<p>I badly need feedback. I took all the comments from my last essay posted here and tried to apply them....I don't know how well I succeeded though. I tried using the "formula" where each paragraph is its own concrete detail. I had six minutes left over at the end. </p>
<p>Please help me by leaving criticism/comments/etc. They are much appreciated!</p>
<p>College Board Blue Book Practice Essay 7</p>
<p>Prompt: Do you think that ease does not challenge us and that we need adversity to help us discover who we are?</p>
<p>My Response:</p>
<p>Despite the struggles we go through in the face of adversity, it is clear that ease does not challenge us and that such adversity is required for self-discovery. Adversity determines one's potential capabilites, strengthens personal values, and gives us a feeling of self-worth.</p>
<p>Adversity can help determine what one is truly able to do. For example, as a student, I moved through elementary and middle school with ease, generally bored by the slow pace and simple curriculum. As a high schooler, I now challenge myself by taking rigorous courses. When I took AP Physics and AP Chemistry together last year, I learned that I truly did possess the ability for time-manageent and could persevere in pushing myself to attain success. Without the hardhsip of these difficult classes, I would never have discovered myself competent enough for college coursework.</p>
<p>Besides defining capabilities, adversity also strenghtens personal values. In Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, main character Huck continually questions whether it is righteous and lawful to help a black slave escape. After several adventures and close calls with his runaway slave friend, Jim, Huck realizes that all humans deserve to be treated equally. Had Huck remained at home with his prejudiced white, adopted family, and never experienced a series of trials and tribulations with Jim, Huck never would have realized this concept of equality. He would have remained narrow-minded, with a different set of values. Thus, adversity sculpts moral character.</p>
<p>In addition to shaping moral values, adversity also establishes self-worth through providing us with a sense of purpose. In the Kite Runner, Amir goes into Afghanistan under the Taliban regime, as an adult, to rescue the son of his childhood friend, Hasan. By rescuing Hasan's son, Amir relieves himeself of the overwhelming guilt he had felt as a child who had watched Hasan get raped and did nothing to defend him. Through adversity; getting beaten up by the rapist; Amir encounters redemption. He no longer feels like a useless, worthless, and cowardly child after the struggle with this bully. Rescuing Hasan's son despite the physical and mental struggle invigorates Amir and infuses his life with significance. Adversity is essential to developing his self-worth.</p>
<p>Ease is comfortable and we are accustomed to is. Unfortunately, this stagnates change and character development. Though adversity may place heavy strains on us, it is clearly a fundamental obstacle that we must overcome on the path to true self-discovery.</p>