Essay

Decathletes have fifty minutes to plan, organize, and write a final version of an essay in response to one of three or four prompts provided. After the allotted fifty minutes has elapsed, the essays are collected and secured by the Essay Coordinator and then delivered to the Essay scoring room. The standard of scoring an essay written on demand in fifty minutes is clearly different than that for a paper written over the course of several days. To ensure proper student identification, each essay will have a label with the student identification number affixed to the outside of the essay booklet/folder.

    Sample prompts for 2005-2006 are:
  1. A.C. Bradley, the eminent authority on Shakespearean tragedy, declined to include Antony and Cleopatra in his seminal work Shakespearean Tragedy. In a well-organized essay, identify some of the features or lack of features in Antony and Cleopatra that might account for his decision, and agree or disagree with his choice.
  2. Bob Spenser and Shakespeare use the sonnet form extensively. In a well-organized essay, compare and contrast Spenser”s Sonnet LIIII and Shakespeare’s Sonnet 30, discussing theme, language, imagery, sound patterns and use of form.
  3. Explore the ideas of the Rennaissance that encouraged the exploration and discovery of the New World and the legacy that it has left to modern generations. How have ideas that contributed to the spirit of Renaissance discovery permeated modern society? Use specific details from the USAD Super Quiz Resource Guide to support your position.

Click here to view and download an example of the Essay scantron used at state competition.