SAT ESSAY

SAMPLE QUESTION 8 As you read the passage below, consider how the author uses • evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims. • reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence. • stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed.  The Customer Is Always Right The dormitories are ten stories high, bounded by ovals of forest green lawn and narrow brick walkways. The recreation center is enclosed by six thousand square feet of unblemished glass and equipped with no less than thirteen pools, one hundred and fifty-seven treadmills, and a fulltime massage therapist. The football stadium is unmatched, sitting thrice the number of fans as enrolled students. Campus nightlife , with all its shining neon lights and immaculate dance floors, is a tropical haven for the lonesome and homesick. And the admission brochure brags aimlessly that university students are “making the impossible possible.” ...

SAMPLE QUESTION 7 As you read the passage below, consider how the author uses • evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims. • reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence. • stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed.              The Hunt for Success 1.        Ask parents what they want most for their children and many will answer success. By “success,” they may mean happiness, financial stability, good health etc. Chances are, they mean a combination of these things and many more. Perhaps, success is not a concept that falls to easy measurement or simple understanding because of its tendency to particularity; it is different for every individual—there is no one recipe. So then, without a clear definition of success let alone an apprehensible path toward its fulfillment, how is one to choose a field of study, ...

SAMPLE QUESTION 6 As you read the passage below, consider how the author uses • evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims. • reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence. • stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed. Promoting Dignity: Freedom from Trafficking       “Congratulations!” we exclaim, after hearing of a baby’ s birth, a joyful time of celebration. Regardless of who people are, where they come from, or what stage of life they are in, human beings have great worth and dignity. From the beginning of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the international community recognizes this reality. The idea that people have inherent rights just in virtue of the fact that they are human beings is based on the inherent moral value of human beings. Human trafficking, however, which involves exploiting someone for financial gain, is a direct attack on human...

SAMPLE QUESTION 5 As you read the passage below, consider how the author uses • evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims. • reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence. • stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed.              Education Reimagined 1.        Since 2012—the year of Massive Open Online courses (MOOCs)—the discourse on the success of open online education and its implications for traditional colleges has been mixed, and often conflicting. While some raved that e-learning platforms would dismantle and revolutionize the university overnight, others doubted their maturation and assimilation into the job market. In response to the influx of online learning platforms that offer free content, President Obama called upon online learning as a key ingredient in redefining higher education, stating colle...

SAMPLE QUESTION 4 As you read the passage below, consider how Eric Klinenberg uses • evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims. • reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence. • stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed. Adapted from Eric Klinenberg, “Viewpoint: Air-Conditioning Will Be the End of Us.” ©2013 by Time Inc. Originally published July 17, 2013.  Earlier this week, as the temperature in New York City, hit the upper 90s and the heat index topped 100, my utility provider issued a heat alert and advised customers to use air-conditioning “wisely.” It was a nice, polite gesture but also an utterly ineffectual one. After all, despite our other green tendencies, most Americans still believe that the wise way to use air conditioners is to crank them up, cooling down every room in the house—or even better, relax in the cold blasts of a movie theater or shopping mall, w...

SAMPLE QUESTION 3 As you read the passage below, consider how Christopher Hitchens uses • evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims. • reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence. • stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed. Adapted from Christopher Hitchens, “The Lovely Stones.” ©2009 by Condé Nast Digital. Originally published July 2009.  The great classicist A. W. Lawrence... once remarked of the Parthenon1 that it is “the one building in the world which may be assessed as absolutely right.”. . . Not that the beauty and symmetry of the Parthenon have not been abused and perverted and mutilated. Five centuries after the birth of Christianity the Parthenon was closed and desolated.... Turkish forces also used it for centuries as a garrison2 and an arsenal, with the tragic result that in 1687...a powder magazine was detonated and huge damage inflicted on the structure...

SAMPLE QUESTION 2 As you read the passage below, consider how Zadie Smith uses • evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims. • reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence. • stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed. Adapted from Zadie Smith, “The North West London Blues.” ©2012 by NYREV, Inc. Originally published June 2, 2012. Writer Zadie Smith wrote the following piece in response to news that several local libraries in the greater London area, including Kensal Rise and Willesden Green Libraries, would be closed down.  What kind of a problem is a library? It’s clear that for many people it is not a problem at all, only a kind of obsolescence.1 At the extreme pole of this view is the technocrat’s total faith: with every book in the world online, what need could there be for the physical reality? This kind of argument thinks of the library as a function rather than a pl...

SAMPLE QUESTION 1 As you read the passage below, consider how Bobby Braun uses  • evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims.  • reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence.  • stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed. Adapted from Bobby Braun, “Space Technology: A Critical Investment for Our Nation’s Future.” ©2014 by Capitol Hill Publishing Corp. Originally published in the Hill, October 27, 2011.  Aerospace remains a strong component of our national fabric and is the largest positive contributor to our nation’s trade balance. However, this technological leadership position is not a given. To remain the leader in aerospace technology, we must continue to perform research and invest in the people who will create the breakthroughs of tomorrow, preserving a critical component of our nation’s economic competitiveness for future generations. For NASA,1 past...

SAMPLE ESSAY 8 Read the following passage, and think about how the author uses:           Evidence, such as applicable examples, to justify the argument.           Reasoning to show logical connections among thoughts and facts.           Rhetoric, like sensory language and emotional appeals, to give weight to the argument.   Adapted from Dana Gioia, “Why Literature Matters” ©2005 by The New York Times Company. Originally published April 10, 2005. [A] strange thing has happened in the American arts during the past quarter century. While income rose to unforeseen levels, college attendance ballooned, and access to information increased enormously, the interest young Americans showed in the arts—and especially literature—actually diminished. According to the 2002 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, a population study designed and commissioned by the National Endowment for th...

SAMPLE ESSAY 7 Read the following passage, and think about how the author uses:           Evidence, such as applicable examples, to justify the argument.           Reasoning to show logical connections among thoughts and facts.           Rhetoric, like sensory language and emotional appeals, to give weight to the argument.   Adapted from Dana Gioia, “Why Literature Matters” ©2005 by The New York Times Company. Originally published April 10, 2005. [A] strange thing has happened in the American arts during the past quarter century. While income rose to unforeseen levels, college attendance ballooned, and access to information increased enormously, the interest young Americans showed in the arts—and especially literature—actually diminished. According to the 2002 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, a population study designed and commissioned by the National Endowment for th...

SAMPLE ESSAY 6 Read the following passage, and think about how the author uses:           Evidence, such as applicable examples, to justify the argument.           Reasoning to show logical connections among thoughts and facts.           Rhetoric, like sensory language and emotional appeals, to give weight to the argument.   Adapted from President Harry S. Truman’ s Annual Message to the Congress on the State of the Union, January 7, 1948, Washington, DC. We are here today to consider the state of the union. On this occasion, above all others, the Congress and the President should concentrate their attention, not upon party but upon party but upon the country; not upon things which divide us but upon those which bind us together- the enduring principles of our American system, and our common aspirations for the future welfare and security of the people of the United States. The Uni...

SAMPLE ESSAY 5 Read the following passage, and think about how the author uses:           Evidence, such as applicable examples, to justify the argument.           Reasoning to show logical connections among thoughts and facts.           Rhetoric, like sensory language and emotional appeals, to give weight to the argument.   Adapted from Adam B. Summers, “Bag Ban Bad for Freedom and Environment.” 2013 by The San Diego Union-Tribune, LLC. Originally published June 13, 2013.         Californians dodged yet another nanny-state regulation recently when the state Senate narrowly voted down a bill to ban plastic bags statewide, but the reprieve might only be temporary. Not connect to tell us how much our toilets can flush or what type of light bulb to use to brighten our homes, some politicians and environmentalists are now focused on deciding for us what kind of contai...