ESSAY EXAM BOOKLET Alvin High School - Alvin, TX

United States

Academic Decathlon®

ESSAY EXAM

BOOKLET

2016-2017

United States Academic Decathlon® PO Box 4351, Mankato, MN 56002

712-326-9589 Email: [email protected] / Web site: www.usad.org

Copyright 2016. All rights reserved.

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2 USAD Essay Exam Booklet

USAD Essay Guidelines

Contestants will be allowed 50 minutes to write the essay.

Essays will be scored by trained essay graders in accordance with a

published rubric (pg. 21).

At the National Finals, students will be given three prompts from

which to choose. The essay prompts may focus on any of the

following subject areas: art, economics, literature, music, science, or

social science.

Local competitions occasionally use different topics, prompts,

instructions, and rubrics. Coaches should check with their local

competition manager for these details as well as the competition rules

regarding writing instruments and format.

This booklet includes sample essay prompts that are illustrative of

prompts students may encounter on the essay test.

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Essay Exam Booklet 1

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UNITED STATES ACADEMIC DECATHLON®

ESSAY TEST

SET 1

2016-2017

_________________________________________________________________ Instructions to Students

Select one of the prompts for your essay. Write the number of the prompt on the top of the first page of your essay.

Write a well-organized essay in which you clearly respond to the question or direction that is presented in the

prompt. Be sure to follow the accepted rules of standard English sentence structure, usage, spelling, and

punctuation, and to use appropriate diction and style. Maintain legible handwriting. You may use a pen if you wish,

but avoid messy cross-outs. Allow yourself time to proofread your essay. For the essay topic you choose, state your

individual thesis or position clearly. Use specific information and examples from your studies to support your

position. Provide a final paragraph to conclude or close your essay.

Essay Prompts:

Literature Essay Prompt:

1. As a first person narrative, Transit takes on the tone of the narrator’s voice -- his thoughts,

feelings, ideas and beliefs. In this context, discuss the tone of the novel. How do the narrator’s

experiences shape the tone he brings to the novel? Use specific examples to support your

answer.

Art Essay Prompt:

2. Compare and contrast Mukhina’s and Rockwell’s artworks featured in the USAD Art Resource

Guide as works of propaganda that promote the values of each artist’s homeland.

Economics Essay Prompt:

3. The American economy produced the greatest number of aircrafts and ammunition during the

War. In order to achieve this, the economy had to go through many changes during its

mobilization period. Describe some of the major demographic shifts that occurred during

mobilization.

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ESSAY TEST

SET 2

2016-2017

_________________________________________________________________

Instructions to Students








Essay Prompts:

Music Essay Prompt:

1. How does Show Boat compare to other musicals of its time? Discuss what the composer and

lyricist do to change the direction of American musical theater using your knowledge from the

USAD Music Resource Guide.

Social Science Essay Prompt:

2. Analyze the steps that the American government took to participate in World War II

without actually declaring war due to changing attitudes in 1941 about involvement in the war.

Science Essay Prompt:

3. Define radioactive decay and describe the properties of alpha (α), beta (β), and gamma (γ) rays

briefly. Be sure to cite details from the USAD Science Resource Guide.

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ESSAY TEST

SET 3

2016-2017

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Essay Prompts:

Art Essay Prompt:

1. Discuss how the Zeppelinfeld was designed to act as a propagandistic stage for Hitler’s rallies.

Use details from the USAD Art Resource Guide to support your essay.


2. Discuss in detail two central issues involving European countries after the end of World

War II that led to the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the Western world. Use

supporting details from the USAD Social Science Resource Guide to support your essay.


3. Explain at least two of the limitations of using Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to measure output

and then defend its use as the official measure in the United States.

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ESSAY TEST

SET 4

2016-2017









Essay Prompts:


1. Seghers’s novel Transit did not receive strong or positive reviews when it was first published, but

has received a “limited revival” with a new appreciation for the novel. Write your own review;

be sure to summarize it briefly and comment on the novel’s historical context for 21st century

readers.


2. What led to the discovery of photoelectric effect? Discuss Lenard’s experiments and his

observations briefly based from the information in the USAD Science Resource Guide.

Music Essay Prompt:

3. Discuss the history of early radio from the time of its inception to the end of World War II.

Explain how this development impacted popular music.

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ESSAY TEST

SET 5

2016-2017









Essay Prompts:

Art Essay Prompt:

1. With emphasis on the World War II Memorial, discuss the role the war memorials located on the

National Mall play in promoting American patriotism. Use your knowledge from the USAD Art

Resource Guide to support your essay.


2. Explain how a closed economy with both high-skilled and low-skilled workers will benefit and be

hurt by opening up to international trade without any restrictions.


3. Discuss in detail Operation Barbarossa. Be sure to mention the factors which help to explain why

the Soviets were able to recover quickly and stop the German advance during the Operation.

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ESSAY TEST

SET 6

2016-2017









Essay Prompts:

Music Essay Prompt:

1. How did Aaron Copland represent Nationalism in his works Rodeo and Appalachian Spring?

Discuss why this was significant based on your knowledge from the USAD Music Resource

Guide.


2. Nuclear fission and nuclear fusion both are nuclear phenomena that release large amounts of

energy, but they are different processes which generate different products. Using your knowledge

from the USAD Science Resource Guide, briefly compare nuclear fusion and nuclear fission.


3. Economics attempts to make useful predictions about the real world using fundamental principles

and models. These models do not always accurately predict market outcomes. Describe some of

the factors that prevent models from being perfectly accurate and how this throws them off.

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ESSAY TEST

SET 7

2016-2017









Essay Prompts:


1. Discuss the ways in which Seghers portrays Marie, the main female character in Transit. In your

opinion, which of Marie’s various and often competing characteristics are dominant in the novel?

Use examples from Transit to support your answer.


2. Analyze in detail the strategies implemented by the Nazi regime to force as many of

Germany’s Jews as possible to leave the country during the 1930s.

Art Essay Prompt:

3. Painter Ad Reinhardt is said to have described Ab Ex sculpture as “the thing you back into when

you look at a painting.” Discuss why Ab Ex sculpture has received less attention than painting

and what technology perfected in World War II encouraged sculptors to participate in the Ab Ex

movement.

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ESSAY TEST

SET 8

2016-2017









Essay Prompts:

Music Essay Prompt:

1. Discuss how George Gershwin combined elements of both Jazz and Classical music in his work

Rhapsody in Blue. What was significant about its first performance?


2. Compare and contrast the unnamed narrator and his experience in Transit to Anna Seghers and

her biography. Be sure to use specific examples from the novel as well as the author’s history to

support your answer.


3. Discuss the significance of the Trinity Test and explain why this was considered by many the

start of the Atomic Age. List some of the challenges encountered in designing the detonation

mechanism for the Manhattan Project.

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ESSAY TEST

SET 9

2016-2017









Essay Prompts:

Art Essay Prompt:

1. The Nazis were expert at using modern art to support their propaganda goals. Discuss the role of

the Entartete Kunst exhibition in purging Germany of art considered degenerate by the Nazis.


2. Discuss some common themes or ideas that emerge from the WWII poems and some of the

phrases and poetic devices that the poets use to relay these themes. Use at least three poems from

the set to support your answer.


3. Using your knowledge from the USAD Economics Resource Guide, explain how an economy can

create a greater amount of money than what is kept in reserves at a bank.

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ESSAY TEST

SET 10

2016-2017









Essay Prompts:


1. Discuss in detail the rise of the Nazi Party from its beginning until 1928. Be sure to include the

primary aim of the Nazi Party when it was first founded, Adolf Hitler’s influence on the Party,

and the Beer Hall Putsch in your essay.


2. Describe what a self-sustaining chain reaction is and the nuclear chain reaction of uranium-235.

Define the terms multiplication factor K, subcritical, critical and supercritical in your essay using

your knowledge from the USAD Science Resource Guide.


3. In order to finance war spending, the U.S. Treasury proposed many different programs and added

new policies into law. Describe one of the most lasting impacts of policy changes during this time

period and explain how the U.S. government normalized this new behavior.

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ESSAY TEST

SET 11

2016-2017









Music Essay Prompt:

1. Discuss the importance of Robert Johnson on later blues. How was his style and technique

different? Explain what makes this musician stand out among the rest using your knowledge from

the USAD Music Resource Guide.


2. In Seghers’s novel Transit, the drama of war plays itself out both in action and inaction. Discuss

this idea, providing examples of both action and inaction from the novel to support your answer.

Art Essay Prompt:

3. Describe how the imagery and text on the Ten Lire Postage Stamp was carefully selected to

commemorate the alliance between Germany and Italy.

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ESSAY TEST

SET 12

2016-2017









Essay Prompts:


1. Describe in detail the major issues discussed during the Potsdam Conference. Explain the

kind of impact the interaction between the American and Soviet leaders during the

Conference had on the American leadership’s view of the Soviet government.


2. The Treaty of Versailles signaled the official end to World War I. Explain at least one aspect of

the treaty that could have been written in such a way that might have prevented further conflict.

Music Essay Prompt:

3. Describe in detail “Tin Pan Alley” and explain how this notion relates to early popular song.

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ESSAY TEST

SET 13

2016-2017









Essay Prompts:


1. Compare the properties of X-rays and gamma rays using details from the USAD Science Resource

Guide.

Art Essay Prompt:

2. Identify the factors that contributed to the shifting of the center of avant garde art from Europe to

the United States after World War II.


3. The anonymous narrator uses Siedler’s identity to gain initial refuge in Marseille, and is also

mistaken for Weidel. Discuss the pros and cons of this mistaken identity on the narrator’s stay in

Marseille in the context of political position as well as his own personal story.

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ESSAY TEST

SET 14

2016-2017

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Essay Prompts:

Art Essay Prompt:

1. Describe how the memorials in Europe included in the USAD Art Resource Guide go beyond

honoring the dead and serve as educational centers.

Music Essay Prompt:

2. Discuss the Circle of Fifths and describe its relationship to tonal harmony.


3. Using your knowledge from the USAD Science Resource Guide, explain ionizing and non-

ionizing radiations. Describe the unit to measure radiation dosage.

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ESSAY TEST

SET 15

2016-2017









Essay Prompts:


1. Compare and contrast “A Day in Town” by Rebecca West and “Thoughts on a Peace in an Air

Raid” by Virginia Woolf. Provide examples from the two essays to support your answer.


2. Explain in detail the link between the process of European decolonization in Africa and World

War II as well as other factors which impacted the process of decolonization in Africa.


3. Describe the pernicious effects of inflation and explain why Germans today have a particular fear

of allowing too much inflation.

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ESSAY TEST

SET 16

2016-2017









Essay Prompts:


1. Describe magnetic properties of the nucleus with relation to the magnetic resonance imaging

(MRI).

Music Essay Prompt:

2. Describe the concepts of variation and contrast form in music. Use specific examples from the

USAD Music Resource Guide to describe each concept.

Art Essay Prompt:

3. Discuss the visual clues that would lead the viewer to the conclusion that Chagall is depicting

Christ as a Jewish martyr in White Crucifixion.

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ESSAY TEST

SET 17

2016-2017

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Essay Prompts:


1. Standards of living have been increasing in the United States since 1900. This has allowed for

better lifestyles and greater consumption of goods and services. What are some factors that have

allowed Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita to increase?


2. “September 1, 1939” by W. H. Auden is a poem that conveys several moralizing messages.

Discuss at least three of the universal morals in the poem and the poetic technique or diction

Auden uses to communicate the message.


3 Describe in detail the key features of Italian fascist ideology and practices of the 1920s and

1930s.

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ESSAY TEST

SET 18

2016-2017









Essay Prompts:

Art Essay Prompt:

1. In what ways do contemporary views of art history differ from art commentary from early

writers? Be sure to include any persons and works of importance in your answer.

Music Essay Prompt:

2. What are some of the similarities and differences between Operetta and early Tin Pan Alley based

musical theater? Discuss each in detail based from your knowledge of the USAD Music Resource

Guide.


3. Both Rebecca West’s and Virginia Woolf’s essays provide vivid descriptions or imagery that

represent their respective attitudes towards the historical and political environment of England

during WWII. Describe at least one scene from each essay and analyze it; how does the scene

exemplify the tone and message of each author?

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ESSAY TEST

SET 19

2016-2017

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Essay Prompts:


1. In the aftermath of World War II, the global economic system was largely upended. What were

some of the policies and institutions that were implemented and how did they help repair global

markets?


2. What were the assumptions of Bohr’s model hydrogen? Explain the modifications he applied to

Rutherford’s planetary model and the limitations of the Bohr model.


3. Discuss in detail what happened during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and why the attack

on Pearl Harbor was NOT the victory the Japanese had hoped for.

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ESSAY TEST

SET 20

2016-2017

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Essay Prompts:


1. Describe Newton’s and Huygen’s theory of light. Discuss which theory was eventually accepted

and explain the concept of double-slit interference and how it was discovered.

Music Essay Prompt:

2. Discuss the types of music created to boost morale during World War II. What types of songs

were created? Provide the names of some of the most important war-time songs and explain the

purpose of these songs.


3. Describe in detail the primary issues discussed during the Yalta Conference and the “traditional”

interpretation of decisions made at the Conference. Discuss the response of the critics of

“traditional” interpretation to such interpretation using details from the USAD Social Science

Resource Guide.

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United States Academic Decathlon®

Essay Rubric

Student ID#

Directions: Select one performance category in Table A. Within the range of points for that category, record the

points scored on the line provided at the bottom of the Table.

A. FOCUS/SCOPE – ORGANIZATION – CONTENT/DEVELOPMENT Addresses the prompt in an outstanding manner; responds to all aspects of the task; is organized

clearly and consistently based on a strong central purpose; provides substantial and specific evidence

to support major positions

OUTSTANDING

85 – 100 pts.

Addresses the prompt in an effective manner; responds to several aspects of the task; is organized

effectively based on a clear central purpose; provides appropriate evidence to support positions EXCELLENT

70 – 84 pts.

Addresses the prompt in an adequate manner; focuses on a minor aspect of the task; is organized

based on a restatement of the prompt; provides some predictable evidence to support positions GOOD

55 – 69 pts.

Addresses the prompt in a basic manner; is organized in a limited way; provides evidence that is

general or not clearly linked to a position FAIR

40 – 54 pts.

Addresses the prompt in a limited manner; is organized in a confused way; provides superficial

evidence with inadequate elaboration WEAK

15 – 39 pts.

Fails to address the prompt; absence of organization; absence of relevant content POOR

0 – 14 pts.

Total for A _________

Directions: Select one performance category in Table B. Within the range of points for that category, record the

points scored on the line provided at the bottom of the Table.

B. LANGUAGE/STYLE - CONVENTIONS

Demonstrates exceptional control of sentence structure and precise word choice; is almost entirely

free of errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics OUTSTANDING

85 – 100 pts.

Demonstrates strong control of sentence structure and appropriate word choice; is generally free of

errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics EXCELLENT

70 – 84 pts.

Demonstrates reasonable control of sentence structure and some precision in word choice; contains

confusing errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics GOOD

55 – 69 pts.

Demonstrates some lack of control of sentence structure; limited in word choice; minimal control of

grammar, usage, and mechanics FAIR

40 – 54 pts.

Demonstrates some lack of control of sentence structure; minimal variety in word choice; minimal

control of grammar, usage, and mechanics WEAK

15 – 39 pts.

Minimal control of sentence structure; inappropriate word choice; contains serious errors in grammar,

usage, and mechanics POOR

0 – 14 pts.

Total for B

Off Prompt: (OP) Nonscorable: (NS) Prompt is not addressed Essay is: illegible

OP = Zero Score insufficient

a blank paper

NS = Zero Score

For event coordinator’s use only.

Total points for A X 8 = Total points for B X 2 = TOTAL _______

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ESSAY EXAM BOOKLET Alvin High School - Alvin, TX

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