Victory for the ACT Student Text 15e

W RITING T EST M ECHANICS • 169

ANATOMY

DIRECTIONS: You have 40 minutes to plan and write an essay. Read the prompt carefully and make sure you understand the instructions. The Electoral College In light of the results of the 2000 and 2016 presidential elections, our indirect method of selecting our president through the Electoral College (all Electoral College votes are declared to the winning candidate in each of the 50 states) has come into question. Direct popular election is presented most often as the fairest way to choose a president. Adoption of this process would simply mean that the candidate who received the most general population votes would become president. Some argue that the Electoral College could be kept and votes in the states could be designated to a candidate in a proportional method, so that a person who received 60% of a state’s votes would receive 60% of its electoral votes. Those who favor this method argue this is the fairest way to choose the country’s leader, but would changing the constitution to address a situation that was problematic in only two elections in the last 100 years be an extreme and unwise change? No matter which side you choose, this conversation is an important one for our nation’s future. Perspective 3 Changing the constitution is never to be done lightly. The founding fathers thought long and hard about this step. We should think long and hard about such a change to our constitution and its possible negative consequences. Essay Task ”‹–‡ ƒ —‹ϐ‹‡†ǡ…‘Š‡”‡– ‡••ƒ› ‹ ™Š‹…Š ›‘— ‡˜ƒŽ—ƒ–‡ —Ž–‹’Ž‡ ’‡”•’‡…–‹˜‡• ‘ –Š‡ ‹’ƒ…– of direct popular election of the President of the United States. In your essay be sure to: • Analyze and evaluate perspectives given • State and develop your own perspective • Explain the relationship between your perspective and those given Your perspective may be in full agreement with any of the others, in partial agreement or wholly different. Whatever the case, support your ideas with logical reasoning and detailed, persuasive examples. ‘–‹…‡ –Šƒ– –Š‡ ’”‘’– †‘‡• ‘– –‡•– ƒ •’‡…‹ϔ‹…„‘†› ‘ˆ ‘™Ž‡†‰‡Ǥ ‘” ‡šƒ’Ž‡ǡ ‹– †‘‡• ‘– ƒ•ǡ Dz Šƒ– ™‡”‡ –Š‡…ƒ—•‡• ‘ˆ ‘”Ž† ƒ” ǫdz ‘” Dz Šƒ– ‹• –Š‡ „‡•– ”‡…‹’‡ ˆ‘”…Š‘…‘Žƒ–‡…ƒ‡ǫdz Ž•‘ǡ ‘–‹…‡ –Šƒ– –Š‡ ’”‘’– ‹•…‘•–”—…–‡† •‘ ›‘—…ƒ ’”‘˜‹†‡ ƒ •—……‡••ˆ—Ž ”‡•’‘•‡ „ƒ•‡† •‹’Ž› ‘ –Š‡ ’‡”•’‡…–‹˜‡• Ž‹•–‡† ƒ† ›‘—” ’‡”•‘ƒŽ ‡š’‡”‹‡…‡•Ǥ ‹ƒŽŽ›ǡ ‘–‹…‡ –Šƒ– –Š‡ ’”‘’– ’‘‹–• ›‘— ‹ –Š‡ ”‹‰Š– †‹”‡…–‹‘Ǥ – ƒ•• ›‘— ƒ “—‡•–‹‘ǡ ƒ† ƒŽŽ ›‘— ‡‡† –‘ †‘ ‹• ”‡•’‘† –‘ –Š‡ “—‡•–‹‘ ƒ† ‡‡– –Š‡ ”‡“—‹”‡‡–• ‘—–Ž‹‡† ƒ„‘˜‡Ǥ Š‡•‡ ”‡“—‹”‡‡–• ™‹ŽŽ „‡ †‹•…—••‡† ‹ ‘”‡ †‡–ƒ‹Ž Žƒ–‡” ‹ –Š‡ ”‹–‹‰ ‡••‘Ǥ Perspective 1 Direct election of the president by popular vote is the fairest way to choose our chief executive. Such a change in our process of selecting the president would reinforce our view that America is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Perspective 2 The Electoral College has served the United States for over 250 years. Radical change is not always the best course. A tweaking of the selection process would provide candidates a percentage of the votes earned in each state.

Master Moves Typically, the three perspectives offered in the ACT Writing Test will represent three types of views: 1) one strongly in favor of one view, 2) another strongly in favor of the opposite view, and 3) one that advocates for a middle path between the two views, or a moderate view. Keep these differences in mind so that you can quickly decide which view you feel you can best support.