SAT

Sophia Lee
Topic: Is it better for people to have limited choices?

I believe that it is better for people to have limited choices because you could make your choice faster and easier.
I think it is better for people to have limited choices because when I hasd to send my dad away it was a hard choice for me. So I actually gave a thought and made my final choice and told my mom and the person who takes my dad and burns his body. When that was happening I asked my mom” Did I make the right choice”. She answered me by saying” yes but it is the only choice that you and me have to make”.
The next morning I couldn’t come out of my room and thought to myself asking am I making the right choice by leaving my dad and promising that I would take care of my mom. But I think I can’t take care of her so I broke my dad’s promise.
So after those situations I think people having limited choices is better than giving a hard choice like me I actually gave a 1hr thought about leaving my dad but I think I made the right choice because he is visible in the house even though if I didn’t give a answer.
I hope people give a limited choice not just because their parents or anybody are doing they should give a real thought because if I didn’t give a true and real thought I would have regretted about leaving my dad also making promise.
In conclusion, people should never make a choice that they will regret in their life time. So they should give some time to think in any reasons. Also never ever make the choice that their parents make because after they make the choice they will not know why they made that choice. Then when I opened my room door a little I heard my mom and her friends talking about my dad I just started crying and never came out of my room. I thought that if I didn’t make the right choice I wouldn’t have sent my dad in peace so I think I made the right choice and let my dad rest in peace and always watch over my mom and me from where he is at right now even his brother and his parents in Korea.

Aaron Choo 5/9/13
English Essay

I believe it is better for people not to have limited choices because people can have more choices to pick and to have as a backup rather than to focusing on a few choices with a risk.
I recall a moment in my life when I got ready to enroll into high schools. I took the Specialized High Schools Admissions Tests (SHSAT) and I had choices that I was somewhat satisfied with. I talked it over with my parents as well as my teachers about my choices. People trusted me that I would get accepted into a good high school.
Now, I was picking a high school to enroll into. However, knowing I had bad grades, I decided to put down one to four choices. These choices were enrolling into rather hard high schools to go into. I did not care for it and I knew that I would be able to go into one of the high schools that I put down. I had no backup choices or any choices that I knew guaranteed that I would get accepted into. I was on a risk with few choices but I paid no attention to it.
Months past and the results came out. My two friends had received an acceptance with a smile from the teacher. When the teacher came to me, her face turned sad and I received an envelope thicker with a list of high schools open for round 2. I couldn’t think and I wanted to blame someone. I looked at my SHSAT grades and I was disappointed at the grade of 417. I looked into the list and found that no schools accepted me. Then I realized that I barely had any choices for round 1. Moreover, the choices I picked had higher standards compared to the grades I scored. Even further, I could not guarantee anything I chose. Still, I blindly chose without confidence in what I did. I sat down a chair and cried. I was in bitter frustration. I had no high school to attend and no one to accept me back.
Even to this day, I have yet to choose somewhere to attend high school. Although I am ashamed, I learned a valuable lesson. I should never blindly walk into anything. Moreover, I needed more choices to choose from rather than risking my own future. In conclusion, it is better to choose from unlimited choices rather than focusing on limited choices. I learned that I should not guarantee anything with such little choices and with such overconfidence. By this, I learned that the more choices I have, the better chance to get accepted.

Aaron Choo 5/9/13
English Essay
I believe that temporary or otherwise imperfect solutions to problems only create more serious problems because these “solutions” are only temporary and people need to work hard to keep these solutions in effect.
I recall a moment in my life when I was in 7th grade. I was not a good student but for the first quarter, I tried to get a good average. I worked hard and I scored an average of 89. This to me was not bad. Actually this was a good average for me. I told myself that this is very good work and you can now rest for a while because you have scored “high” enough. Second quarter went by fast and my scores were rather decent. I did not like them and I did not hate them until I received the report card average for that quarter.
The average was no longer 89 but it was an 86. I was quite surprised. I intended to ask my teachers if I really deserved this average, but as I stopped myself and thought it over. I realized that I did deserve this average. I also realized that I just kicked back and relaxed and did absolutely no work. However, it was an acceptable grade to Dad; he did not scream at me or punish me. Dad reminded me that this was my life and it was my decision to do well or not. The hard part was my teacher who rebuked me for scoring so low. He asked me how long he will have to wait for at least a 90 average. It did not matter to me much until I got home. I became frustrated.
I kept telling myself that I had the solution and I don’t need to work anymore. This is my goal! I have achieved that 89% that I had waited to achieve for years! I am going to follow my father’s advice and do it my own way and no one is going to tell me what to do. I was stubborn. I didn’t want to change. I just kept going until school year was over. I never took into consideration what would have happened if I ignored my 7th grade year. Then after a few months, I had ended my 7th grade year. I had an 86 average and I did not care whatsoever for it. Summer went by quick and I was back in school enrolling for my 8th grade year.
The time had finally arrived to apply to the high schools. I will never forget that day when others got accepted into various high schools but me. I then realized that my laziness in the 7th grade had affected my 8th grade significantly. Everyone was ashamed of me. Only then did I realize that being lazy will never help you. It will only drag you down even more into more serious problems.
In conclusion, people need to work hard in order to keep the solutions in effect in order to avoid more serious problems. I was blind in what I was doing. I wanted an easy life but that “easy life” came back to haunt me. I learned that I needed to work harder every day in order to make progress and avoid serious problems.

I believe that it is better for people to have more than one choice than to have a limited amount because limited choices don’t allow people to have a variety of opportunities to choose from, which allows people to have more freedom of choice.
I recall about a few months ago. It was the day I got my high school application. I had to sign up for schools of my chose. I filled the high school application with the schools that I wanted. The first school/ program that I put in was Francis Lewis Math & Science Honors. The second school/ program that I put in was Bayside High School Computer Science. The third school/ program that I put in was Bayside High School Environmental Research and lastly Francis Lewis Zoned. I knew for a fact that I was going to get into Francis Lewis Science & Math Honors, so I put in Bayside High School programs at random. When I got the results for the high school application, I was shocked. I didn’t get into Francis Lewis Math & Science Honors, but I got into Bayside High School Environmental Research. I thought, “Thank God” because I got in a school instead of none of them. I was content and sad at the same time because I wanted to get into Francis Lewis Science & Math Honors, but instead got into Bayside High School Environmental Research instead. In this case, it was better for me to have more than one choice than to have a limited amount because I wouldn’t have gotten into any school if I didn’t put Bayside High School Environmental Research on my list.
Having only one choice can lead to having a problem, but without having any limit to your choices, you can have a variety of opportunities to choose from and that will allow people to have more freedom of choice. With more than enough or limited choices, it would be better for people because they can have a backup choice or “plan”, but if a person has only one choice, it can lead to problems and disagreements. Most people think that having one choice is enough; however, it is better to have more than one because it can help people with having freedom of choice with a variety of opportunities.

I believe that people are likely to be dissatisfied rather than content once they have achieved their goals, but in my case, I was content rather than dissatisfied with my achievement.
I recall about two years ago in November 2011. I was in seventh grade that year. I strived for a 90 overall average on my report card. I worked as hard as I could ever imagine. I tried to not get tempted to talk to my friends that were sitting next to me during classes. I changed the way I worked during classes, forced myself to sit away from my friends, so I can focus better in class. I studied when I had the chance to do so at home. In math, I would work with my group and help each other out. That marking period, I felt that I needed to get a little more points on my academic averages. I realized that in my past experiences in classes, I needed to participate more. My participation grades were very low. I thought to myself, “If I participate more often during class, I would get a higher grade to achieve my goal, an overall average of 90.” That day forward, I started to participate more often for a better grade. My teachers seemed surprised at me. Everyone knew that something was going on, but I was just doing what I needed to do to get a 90 average. When the first marking period was over, I was very excited, but nervous at the same time. I knew that I did what I had to do to receive a 90 overall average, but I also felt that I didn’t do enough. When the teacher called my name, I stood up from my chair faster than anyone else. I received my report card and didn’t look at it until I returned back to my seat. I slowly opened the report card and look at my average. It was a 91! I was so proud of myself. I knew that my parents were going to be very proud of me also. A few weeks later, the dean called me to his office. I went to his office and he asked me if I wanted to transfer to an honor’s class. I said I would think about it. Eventually, I didn’t transfer into honors because all of my classmates have been with me for so long and I didn’t want to leave them.
In conclusion, many people may be dissatisfied of their achievements instead of being content, but they should be content instead of dissatisfied because they achieved a goal in their life. A goal is meant to be accomplished and accomplishing a goal in your life that you have made is nothing to be dissatisfied about, but rather content.

Topic: Are people likely to be dissatisfied rather than content one they have achieved their goals?

People are likely to be dissatisfied rather than content one they have achieved their goals because people’s nature is not easily satisfied. They tend to constantly move on, from one target to another also to goals they move on to another goal and that will help them in their future.
One of my goals was to do good in one of my tests that I had but I didn’t get the grade that I wanted to get so I was dissatisfied instead of achieving my goals but from now on I will try my best by working hard at the summer break. One day I will achieve my goals that I have in my mind and I believe that other people could achieve their goals because I already know that one of my friend achieved her goal it was something about doing all her class works and now she finished all her class work so she tells me that she is proud of herself. So I think I could always achieve my goals only if I out effort in my work so from now on I will put my effort and achieve all my goals.
Also, some people they say that they can’t achieve their goals but if they believe that they could they will always achieve their goals and they will be proud of themselves and always believe in themselves that is what I think and also if they put effort in their work unlike me but I will put effort in myself from this summer I will work hard so I could change who I am. That was my second goal that I had that I wanted to achieve changing myself but I didn’t think that much about that goal I only thought about my study that I had to achieve by this summer so I could be proud of myself that I actually achieved my goal.
In conclusion, I believe that every human could achieve their goals if they put effort in the thing that they want to achieve and be proud of themselves. I think that one reason that people think they can’t achieve their goal is because they don’t put effort in their stuff that they are doing or want to achieve.

I believe that people are likely to be content once they have achieved their goals because they have accomplished and got what they wanted so they should be happy.
I recall a few months ago when I got my second marking period report card. I was staring at the sheet and shook my head. I didn’t like my average for this marking period at all, even though I improved by so little. I went around the classroom to ask what my friends got for their average, but that made me even sadder. They all have gotten higher than me like in the 98%s or 99%s or even in the 100%s, while I just had a 97.45% and just increased by .03% since the first marking period average. I was all fired up and angry about my average that I decided to try to make a 99% in the next marking period.
To try to achieve my goal, I went and did everything I can to boost up my grades since my grade for science and social studies decreased and my English grade remained the same. For the tests and quizzes for science and social studies, I studied really hard many nights before so that I understood everything that was going to be on the test so that I would get a 100 and boost up my grade. This kept going on until the third marking period ended and I was in my eighth period class waiting expectantly for the report cards to be distributed out already. I was hoping that my effort would increase my average to 99%, and not decrease. When my math teacher called my name, I stood up and walked awkwardly to her desk to get my report card. My hands were sweating as I opened the envelope and checked my score as I walked away from her desk. I gasped. I was so surprised that my friends were looking at me weirdly and asked what I got. I smiled and said, “99.53%.”
I was so happy that I increased by a lot in social studies and that I accomplished my goal. I got higher than I expected and felt content and excited to show my parents my average this time. Achieving my goal made me really happy and I was finally satisfied with my average. Working hard to increase my grade helped a lot and it was worth trying to achieve the goal that I thought was impossible for me.

Aaron Choo 4/25/13
English Essay

I believe that people are likely to be dissatisfied rather than content once they have achieved their goals because people cannot be satisfied forever, therefore, once they have accomplished their goals, they strive to do better every day.
I recall a moment in my life when my church held a contest to see whose knowledge in God was the best. The first place prize was a laptop. The second was a printer. The third, fourth, and fifth were bad prizes that I didn’t even consider to be a prize. So then, I did enter the contest aiming to be in the top ten. It was no easy task but I tried my best. There were only 10 people chosen for the first part of the contest. The questions were not hard. As a result, I was chosen to be one of the top ten. I was excited. I knew I had accomplished what I wanted to do, but I did not stop. I became hungry and I desired to do better. There were a multiple of questions that I had answered correctly. It was hard but I managed through. Then when it came to be in the top five, I was surprised to see myself there.
Getting to the top five was hard. I had already reached my goal. I had two thoughts in me. One was to quit because I had already reached my goal and there was no point in going on. The other thought was that I should keep going and I should not stop. I decided to keep going. However, now my goal was to be first. The people were eliminated one by one until I was left with one person. Little did I know that last person was the Pastor’s son. In the end, I had lost. The bright side was that I was in second place. People came up congratulating me and they were surprised to see a 7th grader end up in 2nd place. My thoughts of myself were completely different.
I wanted to murder and mock the pastor’s son. I wanted to ask him why a 20 year old boy who was clearly the one who received more tutor in the Bible than an average 7th grader was here in this church competing. I wanted to smack that pastor asking him why he was giving away a laptop to his son when he clearly knows that he will win. That’s just giving the prize away. I was disgusted. I didn’t want my prize that turned out to be a printer. When I carried it, outside I was smiling, but inside I wanted to destroy everything. My friend congratulated me but I didn’t care. I already had a printer to use.
I looked around the church to see people congratulating the 1st prize winner. Honestly, I want to give him a prize too. I wanted to punch him and demand why he was in the contest. Then I realized, I am very dissatisfied but I got to be 2nd place. I am going to be better than that 1st place guy that when people look at me they can realize that I am the best Christian in the world. I was going to become better every day of my life. I was never going to give up.
In conclusion, once people had accomplished their goals, it is likely for them to be dissatisfied rather than content. In society, people want to be better than others. As a result, people strive to become better every day. By this, we may have higher goals for our lives every single day and learn that we should not give up.

Tammy Lee
Topic-Is it a disadvantage to pay attention to details?

It can be a disadvantage to pay attention to little details because it may stray people away from the big picture, but paying attention to small details may often benefit them at times by helping them or others avoid major crisis’ or consequences.
The passengers of the Titanic had to suffer the consequences of dying because of the useless details the crew members paid attention to. The crew members of the ship paid attention to a certain detail, that was straying them away from the big picture, and that was unable to benefit them. They tossed away half of the life boats only to appease the eyes of the rich passengers. They were so caught up on the trying to appease the rich passengers (small detail), that they forgot that there were 1,000 more passengers on the ship (big picture). Putting in too much effort on one little detail, may sometimes make the person forget the main thing that they were supposed to be doing. Which in this case, was wether or not the rich passengers liked seeing that many life boats or not, safety came first. That wasn’t the only reason why the boat sank with so many passengers on it.
Another reason for the sinking of the Titanic was also because of the small details the ship builders ignored which caused a major problem. The Titanic was supposedly built using “new ship technology” at the time and was considered to be “unsinkable”/ “titanium”. The titanic was built incorrectly. The metal plating on the ship was supposed to be bolted together with extremely strong bolts that could withstand pressure, temperature, and force. The company that was in charge of making the ship ordered the wrong bolts, yet still chose to use them. The head builder of the ship chose to ignore his workers when they were complaining about how the bolts kept bending and snapping. This small detail that was ignored took a major role in the ships sinking process. When the ship hit the iceberg, the metal plates fell apart due to the poor structure supported by the wrong bolts. Which eventually led to the ship sinking even faster. Sometimes, paying attention to the little details can go a long way. In this case, if the head builder chose to switch the bolts, there would’ve been no problem with that ship crashing into the iceberg.
Out of 2,223 passengers and crew on board, 1,517 of them were killed in the accident. Only 706 of them survived. the Titanic is a perfect example of how it can be a disadvantage to pay attention to too much details, while it can be important to pay attention to details to some extent. It will always vary depending on the situation, but in this case, it led to tragic deaths among many people.

Details are considered as good and bad elements depending on the situation. Paying attention to details may be bad when you want to look just at the main point of it. It can be a disadvantage to pay attention to details because it may stray people away from the big picture, but paying attention to small details may benefit them at times by helping them avoid major consequences. In the Titanic, it showed both ways in which paying attention to details is good and bad.
The passengers of the Titanic had to suffer the consequences of dying because of the useless details the ship crew paid attention to. One useless detail they paid attention to was the appearance of the lifeboats. The Titanic was a really big ship and so the required number of lifeboats wasn’t really known. So, the lifeboats they had on the ship was fine until the owners took out half of the lifeboats just because the appearance of the lifeboats might have not been liked by the rich people who were on the Titanic. The owners shouldn’t have been paying attention to details about the appearance because the safety of many people on the ship is much more important. They should have looked at the big picture of the purpose of the lifeboats that save many of those people who are on board.
The reason for the sinking of the Titanic was because of the small details the builders missed and that caused a major problem. Since Captain Smith ordered the ship to go full speed where there was a dangerous ice-field and so the ship hit an iceberg. The crew didn’t make an emergency plan for a while since they thought that the Titanic wouldn’t sink because of that crash since it was called the “unsinkable”. The modern-day Titanic investigators found out that the Titanic’s structure was built incorrectly. The metal plating on the Titanic was supposed to be bolted together with strong bolts so that the Titanic would be able to endure pressure, temperature, and force, but instead they ordered the wrong bolts that were weak and cheap. They ignored that and kept building the Titanic so this small detail has caused the Titanic’s structure to fall down.
Therefore, paying attention to details can be a disadvantage and an advantage. Paying attention to detail can cause a big problem depending on what decision the person makes on whether to stay on the main point or focus on the details. So, the details or the main point is more important than the other depending on the position you are in.