SAT Essay Prompts - October 2010

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.

October 2010

If you took the October 2010 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.

Why do we not value the creative arts more than we do? Why are subjects like music, drama, photography, and creative writing always the first to be cut from school budgets during hard times? Many would answer that, unlike math, science, history, and other subjects taught in school, the arts are unnecessary. But this is so untrue. The arts are as necessary as these other subject areas—possibly even more necessary.

Assignment:

Is it absolutely necessary for people to study the creative arts? 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.

I spent some part of every year at the farm until I was twelve or thirteen years old. The life that I led there was full of charm and so is the memory of it yet. I can call back the faint odors of wildflowers, the sheen of rain-washed foliage, the clatter of raindrops when the wind shook the trees, and the far-off hammering of woodpeckers. I can call back the prairie—and its loneliness and peace.

Adapted from Mark Twain, My Autobiography

Assignment:

Is it important for people to spend time outdoors and to learn to appreciate the natural environment? 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.

In some circumstances we are encouraged to conform—to follow others, to do and think what everyone else is doing and thinking. In other circumstances, however, we are told to be individuals and are reminded that most people we consider great are not afraid to be different. Conformity may be appropriate in day-to-day life, but we should save our highest praise for people who choose to be unique.

Assignment:

Should originality always be more highly praised than conformity? 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.