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Writing Sample Essays
Write a unified, coherent essay about the increasing presence of intelligent machines. In your essay, be sure to:
- clearly state your own perspective on the issue and analyze the relationship between your perspective and at least one other perspective
- develop and support your ideas with reasoning and examples
- organize your ideas clearly and logically
- communicate your ideas effectively in standard written English
Your essay perspective may be in full agreement with any of those given, in partial agreement, or completely different.
Get more information about preparing for the writing test .
Sample Test Questions
Section 1 - 5 of 30
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WritePlacer Essay Guide
During the ACCUPLACER test, you will have to take the WritePlacer exam, which requires you to write an essay. Your essay will be evaluated based on the following criteria:
- Purpose and focus
- Organization and structure
- Development and support
- Sentence variety and style
- Mechanical Conventions
- Critical thinking
You will have 1 hour to plan, write, and proofread this essay.
Your Accuplacer essay is only required to be 300–600 words in length, so a simple 5 paragraph essay will be more than sufficient. Scores on WritePlacer range from 1 to 8, with 8 being the highest.
An essay that is too short to be evaluated, written on a topic other than the one presented, or written in a language other than English will be given a score of zero.
The biggest differences between a low-scoring and a high-scoring essay is LENGTH and CLARITY. Aim to achieve multiple paragraphs with good organization, and this essay should be fairly easy!
WritePlacer Tips and Strategies
- This essay DOES NOT require you to have any outside knowledge. The essay will be based off a provided prompt meant to spark your creativity. Everything you need to answer the question will be part of the prompt!
- You must take a clear stance. Unlike real life where most of our opinions are a mix of gray, the ACCUPLACER essay requires you to take a strong stance on the issue provided in the prompt. Essays that don’t take a clear stance will score low on the rubric.
- Your stance doesn’t affect your score. The test is not steering you to one side of the argument or another. The side you choose doesn’t matter; what matters is how well you craft your argument.
- Don’t change your stance. Part of taking a clear stance means following it through to the end of the response. Even if you are struggling with the stance you chose, work your way to the end.
- Be specific in your argument. As long as you can argue logically that it supports your thesis, no example is “too” specific. One of the biggest issues that writers have with the WritePlacer exam is being too vague and general. If you are using an example from personal experience, using some names, dates, places, and other concrete details can go a long way. Try to avoid hypothetical examples as well.
- Incorporate a counter-argument. While you need to take a clear stance, that doesn’t mean you have to ignore the other side of the argument. The best writers take the opposing side into account before criticizing it and effectively securing their stance as the correct one. This is a great tool to use in your conclusion, although many students include it in an additional body paragraph.
- Keep the introduction and conclusion brief . Don’t take forever to get to the topic. The function of an introductory paragraph is to introduce the reader to the topic in the prompt, and then to clearly and forcefully state your position on it. This should be done in no more than 3–4 sentences. In the conclusion, 1–2 sentences are enough to reiterate your position and leave the essay with a closing idea. Save the bulk of your writing-time for your body paragraphs!
- Use Transition Words . Scroll down to the bottom of this article to see a good list of common transition words. Be sure to use them as you move between paragraphs! Always make sure the reader will understand why you are moving from one paragraph to the next paragraph!
WritePlacer Template
This is a sample outline for the ACCUPLACER Essay. Notice we are aiming for 5 paragraphs total. You may opt for a shorter 4 paragraph version if 5 paragraphs are too many for you to write, but aim for 5 paragraphs if you can. If you have trouble completing 5 paragraphs, see if you can streamline your body paragraphs. They can often be bloated with unnecessary wordiness. Keep the introduction and the conclusion short and sweet.
Paragraph 1 — Introduction (3–4 sentences)
You will want to begin your essay with one of the following:
- a generalization about the topic,
- a quotation,
- a short anecdote to set-up the correctness of your position,
- a historical framework,
- or a piece of news illustrating the contemporariness of the issue.
Admit to the complexity of the issue. You have two goals in the beginning part of the essay: to introduce the topic , and to express your opinion on it. Be sure to place your thesis as the final sentence in your introduction.
Paragraph 2 — First Example (4–6 sentences)
Start with your most-powerful or relevant example. Remember that you won’t have any material to work from, so it’s OK that you don’t have direct quotes, statistics, or other incredibly specific details in your examples. However, be as specific as you can be about how your example supports your position. Anything can be an example, but choose ONE only for each paragraph. It needs to be something you are knowledgeable about and also something that you believe strongly supports your thesis. You have three tasks in your body paragraphs:
- Introduce your example (history, science, politics, business, entertainment, pop culture, current events, personal experience, etc).
- Describe your example as specifically as you can (do not make up fact/statistics; readers can usually tell when you’re making something up).
- Explain how it fully supports your thesis. This is the most important step and should be your main focus. This is where you prove your point.
You should be spending the majority of your body paragraph accomplishing the third step: explaining how it fully supports your thesis . Aim to convince the reader through very concrete details how your position on the issue is correct.
Paragraph 3 — Second Example (4–6 sentences)
Use a transition phrase to introduce the second example, and then follow the same format as the previous paragraph with your new example. It’s OK to mention your first example, but the main focus of your paragraph should be on the new example, and, most importantly, how the new example proves your thesis.
Paragraph 4 — Third Example (4–6 sentences)
Use another transition phrase to introduce your third example. Then, follow the same format as the previous two paragraphs. Again, make sure the focus of your paragraph is on your new example and how it proves your thesis.
Paragraph 5 — Conclusion (2–4 sentences)
Many writers struggle with the conclusion. A good way to end your essay is with a counter-argument. Introduce an opposing opinion, explain it in general terms, then refute it. Finish the paragraph by reinforcing the correctness of your own stance. Here’s how it might look:
Despite the fact that , some people will argue that . However, (refute the opposing viewpoint as wrong and/or shortsighted) . Instead, (discuss how your viewpoint is more valid than the viewpoint of the opposition ). Therefore, (leave the reader thinking about how correct your stance is) .
ACCUPLACER Essay Practice
Be sure to write at least 2 sample essays before your exam. This will help you sharpen your skills and ensure that you are comfortable with the format. Have a teacher, friend, or mentor read through your exam and give you feedback. Use the links below to find our 2 practice ACCUPLACER essay prompts. As you write your practice essays try to follow the above template to the best of your ability:
Practice Essay 1
Practice Essay 2
Transition Words List
Agreement Words
- in the first place
- not only … but also
- as a matter of fact
- in like manner
- in addition
- coupled with
- in the same fashion / way
- first, second, third
- in the light of
Opposition Words
- in contrast
- different from
- of course …, but
- on the other hand
- on the contrary
- at the same time
- in spite of
- (and) still
Causation Words
- in the event that
- for the purpose of
- with this intention
- with this in mind
- in the hope that
- in order to
- … then
Example Words
- in other words
- to put it differently
- for one thing
- as an illustration
- in this case
- for this reason
- to put it another way
- that is to say
- with attention to
More Resources
We have plenty of additional resources to help you with your Accuplacer test prep. Check out both of our practice essays for more WritePlacer practice, or head over to our home page for a full-length practice test.
Accuplacer Practice Test
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Unit 7: Lesson 1
- The SAT Essay: Overview
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Using Khan Academy’s SAT Essay Practice
Important note, sat essay practice on khan academy, the prewriting area.
- Start by drafting a Thesis Statement or “Claim.”
- Then, add in ideas and examples from the text that support your thesis.
- Create categories that correspond to the reasoning, evidence, or stylistic or persuasive elements you are considering including in your body paragraphs.
- Copy excerpts from the passage and paste them into the appropriate category.
The Writing Area
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- First, we save a copy of your current draft to the bottom of the page.
- Next, the system analyzes your writing and gives you specific recommendations for how to improve your writing in the three areas scored on the SAT essay: Reading, Analysis, and Writing.
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- ACCUPLACER Test
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Prepare for the ACCUPLACER Essay
Learn everything there is to know about the essay section of the ACCUPLACER English test. Prepare for the test with our TestPrep-Online comprehensive ACCUPLACER English practice pack.
- ACCUPLACER English Essay: What You Need to Know
How Is the ACCUPLACER Writing Test Graded?
Accuplacer writeplacer essay writing tips, start preparing for the accuplacer english test, the accuplacer english essay: what you need to know.
The ACCUPLACER Writing Test , or WritePlacer Test, evaluates writing skills such as focus of the text, sentence structure, and organization. The purpose of the ACCUPLACER Writing Test is to measure how well a student can develop an argument, using evidence-based support as well as the appropriate mechanical conventions. The student is given one hour to complete the test. The essay itself should be no more than 300-600 words. When preparing for the ACCUPLACER WritePlacer , it is very important to understand the expected outline of an essay. This will help you map out your ideas and stay on topic. Straying from the topic, or not sticking to the word count results in an immediate zero. To help you feel fully prepared for the ACCUPLACER essay, our ACCUPLACER English Pack offers information about the section, tips for writing, and standard examples of ACCUPLACER essay prompts.
The essay test is graded using a computer software known as Intellimetric . Intellimetric bases its grading method on an analysis of a large body of graded essays. The system analyzes factors such as conventions, language use, development, and organization, as well as essay length and relevance. You should try your best to write an organized, well-developed essay just as you would in an English class. A CCUPLACER essays are graded on a scale of 0-8, with "clear and consistent mastery" of essay-writing required to get an 8, the highest score. Though many are skeptical about this method of grading, there is one very clear benefit: With a computer graded essay, students can receive their grade immediately, and thus have more motivation to improve. In addition, students preparing for the ACCUPLACER essay can better understand what factors to employ into their writing. Our ACCUPLACER English Practice Pack includes past ACCUPLACER essay samples as well as typical ACCUPLACER writing prompts.
Unlike the Reading Comprehension section and the Sentence Skills section of the ACCUPLACER test, the essay portion is timed , which means you need to use your time wisely. Though you may feel that a good essay requires you to “wow” the grader, remember that at the end of the day, the grader is not a human, but a computer. It is not looking to be wowed by you; it is simply looking to grade you. Below are some tips to help you achieve a great score on the ACCUPLACER Essay :
- Stick to a standard format , including an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. This will help you to maintain a consistent idea and will prevent you from straying from the topic. The ACCUPLACER Essay is a test of your formal writing skills, not of your creativity.
- Keep your argument in line ; the ACCUPLACER WritePlacer is grading you on how well you can deliver and develop an argument. Make sure that you do so thoroughly by remembering the main points of your essay, and not going off on a tangent. Each paragraph should be relevant to the thesis, and each sentence within a paragraph should be relevant to the paragraph's topic sentence.
- Use evidence . Don’t worry, the evidence does not have to be science-based, but it does have to be, well, evident. The ACCUPLACER Essay wants to see how you bring a claim forward. Make sure that you do so not as a magician conjuring things from thin air, but as a detective, showing the basis of your argument. What you choose to argue is not important, but how you make your argument is.
- Read the prompt carefully —remember that your work is graded on relevance. If you do not answer the question that is asked, then it will not be graded, no matter how good the essay is.
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At TestPrep-Online we offer you the ACCUPLACER English Practice Pack. In addition to a grammar guide with exercises, sample questions, and full practice tests, the pack also includes essay assignments with full high-scored essay samples from which you can learn how to write effectively. Grammar that you learn while preparing for the other parts of the ACCUPLACER English section can help you write an essay with better mechanics. Your preparation for the ACCUPLACER Reading section can help you improve the organization and development of your ACCUPLACER Essay. Start now! Want tips for the ACCUPLACER math test as well? Try our ACCUPLACER Premium Pack, which has all the material you need to prepare for every section of the ACCUPLACER.
ACCUPLACER® and WritePlacer® are trademarks and property of COLLEGE BOARD. The trademark holder is not affiliated with TestPrep-Online or this website.
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Question 1 - WritePlacer Essay Prompts Practice Test for the ACCUPLACER Test
Essay-writing practice for the accuplacer®.
The essay portion of the ACCUPLACER is the WritePlacer®. It evaluates your ability to read through a passage, take in information, and formulate your own opinion or response in a way that is cohesive , coherent , and well-supported . The WritePlacer® can be used to supplement the writing portion of the ACCUPLACER, for people who are seeking entry into a college-level course, or who are seeking placement as ESL students.
Learn more about practicing for the essay portion of your exam
Type of Essay
The essays for this particular test are expected to be between 300 and 600 words . They may be argumentative or expository essays, and will require you to demonstrate your ability to think critically, and support your ideas with ample evidence.
Type of Prompt
The prompts on the WritePlacer will include a passage , a question , and an explanation of what is expected of you . The passage may be from literature, newspapers, or other sources of prose and nonfiction, and the question will require you to read the passage, formulate an opinion or idea based on what you’ve read, and construct a unique essay explaining and supporting your position.
The WritePlacer can be a part of the overall ACCUPLACER, and is used to determine the placement of a student in a college course. The WritePlacer consists of a single essay of 300-600 words . You will have 60 minutes to complete the WritePlacer essay.
How It Is Scored
Your essay will be graded on its ability to answer the prompt given, your understanding of the passage given, and your ability to construct a paragraph that follows the rules of grammar, conventions, and punctuation. It is scored on an 8-point scale , with a score of 1 being the lowest and a score of 8 being the highest. Essays are automatically evaluated at the conclusion of the test. You can find a number of examples of essays and how they were scored in this WritePlacer Guide .
The particulars of the WritePlacer scoring system include the following:
- Purpose and Focus : Your essay will be judged on its ability to stay on track and deliver the information requested in the prompt.
- Organization and Structure : The WritePlacer will evaluate your ability to maintain a consistent and coherent organization system, typically involving a thesis or main idea and corresponding evidence and support.
- Development and Support : This component evaluates your ability to fully flesh out the ideas you present in your essay.
- Sentence Variety and Style : In order to maintain readability and encourage interest, sentences should vary in their structure and size. Short, choppy sentences should be used alongside or intermingled with longer, more complicated sentences.
- Mechanical Conventions : While it may seem complicated, this component simply refers to the ability to use standard English grammar and punctuation.
- Critical Thinking : Critical thinking skills are measured by your ability to deliver an essay that demonstrates you have read and understood the passage and prompt, and have put thought and intention into your writing.
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GED Essay Practice Question
As a part of the GED Reasoning Through Language Arts test, there is a 45-minute extended response question. For this question, two articles are presented that discuss a topic and take opposing positions. You are required to write an essay arguing that one of the positions is better-supported than the other. Be sure to read our GED Essay Writing Guide for strategies on writing a great essay.
Below is a sample GED Essay Prompt. You should allot yourself 45 minutes to review the prompt, read the passages, outline your argument, write, and proofread your practice essay. It is beneficial to have a teacher or friend review your practice essay; you can also view a sample response on our website.
Analyze the arguments that are presented in each of these articles. In your response, develop an argument in which you explain how one position is better-supported than the other. Incorporate relevant evidence from both articles to support your argument. Remember, the better-argued position is not necessarily the position with which you agree. This essay should take 45 minutes to complete.
Please Recycle! by Alexandra Alesi
Recycling is an important tool for protecting our global environment. The threat of major climate change looms on the horizon and continues to grow. We must take every action necessary to reduce the release of harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Recycling isn’t enough on its own, but its contributions are substantial. It reduces dangerous emissions in many significant ways: it conserves natural resources, it prevents pollution, it saves energy, and it preserves the environment for future generations.
At first glance, recycling seems fairly unremarkable. Its simplest definition is the repurpose of garbage to make new goods. However, we must think more globally about what goes into making new goods. In order to fashion a product, any product, there is a need to harvest natural resources, transport them to a factory, build the product, and then ship it out to retail facilities. This involved process of harvesting, transporting, building and shipping creates a tremendous environmental strain due to chemical gas emissions, liquid and solid waste run-off, and gasoline consumption.
Recycling eliminates many steps from the manufacturing process. There is no need to harvest new resources when one can simply repurpose those already harvested. This preserves natural resources, and prevents the destruction that results from extracting them from the environment. Why cut down a forest instead of recycling paper?
Patty Moore has been involved with recycling since 1983 and has her own recycling consultancy, Moore Recycling Associates, which helps businesses, governments, and communities handle waste management issues. She says that recycling can easily be accomplished on an individual level and scaled up to a larger manufacturing level. “Reduce your consumption,” Moore says. “I know that this sounds as if you have to give up something to help the environment, but it really doesn’t. Instead of hopping in the car to go somewhere for quality-time with the family, plan activities that you can do at home together.” It’s as simple as that.
Here are some amazing recycling statistics from the National Recycling Coalition :
- Every ton of paper that is recycled saves 17 trees.
- It takes 95% less energy to recycle aluminum than it does to make it from raw materials.
- The energy we save when we recycle one glass bottle is enough to light a light bulb for four hours.
- When one ton of steel is recycled, 2,500 pounds of iron ore, 1,400 pounds of coal and 120 pounds of limestone are conserved.
- A national recycling rate of 30% reduces greenhouse gas emissions as much as removing nearly 25 million cars from the road.
As you can see from these statistics, recycling is vitally important for the environment. It is the morally sound thing to do to protect our beautiful planet for future generations. Please make sure you recycle!
The Recycling Racket by Jenni Sadler
Recycling is often held up as a simple, common sense step the average person can take towards saving the world; this is a foolish presumption. Recycling’s benefits do not outweigh its costs, and it is ultimately just a way for people to feel better about themselves, a method which, in many ways, is self-defeating.
The primary problem is that it’s not cost effective. Paying to set up a network of trucks and processing centers to transport, receive, and repurpose trash is more expensive than creating and shipping new products. This is why many communities charge extra fees to residents in order to provide recycling pickup.
Recycling also produces carbon emissions through the transportation of recyclables and the recycling centers. Recycled plastics, glass, and metals must pass through a complicated, energy-intensive process in order to be turned into new products. Recycling itself uses three times more resources than does depositing waste in landfills.
Some people argue that recycling preserves resources, but this is misleading. Recycling more newspapers will not necessarily preserve trees, because many trees are grown specifically to be made into paper. And of course, recycled newspapers must be de-inked, often with chemicals, thus creating additional waste in the form of sludge. Glass is made from sand, the most abundant mineral in the crust of the earth.
Many recycling proponents claim there is a shortage of landfill space, but this is absurd. Studies have shown that holding all of America’s garbage for the next 100 years would only require a space that is 255 feet deep and 10 miles on each side.
The entire concept of recycling obscures the more important issues. Any benefits are meager, and distract from the real environmental issues facing this country and the world. The vast majority of waste and pollution in this country is industrial or agricultural in origin, and has little to do with what’s consumed or thrown away in residential households. The public must instead focus on the much bigger picture, tackling sources of carbon emissions and pollutants that far outweigh the amount of garbage produced by the average consumer.
After writing your essay, review our GED Essay Sample Response .
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Cambridge first (fce) writing part 1(essay).
Difficulty level : B2 /Upper Intermediate
Write 140-190 words in an appropriate style.
In your English class you have been talking about old people in society. Now your English teacher has asked you to write an essay.
Around the world, people are living and staying healthy for longer and longer. What changes does this bring to today’s society? Are these changes good or bad?
Notes Write about:
1. Caring for the elderly 2. Jobs 3. __________ (your own idea)
First (FCE) Writing tests
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Sample Essays. Sample Essay 1. Begin WRITING TEST Here for Score 1. Well Machines are good but they take people jobs like
During the ACCUPLACER test, you will have to take the WritePlacer exam, which requires you to write an essay. Your essay will be evaluated based on the
Here's a quick guide to how to improve your essay-writing on Official SAT Practice. ... Note: to practice writing essays under timed test conditions
ACCUPLACER WritePlacer Guide with Sample Essays ... Test scores help ... This response demonstrates no mastery of on-demand essay writing and.
You will then write an essay in which you develop your own point of view on the issue. You should support your position with appropriate reasoning and examples.
An interactive online essay writing tutorial. Shows users how to write an essay.
ACCUPLACER English Essay: What You Need to Know; How Is the ACCUPLACER Writing Test Graded? ACCUPLACER WritePlacer Essay Writing Tips; Start Preparing for
Practice Test Question #1: # Essay-Writing Practice for the ACCUPLACER® The essay portion of the ACCUPLACER is the WritePlacer®. It evaluates your ability
As a part of the GED Reasoning Through Language Arts test, there is a 45-minute extended response question. For this question, two articles are presented
Cambridge First (FCE) Writing part 1(essay). Difficulty level: B2 /Upper Intermediate. Write 140-190 words in an appropriate style.