470 McGRAW-HILL’S SAT Practice Essay 6 Time—25 minutes Directions for Writing the Essay Plan and write an essay that answers the question below. Do NOT write on another topic. An essay on another topic will receive a score of 0. Two readers will grade your essay based on how well you develop your point of view, organize and ex- plain your ideas, use specific and relevant examples to support your thesis, and use clear and effective language. How well you write is much more important than how much you write, but to cover the topic adequately you should plan to write several paragraphs. Your essay must be written only on the lines provided on your answer sheet. You will have enough space if you write on every line, avoid wide margins, and keep your handwriting to a reasonable size. Your essay will be read by people who are not familiar with your handwriting, so write legibly. You may use this sheet for notes and outlining, but these will not be graded as part of your essay. Consider carefully the issue discussed in the following passage, then write an essay that answers the ques- tion posed in the assignment. Acquiring knowledge is like scaling a mountain. The proper attitude in reaching a sum- mit, however, is to marvel not so much at one’s achievement as at the glorious view of the unknown beyond. A well-educated person is known not so much for the questions he or she can answer as for the questions he or she can ask. Assignment: What is one great question that every educated person should ask? Write an essay in which you indicate what this question should be and explain the reasons for your choice. You may draw inspiration and support from literature, the arts, history, politics, science and technology, current events, or your experience or observation. Note: Write your practice essay on two pages of standard lined paper. CHAPTER 13 / ESSAY WRITING PRACTICE 471 Practice Essay 7 Time—25 minutes Directions for Writing the Essay Plan and write an essay that answers the question below. Do NOT write on another topic. An essay on another topic will receive a score of 0. Two readers will grade your essay based on how well you develop your point of view, organize and ex- plain your ideas, use specific and relevant examples to support your thesis, and use clear and effective language. How well you write is much more important than how much you write, but to cover the topic adequately you should plan to write several paragraphs. Your essay must be written only on the lines provided on your answer sheet. You will have enough space if you write on every line, avoid wide margins, and keep your handwriting to a reasonable size. Your essay will be read by people who are not familiar with your handwriting, so write legibly. You may use this sheet for notes and outlining, but these will not be graded as part of your essay. Consider carefully the issue discussed in the following passage, then write an essay that answers the ques- tion posed in the assignment. Some people spend their lives waiting for the one great challenge that will define them. Every society needs such people, who forge into the unknown and lay new foundations. But society also depends very much on those who meet the small challenges, like feeding mouths and minds and hearts. Assignment: Are we defined more by great challenges in our lives or by small, everyday challenges? Write an essay in which you answer this question and discuss your point of view on this issue. Support your position logically with examples from literature, the arts, history, politics, science and technology, current events, or your experience or observation. Note: Write your practice essay on two pages of standard lined paper. 472 McGRAW-HILL’S SAT Practice Essay 8 Time—25 minutes Directions for Writing the Essay Plan and write an essay that answers the question below. Do NOT write on another topic. An essay on another topic will receive a score of 0. Two readers will grade your essay based on how well you develop your point of view, organize and ex- plain your ideas, use specific and relevant examples to support your thesis, and use clear and effective language. How well you write is much more important than how much you write, but to cover the topic adequately you should plan to write several paragraphs. Your essay must be written only on the lines provided on your answer sheet. You will have enough space if you write on every line, avoid wide margins, and keep your handwriting to a reasonable size. Your essay will be read by people who are not familiar with your handwriting, so write legibly. You may use this sheet for notes and outlining, but these will not be graded as part of your essay. Consider carefully the issue discussed in the following passage, then write an essay that answers the ques- tion posed in the assignment. Freedom requires the eradication of repression from tyrants and from want, but elimi- nating these is not enough. We must also eliminate the means by which we oppress ourselves, through our peeves, our addictions, and in our insecurities. This may involve strengthening the restraints within ourselves. Assignment: Does freedom require eliminating restraints on behavior, or does it require creating or strengthening certain restraints? Write an essay in which you answer this question and discuss your point of view on this issue. Support your position logically with examples from literature, the arts, history, politics, science and technology, current events, or your experience or observation. Note: Write your practice essay on two pages of standard lined paper. CHAPTER 13 / ESSAY WRITING PRACTICE 473 Practice Essay 9 Time—25 minutes Directions for Writing the Essay Plan and write an essay that answers the question below. Do NOT write on another topic. An essay on another topic will receive a score of 0. Two readers will grade your essay based on how well you develop your point of view, organize and ex- plain your ideas, use specific and relevant examples to support your thesis, and use clear and effective language. How well you write is much more important than how much you write, but to cover the topic adequately you should plan to write several paragraphs. Your essay must be written only on the lines provided on your answer sheet. You will have enough space if you write on every line, avoid wide margins, and keep your handwriting to a reasonable size. Your essay will be read by people who are not familiar with your handwriting, so write legibly. You may use this sheet for notes and outlining, but these will not be graded as part of your essay. Consider carefully the issue discussed in the following passage, then write an essay that answers the ques- tion posed in the assignment. We employ many devices to maintain or create peace among countries—trade agree- ments, cultural exchanges, treaties. But nothing unites humanity as well as a common foe. Mutual fear of nature or of foreign ideologies is perhaps the greatest diplomacy we know. Assignment: What is the most significant means of bringing people together in peace? Write an essay in which you answer this question and discuss your point of view on this issue. Support your position logically with examples from literature, the arts, history, politics, science and technology, current events, or your experience or observation. Note: Write your practice essay on two pages of standard lined paper. 474 McGRAW-HILL’S SAT Practice Essay 10 Time—25 minutes Directions for Writing the Essay Plan and write an essay that answers the question below. Do NOT write on another topic. An essay on another topic will receive a score of 0. Two readers will grade your essay based on how well you develop your point of view, organize and ex- plain your ideas, use specific and relevant examples to support your thesis, and use clear and effective language. How well you write is much more important than how much you write, but to cover the topic adequately you should plan to write several paragraphs. Your essay must be written only on the lines provided on your answer sheet. You will have enough space if you write on every line, avoid wide margins, and keep your handwriting to a reasonable size. Your essay will be read by people who are not familiar with your handwriting, so write legibly. You may use this sheet for notes and outlining, but these will not be graded as part of your essay. Consider carefully the issue discussed in the following passage, then write an essay that answers the ques- tion posed in the assignment. We love best not what gives the greatest pleasure, but what comes through the greatest effort, because this effort provides meaning. A plastic medallion received after completing a marathon is not just a $2.00 trinket, but the representation of months of effort and sacri- fice. The best things in life are not free, but come at the expense of hard work. Assignment: Do we love things most that come at a great cost, or are the best things in life truly free? Write an essay in which you answer this question and discuss your point of view on this issue. Support your position logically with examples from literature, the arts, his- tory, politics, science and technology, current events, or your experience or observation. Note: Write your practice essay on two pages of standard lined paper. CHAPTER 13 / ESSAY WRITING PRACTICE 475 Practice Essay 11 Time—25 minutes Directions for Writing the Essay Plan and write an essay that answers the question below. Do NOT write on another topic. An essay on another topic will receive a score of 0. Two readers will grade your essay based on how well you develop your point of view, organize and ex- plain your ideas, use specific and relevant examples to support your thesis, and use clear and effective language. How well you write is much more important than how much you write, but to cover the topic adequately you should plan to write several paragraphs. Your essay must be written only on the lines provided on your answer sheet. You will have enough space if you write on every line, avoid wide margins, and keep your handwriting to a reasonable size. Your essay will be read by people who are not familiar with your handwriting, so write legibly. You may use this sheet for notes and outlining, but these will not be graded as part of your essay. Consider carefully the issue discussed in the following passage, then write an essay that answers the ques- tion posed in the assignment. Defeating an enemy by force always has profound, and usually unforeseen, consequences. Destroying another requires destroying a part of one’s own humanity, and strengthening resentment in others. It is better to understand one’s enemy, to learn the subtler but more enobling art of persuasion and coexistence. Assignment: Is it more important to defeat your enemy or to understand your enemy? Write an essay in which you answer this question and discuss your point of view on this issue. Support your position logically with examples from literature, the arts, history, politics, science and technology, current events, or your experience or observation. Note: Write your practice essay on two pages of standard lined paper. 476 McGRAW-HILL’S SAT Practice Essay 12 Time—25 minutes Directions for Writing the Essay Plan and write an essay that answers the question below. Do NOT write on another topic. An essay on another topic will receive a score of 0. Two readers will grade your essay based on how well you develop your point of view, organize and ex- plain your ideas, use specific and relevant examples to support your thesis, and use clear and effective language. How well you write is much more important than how much you write, but to cover the topic adequately you should plan to write several paragraphs. Your essay must be written only on the lines provided on your answer sheet. You will have enough space if you write on every line, avoid wide margins, and keep your handwriting to a reasonable size. Your essay will be read by people who are not familiar with your handwriting, so write legibly. You may use this sheet for notes and outlining, but these will not be graded as part of your essay. Consider carefully the issue discussed in the following passage, then write an essay that answers the ques- tion posed in the assignment. A person’s greatness derives from the many small moral choices one makes moment by moment. To be born into great wealth, power, or ability is not to be great at all. Rather, great- ness only comes from the continual choice to use that endowment wisely, to struggle with the needs of humanity as a member of its family. Assignment: Are human beings more the products of their endowments, or of their choices? Write an essay in which you answer this question and discuss your point of view on this issue. Support your position logically with examples from literature, the arts, history, politics, science and technology, current events, or your experience or observation. Note: Write your practice essay on two pages of standard lined paper. CHAPTER 13 / ESSAY WRITING PRACTICE 477 Practice Essay 13 Time—25 minutes Directions for Writing the Essay Plan and write an essay that answers the question below. Do NOT write on another topic. An essay on another topic will receive a score of 0. Two readers will grade your essay based on how well you develop your point of view, organize and ex- plain your ideas, use specific and relevant examples to support your thesis, and use clear and effective language. How well you write is much more important than how much you write, but to cover the topic adequately you should plan to write several paragraphs. Your essay must be written only on the lines provided on your answer sheet. You will have enough space if you write on every line, avoid wide margins, and keep your handwriting to a reasonable size. Your essay will be read by people who are not familiar with your handwriting, so write legibly. You may use this sheet for notes and outlining, but these will not be graded as part of your essay. Consider carefully the issue discussed in the following passage, then write an essay that answers the ques- tion posed in the assignment. We tend to think that rewarding people for doing good things is always better than punishing them for doing bad things. We often fail, however, to realize that rewards can be oppressive, too. Giving someone a prize for doing something he or she would do anyway often makes that person feel manipulated. What’s worse, competition for prizes, which invariably occurs when rewards are doled out systematically, often breeds resentment and division rather than cooperation. Assignment: Are reward systems, like grades, prizes, and work bonuses, effective means of controlling human behavior? Write an essay in which you answer this question and discuss your point of view on this issue. Support your position logically with examples from literature, the arts, history, politics, science and technology, current events, or your experience or observation. Note: Write your practice essay on two pages of standard lined paper. 478 McGRAW-HILL’S SAT Practice Essay 14 Time—25 minutes Directions for Writing the Essay Plan and write an essay that answers the question below. Do NOT write on another topic. An essay on another topic will receive a score of 0. Two readers will grade your essay based on how well you develop your point of view, organize and ex- plain your ideas, use specific and relevant examples to support your thesis, and use clear and effective language. How well you write is much more important than how much you write, but to cover the topic adequately you should plan to write several paragraphs. Your essay must be written only on the lines provided on your answer sheet. You will have enough space if you write on every line, avoid wide margins, and keep your handwriting to a reasonable size. Your essay will be read by people who are not familiar with your handwriting, so write legibly. You may use this sheet for notes and outlining, but these will not be graded as part of your essay. Consider carefully the issue discussed in the following passage, then write an essay that answers the ques- tion posed in the assignment. History books record the deeds of the great inventors, warriors, explorers, and artists, but the real fabric of society is determined by consumers and ordinary workers—not those who make, but those who use; not those who find, but those who settle; not those who fight, but those who repair the damage. Assignment: Which is more important to a society: the demands of consumers or the dreams of artists, discoverers, and inventors? Write an essay in which you answer this ques- tion and discuss your point of view on this issue. Support your position logically with examples from literature, the arts, history, politics, science and technology, current events, or your experience or observation. Note: Write your practice essay on two pages of standard lined paper. CHAPTER 13 / ESSAY WRITING PRACTICE 479 Practice Essay 15 Time—25 minutes Directions for Writing the Essay Plan and write an essay that answers the question below. Do NOT write on another topic. An essay on another topic will receive a score of 0. Two readers will grade your essay based on how well you develop your point of view, organize and ex- plain your ideas, use specific and relevant examples to support your thesis, and use clear and effective language. How well you write is much more important than how much you write, but to cover the topic adequately you should plan to write several paragraphs. Your essay must be written only on the lines provided on your answer sheet. You will have enough space if you write on every line, avoid wide margins, and keep your handwriting to a reasonable size. Your essay will be read by people who are not familiar with your handwriting, so write legibly. You may use this sheet for notes and outlining, but these will not be graded as part of your essay. Consider carefully the issue discussed in the following passage, then write an essay that answers the ques- tion posed in the assignment. Paradise is not to be found in a life of plenty and ease, free from all suffering. Without challenges to meet, pain to which we can compare delight, and barriers to surmount, par- adise would be tedium. Give me the pain and inspiration of struggle over the perfection of your heaven. Assignment: Is it better to seek difficult challenges, or to seek relief from difficult challenges? Write an essay in which you answer this question and discuss your point of view on this issue. Support your position logically with examples from literature, the arts, history, politics, science and technology, current events, or your experience or observation. Note: Write your practice essay on two pages of standard lined paper. . 470 McGRAW-HILL’S SAT Practice Essay 6 Time—25 minutes Directions for Writing the Essay Plan and write an essay. or observation. Note: Write your practice essay on two pages of standard lined paper. 472 McGRAW-HILL’S SAT Practice Essay 8 Time—25 minutes Directions for Writing the Essay Plan and write an essay. or observation. Note: Write your practice essay on two pages of standard lined paper. 474 McGRAW-HILL’S SAT Practice Essay 10 Time—25 minutes Directions for Writing the Essay Plan and write an