Student Talk / Tips and sources for CLEP Essay Practice Topics [8]

Thanks.

This post gives us an even dozen of "clep essay" threads. Although that number may be a result of my search terms not grabbing relevant threads.

I previously read through all the posts and none of them referenced a source for the questions and I want to use representative topics.

I have been unimpressed with recent standardized tests (GMAT as a prime example) and want to make sure I have a full feel for the CLEP authors' style.

bc

Speeches / Does America Still Have Heroes? [28]

I am unsure if your are still working on this topic but wanted to try and help.

For the speech, the easier choice is to agree that America still has heroes. The interesting part comes from how you define the hero: Personal, Comic Book, Professional, National, etc. You need to pick which category (type?) of hero that does or does not exist.Individual heroism, while not rampant, is frequently reported by the news and is the setup for my contrary argument.

Personally, I would pick the National Hero category and take the contrary viewpoint that America the County does not have a hero. This allows you to wrap up all the other types of heroes and claim they do not have a national heroic effect on peoples lives. Furthermore, we celebrate these personal or "limited heroes" out of a strong national desire for a single nationally heroic role model. There are some logic links you will need to make and you will need to demonstrate that the usual suspects of Presidents, Philanthropists and Military Leaders are not nationally heroic.

If you have a common audience with the other speakers, this approach will make your presentation standout and each of the following speeches will actually begin to reinforce your arguments. The downside is that if any of your competition demonstrates a single nationally heroic figure, your argument fails.

bc