Real SAT Prompts from your Dallas SAT tutor

By admin

Hello, everyone,

The following are prompts from the June 2010 SAT. You can find them at the College Board’s website. I’m quoting them directly.

Prompt 1

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.

Common sense tells us that people tend to get along better with those who are like them, who think and act as they do. Many people, however, get along very well with people who are very different from them and may prefer to associate with those whose views and actions are different from their own. In fact, some people even complain that they are bored and irritated by those who are too much like them.

Assignment: Do people tend to get along better with people who are very different from them or with those who are like them? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Prompt 2

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.

From early childhood, we are encouraged—pressured, even—to be in the company of others: we are urged to belong to this or that group, to join this or that club, to spend time with this or that friend. People do everything to avoid being by themselves, treating solitude as though it were the equivalent of loneliness. And yet it is only when people are by themselves that they can truly achieve their most important goals.

Assignment: Is solitude—spending time alone—necessary for people to achieve their most important goals? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Prompt 3

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.

Usually, people look to others around them—ordinary people—for their heroes. They define heroes as decent citizens who make sacrifices or try to make a difference. For example, people name streets after local war veterans, parks after teachers, bridges after local politicians. Rejecting historical, literary, or national figures as heroes, people tend to believe that anyone can be a hero. A hero does not have to be superhuman.

Adapted from Peter H. Gibbon, A Call to Heroism

Assignment: Should ordinary people be considered heroes, or should the term “hero” be reserved for extraordinary people? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Prompt 4

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.

Numerous times in my life I have been called “courageous.” Courage seems like a worthwhile quality, but people use the word so often and so unthinkingly that it has become almost meaningless. As with most words that become overused compliments, it is difficult to come up with a ready definition of “courage.” For example, if a person navigates a small boat through dangerous waters to retrieve an expensive wristwatch, is it correct to call that person courageous?

Adapted from Derrick Bell, Ethical Ambition: Living a Life of Meaning and Worth

Assignment: Is it wrong to use the word “courage” to describe behaviors that are ordinary or self-interested? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

SAT Essay Prompts, March 2010 — from your Dallas SAT tutor

By admin

The College Board has released the March 2010 essay prompts. The text below is quoted directly from the College Board site.

From the College Board:

Prompt 1

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.

Many powerful leaders throughout history have considered themselves above the law and acted in ways that violated the laws or guidelines of their own country or group. People are quick to condemn these leaders, but shouldn’t leaders be held to different standards? If what a leader is doing benefits the majority of the people in a country or group, it does not matter if a law or guideline is violated.

Assignment: Should leaders of a country or group be judged by different standards? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Prompt 2

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.

People are often advised to practice moderation in everything they do. The way to succeed in achieving their goals, they are told, is to remain balanced, controlled, and restrained. But this advice is misguided. Instead of being moderate, people should be passionate and intense. Throughout history, moderation has produced nothing extraordinary or exceptional. Excellence in any pursuit requires excess — great enthusiasm, high energy, and extreme effort.

Assignment: Is moderation an obstacle to achievement and success? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Prompt 3

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.

Possibly because we live in a work-oriented society, most of us feel that we must be continually busy in order to be successful. We are led to believe that fabulous wealth and fame await the person who works the hardest and is always busy. The irony is that taking it easy now and then would help us achieve our goals a lot sooner. In fact, overwork can stifle our creative ability.

Adapted from Ernie J. Zelinski, The Joy of Not Working

Assignment: Does society put too much emphasis on working hard? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

More SAT essay prompts — from your Dallas SAT tutor

By admin

These are taken directly from the College Board’s website; they are actual prompts from the December 2009 test.

Prompt 1

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.

Thanks to the Internet, the word “friendship” now has a much broader meaning. No longer are the bonds of friendship limited to telephone conversations, shared activities, or speaking face-to-face. In this day and age, very close friendships can be formed without the people ever meeting and by simply typing words on a screen.

Adapted from Sharon Hendricks, “A Broader Definition of Friendship”

Assignment:

Is it easier now to form friendships than ever before? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.
Prompt 2

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.

An Internet phone service is offering unlimited free telephone calls for anyone who signs up. There is only one catch: the company will use software to listen to customers’ phone conversations and then send customers advertisements based on what they have been talking about. For example, if they talk about movies with their friends, advertisements for movies will appear on their computer screens. Commentators have voiced concern about customers’ giving up their privacy in exchange for phone service.

Assignment:

Should people give up their privacy in exchange for convenience or free services? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.
Prompt 3

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.

People are often criticized for working out their own ideas before learning all that others have discovered about a problem or subject. But those people are right; it is possible to know too much, especially at first. The time for thorough inquiry and extensive research is later, after you have made your own discoveries and come to your own conclusions.

Adapted from Charles Horton Cooley, Life and the Student

Assignment:

Is it better for people to work out their own ideas on a problem or issue before learning how others have approached it? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Real SAT Essay Questions from your Dallas SAT tutor

By admin

People often ask for sample SAT essay questions so they can practice writing essays. Here are four real SAT essay questions from the June 2009 test, as published by the College Board. (I’m quoting them directly from the College Board website.)

Prompt 1

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.

The discovery that someone we admire has done something wrong is always disappointing and disillusioning. Yet even when people we consider heroes have been tarnished by their faults, they are no less valuable than people who appear perfect. When we learn that an admired person, even one who is seemingly perfect, has behaved in less than admirable ways, we discover a complex truth: great ideas and great deeds come from imperfect people like ourselves.

Prompt 2

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.

Some people say you should be content with what you have and accept who you are. But it is possible that too much self-acceptance can turn into self-satisfied lack of ambition. People should always strive to improve themselves and to have more in their lives—friends, things, opportunities. After all, where would we be if great people, both in history and in our own time, did not try to have more and to improve themselves?

Prompt 3

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.

So-called common sense determines what people should wear, whom they should respect, which rules they should follow, and what kind of life they should lead. Common sense is considered obvious and natural, too sensible to question. But people’s common sense decisions may turn out to be wrong, even if they are thought to be correct according to the judgment of vast majorities of people.

Adapted from Alain de Botton, The Consolations of Philosophy

Prompt 4

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.

Winning does not require people to be against someone else; people can reach their goals through cooperation just as well as they can through competition. Winning is not always the result of selfish individualism. People achieve happiness by cooperating with others to increase the happiness of all, rather than by winning at others’ expense. Ours is not a world in which the price of one person’s happiness is someone else’s unhappiness.

Adapted from Gilbert Brim, Ambition

The Most Important Word in an SAT/ACT Essay

By moiramuldoon

Because.

That’s it — the most important word. You are more persuasive if you provide a reason for something. You will earn a better score on your essay if you are more persuasive.

A Harvard behavioural psychologist (Ellen Langer) did a study to determine how important the word “because” is. The gist of it is that when a person asked to cut in line to make five copies, 60% of people said OK.

When the same person asked to cut in line to make five copies because she was in a rush, 94% of people said OK. When that same person asked to cut in line to make five copies because she needed to make copies, 93% of people said OK.

So, even though that second reason isn’t compelling, the person was vastly more persuasive when she had a reason than when she didn’t. 33% more people said OK, even when the reason was bad. 33%.

I’ve been telling students for years that the two most crucial elements of thesis writing are to answer the question asked and use the word “because” before giving a reason. Explaining WHY you think what you think is critical to success.

Even Harvard psychologists say so.

I haven’t read the whole study yet –and I sure would like to — but I found the information about the study here, among other places.

SAT Essay Prep: Brainstorming

By moiramuldoon

Ideally, before you begin writing the essay or even the thesis, you’ll brainstorm for two-three minutes.

(See the previous post on writing a thesis for the essay prompt.)

For many students, the easiest way to brainstorm is to think of examples. In this case, start naming celebrities: George Clooney, Paris Hilton, Brad and Angelina, A-Rod, Shaq, Paul Newman…then start to think about whether or not these people are happy. Once you determine that, go back and look at the question again. It’s not asking if these folks are happy, it’s asking if their fame brings them happiness. There’s no way to know for sure – and the prompts never have right or wrong answers – so take your best guess and decide whether you want o argue that fame does or does not bring them happiness.

What you want to be sure that you do is think of your examples. Oftentimes, even if you’re not sure what exactly you think, coming up with a few examples in response to the prompt will lead you to taking a side – and getting started on your thesis.

New: SAT Writing Workshop

By moiramuldoon

I’m putting together an essay writing workshop — we’ll meet from 6-8:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 9.

The first hour will be straight class about how to write an SAT essay. The second part will involve students writing an essay, grading/critiquing a student essay, and then grading their own essays. Nothing helps students understand a grading rubric better than grading actual work.

Workshops are terrific for getting a broad understanding of the SAT essay process — plus workshops are really, really fun. I will also continue to provide detailed feedback on essays in one-on-one tutoring sessions or over email.

If you are interested in this writing workshop, let me know (testpreptexas@yahoo.com), and I’ll send you more details.

By moiramuldoon

SAT Essay Prep: Thesis, part 1

Writing a good clear thesis is essential to a successful essay. You want a thesis that does several things:

1. Answers the prompt
2. Takes a side
3. Explains WHY you think what you think

Number three is the tough one. Let’s take a look at the first two first.

Here’s a prompt from the June 2008 SAT, which I’m quoting directly from the College Board website:

Prompt 1

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.

Most of us are convinced that fame brings happiness. Fame, it seems, is among the things people most desire. We believe that to be famous, for whatever reason, is to prove oneself and confirm that one matters in the world. And yet those who are already famous often complain of the terrible burden of fame. In fact, making the achievement of fame one’s life goal involves commitments of time and effort that are usually wasted.

Adapted from Leszek Kolakowski, Freedom, Fame, Lying, and Betrayal: Essays on Everyday Life

Assignment:

Does fame bring happiness, or are people who are not famous more likely to be happy? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

OK, so after reading this, you brainstorm for two or three minutes and think of some famous people: Paris Hilton, Paul Newman, George Clooney, George Bush, Brad and Angelina. Are they happy? Well, it’s not like you know them and can say for sure, but it seems like they’re happy. WHY are they happy? Is it because of the fame? It seems like maybe that’s true for Paris Hilton, but not for Brad and Angelina or for Paul Newman. So, you decide to write that no, fame does not bring happiness.

OK. great. You have taken a side and answered the prompt, so your thesis might look like this:

‘As evidenced by the lives of celebrities, fame does not bring happiness.’

OK. That’s good. It’s clear, it’s direct, it answers the question asked.

What it still needs to do to be a knockout is explain WHY you think that fame does not bring happiness. Which brings us to item number 3.

So, WHY don’t you think that fame is responsible for making people happy? Well, though people pursue it, they also complain about it and try to escape it — Brad and Angelina went all the way to Africa to have a baby, so they could escape their fame. Paul Newman was happiest at his camp for disabled children — where no one knew who he was. If fame brought them happiness, why would they want to escape their fame??

So your revised thesis might look like this:

“If you look closely at the lives of celebrities, it’s clear that fame does not bring happiness because the celebrities often try to escape their fame, and few people run away from things that bring them happiness.”

Here’s the magic piece: “Because.”

If you can answer the prompt and then add the word “because” and then explain the reasons that led you to choose the side that you did, your thesis will be much stronger. I repeat: What’s important here is that you can articulate WHY you have chosen the side that you did — in this case, WHY you think that celebrities aren’t happy because of fame.

End of part 1.

Next post: More on Brainstorming…