SAT Essay Prompts

We have a collection of the new SAT Essay Prompts from March 2005 till the most recent test released by College Board.

March 2005, June 2005, January 2006

The following are some examples of SAT essay prompts for the March 2005, June 2005 and January 2006 SAT Reasoning Test.

March 2005

Prompt 1

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

Given the importance of human creativity, one would think it should have a high priority among our concerns. But if we look at the reality, we see a different picture. Basic scientific research is minimized in favor of immediate practical applications. The arts are increasingly seen as dispensable luxuries. Yet as competition heats up around the globe, exactly the opposite strategy is needed.

Adapted from Mihaly Csikszentmihaly

Assignment

Is creativity needed more than ever in the world today?

June 2005

Prompt 1

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

Many persons believe that to move up the ladder of success and achievement, they must forget the past, repress it, and relinquish it. But others have just the opposite view. They see old memories as a chance to reckon with the past and integrate past and present.

Adapted from Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot

Assignment:

Do memories hinder or help people in their effort to learn from the past and succeed in the present?

Prompt 2

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

I cannot comprehend those who emphasize or recognize only what is useful. I am concerned that learning for learning's sake is no longer considered desirable, that everything we do and think must be directed toward the solution of a practical problem. More and more we seem to try to teach how to make a good living and not how to live a good life.

Adapted from Philip D. Jordan

Assignment:

Do people put too much emphasis on learning practical skills?

Prompt 3

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

Most of our schools are not facing up to their responsibilities. We must begin to ask ourselves whether educators should help students address the critical moral choices and social issues of our time. Schools have responsibilities beyond training people for jobs and getting students into college.

Adapted from Svi Shapiro

Assignment:

Should schools help students understand moral choices and social issues?

Prompt 4

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

The media not only transmit information and culture, they also decide what information is important. In that way, they help to shape culture and values.

Adapted from Alison Bernstein

Assignment:

Do newspapers, magazines, television, radio, movies, the Internet, and other media determine what is important to most people?

January 2006

Prompt 1

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

Every important discovery results from patience, perseverance, and concentration--sometimes continuing for months or years--on one specific subject. A person who wants to discover a new truth must remain absorbed by that one subject, must pay no attention to any thought that is unrelated to the problem.

Adapted from Santiago Ramon Cajal, Advice for a Young Investigator

Assignment:

Are all important discoveries the result of focusing on one subject? 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.

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