<p>I was thinking that when it comes to the essay two topics I would probably write about, depending on the prompt, would be religion and politics. </p>
<p>I would most likely write some type of criticism of religion or capitalism, and I would automatically look towards someone like Karl Marx for backing examples. </p>
<p>The problem here is: what if my graders (I know there are two) disagree with me? What if my graders are religious people and feel offended? How about if my graders automatically think of the connotations associated with Karl Marx? </p>
<p>I would like to know if anybody has ever had a similar experience, but I doubt that even if it did happen they would even know since I doubt college board releases such things, which scares me even more since then I would never know. Was my essay just not well written? did I truly deserve that score? or did the grader take some type of personal grudge against me? They are human after all. </p>
<p>What do you think would be the chances of something like this happening?</p>
<p>I'm worried because if the prompt gives me space I would be tempted to touch those controversial subjects simply because I feel confident that I can write a concise essay on them/with them. </p>
<p>In terms of “topics” you have to stick to the topic they ask you about, so you can’t get into a critique of capitalism or religion if it’s not related to the prompt. An off-topic essay could get a score of 0. In this day and age, I don’t think that using Karl Marx is a huge problem, but I would advise being someone sensitive regarding particularly hot-button issues. Don’t trash anyone’s religion. I would also tell a religious person to not trash atheists either. </p>
<p>I think that if you’re really thinking you’ll offend someone, perhaps you should brainstorm some examples that will be less likely to offend. I know it’s not fair, but better safe than sorry on something like this. However, can you give us a sentence or two that you think might be offensive? I can give you an idea if it might be offensive to some people.</p>
<p>However, I’m guessing you are more likely to lose points for being off-topic or for straying from the a focused argument that truly fits the prompt then you are to lose points from an offended scorer. Sometimes if a student seems too invested in using a certain example, they can try to connect it to a prompt when they shouldn’t, or he or she will get carried away and stray from the argument that addresses the prompt. I would look at a list of commonly used prompts and start brainstorming a few ideas each day for different ones. There are a lot of prompts that really don’t lend themselves to religion and politics. </p>