SAT practice Essay

Hey guys. For anyone reading this, this was a practice SAT test we took, written in 25 minutes without any revision whatsoever. I'm not very confident about this essay. It just feels really unorganized, but what I want to say is in it. I'm not sure if it's worded and organized in the best way possible. Well, tell me what you think.


The media does determine what is important to most people through advertisement. The quote says "The media not only transmit information and culture, they also decide what information is important. In that way, they help to shape cultures and values." In magazines, they show celebrities that people like, and people want to be just like them. The magazine ads are trying to tell us what's hot and what's not. People wear their hair like many celebrities, get cosmetic surgery to make a certain part look like them, etc. So why doesn't the media save money on their ads by using any person they can get off the streets? That's because having a celebrity increases the value on the item alot more. The fact that a celebrity does the ad makes us people want it more because most people want to be as similar to the celebrity as much as possible. They want to be as popular as they can by trying to be like a celebrity. Smoking ads would sometimes use celebrities and show them smoking and being cool. The idea behind it is to give us the sense that "It's cool to smoke because ___ smokes too and look where it's gotten him/her into. It's OK to do it."
The "most people" referred to in this essay is usually all teenagers. Guys often talk freely about hot celebrities having a really nice chest and ass in this magazine or in this movie or in this TV show, etc. This is because the media shows female celebrities with a really hot guy have nice chest and ass. This gives guys the idea that that is the most important thing on a girl rather than the personality stuff. Girls know that guys are crazy for the chest and ass that is considered "good" on a girl. They want guys to like them, but how? They see all the media where only the women with the hot face, big chest and nice ass get all the guys. So the girls think they have to be like them because that is what's most important.
However, this isn't always the case. There is something that the media can't change by trying to determine what's hot and what's not. The media controls most people's minds with what "looks" hot on a girl/guy. However, many people like the personality trait WITHIN the opposite sex too. That can't be changed. Some people don't care whatsoever about the physical appearance on the opposite sex. Sometimes they just care about their kindness, their passion, their inner beauty. Although the media can surely determine the importance of what's hot, they cannot determine which personality is best. That is 100% personal. Personality is unbreakable, and impenetrable to anything. Personality is the tough inner core within us all that speaks so much about us despite what we may look like.