The SAT starts with an essay -- it will always be the first section. The essay prompt consists of a quote, and a question; you have to pick a position based on the question and give examples from history, literature, or your own experience, to present your position.
The key thing to remember when answering these essay prompts is that the people scoring the essay are not trying to find out what you truly believe -- all they want to know if whether you can write. You don't have to decide what you honestly think about the topic, you just need to figure out which position is easier to write.
Maybe you think that memories are hugely important, that we are doomed to fail in the present if we do not remember our past and learn from it, but the only example you can think of shows the opposite: the first time you stood up in front of your English class to present your book report you were nervous but excited because you really liked the book you read and were eager to share your report with the class, and you were sure the teacher would give you a good grade because you were so prepared and had even gone above and beyond and added extra stuff to your presentation. But when you walked up to the front of the class, this one guy in the front row made a farting noise as you walked by, and the whole class laughed; and then, when he saw the title of the book you were presenting, he made a joke about what a stupid book that was and the whole class laughed again. You were so upset you stumbled through your presentation, made lots of mistakes, and didn't even present half the stuff you had planned on presenting, and barely made a passing grade. Because of that experience, you hated doing the book reports, and always left them until the last minute and were unprepared when it was time to present in class. If you could let go of that memory of the first book report, if you could repress that memory and move on, you would be able to work on your book report presentations with the same enthusiasm you had before the jerk ruined your first presentation.
The readers do not care what you actually think, and remember there is no "right" answer. You need concrete examples for your position; if you can think of one or two good examples, then write on that position, even if you do not personally feel strongly about it.
If you can find examples in history or literature, that's great -- it shows you know your history and literature. Burt if you can't think of any examples from history or literature, don't panic; use a personal example (something that happened to you or someone you know). As long as you can communicate your ideas clearly and present a relevant example, the readers are happy. If you look at the sample essays on the College Board website, you will see the first example of an essay that scored a 6 gives a personal example, not one from literature or history.
Take a moment to read the sample essays and why they scored how they did. Make sure you look at the high-scoring essays and the low-scoring ones!
The "Strategies" tab gives some useful tips on how to write a successful SAT essay; also worth a read! Also take a look at the "Effective Writing" tab for more tips.
One thing that makes the SAT essay so nerve-wracking is the fact that you have a mere 25 minutes to read the prompt, think of examples, pick a position, and write the essay. Keep a couple things in mind: A) the readers know that you only had 25 minutes to do all this, and B) the readers will only spend a few minutes reading and grading your essay. They won't spend a bunch of time over-analyzing every detail; they will read over your essay once or twice, and give it a score. Then they'll move on to the next essay.
Every essay is read by two people. Each person gives the essay a score from 1-6 (essays that do not address the topic receive a score of 0). If both scores are within one number of each other, the scores are added together and this gives you your final score, a number between 2-12. If the two readers' scores differ by more than one point (Reader A gave you a 2, and Reader B gave you a 4, for example), then a third reader evaluates your essay. However, according to The Official SAT Study Guide (published by the College Board, the makers of the SAT), "fewer than 3 percent of the essays scored go to a third reader."
Here is the rubric the SAT readers use to score your essays: SAT Essay Scoring - How SAT Essays Are Scored
If you want some extra free SAT practice materials, check the Question of the Day, sample SAT practice questions, or the full SAT practice test available on the College Board's website.
