Does planning have a negative effect on creativity?
Can people be original or are original ideas all taken?
Is creativity as important today as it was in the past?
It is better for a person to imitate others or be original?
Is it better for society when people imitate others or when they are original?

Theme: Happiness and Self-Satisfaction

Is it better to accept ones lot in life or to strive for more?
Does the pursuit of a goal make a person happy?
What is better: a job one likes or a job that pays well?
Is knowledge ever a burden?
Does fame create happiness?
Does having many options create happiness?
What change leads to happiness: ones attitude or ones environment?
Are rules and restrictions necessary for happiness?
Can a person be too enthusiastic?
Is happiness a choice?
Is it better to act quickly or be patient?
Theme: Authority and Leadership
Do people need to listen more to people who are older and experienced?
Can people function without a leader?
Should one ever question someone in authority?
Should national leaders be judged differently than others?
Should society limit peoples exposure to certain forms of information?
Is censorship ever okay?
Are leaders always the best people for the job?
Are established rules realistic for guiding people in real-life scenarios?
Theme: Individuality
Do people need to compare themselves to others in order to appreciate what they have?
Is it more important to be different or to fit in with others?
Do people let the opinions of others affect their success?
Do people put too much value on the opinions of others?
Is a persons identity innate or created?
Do people over-emphasize individual accomplishments?
Theme: Morality and Ethics
Can people learn from other peoples flaws and mistakes?
Can people be successful and ethical at the same time?
Is a school responsible for teaching morals and ethics?
Are societys common beliefs more likely to be right or wrong?
Is it ever okay to be disloyal?
Is it ever okay to lie?
Is it ever okay to deceive someone?
Is it ever okay to be rude?
Is acting a normal part of life?
Are there only two sides of an issue?
Should people tolerate all opinions or speak out against those that are wrong?

Theme: Motivation
Does power motivate people?
What motivates people the most in their quest for success?
What motivates people to change?
Should emotion be involved when making important decisions?
Should people learn the motivation for someones actions before passing judgment on the
person?
Theme: History and Tradition
Should all traditions continue?
Are new ideas better than the ideas of the past?
Does the past influence the present and future?
Does history help people be successful and avoid failure?
Are new solutions always necessary?
Have modern advancements made life easier than what it was in the past?
Is society too materialistic today compared to in the past?
Is creativity as important today as it was in the past?
Is it better for society when people imitate others or when they are original?
Theme: Society and Community
Should people be more concerned about the common good?
Is criticism necessary for the progress of society?
Is discipline a necessary component of freedom?
Should people be more private about some parts of their lives?
Do people pay too much attention to details?
Theme: Decision-Making
Should emotion be involved when making important decisions?
Are impulsive decisions as good as deliberate decisions?
Should people ever change their decisions?
Does having many options create happiness?
Can small decisions have big consequences?
Should people trust in common sense or question it?
Are negative consequences equally likely for good choices as for bad choices?
Theme: Education and the Arts
Is a school responsible for teaching morals and ethics?
Do the arts teach people about the world?
Can people learn from fictional characters or stories?
Are practical skills deemed too important?
Where do people learn more: in school or out of school?
Are the arts essential to education?
Do people learn something from every experience?
Do people learn more from themselves or from others?

Theme: Friendship and Collaboration

Is it easier to make friends today than in the past?
Are people more successful when they combine their efforts with others?
Are groups more successful when they pursue a common goal or individual goals?
Which results in success more often: competition or collaboration?
Is compromise the best solution?
Can people learn anything from a group that shares a commonality?
Can people ever benefit from following the crowd instead of having their own ideas?
Do people get along better with people like them or with people different than them?
Is it wise to be trusting or suspicious of others?
Do people help others for selfless or selfish reasons?
Theme: Media and Entertainment
Is reality entertainment beneficial or harmful?
Does media (such as television and the internet) influence what people find important?
Should society limit peoples exposure to certain forms of entertainment or information?
Should society admire celebrities?
Does media have too much of an effect on some people?
Do photographs reflect reality or the photographers viewpoint?
Theme: Progress and Technology
Does progress eliminate problems or create new ones?
Does focus on technology cause society to neglect other important areas, such as education and
the environment?
Are there times that avoiding technology is beneficial?
Has the abundance of information available today made the world easier or harder to understand?
Has the purpose of technology changed?
Have modern advancements made life easier than what it was in the past?
Is the world getting better or worse?
Is criticism necessary for the progress of society?
Has society become too concerned with money?
Theme: Heroes
Are heroes people who risk their lives or people who stand up for what they believe in?

Common Essay Topics

Experience
Do we benefit from learning about the flaws of people we admire and respect?
Should we pay more attention to people who are older and more experienced than we are?
Do incidents from the past continue to influence the present?
Do we really benefit from every event or experience in some way?
Can books and stories about characters and events that are not real teach us anything useful?
Does true learning only occur when we experience difficulties?
Do memories hinder or help people in their effort to learn from the past and succeed in the
present?
Do people put too much emphasis on learning practical skills?
Hard Work
Is it best for people to accept who they are and what they have, or should people always strive
to better themselves?
Do highly accomplished people achieve more than others mainly because they expect more of
themselves?
Is persistence more important than ability in determining a person's success?
Is identity something people are born with or given, or is it something people create for
themselves?
Do people achieve greatness only by finding out what they are especially good at and
developing that attribute above all else?
Do people truly benefit from hardship and misfortune?
Is it best to have low expectations and to set goals we are sure of achieving?
Is it better to change one's attitude than to change one's circumstances?
Is it better for people to be realistic or optimistic?
Can people achieve success only if they aim to be perfect?
Is it sometimes better to take risks than to follow a more reasonable course of action?
Winning
When some people win, must others lose, or are there situations in which everyone wins?
Do people place too much emphasis on winning?
Do people learn more from losing than from winning?
Is the effort involved in pursuing any goal valuable, even if the goal is not reached?
Happiness
Do people need to compare themselves with others in order to appreciate what they have?
Does fame bring happiness, or are people who are not famous more likely to be happy?
Does having a large number of options to choose from make people happy?
Are people more likely to be happy if they focus on goals other than their own happiness?
Is it more important to do work that one finds fulfilling or work that pays well?
Is happiness something over which people have no control, or can people choose to be happy?
Do success and happiness depend on the choices people make rather than on factors beyond
their control?

Popular Views
Can common sense be trusted and accepted, or should it be questioned?
Is it better for a society when people act as individuals rather than copying the ideas and
opinions of others?
Are widely held views often wrong, or are such views more likely to be correct?
Are organizations or groups most successful when their members pursue individual wishes and
goals?
Is it always better to be original than to imitate or use the ideas of others?
Is it always necessary to find new solutions to problems?
Is criticism judging or finding fault with the ideas and actions of others essential for personal
well-being and social progress?
Can people ever be truly original?
Is it always best to determine one's own views of right and wrong, or can we benefit from
following the crowd?
Is it more valuable for people to fit in than to be unique and different?
Are people more likely to be productive and successful when they ignore the opinions of
others?
Do we put too much value on the ideas or actions of individual people?
Is it important to question the ideas and decisions of people in positions of authority?
Do we tend to accept the opinions of others instead of developing our own independent ideas?
Teamwork
Is it necessary for people to combine their efforts with those of others in order to be most
effective?
Is compromise always the best way to resolve a conflict?
Can a group of people function effectively without someone being in charge?
Do people achieve more success by cooperation than by competition?
Making Decisions
Should people let their feelings guide them when they make important decisions?
Does planning interfere with creativity?
Should people change their decisions when circumstances change, or is it best for them to
stick with their original decisions?
Are decisions made quickly just as good as decisions made slowly and carefully?
Heroes
Should we limit our use of the term "courage" to acts in which people risk their own wellbeing for the sake of others or to uphold a value?
Should we admire heroes but not celebrities?
Is there a value in celebrating certain individuals as heroes?
Ethics
Does being ethical make it hard to be successful?
Are people's actions motivated primarily by a desire for power over others?

 Should people always be loyal?

Do circumstances determine whether or not we should tell the truth?
Is it important to try to understand people's motivations before judging their actions?
Can deception pretending that something is true when it is not sometimes have good results?
Are established rules too limited to guide people in real-life situations?
Should schools help students understand moral choices and social issues?
Social
Is it sometimes necessary to be impolite?
Do all established traditions deserve to remain in existence?
Is the main value of the arts to teach us about the world around us?
Should modern society be criticized for being materialistic?
Should people take more responsibility for solving problems that affect their communities or
the nation in general?
Technology
Has today's abundance of information only made it more difficult for us to understand the
world around us?
Should society limit people's exposure to some kinds of information or forms of expression?
Are there benefits to be gained from avoiding the use of modern technology, even when using
it would make life easier?
Do images and impressions have too much of an effect on people?
Is the most important purpose of technology today different from what it was in the past?
Have modern advancements truly improved the quality of people's lives?
Can knowledge be a burden rather than a benefit?
Is education primarily the result of influences other than school?
Does a strong commitment to technological progress cause a society to neglect other values,
such as education and the protection of the environment?
Are all important discoveries the result of focusing on one subject?
Do newspapers, magazines, television, radio, movies, the Internet, and other media determine
what is important to most people?