December 2012 SAT
Essay Prompts
Prompt 1
Think
carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment
below.
Many
people admire leaders who have effectively achieved their goals. But too many
leaders are dedicated to achieving their goals at the expense of caring for the
people who follow and support them. Leaders should be judged on how well they
treat people, not on the achievement of their goals.
Assignment: Should leaders be judged according to
how well they treat 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 2
Think
carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment
below.
There
is something good to be said for holding firm opinions, whether in politics,
art, business, or daily life. A person who is deeply committed to a certain
position on a film, a political candidate, or an idea may have thought long and
hard before reaching that position. But too often such opinions are not based
on careful thought and may be so rigidly held that those who express them do
not consider other viewpoints or positions.
Assignment: Are firmly held opinions reasonable?
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.
It
seems that we are always ready to justify our own actions and overlook our own
errors. Why, then, are we so unwilling to judge others in the same way? We tend
to hold others to very high, even unrealistic standards, expecting them to be
always right, always honest, or always conscientious. All of us have personal
flaws and shortcomings that we are quite willing to excuse. Surely we should be
more willing to excuse such shortcomings in others.
Assignment: Should people be more willing to
excuse the errors and shortcomings of others? 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.
Some
people believe that very few of today's "inventions" are really new.
Inventions today seem to consist primarily of improvements to things that have
already been invented. Medicines, it is said, may be better, and vehicles may
be faster, but they are really not new or different. In reality, we have not
even begun to exhaust the supply of original ideas or new inventions. There is
much more for us to invent and discover.
Assignment: Is there really much more
for people to invent and discover in the world 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
observation
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