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SAT Essay Prompts College Board - Past ExamsRecommend us to a friend:
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The SAT Essay question is always presented the same way: a passage or quote that relates to the idea within the prompt, and then the prompt itself.
Do not respond the the passage ABOUT the topic. Read it to get a view of the ideas in the prompt.
Then, below that, is the prompt. It is always phrased with one sentence. The sentence following the prompt gives you the only instructions you receive for how to write the essay.
PromptThink 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Assignment:Do we benefit from learning about the flaws of people we admire and respect? 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.
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?
Assignment:Is it best for people to accept who they are and what they have, or should people always strive to better 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.
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
Assignment:Can common sense be trusted and accepted, or should it be questioned? 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.
Latest SAT Prompts - 2011 -
The new SAT Exam, March 2017, included a new, and improved essay requirement. There are very few actual samples, and test-prep companies have no more insight into these than anyone else. From the College Board:
The Essay Portion of the [2017] SAT: Introduction to the SAT Essay Sample Essays from the College Board
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