Prompts Sat

sit probe Prompt Bank 5th Edition Compiled by emailprotected March 10, 2008 Table of Contents probe Scoring Guide.. .. 3 Practice audition Prompts. 4 May 2006 Essay Prompts. 5 Oct. 2006 Essay Prompts. 7 Nov. 2006 Essay Prompts . 8 Dec. 2006 Essay Prompts.. 9 Jan. 2007 Essay Prompts11 Mar. 2007 Essay Prompts 12 May 2007 Essay Prompts 13 June. 2007 Essay Prompts 14 Dec. 2007 Essay Prompts 16 Nov. 2007 Essay Prompts.. .. 17 Dec. 2007 Essay Prompts.. .. .. 19 Jan. 2008 Essay Prompts20 Mar. 2008 Essay Prompts 22 SAT Practice Essay Prompts Prompt 1 work out c atomic number 18fully to the highest degree(predicate) the free presented in the chase infusion and the assignment below. rough persons believe that to move up the ladder of success and turn overment, they must forget the past, repress it, and relinquish it. But some others go through just the opposite clear. They see sometime(a) memories as a chance to reckon with the past and integrate past and present. Adapted fr om Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot, Ive Known Rivers Lives of Loss and Liberation ap heightee Do memories hinder or help battalion in their effort to learn from the past and succeed in the present? Plan and print an taste in which you come apart your argue of locating on this takings. patronage your define with reason out and examples interpreted from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 2 r all(prenominal)y guardedly just or so the solvent presented in the followers withdraw and the assignment below. When flock form opinions active some unity or something, what disturbs them roughly is non tenderness yet style.In other words, the carriage something appears or is presented is to a greater extent important than what it actually is. This principle affects how battalion look at their leadership and their lives, the books they read, the products they buy, and even the subjects they maintain at school. assignment Is style more(prenominal) (prenominal) important than substance? Plan and carry through an picture in which you develop your smear of view on this issue. hold water your rig with conclude and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.Prompt 3 return c befully about the issue presented in the by-line natural selection and the assignment below. If we valued h angiotensin-converting enzymesty, we would be exiting to risk our jobs to become whistleblowers and tell truths that our employers did not wish revealed. If we valued success, we would give up our free time in order to excel in a subject or sport. In other words, the sacrifices we atomic number 18 willing to make reveal what we care about the most. concession Can what we value be determined nevertheless by what we sacrifice? Plan and spell out an rise in which you develop your register of view on this issue. make your place with argumentation and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 4 remember conservatively about the issue presented in the interest exclude and the assignment below. Something flawed is far more interesting than something perfect. Perfection is a trifle dull. It is not the least of spiritednesss ironies that this, which we all aim at, is get out not quite achieved. -Adapted from W. Somerset Maugham, The Summing Up grant Is perfection something to be admired or sought afterward? Plan and write an taste in which you develop your point of view on this issue. concord your position with argument and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 5 pretend guardedly about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. We need to remember that wisdom is not just about what we remember or dwell, but more importantly, how we act. Simply cosmos smart is not enough. I define wisdom as the application of intelligence and experience toward the attainment of a common heavy. In other words, the wisest battalion are those who look out not just for themselves but similarly for others. -Adapted from Robert J.Sternberg, Teaching for Wisdom in Our Schools appointment What makes a person wise? Are the wisest large number merely smart or are they also concerned with the well(p)-being of others? Plan and write an look for in which you develop your point of view on this issue. funding your position with reason out and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. May 2006 SAT Essay Prompts Prompt 1 Think conservatively about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Some tribe claim that each item-by-item is solely creditworthy for what happens to him or her.But the claim that we ought to take absolute responsibility for the kinds of people we are and the kinds of lives we lead suggests that we have complete control over our lives. We do not. The circumstances of our lives bear make it mor e or less impossible to make certain kinds of choices. -Adapted from Gordon D. Marino, I Think You Should Be Responsible Me, Im Not So Sure Assignment Are we free to make our own decisions or are we limited in the choices we tidy sum make? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. fight down your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. Prompt 2 Think conservatively about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Certainly anyone who insists on condemning all lies should call about what would happen if we could reliably tell when our family, friends, colleagues, and government leaders were deceiving us. It is tempting to think that the world would become a snap off interpose without the deceptions that bet to interfere with our attempts are genuine communication.On the other hand, perhaps there is much(prenominal) a thing as too much honesty. Adapted from Allison Kornet, The Truth About Lying Assignment Would the world be a better place if everyone incessantly told the complete truth? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. attendant 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. It is not that people dislike being part of a community it is just that they care about their individual freedoms more. tidy sum value neighborliness and social interaction until being part of a conference requires them to limit their freedom for the larger good of the group. But a community or group skunknot function effectively unless people are willing to se aside their ad hominem interests. Adapted from Warren Johnson, The Future Is Not What It Used To Be Assignment Does the success of a community whether it is a class, a team, a family, a nation, or any other group depend upon peoples willingness to limit their personal interests? 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. thither is an old saying A person with one watch knows what time it is a person with two watches isnt so sure. In other words, a person who looks at an aspiration or event from two different angles sees something different from each position. Moreover, two or more people looking at the same thing whitethorn each perceive something different. In other words, truth, like beauty, may lie in the affection of the beholder.Adapted from Gregory D. Foster, Ethics Time to Revisit the Basics Assignment Does the truth change depending on how people look at things? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your poin t of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. October 2006 SAT Essay Prompts Prompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. While some people promote competition as the only way to achieve success, others emphasize the power of cooperation.Intense rivalry at work or play or engaging in competition involving ideas or skills may indeed bowel movement people either to avoid failure or to achieve important victories. In a complex world, however, cooperation is much more likely to produce significant, durable accomplishments. Assignment Do people achieve more success by cooperation than by competition? 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.Sometimes it is necessary to challenge what people in authority claim to be true. Although some respect for authority is, no doubt, necessary in order for any group or organization to function, questioning the people in charge-even if they are experts or leaders in their fields-makes us better thinkers. It forces all concerned to defend old ideas and decisions and to consider new ones. Sometimes it can even correct old errors in thought and put an end to pervert actions. Assignment Is it important to question the ideas and decisions of people in positions of authority?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. We dont sincerely learn anything properly until there is a conundrum, until we make a mistake, until something fails to go as we had hoped. When everything is working well, with no problems or failures, what incentive do we have to demonstrate something new? We are only motivated to learn when we experience difficulties.Adapted from Alain de Botton, How Proust Can Change Your Life Not a Novel Assignment Does true study only occur when we experience difficulties? 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. There are two kinds of pretending. There is the bad kind, as when a person falsely promises to be your friend.But there is also a good kind, where the pretense eventually turns into the really thing. For example, when you are not feeling particularly friendly, the best thing you can do, very often, is to ac t in a friendly manner. In a few minutes, you may in truth be feeling friendlier. Adapted from a book by C. S. Lewis Assignment Can deceptionpretending that something is true when it is notsometimes have good results? 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.November 2006 SAT Essay Prompts Prompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. It is wrong to think of ourselves as indispensable. We would love to think that our contributions are essential, but we are mistaken if we think that any one person has made the world what it is today. The contributions of individual people are seldom as important or as necessary as we think they are. Assignment Do we put too much value on the ideas or actions of individual people? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on t his 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. Many people deny that stories about characters and events that are not real can discipline us about ourselves or about the world around us. They claim that literature does not offer us worthwhile data about the real world. These people argue that the feelings and ideas we gain from books and stories obstruct, sooner than contribute to, clear thought. Adapted from Jennifer L. McMahon, The Function of FictionAssignment Can books and stories about characters and events that are not real teach us anything useful? 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 follo wing excerpt and the assignment below. No one is perfect. There are few among us who would disagree with this familiar statement. Certain that perfection is an impossible goal, umpteen people willingly accept flaws and shortcomings in themselves and others.Yet such behavior leads to failure. People can only succeed if they try to achieve perfection in everything they do. Assignment Can people achieve success only if they aim to be perfect? 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. bothbody has some choice. People are ever blaming their circumstances for what they are.I dont believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they compulsion and, if they cant find t hem, make them. Adapted from George Bernard Shaw, Mrs. Warrens Profession Assignment Do success and happiness depend on the choices people make rather than on factors beyond their control? 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. declination 2006 SAT Essay PromptsPrompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. In order to be the most productive and successful people that we are capable of being, we must be willing to ignore the opinions of others. It is only when we are completely indifferent to others opinions of uswhen we are not concerned about how others think of usthat we can achieve our most important goals. Assignment Are people more likely to be productive and successful when they ignore the opinions of others? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of vie w 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. In many another(prenominal) circumstances, optimismthe expectation that ones ideas and plans will always turn out for the bestis unwarranted. In these situations what is needed is not an upbeat view but a realistic one. There are times when people need to take a tough-minded view of the possibilities of success, give up, and invest their energies elsewhere rather than find reasons to continue to pursue the original project or idea.Adapted from Martin E. P. Seligman, Learned Optimism Assignment Is it better for people to be realistic or optimistic? 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 care fully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. It is easy to make judgments about people and their actions when we do not know anything about their circumstances or what motivated them to take those actions.But we should look beyond a persons actions. When people do things that we consider outrageous, inconsiderate, or harmful, we should try to understand why they acted as they did. Assignment Is it important to try to understand peoples motivations before judgment their actions? 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.Abraham Lincoln said, Most people are about as keen as they make up their minds to be. In other words, our personal level of satisfaction is entirely within our control. Otherwise, why would the same experience disappoint one person but delight another? Happiness is not an accident but a choice. Assignment Is happiness something over which people have no control, or can people spot 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.January 2007 SAT Essay Prompts Prompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Many people believe that our government should do more to solve our problems. After all, how can one individual create more jobs or make roads safer or improve the schools or help to provide any of the other benefits that we have come to enjoy? And yet expecting that the governmentrather than individualsshould always come up with the solutions to societys ills may have made us less self-reliant, undermining our independence and self-sufficiency.Assig nment Should people take more responsibility for solving problems that affect their communities or the nation in general? 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. Most human beings lead their lives doing work they hate and work that the world does not need. It is of prime importance that you learn early what you want to do and whether or not the world involve this service.The return from your work must be the satisfaction that work brings you and the worlds need of that work. Income is not money, it is satisfaction it is creation it is beauty. Adapted from W. E. B. Du Bois, The Autobiography of W. E. B. Du Bois A Soliloquy on Viewing My Life from the Last Decade of Its First Century Assignment Is it more important to do work that on e finds fulfilling or work that pays well? 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. The education people receive does not occur primarily in school. tender people are formed by their experiences with parents, teachers, peers, and even strangers on the street, and by the sports teams they play for, the shopping malls they frequent, the songs they hear, and the shows they watch. Schools, while certainly important, constitute only a comparatively small part of education. Adapted from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Education for the Twenty-First Century Assignment Is education primarily the result of influences other than school?Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning a nd 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. If we are dissatisfied with our circumstances, we think about changing them. But the most important and effective changesin our attitudehardly occur to us. In other words, we should worry not about how to alter the world around us for the better but about how to change ourselves in order to fit into that world.Adapted from Michael Hymers, Wittgenstein, Pessimism and Politics Assignment Is it better to change ones attitude than to change ones circumstances? 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. March 2007 SAT Essay Prompts Prompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. From the time people are very young, they are urged to get along with others, to try to fit in. Indeed, people are often rewarded for being agreeable and obedient.But this approach is misguided because it promotes uniformity instead of encouraging people to be unique and different. Differences among people give each of us greater perspective and allow us to make better judgments. Assignment Is it more valuable for people to fit in than to be unique and different? 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.It is easy to imagine that events and experiences in our lives will be perfect, but no matter how good something turns out to be, it can never live up to our expectations. Reality never matches our imaginations. For that reason, we should make sure our plans and goals ar e modest and attainable. We are much better off when reality surpasses our expectations and something turns out better than we thought it would. Adapted from Baltasar Gracian y Morales, The Art of Worldly Wisdom Assignment Is it best to have low expectations and to set goals we are sure of achieving?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. Every event has consequences that are potentially beneficial. We may not always be happy about an experience, but we should at least gain in some way from it. For example, the worldwide gasoline shortage in the early 1970s created many hardships but inspired efforts to conserve energy.Whether the gains are large or small, there is something demonstrable or useful for us in everything that happens t o us. Assignment Do we really benefit from every event or experience in some way? 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. May 2007 SAT Essay Prompts Prompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Materialism its the thing that everybody loves to hate.Few aspects of modern smell have been more criticized than materialism. But lets face it materialismacquiring possessions and spending moneyis a vital source of meaning and happiness in our time. People may criticize modern society for being too materialistic, but the fact remains that most of us spend most of our energy producing and overpowering more and more stuff. Adapted from James Twitchell, Two Cheers for Materialism Assignment Should modern society be criticized for being materialistic? 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. Knowledge is power. In agriculture, medicine, and industry, for example, knowledge has liberated us from hunger, disease, and tedious labor. Today, however, our knowledge has become so powerful that it is beyond our control. We know how to do many things, but we do not know where, when, or even whether this know-how should be used. Assignment Can knowledge be a burden rather than a benefit?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. We do not take the time to determine right from wrong. Reflecting on the variation between right and wrong is hard work. It is so much easier to follow the crowd, going along with what is best-selling(predicate) rather than risking the disapproval of others by voicing an objection of any kind. Adapted from Stephen J.Carter, Integrity Assignment Is it always best to determine ones own views of right and wrong, or can we benefit from following the crowd? 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. It is often the case that unveil the complete truth may bring troublediscomfort, embarrassment, sadness, or even harmto oneself or to another person.In these circumstances, it is better not to express our real thoughts and feelings. Whether or not we should tell the truth, therefore, depends on t he circumstances. Assignment Do circumstances determine whether or not we should tell the truth? 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. June 2007 SAT Essay Prompts Prompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.People are happy only when they have their minds fixed on some goal other than their own happiness. Happiness comes when people focus instead on the happiness of others, on the improvement of humanity, on some course of action that is followed not as a means to anything else but as an end in itself. Aiming at something other than their own happiness, they find happiness along the way. The only way to be happy is to pursue some goal external to your own happiness. Adapted from John Stuart Mill, Autobiography Assignment Are people more likely to be happy if they focus on goa ls other than their own happiness?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. Heroes may seem old-fashioned today. Many people are cynical and seem to enjoy discrediting role models more than creating new ones or cherishing those they already have. Some people, moreover, object to the very idea of heroes, arguing that we should not exalt individuals who, after all, are only flesh and blood, just like the rest of us.But we desperately need heroesto teach us, to captivate us through their words and deeds, to inspire us to greatness. Adapted from Psychology Today, How To Be Great What Does It Take To Be A Hero? Assignment Is there a value in celebrating certain individuals as heroes? 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.The advancements that have been made over the past hundred years or more are too numerous to count. But has there been progress? Some people would say that the vast number of advancements tells us we have made progress. Others, however, disagree, saying that more is not necessarily better and that real progressin politics, literature, the arts, experience and engine room, or any other fieldcan be achieved only when an advancement truly improves the quality of our lives. Assignment Have modern advancements truly modify the quality of peoples lives? 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 It is not true that prosperity is better for people than adversity. When people are thriving and content, they seldom feel the need to look for ways to improve themselves or their situation. Hardship, on the other hand, forces people to closely examineand possibly changetheir own lives and even the lives of others. Misfortune rather than prosperity helps people to gain a greater understanding of themselves and the world around them. Assignment Do people truly benefit from hardship and misfortune?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. October 2007 SAT Essay Prompts Prompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. A person does not simply receive his or her identity. Identity is much more than the name or features one is born with. True identity is something people must create for them selves by making choices that are significant and that require a valorous commitment in the face of challenges.Identity means having ideas and values that one lives by. Adapted from Thomas Merton, Contemplation in a World of Action Assignment Is identity something people are born with or given, or is it something people create for themselves? 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.We value uniqueness and originality, but it seems that everywhere we turn, we are surrounded by ideas and things that are copies or even copies of copies. Writers, artists, and musicians seek new ideas for paintings, books, songs, and movies, but many sadly realize, Its been done. The same is true for scientists, scholars, and businesspeople. Everyone wan ts to create something new, but at best we can hope only to repeat or imitate what has already been done. Assignment Can people ever be truly original? 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. All people who have achieved greatness in something knew what they excelled at. These people identified the skills that made them specialgood judgment, or courage, or a special artistic or literary talentand focused on developing these skills. Yet most people achieve superiority in nothing because they fail to identify and develop their sterling(prenominal) attribute.Adapted from Baltasar Gracian y Morales, The Art of Worldly Wisdom Assignment Do people achieve greatness only by finding out what they are in particular good at and developing tha t attribute above all else? 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. Having many admirers is one way to become a celebrity, but it is not the way to become a hero. Heroes are self-made.Yet in our daily lives we see no difference between celebrities and heroes. For this reason, we deprive ourselves of real role models. We should admire heroespeople who are famous because they are greatbut not celebritiespeople who simply seem great because they are famous. Adapted from Daniel Boorstin, The Image A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America Assignment Should we admire heroes but not celebrities? 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 readin g, studies, experience, or observations.November 2007 SAT Essay Prompts Prompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. People today have so many choices. For instance, thirty years ago most television viewers could choose from only a few impart today there are more than a hundred channels available. And choices do not just abound when it comes to the media. People have more options in almost every area of life. With so much to choose from, how can we not be happy? Assignment Does having a large number of options to choose from make people 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. Prompt 2 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. We are often urged to solve problems by ignoring traditional approaches and by finding solutions that are innovative or unconventional. We are encouraged to be creative and to trust that a new way of thinking will yield new insights. But innovation may be impractical and unnecessary.The best ways of fixing problems are often the triedandtrue ways. Assignment Is it always necessary to find new solutions to problems? 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. Many people consider the artsliterature, music, painting, and other creative activitiesunnecessary because they provide us with nothing more than entertainment.Yet the arts are extremely valuable because they have much to teach us about the world around us and also because they help people find meaning in life. Assignment Is the main value of the arts to teach us about the worl d around us? 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. All people judge or criticize the ideas and actions of others.At times, these criticisms hurt or embarrass the people receiving them. Other criticisms seem to be intended to make the critics appear superior. And yet criticism is essential to our success as individuals and as a society. Adapted from Ken Petress, Constructive Criticism A Tool for Improvement Assignment Is criticismjudging or finding fault with the ideas and actions of othersessential for personal well-being and social progress? 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.D ecember 2007 SAT Essay Prompts Prompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. The first problem for all of us is not to learn but to unlearn. We hold on to ideas that were accepted in the past, and we are afraid to give them up. Preconceptions about what is right or wrong, true or false, good or bad are embedded so deeply in our thinking that we honestly may not know that they are there. Whether its womens role in society or the role of our country in the world, the old assumptions just dont work anymore.Adapted from Gloria Steinem, A New Egalitarian modus vivendi Assignment Do people need to unlearn, or reject, many of their assumptions and ideas? 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 assignmen t below. Our determination to pursue truth by setting up a fight between two sides leads us to believe that every issue has two sidesno more, no less.If we know both sides of an issue, all of the relevant information will emerge, and the best case will be made for each side. But this forge does not always lead to the truth. Often the truth is somewhere in the complex middle, not the oversimplified extremes. Adapted from Deborah Tannen, The Argument Culture Assignment Should people choose one of two opposing sides of an issue, or is the truth usually found in the middle? 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. All around us appearances are mistaken for reality. Clever advertisements create favorable impressions but say little or noth ing about the products they promote. In stores, colorful packages are often better than their contents. In the media, how certain entertainers, politicians, and other public figures appear is more important than their abilities. All too often, what we think we see becomes far more important than what really is. Assignment Do images and impressions have too much of an effect on 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 Until fairly recently, proficient innovations and inventions were intended to serve basic human needs or desires. Today, however, the most important and urgent problem confronting us is no longer the satisfaction of basic needs. The primary purpose of modern technology is to solve the unintended problems caused by the technology of years past.Adapted from Dennis Gabor, Innovations Scientific, Technologic al, and Social Assignment Is the most important purpose of technology today different from what it was in the past? 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. January 2008 SAT Essay Prompts Prompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. It is better to try to be original than to merely imitate others. People should always try to say, write, think, or create something new.There is little value in merely reiterate what has been done before. People who merely copy or use the ideas and inventions of others, no matter how successful they may be, have never achieved anything significant. Assignment Is it always better to be original than to imitate or use the ideas of others? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoni ng 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.Often we see people who persist in trying to achieve a particular goal, even when all the evidence indicates that they will be unlikely to achieve it. When they succeed, we consider them courageous for having overcome impossible obstacles. But when they fail, we think of them as headstrong, foolhardy, and bent on self-destruction. To many people, great effort is only worthwhile when it results in success. Adapted from gilbert Brim, Ambition Assignment Is the effort involved in pursuing any goal valuable, even if the goal is not reached? 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 th e assignment below. Newness has become our obsession. Novelty is more interesting to us than continuing with whatever is tried and true. We discard the old so we can acquire the most recent model, the latest version, the newest and most improved formula. Often, we replace what is useful just because it is no longer new. Not only with material goods but also with cultural values, we prefer whatever is the latest trend.Assignment Should people always prefer new things, ideas, or values to those of the past? 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. Since we live in a global society, surely we should view ourselves as citizens of the whole world. But instead, people choose to identify and associate with smaller and more familiar groups.P eople think of themselves as belonging to families, nations, cultures, and generationsor as belonging to smaller groups whose members share ideas, views, or common experiences. All of these kinds of groups may offer people a feeling of security but also prevent them from learning or experiencing anything new. Assignment Is there any value for people to belong only to a group or groups with which they have something in common? 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.March 2008 SAT Essay Prompts Prompt 1 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Organizations or groups that share a common goal often mention teamwork as their mystical to success by insisting that people in the group work together for the good of the entire group. However, by requiring each individual to accept the decis ions of the others in the group, organizations may discourage the expression of individual talent. Ultimately, a group is most successful when all of its members are encouraged to pursue their own goals and interests.Assignment Are organizations or groups most successful when their members pursue individual wishes and 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 2 Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below. Being loyal snug or dedicated to someone or somethingis not always easy. People often have conflicting loyalties, and there are no guidelines that help them define to what or whom they should be loyal.Moreover, people are often loyal to something bad. Still, loyalty is one of the essential attributes a person must have and must conduct of others. Adapted from James Carvil le, Stickin The Case for Loyalty Assignment Should people always be loyal? 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. Winning feels forever fabulous.But you can learn more from losing than from winning. Losing prepares you for setback and tragedy more than winning ever can. Moreover, loss invites reflection and a change of strategies. In the process of recovering from your losses, you learn how to avoid them the next time. Adapted from Pat Conroy, My Losing Season Assignment Do people learn more from losing than from winning? 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.