Collegeboard essay 4 points

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

Even scientists know that absolute objectivity has yet to be attained. It’s the same for absolute truth. But, as many newspaper reporters have observed, the idea of objectivity as a guiding principle is too valuable to be abandoned. Without it, the pursuit of knowledge is hopelessly lost.

Adapted from “Focusing Our Values,” Nieman Reports

Assignment: Are people better at making observations, discoveries, and decisions if they remain neutral and impartial? Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

People who have a neutral perspective, are be able to see much more than those who do not. Neutrality causes one to be unbiased and unjudgemental, thus helping him/her observe much more from his/her surroundings. For example, it is crucial for a judge to remain neutral so that he/she can fairly understand both sides and resolve the conflict. If a judge was biased, then how many court cases would have unfair verdicts? Very many would because one party would have an unfair advantage over the other if the judge was not impartial.

Collegeboard essay 5 points

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

Even scientists know that absolute objectivity has yet to be attained. It’s the same for absolute truth. But, as many newspaper reporters have observed, the idea of objectivity as a guiding principle is too valuable to be abandoned. Without it, the pursuit of knowledge is hopelessly lost.

Adapted from “Focusing Our Values,” Nieman Reports

Assignment: Are people better at making observations, discoveries, and decisions if they remain neutral and impartial? Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Objectivity may be an excellant guiding focus when one is writing journalistically, or when one cares for simple knowledge in general. Yet I believe that it is only when you truly throw your heart into something and are able to see things from a larger perspective than what your head can teach you are you really able to live.

Collegeboard essay 6 points

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

Even scientists know that absolute objectivity has yet to be attained. It’s the same for absolute truth. But, as many newspaper reporters have observed, the idea of objectivity as a guiding principle is too valuable to be abandoned. Without it, the pursuit of knowledge is hopelessly lost.

Adapted from “Focusing Our Values,” Nieman Reports

Assignment: Are people better at making observations, discoveries, and decisions if they remain neutral and impartial? Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Objectivity by researchers has not, and probably never will be attained. People will always have biases; some will be created by cultural values and others by personal views. The search for objectivity lies in the realm of philosophy along with the search for reality. Even though objectivity can never be reached, people are better at making observations, discoveries, and decisions if they attempt to set aside their biases.

Essay 3

This is the third essay that I found useful for my best 12-point collection.

Question: Is creativity needed more than ever in the world today

In a world, plagued with the horrors of war, poverty, famine and disease, creativity is one way many are able to express their anguish and desires. Whether it be through art, literature, film, music or other forms, Creativity is omnipresent. Three examples that exemplify this are: Picasso’s “Guernica”, “The Gulag Archipelago” by Solzhenitsyn and Michael Moore’s film “Bowling for Columbine”.

“Guernica” is considered to be one of Pablo Picasso’s most well-known and valuable paintings. It was painted in the late 1940s, during the time of the Spainish Civil War and the reign of fascist dictator, Franz Franco. In the painting, Picasso, uses many symbols to express the atrocities of war. People are depicted as being stabbed and brutally murdered. In one section of the painting, Picasso uses a lightbulb in order to symbolize hope. “Guernica” continues to be a symbol of anti-war protest. After its creation, it toured all throughout Europe and America during WWII. Picasso used creativity as a method of protest, during the oppressive regime, and war that plagued Spain during the 1940s.

“The Gulag Archipelago” was written by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, in it he adresses the monstrocities that occured during the reign of Stalin during the mid-19th century. He exposes the horrors of the labor camps, in which many Russians were forced to labor under detestable conditions, rank with pestilence. When Solzhenitsyn tried to get it published in Russia, no one would. So, he went to the U.S. to get it published. It was immensely popular and remains an important Cold War artifact. Solzhenitsyn, used “The Gulag Archipelago” to vent his frustrations with the U.S.S.R. and the cruel and unusual methods that were implemented in Stalinist Russia. Thus, his creativity exposed the world, to something that they might not have realized the magnitude of this issue, without the publication of the novel.

Michael Moore, a popular American filmmaker, is known to create throught-provoking, expository films. One of his most famous films “Bowling for Columbine” exposes America’s folly in its gun policy regarding the youth and people in general and juxtaposes America’s violent culture with other various cultures, such as Japan and Canada. Another main focus of the document, is the Columbine shooting. The columbine shooting, involved two students going on a killing spree in their Colorado high school. In the movie, Moore and one of the kids that was paralyzed from the incident are able to get Kmart, the place where the shooters bought the bullets, to stop selling bullets. This is very powerful, and illustrates that maybe hope is not lost, and that America can reform its violent ways. Michael Moore uses film as his creative outlet, in order to inspire, educate and expose people to pertinent issues that affect our daily lives.

A world without creativity, would not be able to exist. The world, would not be able to last because there would be nothing to inspire or educate people. Thus, life would becoming uniform and meaningless. Creativity allows one to create their own self and seperate themselves from others. Thus, creativity is essential to the well-being and preservation of man-kind.

+ My analysis for this essay: the beginning paragraph states a very strong and clear thesis statement expressing the idea that creativity is always necessary. This essay also states very clearly the examples that it will uses to defend the point. There are many strong phrases and correctly academic words: “plagued with the horrors of war” (the word “plagued” underlines the urge to people to change to survive or to live with better life); “atrocities” instead of “cruel acts; “a method of protest, during the oppressive regime” appears a lot in history books, indicating the author’s sophistication and knowledge of exact historical events; “monstrocities” for something ugly; “exposes the horrors of the labor camps” for revealing the horror of the labor camps.

I like the way this person uses the metaphor of the lightbulb to express the term of creativity in Picasso’s paiting. The second paragraph also does a good job in summing the idea, the meaning and the influence of the painting at the end of the lines to strongly defend and explain the point. The third and the fourth also use the same techniques of revealing the main idea, but the two are full of unnecessary information to mess up or confuse the grader.

We should not use much passive voice for the SAT essay. Of course we can use some in some situations but not with all paragraphs: “”Guernica” is considered to be one of Pablo Picasso’s most well-known and valuable paintings. It was painted in the late 1940s, during the time of the Spainish Civil War and the reign of fascist dictator, Franz Franco”. There are serious grammatical errors that the author has to fix: “”The Gulag Archipelago” was written by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, in it he adresses the monstrocities that occured during the reign of Stalin during the mid-19th century” with the missing of an adjunction after the comma splice.

Essay 2

The second 12-point essay of a good student

Question: Is there a value in celebrating certain individuals as heroes?

Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Robin are few examples of the many superheroes that prevail in comics and cartoons. Children are captivated by these heroes because of their awesome superpowers, but in actuality what is truly amazing about these heroes is that they remain just, fight for justice, and have apt courage to do so. Many children and adults look up to heroes, whether real or not, as inspiration to become better people. There is ample reason to celebrate individuals as heroes because not only do they deserve to be extolled but they remain an essential part to our society.

Recently, I attended a leadership conference which took place over a three-day period within the snowy pines of Idyllwild, California. About 300 students gathered there to develop leadership skills and be commemorated for excellence. The coordinators of the conference constantly congratulated and thanks us, making me wonder why. Later, a keynote speaker asked us if we through there were heroes in the world and if the world was changing for a better place. Many replied denouncing President George W. Bush’s leadership, but one lone student arised and said “how can we say there are no heroes in the world when we have all gathered here today?” It finally sprung on my with these few simple words that I was grateful for this conference and how the coordinators thanked me. It inspired me because I was previously wondering, what is the point of being a hero and helping others when there is nothing to be given in return? People need to continue to celebrate heroes like in comic books to prevent them from not continuing to be a hero. Heroes are real people and they need reassurance no matter what good deed they are doing.

However, not all people are born heroes. Some are timid and shy their entire life. They remain aloof even when they disagree with something. However, when they do speak out and attempt to open up, they exhibit strong heroic qualities. In my opinion, people that are timid but gain the courage to speak passionately about what they care about are heroes. One girl in my class never spoke out loud in class. She would sit silent in her chair always listening to everyone else. However, one day, maybe she was inspired by someone else, she raised her hadn’t and participated in the debate that day. Once she did so, everyone in the class started clapping. After this, she turned bright red and sat down but after that she became much more involved in class activities. This simple act of gratitude from the class of clapping our hands was instrumental in her continual participation. If we hadn’t celebrated her heroism of gaining the courage to speak out that day, I don’t think I would have ever been able to hear her ideas.

In conclusion, celebration of heroes helps their confidence and inspires others.

+My analysis: The opening paragraph is a little bit confusing with the first two sentences mingle together. However, the author makes the thesis clear at the end that heroes can inspire real life people to try to be better.

There are a lot of unnecessary information in this essay: “Recently, I attended a leadership conference which took place over a three-day period within the snowy pines of Idyllwild, California. About 300 students gathered there to develop leadership skills and be commemorated for excellence. The coordinators of the conference constantly congratulated and thanks us, making me wonder why” because we are talking about the hero, so the author just grid in “a … conference that I attended stated that…”, which will be more specific and terse. The essay also have grammatical errors: “arised” instead of “arose”;

This author uses a lot of personal experience in the essay. Therefore, it is really risky to get a bad grade for personal experience, but the author states his own explanations and his changed feelings about the topic. The explanations and self-consideration at the end show strong connection with the main idea.