College Board

The SAT

Practice Essay Number 7

Assistive Technology Compatible Test Form

Make time to take the practice Essay. Its one of the best ways to get
ready for the S AT Essay.

For information on scoring your essay, view the S AT Essay scoring

rubric at sat.o rg/essay.

The following is representative of what youll encounter on test day.

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Directions
The essay gives you an opportunity to show how effectively you can
read and comprehend a passage and write an essay analyzing the
passage. In your essay, you should demonstrate that you have read
the passage carefully, present a clear and logical analysis, and use
language precisely.

Your essay must be written on the lines provided in your answer

booklet; except for the Planning Page of the answer booklet, you will
receive no other paper on which to write. You will have enough space
if you write on every line, avoid wide margins, and keep your
handwriting to a reasonable size. Remember that people who are not
familiar with your handwriting will read what you write. Try to write or
print so that what you are writing is legible to those readers.

You have 50 minutes (standard time) to read the passage and

write an essay in response to the prompt provided following
the passage.

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Reminders
1. Only what is written on the lined pages of your answer booklet will
be evaluated.
2. An off-topic essay will not be evaluated.

This test edition must not be taken from the room. Unauthorized
reproduction or use of any part of this test edition is prohibited.

Copyright 2017 The College Board. College Board, SAT, and the acorn
logo are registered trademarks of the College Board.

Ideas contained in the passage for this test, which is excerpted or

adapted from published material, do not necessarily represent the
opinions of the College Board.

Differences between test formats

If you are using the assistive technology compatible (A T C) edition
along with another edition of the test, you may notice some slight
differences in the wording of some content. Differences in wording
between these editions are the result of adaptations made for various
test formats.

Some changes to the text have been made to improve the way screen
readers pronounce the text where doing so would not inappropriately
change test content. For example, we have inserted spaces between
the letters of initialisms to ensure that the individual letters are spoken
separately. However, please note that pronunciation errors may
remain. If unsure of a word, use the spelling or character-by-character
navigation function of your software to resolve any uncertainties.

Do not open the test material until the supervisor tells you
to do so.

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Prompt instructions
As you read the following passage, consider how Eric Klinenberg uses

1. evidence, such as facts or examples, to support claims.

2. reasoning to develop ideas and to connect claims and evidence.
3. stylistic or persuasive elements, such as word choice or appeals to
emotion, to add power to the ideas expressed.

Passage

Adapted from Zadie Smith, The North West London Blues.

2012 by NYREV, Inc. Originally published June 2, 2012.
Writer Zadie Smith wrote the following piece in response to
news that several local libraries in the greater London area,
including Kensal Rise and Willesden Green Libraries, would be
closed down.

Paragraph 1
What kind of a problem is a library? Its clear that for many people it is
not a problem at all, only a kind of obsolescence1. At the extreme pole
of this view is the technocrats total faith: with every book in the world
online, what need could there be for the physical reality? This kind of
argument thinks of the library as a function rather than a plurality of
individual spaces. But each library is a different kind of problem and
the Internet is no more a solution for all of them than it is their
universal death knell. Each morning I struggle to find a seat in the
packed university library in which I write this, despite the fact every
single student in here could be at home in front of their macbook

1
The condition of being old-fashioned or no longer useful

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browsing Google Books. . . . Kensal Rise is being closed not because it
is unpopular but because it is unprofitable, this despite the fact that
the friends of Kensal Rise library are willing to run their library
themselves. . . . Meanwhile it is hard not to conclude that Willesden
Green is being mutilated not least because the members of the council
see the opportunity for a sweet real estate deal.

Paragraph 2
All libraries have a different character and setting. Some are primarily
for children or primarily for students, or the general public, primarily
full of books or microfilms or digitized material or with a caf in the
basement or a market out front. Libraries are not failing because they
are libraries. Neglected libraries get neglected, and this cycle, in time,
provides the excuse to close them. Well-run libraries are filled with
people because what a good library offers cannot be easily found
elsewhere: an indoor public space in which you do not have to buy
anything in order to stay.

Paragraph 3
In the modern state there are very few sites where this is possible. . .
. It would seem the most obvious thing in the world to say that the
reason why the market is not an efficient solution to libraries is
because the market has no use for a library. Nor can the experience of
library life be recreated online. Its not just a matter of free books. A
library is a different kind of social reality (of the three dimensional
kind), which by its very existence teaches a system of values beyond
the fiscal.

Paragraph 4
I dont think the argument in favor of libraries is especially ideological
or ethical. I would even agree with those who say its not especially
logical. I think for most people its emotional. Not logos or ethos but
pathos. This is not a denigration: emotion also has a place in public

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policy. Were humans, not robots. The people protesting the closing of
Kensal Rise Library love that library. They were open to any solution
on the left or on the right if it meant keeping their library open. . . . A
library is one of those social goods that matter to people of many
different political attitudes. All that the friends of Kensal Rise and
Willesden Library and similar services throughout the country are
saying is: these places are important to us. We get that money is
tight, we understand that there is a hierarchy of needs, and that
[libraries] are not hospital beds and classroom size. But they are still a
significant part of our social reality, the only thing left on the . . .
street that doesnt want either your soul or your wallet.

Paragraph 5
If the losses of private companies are to be socialized within already
struggling communities the very least we can do is listen to people
when they try to tell us where in the hierarchy of their needs things
like public space, access to culture, and preservation of environment
lie. But I never use the damn things! says Mr. Notmytaxes, under
the line. Sir, I believe you. However. British libraries received over 300
million visits last year, and this despite the common neglect of the
various councils that oversee them. In North West London people are
even willing to form human chains in front of them. People have taken
to writing long pieces in newspapers to defend them. Just saying the
same thing over and over again. Defend our libraries. We like libraries.
Can we keep our libraries? We need to talk about libraries. Pleading,
like children. Is that really where we are?

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Prompt
Write an essay in which you explain how Zadie Smith builds an
argument to persuade his audience that Americans need to greatly
reduce their reliance on air-conditioning. In your essay, analyze how
Smith uses one or more of the features listed in the prompt
instructions (or features of your own choice) to strengthen the logic
and persuasiveness of his argument. Be sure that your analysis
focuses on the most relevant features of the passage.

Your essay should not explain whether you agree with Smiths claims,
but rather explain how Smith builds an argument to persuade his
audience.

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