The difficulty of dissecting an address like that of President Kennedy at Rice Stadium is itself a final
example of the persuasiveness of Kennedy’s rhetoric. The power of Kennedy’s address can be seen most
clearly in the interwoven nature of all its elements. Through the marriage of these different elements,
Kennedy’s speech encourages, calms, and inspires.
Score
Reading: 8
Analysis: 8
Writing: 8
SAT Experts Say: This student shows a clear understanding of the text and writes a solid piece analyzing
the author’s argument. He or she indicates what Kennedy does (ex: “fill[s] the second half of his speech
with a lot of specific economic benefits”) and then tells us why Kennedy did it (“to overwhelm the
listener with this positive side of investment.”) This is the analysis that was lacking in Sample Essay 1
which, combined with good comprehension and solid writing skills, earned this essay a perfect score.
Sample Essay 3
Kenedy gave a speech about going to the moon. It’s got a lot of stylistic elements in it. His whole speech is
about how dangerous it is and how we should do it because it’s dangerous. He says it’s like Everest and
that’s hard and it killed a guy who tried to do it but we oughta do it anyway. At the beginning he said
it was like going to sea and it would be dangerous because of hostile pirates or something. And that it’s
like Rice playing Texas. So maybe he could of meant we should do hard stuff even though you’ll
probably lose or die. Also he said it’s like the Old West. I think maybe we like people trying do things that
are dangerous, so maybe that’s why people like this speech so much.
Score
Reading: 2
Analysis: 4
Writing: 2
SAT Experts Say: This student demonstrates practically no comprehension of the passage. The essay
does not present an argument, but rather makes general statements about the essay that do not have any
relevance to the prompt. In addition, the essay is sloppily written, including several spelling and
grammatical errors––“Kenedy,” “oughta,” “could of,” and so on. The tone is too informal (“because of
hostile pirates or something,” “we oughta do it anyway”), and the writing is disorganized; there is no
logical progression of ideas. This essay would receive a low score.
Sample Essay 4
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy delivered a stirring, poetic speech at Rice Stadium. He structured his
address using complex rhetorical devices that make it an exemplar for the ages. In particular, he spoke
in a direct, simple manner that was very accessible to his audience, but layered that simple speech with
complex rhetorical flourishes such as alliteration, anaphora, and epistrophe throughout. As a result, the
address created a pleasing auditory effect that kept the audience engaged throughout the speech.