<p>Please generously post up essay prompts of past SATs.</p>
<p>This is gonna be immensely helpful to us since we can actually see what kind of topics the collegeboard are likely give</p>
<p>Also if I may add something, please add sample works of literature that can be used (not arcane ones, but classics that most people in 9-11th grade have probably read) with those topics. That’ll give an idea of what kinds of topics can be used with certain books.</p>
<p>Here are some essay prompts I collected to study for
College Board January 2006 SAT
Prompt 1
Every important discovery results from patience, perseverance, and concentrationsometimes continuing for months or yearson one specific subject. A person who wants to discover a new truth must remain absorbed by that one subject, must pay no attention to any thought that is unrelated to the problem.
Adapted from Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Advice for a young Investigator
Assignment: Are all important discoveries the result of focusing on one subject? 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
A colleague of the great scientist James Watson remarked that Watson was always “lounging around, arguing about problems instead of doing experiments.” He concluded that “There is more than one way of doing good science.” It was Watson’s form of idleness, the scientist went on to say, that allowed him to solve “the greatest of all biological problems: the discovery of the structure of DNA.” It is a point worth remembering in a society overly concerned with efficiency.
Adapted from John C. Polanyi, “Understanding Discovery”
Assignment: Do people accomplish more when they are allowed to do things in their own 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.
Prompt 3
An actor, when his cue came, was unable to move onto the stage. He said, “I can’t get in, the chair is in the way.” And the producer said, “Use the difficulty. If it’s a drama, pick the chair up and smash it. If it’s a comedy fall over it.” From this experience the actor concluded that in any situation in life that is negative, there is something positive you can do with it.
Adapted from Lawrence Eisenberg, “Caine Scrutiny”
Assignment: Can any obstacle or disadvantage be turned into something good? 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.
SparkNotes Sample prompts</p>
<ol>
<li>Essay Prompt:Think carefully about the following statement. Then read the assignment below it and plan and write your essay as directed.The more things change, the more they stay the same.Assignment: Do you agree with this statement? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your position on this issue. Support your point of view with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.</li>
<li>Essay Prompt:Consider carefully the following statement. Then read the assignment below it and plan and write your essay as directed.It is as difficult to start things as it is to finish things.Assignment: Do you agree with this statement? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your position on this issue. Support your point of view with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations. </li>
<li>Essay Prompt:Consider carefully the following quotation. Then read the assignment below it and plan and write your essay as directed.All art is an imitation of nature. Seneca, Roman philosopher, c. 4 B.C.A.D. 65Assignment: Do you agree with this statement? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your position on this issue. Support your point of view with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.
Collegeboard December 2005 prompt:</li>
</ol>
<p>Prompt 1
We like to think that if someone has “the right stuff,” he or she will naturally rise to the top. But it isn’t true. In that same way that acting talent doesn’t guarantee stardom, the capacity for leadership doesn’t guarantee that one will run a corporation or a government. In fact, at least in our time, genuine achievement is not highly valued, and those who are skilled at achieving greatness are not necessarily those who are ready to lead.
Adapted from Warren Bennis, On Becoming a Leader
Assignment: Are leaders necessarily people who are most capable of leadership? 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
How valuable is history for our generation? On the surface this question is not as easy as it once might have been, for there is a widespread belief that history may no longer be relevant to modern life. We live, after all, in an age that appears very different from the world that came before us.
Stephen Vaughn, “History: Is It Relevant?”
Assignment: Is knowledge of the past no longer useful for us today? 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
The free expression of thoughts and opinions is one of humanity’s most precious rights. Every citizen must be able to speak, write, and publish freely, provided that he or she is held accountable for the abuse of this liberty in cases determined by the law.
Adapted from Thomas Paine, Rights of Man
Assignment: Is it necessary to limit or put restrictions on freedom of thought and expression? 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
Progress is likely to slow down once science and technology have met our basic human needs. New developments in science and technology will not continue to produce more societal benefits. In fact, the promise that science and technology will continue to benefit us is increasingly doubtful when so many individuals find their lives changing in ways they cannot control and in directions they do not desire.
Adapted from Daniel Sarewitz, “Social Change and Science Policy”
Assignment: Do the benefits of scientific and technological developments come at the cost of undesirable changes to people’s 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.</p>
<p>Here are some more I found on some websites
- Prompt:
“That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly. It is dearness only which gives everything its value.”
Thomas Paine
Assignment:
Do we value only what we struggle for? Plan your response, and then write an essay to explain your views on this issue. Be sure to support your position with specific points and examples. (You may use personal examples or examples from your reading, observations, or, knowledge of subjects such as history, literature, science.) - Prompt:
If we are afraid to reveal our lack of knowledge we will not be able to learn. In order to make progress we must admit where we are now. Such an admission of ignorance is not easy. As Thoreau says, How can we remember our ignorance which our growth requires, when we are using our knowledge all the time?
Assignment:
Does the present system of education encourage us to admit our lack of knowledge, or is there too much pressure to demonstrate the acquisition of knowledge? Plan your response… - Prompt:
A little inaccuracy saves a world of explanation.
C.E.Ayers
Assignment:
Is it always essential to tell the truth, or are there circumstances in which it is better to lie? Plan your response… - Prompt:
Many societies believe that the pursuit of happiness is a fundamental human right. But it is also true that attainment of happiness remains elusive. Perhaps Bertrand Russell had it right when he said, To be without some of the things you want is an indispensable part of happiness.
Assignment:
What gives us more pleasure and satisfaction: the pursuit of our desires or the attainment of them? Plan your response… - Prompt:
The price of greatness is responsibility.
Winston Churchill
Assignment:
Do we expect too much from our public figures? Plan your response… - Prompt:
A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.
Alexander Pope
Assignment:
Do we learn more from finding out that we have made mistakes or from our successful actions? Plan your response… - Prompt:
What man calls civilization always results in deserts. Man is never on the square he uses up the fat and greenery of the earth. Each generation wastes a little more of the future with greed and lust for riches.
Don Marquis
Assignment:
With our modern awareness of ecology are we likely to make sufficient progress in conservation, or are we still in danger of damaging the earth beyond repair? Plan your response… - Prompt:
A man who waits to believe in action before acting is anything you like, but he is not a man of action. It is as if a tennis player before returning the ball stopped to think about his views of the physical and mental advantages of tennis. You must act as you breathe.
Georges Clemenceau
Assignment:
Is it true that acting quickly and instinctively is the best response to a crisis? Or are there times when an urgent situation requires a more careful consideration and a slower response? Plan your response… - Prompt:
There is usually a kernel of truth in the words Oscar Wilde puts in the mouth of his most outrageous characters they wouldnt be funny otherwise. One such gem that is worth pondering is: The only thing to do with good advice is to pass it on. It is never of any use to oneself.
Assignment:
Is it true that when we most need advice we are least willing to listen to it? Or is good advice always welcome? Plan your response… - Prompt:
Independence? Thats middle class blasphemy. We are all dependent on one another, every soul of us on earth. Bernard Shaw expected to provoke controversy with these words, but I would agree with him that these days there is too much emphasis on independence. While it is certainly true that excessive dependence on others is not a sign of maturity, total independence of others is neither attainable nor desirable: we need to be mature, and unselfish enough to recognize our interdependence.
Assignment:
Do we put too much emphasis on self-reliance and independence, and are we afraid of admitting that we need other people in our lives? Plan your response…
PROMPT #1
Directions : Think carefully about the issue presented in the following quote and the assignment below.
“First I saw the mountains in the painting; then I saw the painting in the mountains.”
– Chinese Proverb
Assignment: What is your view on the idea that art, rather than being a reflection of the world, can help us see the real world in new ways? 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
Directions : Think carefully about the issue presented in the following two quotes and the assignment below.
“The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.”
–Linus Pauling
“Real knowledge is to know the extent of ones ignorance.”
–Confucius
Assignment: Do you believe that the essence of knowledge lies in finding answers or in asking questions? 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
Directions : Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.
“I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.”
– Booker T. Washington
Assignment: What is your opinion on the idea that struggle is a more important measure of success than accomplishment? 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.</p>
<p>thanks a lot for the valuable information.</p>
<p>I am wondering if many people would like me just go straight to the assignment and never bother to read the prompt</p>
<p>I don’t read the quote. I read the first or first two sentences of the assignment.</p>
<p>I agree with glucose and nash, SCREW THE QUOTE-- all it may do is probably confuse you. Read the assignment and do it. Plan for a minute or so and write like the wind!</p>
<p>Yes! I almost forgot…the reason why I don’t read it is because the quotes they pick confuse the hell out of me!</p>
<p>here was a prompt from the blue book:</p>
<p>Do people need others to understand themselves?</p>
<p>i totally blanked on this during the practice test, and i came up with this bs about gilded age robber barons and enron. needless to say, the grade came up pretty bad…i jus hope it doesn’t happen on the real test…</p>
<p>any ideas for examples for this prompt? ive pretty much got down WWII, Atomic Bomb, scarlet letter…yet none of them seemed to fit with this prompt…help?</p>
<p>Wouldn’t most any love story work for the above prompt? </p>
<p>“Jane Eyre” and “Emma” come to mind. And Hamlet too. Even though Hamlet isn’t a love story, the idea of finding out about yourself through others is present in Hamlet (“foil” characters).</p>