AP Lang 2012 3rd FRQ Argumentative Essay

<p>i talked about how there is ,quite literally, a direct relationship between certainty and doubt. (50% certainity must = 50% doubt) but regardless, it has no practical meaning because regardless because a person’s certainty doesn’t have the capability to dictate real life.</p>

<p>I basically followed this path of logic:

  1. As expressed in the quote, the main positive of certainty is the great accomplishments it leads to (My two main examples, which i followed throughout the entire essay, were the moon landing and the american revolution)
  2. The root of certainty in these scenarios is determination – they were determined they could accomplish goal; therefore, they gained certainty (self-determination might’ve been a good clarification in the essay, but hindsight is 20/20)
  3. Without determination, certainty is useless, as it does not lead to good acts but rather to blind faith.
  4. In the case of accomplishments, determination is fueled by doubt – their drive is to prove the status quo wrong, doubting the popular opinion. If they never doubted the public opinion, they would never have the determination nor the certainty.</p>

<p>I thought this essay was actually very cool because of its openness to interpretation. Here were my thoughts:</p>

<ul>
<li>Certainty is essentially a defense mechanism for those with goals or intent, and doubt is the filter that tames this certainty from an idealistic goal to one that complies with reality. </li>
<li>An excess of either certainty or doubt is detrimental; balancing the scale of certainty and doubt maximizes performance and efficiency.</li>
<li>The progression of scientific theories is a clear example of certainty and doubt. By doubting, theories are disproved and in turn improve. However, those who are disproved often display belief bias, aka certainty bias, and are so full of certainty it obstructs their mind from accepting these new theories.</li>
</ul>

<p>I basically said that you can only be completely certain if you have doubted all of the other options. (I referenced the famous Sherlock Holmes Quote). I also said that whenever a certainty is achieved, doubt will always arise, creating new certainties. I used kinda a yin-yang relationship.</p>

<p>Certainty is the accelerator and doubt is the steering wheel. You get nowhere without drive (certainty), but without steering through the minefields (doubt), you crash and burn…</p>

<p>I didnt love this question but ti k that i did a good job. </p>

<p>So I said that doubt is akways present, and I personified these two concepts. Also, i opened the essay with a story of isaac newton questioning “everything that goes up must go down” . For the body i used tese examples </p>

<p>Area 51
Keneddys death
Orwells 1984</p>

<p>Do you guys think that is I said “confidence is attractive” and that great leaders and thinkers often inspire themselves and others by having an aura of certainty that it’ll be off topic? I did relate it to doubt, but I forgot some of the details. I really hope I didn’t get a 1 or 0 on this because I kind of got too excited in using some historical examples lol. This question was a very open prompt if you asked me…</p>

<p>I got a 4 on the exam, but in my essay I only gravitated to one side- certainty. I used Walden by Henry David thoreau and mahatma Gandhi’s fight against the imperialistic powers of Britain as examples. So I gave a literary and political perspective. </p>

<p>Sent from my Desire HD using CC</p>

<p>The Djokovic example is probably what got me the 5 :D</p>