certainty vs doubt ap lang essay

Certainty & Doubt in the writings of Jonathan Edwards and Langston Hughes

Now for the prompt.

The following prompt is from the College Board's 2012 AP Language and Composition Free Response Questions :

Consider the distinct perspectives expressed in the following statements.

If you develop the absolute sense of certainty that powerful beliefs provide, then you can get yourself to accomplish virtually anything, including those things that other people are certain are impossible.

William Lyon Phelps, American educator, journalist, and professor (1865–1943)

I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt. I shouldn’t wish people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not even mine.

Bertrand Russell, British author, mathematician, and philosopher (1872–1970)

In a well-organized essay, take a position on the relationship between certainty and doubt. Support your argument with appropriate evidence and examples.

This question is a good one because the question is so open-ended. The question also works for both AP and general education students. If general education students have already completed the Hughes-Edwards paragraphs, they will have more access to this prompt than if they were given a cold reading of its subject matter. They may choose not to include the previously written paragraph in their response, but again, they can't claim ignorance about the prompt's subject matter if any of the previous assignments were honestly attempted.