How to Attack the Final Exam Prompt

7/30/2019 How to Attack the Final Exam Prompt

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How to Attack

the Final Exam Prompt!


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The Writing Assignment

Writing Assignment

According to Gates, it is harmful for young people to look upto athletes and strive to be an athlete rather than something

more realistic. Do you feel that it is beneficial for youngpeople to look up to athletes as role models, or is it harmful?Are there other members of society that it would be better foryoung people to look up to?

Write a 200-300 word composition that explains or clarifies

your position. Personal experiences, class discussions,observations, conversations, and reading can all be goodsources of examples to support your main idea.


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The Writing Assignment: Part 1

Writing Assignment

According to Gates, it is harmful for young people tolook up to athletes and strive to be an athlete ratherthan something more realistic. Do you feel that it is

beneficial for young people to look up to athletes asrole models, or is it harmful? Are there othermembers of society that it would be better for youngpeople to look up to?

FIGURE OUT: How many questions are we expected to answer? What are the questions?


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The Writing Assignment: Part 2

Write a 200-300 word composition that explains orclarifies your position. Personal experiences, classdiscussions, observations, conversations, and thearticle can all be good sources of examples tosupport your main idea.

THE DIRECTIONS: 200-300 words Explain your position/opinion You can AND SHOULD use:

Personal experiences Class discussions with your classmates Observations Information from the articles


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The Guidelines

Guidelines and Expectations:

Your composition should open with a clear and focused 1-2sentence statement that clearly states your position on whetheryoung people should look up to athletes.

The body of your composition should use specific detail fromyour personal experience to illustrate why you think youngpeople should look up to athletes or not.

Your composition should conclude with 1-2 sentences thatexplain the potential impact of young people looking up toathletes as role models.

Your sentences should show effective use of independent anddependent clauses with use of conjunctions and semi-colons.

Any sentence fragments, run-ons, and grammatical errors shouldbe revised.


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The GuidelinesWhat they expect:

A topic sentence (first 1-2 sentences) that directly respondsto the prompt.

Specific details: from your experience and observations andfrom the articles.

A conclusion that restates your main idea.

A variety of simple, compound, and complex sentences.

As few grammar errors as possible (run-ons, commasplices, fragments, subject/verb agreement problems, etc.).

Transitional words and phrases: first, also, additionally, inconclusion.


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How do I start? Brainstorm!!!

You can start doing this before the final exambecause you will already know the topic.

Write down everything you can think of as aresponse to the questions in the prompt.

Once youre done, go through all of your ideasand circle what you think you can actually use.


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Now what? Topic Sentence!

To write your topic sentence (now thatbrainstorming helped you figure outyour position/opinion), you just haveto turn the question into a statement.

Example: Do you feel that it is beneficialfor young people to look up to athletes as

role models, or is it harmful? Are thereother members of society that it would

be better for young people to look up to?


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Now what? Topic Sentence!

To write your topic sentence (now that

brainstorming helped you figure out yourposition/opinion), you just have to turn thequestion into a statement.

Example: Do you feel that it is beneficial foryoung people to look up to athletes as rolemodels, or is it harmful? Are there othermembers of society that it would be better foryoung people to look up to?

Turn this into a statement: It is harmful foryoung people to look up to athletes, and thereare other people like doctors and lawyers

that are better to look up to.


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Now what? Details and Examples!

This is where you are going toexplain the opinion you put in yourtopic sentence.

WHY do you feel the way you do?

EXPLAIN using specific details andexamples from your own life and thearticles.


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Now what? Conclusion!

Remind the reader of the main pointfrom your topic sentence.

Try to give some sort of new insightand look to the future on the topic.

Example: In conclusion, I feel it is harmful for

young people to try to be like professionalathletes. Hopefully, in the future young peoplewill see that doctors and lawyers are the realheroes and the people to look up to.


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Heres an Example of a Passing Paragraph:

It is harmful for young people to look up to athletes, andthere are other people like doctors and lawyers that are

better to look up to. First, it is harmful to look up to athletes

because, as it says in the article, a person has as much chance ofwinning the lottery as becoming a professional athlete. This meansthat the majority of kids who think they will play for the NBA or NFLwont actually be able to, so they should spend their time and energyfocusing on goals they can achieve. For example, my cousin Brandonused to be obsessed with the Lakers and being like Kobe Bryant. He

spent so much time watching and playing basketball that he wasntkeeping up in school and doing his homework, and he failed all of hisclasses. There is no way Brandon is going to end up in the NBA, andnow he isnt even passing his classes. He would have been muchbetter off if he admired the doctors and lawyers in the communityrather than a famous athlete whose life is nothing like his.

Additionally, the behavior of many athletes like Michael Vick andChad OchoCinco sends the wrong message. Brandon started to thinkthat its okay to not follow the law as long as you are rich and famous.In conclusion, I feel it is harmful for young people to try to be likeprofessional athletes. Hopefully, in the future young people will seethat doctors and lawyers are the real heroes and the people to look up

to.

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How to Attack the Final Exam Prompt