2009年10月SAT考试写作真题

Prompt 1

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.

Both in society and in our own lives, today’s problems are serious and require serious solutions. Increasingly, however, people are taught to laugh at things that aren’t usually funny and to cope with difficult situations by using humor. They are even advised to surround themselves with funny people. There is strong evidence that laughter can actually improve health and help fight disease.

Adapted from Marshall Brain, How Laughter Works

Assignment:

Is using humor the best way to approach difficult situations and problems? 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.

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. You need one because you are human. You didn’t come from nowhere. Before you, around you, and, presumably, after you, there are others. Even if you live alone and even if your solitude is by your own choice, you still cannot do without a network or a family.

Adapted from Jane Howard, All Happy Clans Are Alike: In Search of the Good Family

Assignment:

Does everyone, even people who choose to live alone, need a network or family? 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.

2009年11月SAT考试写作真题

Prompt 1

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.

Popular culture refers to television shows, movies, books, musical selections, artworks, products, activities, and events that appeal to the interests and desires of large numbers of people. Popular culture tells us a lot about the people of a society. Some people may criticize popular culture or deny its influence on their lives, but one thing is clear: popular culture typically displays the ideas and principles that people value most.

Assignment:

Are the values of a society most clearly revealed in its popular culture? 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.

Some people ruin their chances of achieving success or refrain from attaining a goal because they have learned that success is selfish. But they should not feel guilty about trying to achieve their own goals. People who act on their inner desires—their greatest wishes and ambitions—only make their own and other people’s lives better and are more likely to benefit society. Imagine how much better the world would be if everyone could be happy and fulfilled.

Adapted from Sheri O. Zampelli, From Sabotage to Succes

Assignment:

Do society and other people benefit when individuals pursue their own 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.

Prompt 3

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.

No matter how much people try and how much they believe in themselves, everyone encounters situations in which it is impossible to succeed. People are often advised, “Never give up,” but sometimes, when it seems as though success will not be achieved, they should stop trying, learn from the experience, and move on.

Adapted from Phyllis George, Never Say Never

Assignment:

Is it better for people to stop trying when they feel certain they will not succeed? 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.

2009年12月SAT考试写作真题

Prompt 1

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.

Thanks to the Internet, the word “friendship” now has a much broader meaning. No longer are the bonds of friendship limited to telephone conversations, shared activities, or speaking face-to-face. In this day and age, very close friendships can be formed without the people ever meeting and by simply typing words on a screen.

Adapted from Sharon Hendricks, “A Broader Definition of Friendship”

Assignment:

Is it easier now to form friendships than ever before? 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.

An Internet phone service is offering unlimited free telephone calls for anyone who signs up. There is only one catch: the company will use software to listen to customers’ phone conversations and then send customers advertisements based on what they have been talking about. For example, if they talk about movies with their friends, advertisements for movies will appear on their computer screens. Commentators have voiced concern about customers’ giving up their privacy in exchange for phone service.

Assignment:

Should people give up their privacy in exchange for convenience or free services? 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.

People are often criticized for working out their own ideas before learning all that others have discovered about a problem or subject. But those people are right; it is possible to know too much, especially at first. The time for thorough inquiry and extensive research is later, after you have made your own discoveries and come to your own conclusions.

Adapted from Charles Horton Cooley, Life and the Student

Assignment:

Is it better for people to work out their own ideas on a problem or issue before learning how others have approached it? 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
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