SAT Essay Prompts in January 2012

Essay prompts from the most recent SAT administration

Below are essay prompts from the most recent SAT administration in January 2012.

Prompt 1

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

Most people tend to trust others too readily. To avoid being taken advantage of, however, it is generally wise to be doubtful and suspicious of others' motives or honesty. Many people would agree that if you find yourself doubting other people's sincerity or questioning their intentions, your instincts are probably correct. You are less likely to regret being cautious than being too trusting.

Assignment: Is it wise to be suspicious of the motives or honesty of other people, even those who appear to be trustworthy? 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.

Prompt 2

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

People who complain about progress and change expose themselves to criticism. Yet there is always a subtle danger in life's improvements and refinements, a drawback or disadvantage that occurs along with the benefits of progress. It sometimes seems that we devote half of our time to making what we call "improvements"—in our lives, our work, our relationships—but so often the original conditions had some quality that is lost in the process of change.

Adapted from E.B. White, "Progress and Change"

Assignment: Does improvement or progress usually involve a significant drawback or problem of some kind? 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.

Prompt 3

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

Learning and doing are their own rewards. No external rewards are required. Yet when external rewards are introduced—whether attention and praise from parents or prizes from teachers—these rewards exert a substantial influence. Instead of reading books to find out about the world, kids will read to win prizes. Kids will produce for rewards, but the quality of their activity and their interest in it will be dramatically altered.

Adapted from Barry Schwartz, The Costs of Living

Assignment: Is it wrong or harmful to motivate people to learn or achieve something by offering them rewards? 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.

Prompt 4

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

We almost always tend to treat people on the basis of what they have done: the star athlete is recognized and rewarded with a college scholarship, while the lawbreaker is prosecuted and punished. But our past deeds provide only a partial measure of our real worth as human beings. We should be treated according to what we are capable of accomplishing, regardless of what we may or may not have actually done.

Assignment: Should people be treated according to what they are capable of achieving instead of what they have actually done? 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.

Difference in the admission process for public school vs. private ones

Although a lot of people think the admission process for public and private schools are similar, actually there are major differences between public and private institutions and these difference will definitely impact your chance of success. The following table lists the key differences.

Factor Private(percent of private schools consider it is important) Public(percent of public schools consider it is important)
GPA in core courses 85% 90%
Strength of curriculum 69% 75%
SAT/ACT 54% 71%
Grade in all courses 44% 52%
Essay 31% 13%
Extra-curricular activities 10% 5%
Interview 9% 0%
AP/IB tests 9% 2%

For more detail, please check Private schools vs. public ones.

Facebook application "SAT Score prediction" just launched

StarCatcher SAT just launched its facebook application "SAT score prediction". The students now are able to predict their potential SAT score and see which colleges they may get in within seconds.

2010 SAT Average Score

For US students, the 2010 SAT average score is 1509 (CR: 501, Math: 516, and Writing: 492)
For international students, the 2010 SAT average score is 1593 (CR: 496, Math: 587, and Writing: 510)

We can see that for international students, although their first language is not English, their critical reading score is not too bad and is just 5 points lower than US students. The math  score for international students is much higher than US students.

10 Misconceptions About SAT Prep #6 - #10

6: SAT prep programs provided by the “big name” companies are better than those offered by the smaller providers or the private tutors.

FACT: The SAT prep programs provided by the “big names” only mean higher program fees due to the heavy company operating costs but do not necessary mean better program qualities.
Smaller provider also could offer better SAT prep programs which are able to provide you more personal attention, more online tools and resources, better SAT instructors, and more customizable programs to address your specific needs.

7:  I could get into my dream university or college if I put all my efforts into preparing for the SAT and get a perfect or nearly perfect SAT score.
FACT: The SAT is only one of the many factors that the admission officers are going to evaluate in order to make a decision on your application. Your GPA, extracurriculars, leadership experience, AP scores, recommendation letters, and application essays also are important factors on your college application. Thus, while you prepare for your SAT test, you also need to allocate enough time for other tasks such as studying for good grades in school, writing application essays, and taking leadership roles in clubs or student organizations. Therefore, in order to maximize your chances of getting into your dream school, students should take the most productive and efficient approach in preparing for the SAT, and apply superior learning methods and time management techniques for their school courses.

8: I have to spend a lot of money to do well on the SAT.

FACT: Although some SAT prep courses cost from $2000 to $5000, with the help of the Internet and mobile technology, students have more options and could do much better at relatively low cost.  First, online learning tools that are integrated with good learning method are available at less than $100, and online SAT prep courses are also available for less than $500. Even an online complete SAT self training kit, which works like a private SAT tutor, is available for under $400 from NorthStar Learning Express. Moreover, students have the access to more online resources to learn SAT vocabulary and tips/strategies, review content, and do online SAT practices. As each SAT test generally has the same recurring patterns, as long as the students learn these patterns, decode the SAT questions, review required content, and learn SAT words, they should be on track to get their best SAT scores without spending a lot of money. But students do need to know what they want or need, so they could shop around and compare different options in order to select the best and most affordable solution.

9: I am a motivated student so I could prepare for the SAT by myself, get my best SAT score, and maximize my chances for college admission.

FACT: If you are exceptional talented and have good time management skills, you might be able to get a good SAT score by self-studying.
But if you are not very talented or do not have great time management skills, this is not the best and most productive approach as you will spend a lot of time on routine tasks such as planning your study, analyzing your practice results, tracking your performance, and isolating your weaknesses, which could be done easily by available online tools (e.g. “SAT I: identify weakness” and “SAT self training kit” from NorthStar Learning Express) within minutes. This will lead to less time for school course work, leadership roles, college admission essay, etc. Therefore, although you may not realize this consequence at the first time, it does decrease your chances to get into your dream school. We always recommend the students to take the most efficient and effective approach in preparing for the SAT – take the advantage of online resources such as learning tools and low-fee courses to maximize your chances for college admission.

10: All the SAT practice questions are the same. The more SAT practice questions I do, the higher SAT score I will get regardless where the SAT questions comes from. 
FACT: First of all, all the SAT practice questions are not the same. While some are relevant to the real SAT tests such as those in the “Official SAT Study Guide” from College Board, others may not be relevant to the real SAT questions at all. While your SAT score may be higher if the questions you practice are relevant to real SAT test, your SAT score may be lower if the questions you practice are misleading or inaccurate.

As each SAT test generally has the same recurring patterns, students do not really need to do a lot of practice questions as long as they can learn and recognize these patterns and know how to decode SAT questions for each pattern from a limited number of SAT practice questions, and they should spend time learning the knowledge and skills in order to solve these decoded questions correctly in a timely manner.

For more information, please visit StarCatcher SAT

10 Common Myths on the SAT Test - Myth #4:You only need to take the SAT on your senior year.

FALSE: Normally students should take their SAT tests before their senior year starts. We recommend the students complete the SAT tests in their junior year. The students could request the College Board to send all or only the best SAT scores to the college they applied. The students could focus on the college application essays and the college application forms during the first half of their senior year.