ISSUE SAMPLE 1

Universities should require every student to take a

variety of courses outside the student's field of
study.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to
which you agree or disagree with the
recommendation and explain your reasoning for the
position you take. In developing and supporting
your position, describe specific circumstances in
which adopting the recommendation would or would
not be advantageous and explain how these
examples shape your position.
In order to become a well-rounded person and a
professional one has to be educated in several
subjects in order not only the ones that complement
ones education but also different not related
subjects that will get you around different point of
views and ideas.
To support my position I will like to give an example
based in my experience. Five years ago I decided to
study architecture; and in my curricula besides the
architecture related subjects you necessarily needed
to take other optional curses non-related to the
career as for example real state, philosophy,
business, but not all were mandatory, one just
needed to choose two of them. In that moment, I
liked the fact of being offered courses that werent
necessarily related to architecture therefore I chose
philosophy. At the beginning it was very hard for me
to get around the ideas and the reasoning the
course demanded, I had to give an extra effort to
understand the learning underlying. In order to do
that I had to give extra time to understand the
material, and when I got the time to do so I discover

that the material was so enriching and that the

classes were instead very interesting given that they
were approaching to knowledge in a different way of
expertize and I got to learn and understand another
field completely different from architecture which
also gave me the knowledge and perspectives of
literature/philosophical views, which was, for me,
very valuable as part of ones development.
I believe that the knowledge importance is based on
the understanding the different perspective of it as
part of ones life and being. Learning something
new or different related or not to the subject you
study has instant value in you. Furthermore, the
subject that differ the most of ones study field
opens your mind about other consideration and
views which enriches your way of thinking and
posture to your surroundings. The key of being
sensitive to your surrounds its the fact of getting to
know more about other areas of expertize rather
than the one you are focus on, that gives you
perspective of things. From my experience, being
able to take a variety of courses which differ from
my expertize give me the perspective to continue
consideration other facts and views, but also open
my mind and expand my horizons.

ISSUE SAMPLE 2
Politicians should pursue common ground and
reasonable consensus rather than elusive ideals.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to
which you agree or disagree with the
recommendation and explain your reasoning for the
position you take. In developing and supporting
your position, describe specific circumstances in
which adopting the recommendation would or would
not be advantageous and explain how these
examples shape your position
Politicians somehow portray themselves as pursuers
of rights and development for the nation the want to
rule on. However, sometimes they are carried away
with unreasonable ideas based on the ideology of
their parties, which sometime clouds their view from

reality. Based on the previous statement I agree in

the fact of them getting aligned with common ideals
for the progress and development of the people
they represent.
Therefore, politicians should have ground-based
proposals and goals related to common objectives
which will enhance the conditions of their citizens.
For example in my country non-capital congressman
are always chosen by the people who live in the
regions they represent, therefore the voters who
elect them expect proposals directly related to their
regions in order to focus on development and
solving local concerns. However, when they are in
congress they forget about the people and the
region that elected them and the proposals for
regional development and start focusing in personal
interest or in ideological party concerns, and
because of that they betray their main speech focus
on their local people. This contradiction exposes the
importance of being true to political promises and to
common ground objectives, from which a lot of
people will benefit.
Moreover, politicians act as leaders of a nation, they
represent the citizens and their common interest
and because of that they must have the purpose of
reasonable consensus based in the citizens best
common interest instead of focusing in personal or
parties ideal which will not contribute on the
development and growth of a nation.

SAMPLE ARGUMENT TOPIC 1

The following appeared in a letter from the owner of
the Sunnyside Towers apartment complex to its
manager.
"One month ago, all the showerheads in the first
three buildings of the Sunnyside Towers complex
were modified to restrict maximum water flow to
one-third of what it used to be. Although actual
readings of water usage before and after the
adjustment are not yet available, the change will
obviously result in a considerable savings for
Sunnyside Corporation, since the corporation must
pay for water each month. Except for a few
complaints about low water pressure, no problems
with showers have been reported since the
adjustment. Clearly, modifying showerheads to

restrict water flow throughout all twelve buildings in

the Sunnyside Towers complex will increase our
profits further."
Write a response in which you discuss what specific
evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and
explain how the evidence would weaken or
strengthen the argument.
The minimization on expense its always an
indicator of reducing cost of expenditure and
investment in contrast to income. However, from
the premise there is not yet eligibly proof of profit
given that its important to analyze the big picture.
In the same way, there are two scenarios conveying
on reducing the expenditure of water, the first one is
in the particular view of cost and gain in a particular
case and the second one the large view in the
overall profit. Based on the first scenario the first
thought about the reduction on the cost of water
usage gives the impression of incrementing the
profit if the rates are remain the same and the costs
are reduced. Nevertheless, in the second scenario
thinking about the repercussion in the overall
income one would think that the amount of saving in
the particular case would multiply proportionally in
the total income but there might be other factors
that will affect in the fact of reducing the usage of
water, for example the rate of fluency in guests
could change, there might be many factors that
could be directly derived from this change.
Therefore, at first glance the fact of reducing
expenses gives the direct idea of an extra income
derived from the savings of water usage and if rates
and fluency dont change the increase of income the

increase on profit will be proportional to the amount

saved.