SAT+essays

SAT Sample Essays Without our past, our future would be a tortuous path leading to nowhere. In order to move up the ladder of success and achievement we must come to terms with our past and integrate it into our future. Even if in the past we made mistakes, this will only make wiser people out of us and guide us to where we are supposed to be. This past year, I was auditioning for the fall play, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." To my detriment I thought it would be a good idea to watch the movie in order to prepare. For two hours I studied Elizabeth Taylor's mannerisms, attitude, and diction, hoping I could mimic her performance. I auditioned for the part of "Maggie" feeling perfectly confident in my portrayal of Elizabeth Taylor, however, I was unaware that my director saw exactly what I had been thinking. Unfortunately, I didn't get the part, and my director told me that he needed to see "Maggie" from my perspective, not Elizabeth Taylor's. I learned from this experience, and promised myself I would not try to imitate another actress, in order to create my character. Perservering, I was anxious to audition for the winter play just two months later. The play was Neil Simon's "Rumors," and would get the opportunity to play "Chris," a sarcastic yet witty role, which would be my final performance in high school. In order to develop my character, I planned out her life just as I thought it should be, gave her the voice I thought was right, and the rest of her character unfolded beautifully from there. My director told me after the first show that "Rumors" was the best work he'd ever seen from me, and that he was amazed at how I'd developed such a believable character. Thinking back to my first audition I was grateful for that chance I had to learn and to grow, because without that mistake I might have tried to base "Chris" off of someone I'd known or something I'd seen instead of becoming my own character. I utilized the memory of the Elizabeth Taylor debacle to improve my approach to acting and gave the best performance of my life so far.

My oppion on this topic are oposing memories and favoring them. People do succed with repeating their memories. They might have horrible memories but also succeed because they don't repeat the past. I also think memories should not rule the present. If you let the past overcome the preset you won't get any where. This is why memories should be guidelines, not rules. If you repeat the past it won't come out as well as it did because the world has changed. See the past will never change with the world, but the world will change to overcome the past. So in conclusion don't forget the past or live in it, and the past is only guidelines.

Memories can be helpful to some and hinder others. I believe that memories from different aspects of ones life have different consequences. One memory may be bad and it may be best forgotten about, when trying to succeed. Though some memories may give on strength to suceed in achieving a higher status in life. When a person completes a task they have done once before, it trigers a memory and lets the reader reflect on that particular time in life. For example, a sporting team at the local high school makes it to the state championships, but severly loses to their opponent, the next time they get to the state championships they may think about the past and how they lost before, and it may hinder there feelings and they may once again lose. This demonstrates how a memory can ruin a certain activity for ever. On the other hand a memory can also help someone to move up the ladder of success. As an example if a person has cancer and is given treatment then diagnosed in remission they feel like they have beat the cancer. When the patient in remission is later told that the cancer has grown back, the patient might feel that they can kill the cancer again because when looking at the past they see they have beat it once why not beat it again. This demonstrates how a memory can be helpful to a person. In this case it did not help the person climb the ladder of success though it helped the to continue climbing the ladder of life to the extent that they were able to climb. Those two short examples just go to demonstrate how memories of the past can both help and hinder a person in their path of not only success but also in the path of life.

SCORE OF 6 ** An essay in this category demonstrates **clear and consistent mastery**, although it may have a few minor errors.  ·  effectively and insightfully develops a point of view on the issue and demonstrates outstanding critical thinking, using clearly appropriate examples, reasons, and other evidence to support its position  ·  is well organized and clearly focused, demonstrating clear coherence and smooth progression of ideas  ·  exhibits skillful use of language, using a varied, accurate, and apt vocabulary  ·  demonstrates meaningful variety in sentence structure  ·  is free of most errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics An essay in this category demonstrates **reasonably consistent mastery**, although it will have occasional errors or lapses in quality.  ·  effectively develops a point of view on the issue and demonstrates strong critical thinking, generally using appropriate examples, reasons, and other evidence to support its position  ·  is well organized and focused, demonstrating coherence and progression of ideas  ·  exhibits facility in the use of language, using appropriate vocabulary  ·  demonstrates variety in sentence structure  ·  is generally free of most errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics An essay in this category demonstrates **adequate mastery**, although it will have lapses in quality.  ·  develops a point of view on the issue and demonstrates competent critical thinking, using adequate examples, reasons, and other evidence to support its position  ·  is generally organized and focused, demonstrating some coherence and progression of ideas  ·  exhibits adequate but inconsistent facility in the use of language, using generally appropriate vocabulary  ·  demonstrates some variety in sentence structure  ·  has some errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics An essay in this category demonstrates **developing mastery**, and is marked by ONE OR MORE of the following weaknesses:  ·  develops a point of view on the issue, demonstrating some critical thinking, but may do so inconsistently or use inadequate examples, reasons, or other evidence to support its position <span style="font-size: 8pt; color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> ·  is limited in its organization or focus, or may demonstrate some lapses in coherence or progression of ideas <span style="font-size: 8pt; color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> ·  displays developing facility in the use of language, but sometimes uses weak vocabulary or inappropriate word choice <span style="font-size: 8pt; color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> ·  lacks variety or demonstrates problems in sentence structure <span style="font-size: 8pt; color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> ·  contains an accumulation of errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics An essay in this category demonstrates **little mastery**, and is flawed by ONE OR MORE of the following weaknesses: <span style="font-size: 8pt; color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> ·  develops a point of view on the issue that is vague or seriously limited, and demonstrates weak critical thinking, providing inappropriate or insufficient examples, reasons, or other evidence to support its position <span style="font-size: 8pt; color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> ·  is poorly organized and/or focused, or demonstrates serious problems with coherence or progression of ideas <span style="font-size: 8pt; color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> ·  displays very little facility in the use of language, using very limited vocabulary or incorrect word choice <span style="font-size: 8pt; color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> ·  demonstrates frequent problems in sentence structure <span style="font-size: 8pt; color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> ·  contains errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics so serious that meaning is somewhat obscured An essay in this category demonstrates **very little** or **no mastery**, and is severely flawed by ONE OR MORE of the following weaknesses: <span style="font-size: 8pt; color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> ·  develops no viable point of view on the issue, or provides little or no evidence to support its position <span style="font-size: 8pt; color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> ·  is disorganized or unfocused, resulting in a disjointed or incoherent essay <span style="font-size: 8pt; color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> ·  displays fundamental errors in vocabulary <span style="font-size: 8pt; color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> ·  demonstrates severe flaws in sentence structure <span style="font-size: 8pt; color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> ·  contains pervasive errors in grammar, usage, or mechanics that persistently interfere with meaning <span style="font-size: 8pt; color: black; font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-ansi-language: EN;"> ·  Essays not written on the essay assignment will receive a score of zero.
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