Searching for your next blog post idea? Want a little writing challenge?Consider this SAT essay prompt from Cracking the SAT: 2011 Edition (The Princeton Review):
In his poem “In Memoriam,” romantic poet Alfred Lord Tennyson expresses his view that loss is an unavoidable consequence of love. Yet, rather than shunning love because of this, Tennyson resolves to accept both the experience of love and the pain that inevitably comes with it. As he writes in his often quoted passage, “Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”Adapted from James R. Kincaid, Tennyson’s Major PoemsAssignment:Are people unwise to pursue love even when they know it will cause them pain? 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.
A student taking the SAT would have only 25 minutes to plan, develop and write this essay. Here’s a countdown timer you can use, should you accept the same challenge.Ready? Don’t try to sneak in extra thinking time. Just write.Go on. Write.
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Here’s another one directly from the College Board, the brains behind the SAT design (this prompt is from the June 2011 test):
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.People assume that every accomplishment—each step in what we call progress—will lead to the solution to a problem and will help them reach the goal of understanding themselves and the world around them. In reality, however, each new answer provokes additional questions and each fresh discovery uncovers further complications. Every accomplishment leads to further problems, added responsibilities, more complications, and new challenges.Assignment: Does every achievement bring with it new challenges? 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.
If you get going on this, here are some more prompts to try.Happy thinking. And writing.Work Cited:Robinson, Adam, John Katzman, and Staff of The Princeton Review. Cracking the SAT 2011 Edition. New York: Random House, 2010. Print.Pencil photo by mammal, used under a Creative Commons license via Flickr.com.
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