<p>This essay question was used in the latest SAT (December 2013). It feels very out of character for the College Board. Usually they give questions that are very open-ended for interpretation, and you are free to use your own examples. However, this particular question is very specific, and can't really be interpreted open-endedly at all.</p>
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<p>"When we go shopping, most of us do not think about the impact our spending has on other people. However, if we buy products from companies or individuals that mistreat their employees or the environment, or that otherwise do harm, we indirectly approve or even encourage such behavior. On the other hand, it may be unrealistic to assume that anything would prevent people from buying a good product at the right price."</p>
<h2>Assignment: Do consumers have a responsibility to purchase goods only from companies and people whose actions are beneficial to others?</h2>
<p>How on earth would one approach a question like this during the exam? And do you think that the College Board is making a shift towards more specific questions like this?</p>
<p>Interesting. Maybe you are right; they are trying to prevent test takers from massaging canned paragraphs, and instead are looking for spontaneously-generated content. </p>
<p>Doesn’t mean you are screwed, just means your going to have to change your approach- you’ll have to think fast and write something coherent in the time allowed.</p>
<p>Yup! this appeared in the Dec test and I had the exact same reaction. It looks more like an ACT essay prompt and not the typical, philosophical ones that we are used to from SAT. Since SAT is planning a revamp, looks like the change in the approach to essays is one.
Can’t just rely on the standard examples. I could luckily connect to this essay and had quite a few things to speak about it. Mixed events that happened in my country and my personal experiences and made it feel more personal. Though the prompt seems very narrow, looks like broader interpretations are encouraged. So, no need to worry. Just try to think fast while writing. If you cant find examples from history and current affairs, personal experiences will save your life.</p>
<p>Took that Dec test and got 10 on this. I remember getting 11 for the previous one so I was kinda disappointed…anyways I wrote something something like this:
most countries follow free market economy, meaning that consumers are free to choose any product they wish to buy so it is not sensible to blame them for purchasing unethical companies’ products.
some companies feint their images (a.k.a. green-washing), so consumers may have wrong impression on the producers who are actually reckless of moral values, etc.
Yes so overall I couldn’t pull another point to make a full 3 body paragraph essay; I just wrote intro, ton of stuff (examples) for each paragraph, making those 2 bulky and wrote a small conclusion. The topic is indeed much more specific and narrow compared to other SAT essay topics, so I used a bit of economics terms and concepts I learned in class…
*Never checked for grammatical errors which I should have done cause there was hardly any time left.</p>
<p>Wow, I’m impressed by how you guys could pull it off so well! I would never be able to think of stuff like that.</p>
<p>Luckily, I took the January SAT today, and the essay was nothing like that haha. It was a fairly conventional question about embracing innovation.</p>