A second example of an American who did what he believed rather than what most people thought he should do is the former Illinois governor, George Ryan

    Henry David Thoreau and George Ryan are just two examples from countless Americans who have made a difference by sticking to their own beliefs

    Language

    Essay scorers consider the accuracy, variety, and difficulty of vocabulary the writer uses.

    Language like this won't earn a high score:

    In life, there is a lot of pressure to do what other people want you to do. Sometimes it's smart to do what other people want you to do.

    Language like this will earn a high score:

    In life, there are many pressures to conform to resist these pressures too strongly.

    Sentence Structure

    The correctness and variety of sentences are also important to the overall score.

    Here's an example of a conclusion with unvaried sentence structure:

    We need to listen to our inner voice. We need to resist the pressures to conform to the expectations of others. We don't want to lose the ability to think and act for ourselves. We would never discover our own potential for greatness.

    Here's an example of an improved conclusion with varied sentence structure:

    If we don't listen to our inner voice, if we never resist the pressures to conform to the expectations of others, we eventually lose the ability to think and act for ourselves. Moreover, we never discover our own potential for greatness.

    Conventions

    For the SAT, this means the correct use of punctuation, grammar, and mechanics (subject-verb agreement, verb tense, subject-pronoun agreement, etc.). Spelling is generally not an important factor, unless, of course, errors make the language incomprehensible