SAT Essay Prompts - June 2011

Materials on this page relate to the SAT before March 2016.

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

SAT Essay Prompt June 2011

If you took the June 2011 SAT, you would have been given one of the essay prompts below:

Prompt 1

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.

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Prompt 2

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

Loyalty is a virtue that is encouraged and rewarded in every aspect of our lives. We are, therefore, loyal to our families, our teams, our schools, and our countries. But too often loyalty is blind: by automatically identifying ourselves with a group and accepting its values as our own, we avoid taking responsibility for our own thoughts and actions.

Assignment:

Does accepting the values of a group allow people to avoid taking responsibility for their own thoughts and actions? 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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Prompt 3

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

A requirement for membership in any group is conformity. Members must agree on such vital issues as how decisions will be made, who will serve as leaders, and how much freedom group members will have. The quality of decision making, however, is better when groups encourage nonconformity and disagreement among their members. Although it sometimes creates disorder and conflict, disagreement may prevent powerful majorities from making mistakes.

Assignment:

Do groups that encourage nonconformity and disagreement function better than those that discourage 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.