12.Practice.Tests.for.the.SAT_2015-2016_1128p

12 Practice Tests for the SAT
Practice Test Three Answers and Explanations 281
I
Answers and
Explanations
SECTION 1
6 Score Essay
There's a common saying usually applied to sports: "It's
not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game."
This saying, however, can easily be applied to how we
live and whether or not we are able to achieve personal
happiness. As the Humboldt quotation suggests, it's not the
events that occur in our lives but rather the way we react
to these events that most affects our happiness. Excellent
representations of this can be found in Shakespeare's
Hamlet, where characters respond differently to the same
situation and gain varying levels of happiness because of
their respective reactions.
Gertrude, for example, responds to the death of her
husband, the King, by remarrying shortly after his death.
Rather than dwelling on her new role as widow and the
accompanying sorrow and misfortune that have fallen
upon her, she chooses to react by quickly recovering and
aligning herself with her former brother-in-law. Given her
situation, this is a very intelligent and rational decision, for it
provides her with the security of a strong marriage as well as
a continued high status as queen, since Claudius has now
ascended to the throne. All of these positive attributes make
Gertrude happy even though she continues to mourn and
miss her dead husband. In this way, Gertrude pursues and
achieves her own personal happiness by reacting positively
to a negative event rather than letting that event destroy her.
In contrast, Hamlet reacts to his father's death by obsessing
about what happened and by brooding over his mother's
remarriage. Because of his vision of the ghost, Hamlet
begins to believe that his father was murdered, but instead
of acting decisively on this information and confronting his
uncle directly, Hamlet ponders his vision and sinks deeper
and deeper into his sorrow and depression. Allowing
himself to be heavily influenced by everything that is
happening around him, Hamlet eventually succumbs to
his despair and dies along with several other characters in
the final scene of the play. Hamlet is a prime example of
someone who lets his happiness be ruled by outside forces
rather than choosing how to react to events to exert some
control over his own emotional state of mind.
Although Gertrude and Hamlet are fictional characters,
the way Shakespeare portrays them is representative of
real human behavior. Many people let themselves be
influenced by what happens to them, like Hamlet, and
these people have difficulty finding happiness. On the other
hand, some people, like Gertrude, react in a more positive
way to any event that occurs and thus achieve a certain
level of personal happiness regardless of what happens.
This contrast proves that our reaction to events rather than
the events themselves is the critical factor for achieving
happiness.
6 Score Critique
All essays are evaluated on four basic criteria: Topic,
Support, Organization, and Language. The writer begins
this essay with a common saying that she relates to the
prompt and the assignment, demonstrating that she has
clearly understood the prompt. Her thesis is included in the
introductory paragraph, as is her plan for the body of her
essay, an early indication that the author has taken the time
to outline her essay before she began to write.
The examples provided, though drawn from a single literary
source, demonstrate that the writer has well-developed
critical thinking skills, for she contrasts the two examples
as a means of providing thorough support for her thesis.
Both examples are clearly explained and related to the
assignment, and the entire essay is capped off by a strong
conclusion that links the fictional examples to their real-life
counterparts.
The organization of this essay is consistent and easy to
follow, with numerous transitional words and phrases
(usually, after all, for example, since, in contrast, because,
although). These provide a clear framework for the author's
logic, reflective of the Kaplan Method. Finally, the vocabulary
is varied and sophisticated (respective, accompanying,
aligning, dwelling, ascended, brooding, ponders, fallen
upon, succumbs, criticaf), as is the author's sentence
structure, and the strong and accurate use of language
suggests that the author took time to proofread, which
contributes to the overall quality of this high-scoring essay.