Open Educational Resources
PROJECT

*College Board Synthesis Essays

Links are to the FULL released exam which includes the referenced synthesis prompt and its sources, student samples, scoring guides, and commentary. Some may also include activities or additional references.

Chief Reader David Jolliffe explains why College Board developed this newer format and explains what is the intent of the format.

Each answer requires the student to synthesize at least three sources in the essay.

2007 Television Draft
Television has been influential in United States presidential elections since the 1960’s. But just what is this influence, and how has it affected who is elected? Has it made elections fairer and more accessible, or has it moved candidates from pursuing issues to pursuing image?
     Based on 6 sources. Take a position that defends, challenges, or qualifies the claim that television has had a positive impact on presidential elections.

2007B Invasive Species Draft
Invasive species are nonnative plants and animals that thrive outside of their natural range and may harm or endanger native plants and animals. As producers and consumers in our global society, we affect and are affected by species introduced accidentally or intentionally to a region. Currently, some people argue for stricter regulations of imported species to avoid the possibility of unintended negative consequences. Others, however, claim that the economies and basic resources of poorer nations could be improved by selective importation of nonnative species.
     Based on 7 sources. Write an essay in which you evaluate what a business or government agency would need to consider before transferring a hardy but nonindigenous species to another country.

2007 Advertising
That advertising plays a huge role in society is readily apparent to anyone who watches television, listens to radio, reads newspapers, uses the Internet, or simply looks at billboards on streets and buses. Advertising has fierce critics as well as staunch advocates. Critics claim that advertisement is propaganda, while advocates counter that advertising fosters free trade and promotes prosperity.
     Based on 6 sources. Write an essay in which you develop a position on the effects of advertising.

2007B Museum Artifacts
Museums are collections of artifacts. Although museums can represent interests from fine arts to whaling, people who visit museums sometimes fail to realize that every exhibit, every display case, represents a series of human decisions.: some individual or group of individuals has to decide to include a particular piece of art or specific artifact in the museum’s collectiuon.
     Based on 6 sources. Write an essay in which you develop a position on the most important considerations facing the person responsible for securing a new work of art or an artifact for a museum.

2008 Global Warming
Global warming (an increase in Earth’s external temperatures) has been blamed for a host of recent worldwide issues, including an increase in the number and severity of hurricanes, higher temperatures and droughts, and various other environmental changes. Some strategies that are used to curtail global warming may affect global politics and economics.
     Based on 6 sources. Write an essay in which you take a position on the key issues that leaders (in science, politics, business, etc.) should consider when making policies that affect global warming. Removed because this prompt is part of the AP Course Audit Secure documents and should be accessible only to registered teachers.

2008 Penny
In 2001 United States Representative Jim Kolbe introduced legislation to Congress to eliminate the penny cpin in most transactions. Although this legislation failed, there are still consistent calls to eliminate the penny as the smallest denominatrion United States coin.
     Based on 7 sources. Write an essay in which you develop a position on whether or not the penny should be eliminated.

2008B National School Curriculum
Some nations have a defined national school curricuum, while others, such as the United States, do not. As a result, students in high school English classes in the United States can read texts that vary widely from school to school, while students in other countries may all read the same books in high school.
     Based on 6 sources. Write an essay that develops a position on whether or not there should be specific texts that all students of high school English must read.

2009 Space Exploration
Explorers and tales of explorations tend to capture the human imagination. However, such explorations have financial and ethical consequences. Space exploration is no exception.
     Based on 8 sources. Develop a position about what issues should be considered most important in making decisions about space exploration and synthesize at least three of the sources for support.

2009B Individuality vs. Conformity in Public Schools
Mass public schooling has traditionally proclaimed among its goals the following: (1) to help each student gain personal fulfillment and (2) to help create good citizens. These two goals -- one aimed at the betterment of individuals and the other aimed at the betterment of society -- might seem at odds with one another. At the very least, these two goals are a cause of much tension within schools at every level: schools want students to be allowed or encouraged to think for themselves and pursue their own interests, but schools also believe that it is right in some circumstances to encourage conformity in order to socialize students.
     Based on 7 sources. Choose an issue related to the tension in schools between individuality and conformity. You might choose an issue such as dress codes, mandatory classes, or the structure of the school day. You do not have to choose an issue that you have experienced personally. Write an essay in which you use this issue to argue the extent to which schools should support individuality or conformity.

2010 Information Technology
Much attention has been given lately to the ubiquitous presence of information techn ologies. Our daily lives seem to be saturated with television, computers, cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and MP3 players, to name just a few of the most common technologies.
     Many people extol the ability of such technologies to provide easy access to information and facilitate research and learning. At the same time, however, some critics worry that the widespread use of information technologies forces our lives to move too quickly. We encounter images and information from the INternet and other sources faster than we can process or evaluate them, and even though electronic communcation has been enhanced, both the quality and quantity of face-to-face interaction is changing.
     Based on 6 sources. In an essay, evaluate the most important factors that a school should consider before using particular technologies in curriculum and instruction.
Tech in Schools Role-playing Activity

2010B Daylight Savings Time
In much of the world, the time that regulates our lives is altered by daylight savings time. Each year, we set our clocks back an hour in the fall and then move them forward an hour in the spring. This annual shift is thought to have been invented by Benjamin Franklin, who in 1784 wrote a letter to a French journalist suggesting that Parisians could economize on candles if they simply woke up earlier in the summer. Daylight saving time was adopted by the United States in the twentieth century and is regulated by the federal government. Even though daylight saving time has been widelty adopted, it still has detractors.
     Based on 6 sources. Synthesize at least three of the sources into an essay that evaluates daylight saving time and offers a recommendation about its continued use.

2011 Locavores
Locavores are people who have decided to eat locally grown or produced products as much as possible. With an eye to nutrition as well as sustainability (resource use that preserves the environment), the locavore movement has become widespread over the past decade.
     Based on 7 sources. Imagine that a community is considering organizing a locavore movement. In an essay, identify the key issues associated with the locavore movement and examine their implications for the community.
Locovore Role-playing Activity

2011B Green Living
Green living (practices that promote the conservation and wise use of natural resources) has become a topic of discussion in many parts of the world today. With changes in the availability and cost of natural resources, many people are discussing whether conservation should be required of all citizens.
     Based on 6 sources. Write an essay that develops a position on the extent to which government should be responsible for fostering green practices.

2012 United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS) has delivered communications for more than two centuries. During the nineteenth century, the USPS helped to expand the boundaries of the United States by providing efficient and reliable communication across the country. Between 1790 and 1860 alone, the number of post offices in the United States grew from 75 to over 28,000. With this growth came job opportunities for postal workers and a boom in the cross-country rail system. The twentieth century brought substantial growth to the USPS, including large package delivery and airmail. Over the past decade, however, total mail volume has decreased considersbly as competition from electronic mail and various package delivery companies has taken business away from the USPS. The loss of revenue has prompted the USPS to consider cutting back on delivery days and other services.
     Based on 8 sources. Write an essay that argues a clear position on whether the USPS should be restructured to meet the needs of a changing world, and if so, how.

2013 Memorialization
The need to memorialize events or people is complex; in some cases, monuments honor moments of great achievement, while in other cases, monuments pay homage to deep sacrifice. A monument’s size, location, and materials are all considerations in planning and creating a memorial to the past.
     Based on 7 sources. In an essay, examines the factors a group or agency should consider in memorializing an event or person and in creating a monument.

2014 Value of a College Education
Many recent college graduates have faced record levels of unemployment. This situation has led people to question what they value about higher education. Some high school students and their parents are wondering if a college education is worth the cost. Others, however, believe that a college education prepares students for more than just a job or career.
     Based on 6 sources. Write an essay that evaluates whether college is worth its cost.

2015 Honor Code
Many high schools, colleges, and universities have honor codes or honor systems: sets of rules or principles that are intended to cultivate integrity. These rules or principles often take the form of written positions on practices like cheating, stealing, and plagiarising as well as the consequences of violating the established codes.
    Based on 6 sources. Write an essay that makes a coherent, well-developed argument for your own position on whether your school should establish, maintain, revise, or eliminate an honor code or onor system.

2016 Monolingual English
Over the past several decades, the English language has become increasingly globalized, and it is now seen by many as the dominant language in international finance, science, and politics. Concurrent with the worldwide spread of English is the decline of foreign language learning in English-speaking countries, where monolingualism—the use of a single language—remains the norm.
    Based on 6 sources. Write a coherent, well-developed essay that argues a clear position on whether monolingual English speakers are at a disadvantage today.

2017 Public Libraries
As the Internet changes what and how people read, there has been consideable debate about the future of public librairies. While some commentators question whether libraries can stay relevant, others see new possibilities for libraries in the changing dynamics of today’s society.
    Based on 6 sources. Write a coherent, well-organized essay in which you develop a position on the role, if any, that public libraries should serve in the future.

2018 Eminent Domain
Eminent domain is the power governments have to acquire property from private owners for public use. The rationale behind eminent domain is that governments have greater legal authority over lands within their domain than do private owners. Eminent domain has been instituted in one way or anther throughout the world for hundreds of years.
    Based on 6 sources. Write a coherent, well-developed essay that defends, challenges, or qualifies the notion that eminent domain is productive and beneficial.

2019 Wind Farms
In response to our society’s increasing demand for energy, large-scale wind power has drawn attention from governments and consumers as a potential alternative to traditional materials that fuel our power grids, such as coal, oil, natural gas, water, or even newer sources such as nuclear or solar power. Yet the establishment of large-scale, commercial-grade wind farms is often the subject of controversy for a variety of reasons.
    Based on six sources. Write a coherent, well-written essay in which you develop your position on the most important factors that an individual or agency should consider when deciding whether to establish a wind farm.

2021 Handwriting
In the nineteenth and most of the twentieth centuries, handwriting instruction (print and cursive) was virtually
universal in schools in the United States. By contrast, little if any time is devoted to such lessons today. While
some argue that handwriting instruction should still have a place in schooling, others maintain that digital
technologies have rendered such instruction unnecessary.
Based on six sources. Write an essay that synthesizes material from at least three of the sources and develops your position on the place, if any, of handwriting instruction in today’s schools.

2022 STEM Education
Since the early 2000s, the United States government and a number of corporations have sponsored initiatives to improve education in the STEM disciplines: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The emphasis on STEM subjects in elementary, secondary, and higher education reflects concerns that United States students are less proficient in these areas than are students in other countries. Additionally, there is a belief that mastery in STEM fields is now essential in order to join a highly technical and specialized workforce. However, not everyone is convinced that a STEM-focused curriculum is necessary and/or effective.
Based on six sources. Write an essay that synthesizes material from at least three of the sources and develops your position on the value, if any, of initiatives to improve STEM education and increase the number of students interested in the STEM disciplines.

2023 Set 1 Rewilding
Urban rewilding is an effort to restore natural ecological processes and habitats in city environments. Many cities around the world have embraced rewilding as part of larger movements to promote ecological conservation and environmentally friendly design. Now, a movement to promote urban rewilding is beginning to take shape in the United States as well.
Based on six sources. Write an essay that synthesizes material from at least three of the sources and develops your position on the extent to which rewilding initiatives are worthwhile for urban communities to pursue.

2023 Set 2 Vertical Farms
Vertical farms are indoor agricultural facilities in which plants are grown, often in a hydroponic (soilless) environment, on tall stacks of shelves. Plants are given water, nutrients, and light mostly through automated processes. Advocates say that vertical farms are key to providing food for the future, yielding high-quality produce while making efficient use of land and water. Critics warn about the energy consumption associated with vertical farms’ automated processes as well as problems related to cost and nutritional value.
Based on six sources. Write an essay that synthesizes material from at least three of the sources and develops your position on the value, if any, of vertical farms to the future of agriculture.

2024 Set 1 Historic Preservation
Historic preservation laws are intended to protect buildings deemed to be of historic, cultural, or architectural value. The laws affect both government buildings and private property, putting constraints on how and to what extent the structures can be altered, renovated, or replaced. Proponents of these laws claim they are necessary for the preservation of history and culture and the architectural integrity of a neighborhood. Opponents of the laws argue that such laws prevent progress and negatively impact real estate development, building renovation, and building design.
Based on six sources. Write an essay that synthesizes material from at least three of the sources and develops your position on the value, if any, of laws designed to preserve buildings deemed to be of historic importance.

2024 Set 2 Mobile Food Service
Mobile food service establishments, such as food trucks and food carts, have become increasingly trendy in recent years, offering customers appealing and often innovative dining options out of vehicles that can easily be located near workplaces and leisure activities. These businesses have sometimes been held back from expanding because of local regulations that restrict their activities and require operators to obtain licenses and certifications. Proponents of these regulations say that laws are needed to ensure that the meals offered by mobile food services are safe and that these businesses do not have an unfair advantage over traditional restaurants.
Based on six sources. Write an essay that synthesizes material from at least three of the sources and develops your position on what are the most important factors for cities to consider when regulating mobile food service establishments.