Okay, so by now, you may have heard that the March SAT had a most unlikely essay prompt. It was about reality television, and read in part:
"How authentic can reality shows be when producers design challenges for the participants and then editors alter filmed scenes?"
People seem quite divided on the validity of this prompt, as illustrated in this article in The New York Times.
I don't think the main issue here is that the subject matter caters to students who watch reality television. The College Board is clearly making an overt attempt to be more "hip," which isn't necessarily a bad thing. What is DEFINITELY bad is breaking the format of the SAT prompt with an overly specific question.
I've written dozens of writing prompts for SAT prep websites and review books, and have thus studied every one of the SAT writing prompts since the writing section's inception in 2005. All of these prompts had a much more general, and somewhat philosophical, bent to them. Compare the reality show prompt to previous ones such as, "Can success sometimes be disastrous?" or "Is conscience a more powerful motivator than money, power or fame?" You could very well answer these prompts with examples from reality shows if you so desired. But their scope is of such a broader magnitude that using these prompts to prepare for the test could actually be detrimental when the College Board choses to suddenly narrow the writing prompt's focus so suddenly and severely.
It's true that students unfamiliar with reality shows could manipulate the essay to stray away from this specific content. A student could, for instance, postulate on the nature of reality itself, rather than wading into muddy details about Snookie. But why force students to make such contortions? I am not against pushing students to think creatively or surprising them with offbeat, clever questions as long as they are within the understood format. There's a difference between a surprise and a sucker punch.
Already, the writing section is devalued by most colleges because its worth as a predictor of college success has yet to be determined. Ultimately, by making the essay prompts so radically unpredictable, the College Board most likely has made the writing section even less usable for college administrators.
"How authentic can reality shows be when producers design challenges for the participants and then editors alter filmed scenes?"
People seem quite divided on the validity of this prompt, as illustrated in this article in The New York Times.
I don't think the main issue here is that the subject matter caters to students who watch reality television. The College Board is clearly making an overt attempt to be more "hip," which isn't necessarily a bad thing. What is DEFINITELY bad is breaking the format of the SAT prompt with an overly specific question.
I've written dozens of writing prompts for SAT prep websites and review books, and have thus studied every one of the SAT writing prompts since the writing section's inception in 2005. All of these prompts had a much more general, and somewhat philosophical, bent to them. Compare the reality show prompt to previous ones such as, "Can success sometimes be disastrous?" or "Is conscience a more powerful motivator than money, power or fame?" You could very well answer these prompts with examples from reality shows if you so desired. But their scope is of such a broader magnitude that using these prompts to prepare for the test could actually be detrimental when the College Board choses to suddenly narrow the writing prompt's focus so suddenly and severely.
It's true that students unfamiliar with reality shows could manipulate the essay to stray away from this specific content. A student could, for instance, postulate on the nature of reality itself, rather than wading into muddy details about Snookie. But why force students to make such contortions? I am not against pushing students to think creatively or surprising them with offbeat, clever questions as long as they are within the understood format. There's a difference between a surprise and a sucker punch.
Already, the writing section is devalued by most colleges because its worth as a predictor of college success has yet to be determined. Ultimately, by making the essay prompts so radically unpredictable, the College Board most likely has made the writing section even less usable for college administrators.
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