The Prompt, The Support, and the Thesis

College Board and SAT graders expect you to examine the prompt and then use critical thinking to form a POSITION statement – the more specific, the better.

College Board wants to know if you can coherently discuss a philosophical position and support it with examples – an important skill in college and in communication!

Let’s look at the prompt we are working with…

“What is your view on the idea that it takes failure to achieve success?”

Immediately, in about a minute – think of the “edges” of this statement – something creative and critical . . . Then possible examples …. Then your POSITION or THESIS

IT TAKES FAILURE TO LEAD TO SUCCESS

FAILURE DOES NOT LEAD TO SUCCESS

Possible “edges” or positions: Failure CAN lead to

success, but failure itself does not simply create success

Without failure, we could never understand the improvements that must be made to lead to success.

Success can often be measured by the progress we make through failure.

Possible “edges” or positions: While people may fail

before finally accomplishing a goal, failure in itself does not lead to success.

Though many would say that we can only succeed through failure, the path to success comes through overcoming many obstacles that are not necessarily failures.

A personal observation for “failure leads to success”: Establishing a good relationship with my best

friend Failure – did not understand her not wanting to do

things all the time or the way I did them Got mad, didn’t speak – friendship failing Got angry when she spent time with other friends

without me Learned from those failures how to establish trust,

communicate honestly, rely on her Now a successful friendship where we understand

the needs and have respect for each other And lots more possibilities!!!

Personal observation for “failure leads to success” – I have had many failures in my life that

have led to success Learning to do math Learning to ride a bike Learning to write an essay

(This is not an example that is fully developed – just random failures where the writer expects the grader to make the connections)

They are often hypothetical – you can never write well about something that you don’t KNOW well

They are often vague, usually resulting from a a writer “knowing” about the example, but not the DETAILS (for example – could you specifically mention Edison’s failures – and HOW each led to success?)

They often are not developed well enough They often need more background

information than you have time to develop inside a 25-minute essay

They are cliché – or trite (worn out) They lack critical thinking – self-evident

(duh!) They show a “false cause-effect”

relationship

Choose something you KNOW a lot about– so you can include DETAILS and critical thinking

Choose from personal observations Choose from history or current events (but

make sure you know the details, not just the event!)

Choose something that others may not think of (why it is important to BANK some examples that could be used for several prompts)

Choose from movies or books! Choose from successful BUSINESSMEN or

COMPANIES (if you know them!)

Don’t write what you think they will “want to hear” –

WRITE HONESTLY – it comes through in your writing and makes critical thinking more obvious Each of you has excellent critical thinking

skills and if you choose examples that are meaningful to you, your critical thinking will be more natural

In that first 5 minutes of your SAT essay – spend time thinking of General position you might take Then the EXAMPLES Then form your thesis!

PRACTICE DOING THIS AS MUCH AS YOU CAN – EVEN WITHOUT WRITING THE ESSAY – but you will need to practice the essay and time limit!!!