SAT and Regents Connection

How Can We Use the Strategies of an Argument Essay in These Two Exams

| Task II Sample Test  | Read & Analyze a Sample Essay  | Task II Strategies | SAT Essay |

What does each prompt mean to you? How can we use the strategies for an argument paper to write a successful SAT essay?

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

    "A sense of happiness and fulfillment, not personal gain, is the best motivation and reward for one's achievements. Expecting a reward of wealth or recognition for achieving a goal can lead to disappointment and frustration. If we want to be happy in what we do in life, we should not seek achievement for the sake of winning wealth and fame. The personal satisfaction of a job well done is its own reward."

    Assignment: "Are people motivated to achieve by personal satisfaction rather than by money or fame? 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."
  2. Consider carefully the following quotation and the assignment below it. Then plan and write an essay that explains your ideas as persuasively as possible. Keep in mind that the support you provide—both reasons and examples—will help make your view convincing to the reader.

    “There's no success like failure.”
    What is your view on the idea that success can begin with failure? In an essay, support your position using an example (or examples) from literature, the arts, history, current events, politics, science and technology, or from your personal experience or observation.
  3. Think carefully about the following incomplete statement. Then read the assignment below it and plan and write your essay as directed.

    “I have learned many things from many experiences, but I have never learned as much as when I ___.”
  4. Choose one of the prompts to write your essay:
    1.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.

    2.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.


    3. 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. 65

    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.