SSAT Writing: Example of A Well-written Essay

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Directions: Read the topics, choose the one that interests you the most, and plan your essay or story before writing. Write a legible essay.

Topic A: High schools should require students to maintain a certain grade point level in order to play on competitive sports teams.

Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Support your position with examples from your own experience, the experience of others, current events, or your reading.

Topic B: It was ice cold in the room.

Write a story using this statement as the first sentence. Be sure your story has a clear beginning, middle, and end.

Example of a well-written essay.

I can understand why some schools require students to maintain their grades if they want to be in sports. Sports are time consuming and cut into study time. But, I think that less competent students should not be deprived of the benefits of sports participation.

The argument that students should keep up their grades if they want to be in sports is worth listening to. After all, the purpose of going to school is to get an education. And sports practice and games do take a lot of time. The grades of a few students might in fact suffer from sports participation, but I think that more students will work harder and will learn to manage time better if they are allowed to play on the team. Learning to organize time is also an important lesson to be gained from school. Happy people tend to reach to meet expectations, and less capable students may even do better in school to prove that being in sports did not do them any harm.

An equally good argument is that everyone must succeed at something. If a poor student can excel at sports, that student will develop self-esteem. Once that student feels good about himself or herself, the student may transfer that confidence to schoolwork and actually get better grades. The old adage that success breeds success applies here.

While the attitude that schoolwork comes first does make a good point, I think that permitting a student to participate in sports and to develop a good self-image is more important. The school should give extra help to the less competent student, especially help in learning time management. Then it should let that student contribute to school spirit on the playing fields as well as in the classroom.

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