Test Your SAT Essay Writing Skills

Richard Perry/The New York Times There are many stereotypes about New Yorkers.

Pencils up, everybody.

The SAT will no longer require test-takers to answer the dreaded essay question, College Board officials announced Wednesday.

But here at City Room, we hold our readers to a higher standard.

Presenting the City Room 2014 SAT Essay Test.

Your participation is required.

Our essay question is based on sample essay questions from the College Board’s web site.

One tip: A main criticism of the SAT essay is that it does not penalize incorrect assertions, even egregiously wrong ones. This grading loophole will soon be closed on the SAT. But for now, we encourage you to exploit it, if it helps.

You have five minutes.

Begin.

Prompt 1

There are three assumptions often made about New Yorkers: One, they are rude. Two, they think they are superior to all other citizens. Three, they lack the same values as the rest of the country.

Assignment: Are any of these assumptions true? Why or why not? Support your position with reasoning and examples from your life and daily dealings.

Prompt 2

Think carefully about the issue presented in the following quote and the assignment below.

“New York is a sucked orange,” Ralph Waldo Emerson once said.

Assignment: What? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Leave your short response, no more than 150 words, to one of the two prompts in the comments. Students will be graded by fellow City Room readers, who will recommend essays that deserve a high score. (And remember, you have five minutes to complete your essay. You won’t be penalized for keeping it short.)

New York Today: Crime Drops

Andrew Burton/Getty Images Mayor de Blasio addressed officers last week.

Updated 8:53 a.m.

Good Thursday morning in this freezing, somewhat safer city.

During the mayoral campaign, some people warned that if Bill de Blasio were elected, the city might be plunged back to an era of rampant crime.

The critics included Mr. de Blasio’s opponent Joseph Lhota.

So, has it happened?

Not so far.

Through the first two months of 2014, serious crime in the city has dropped, compared to last year - which turned out to be a historically low year for crime.

Murders are down 19 percent, to 44, from 54.

Rape, robbery, burglary and grand larceny have dipped, too.

Shootings have dropped 13 percent.

The only major categories of crime that have increased are assault and car theft.

Of course, two months is not a lot of time.

And all the cold, snowy weather has undoubtedly helped keep things quiet.

The less confrontational policing policies promoted by Mr. de Blasio and his police commissioner, William Bratton, have not even been implemented yet.

“It is not prudent to draw any conclusions from such a small window,” said Jon M. Shane, a criminologist at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

One bad-old-days image did stage a brief return: In January, subway-graffiti vandals went on a tagging spree.

The M.T.A. blamed the brutal cold; it was storing trains in less secure indoor yards.

Two taggers were arrested.

Here’s what else is happening.

WEATHER

Looks like the weather changed its mind about warming up.

Morning temperatures in the mid-teens (current wind chill: 3 degrees) will give way to a lunchtime high of 29.

You may bask in memories of yesterday, when the mercury crept up to 39.

And in today’s sunshine.

COMMUTE

Subways: O.K. Check latest status.

Rails: Delays of up to 20 minutes on N.J. Transit into Penn Station. Scattered delays on L.I.R.R. Check L.I.R.R., Metro-North or N.J. Transit status.

Roads: Delays of well over an hour on Route 80 East near Paterson. Inbound 40-minute delays at G.W.B. . Check traffic map or radio report on the 1s or the 8s.

Alternate-side parking is in effect.

COMING UP TODAY

- Mayor de Blasio calls in to Hot 97 radio at 8:35 a.m. Listen.

- Atheist groups protest a cross-shaped steel beam allowed to hang in the September 11 museum. Foley Square. 9 a.m.

- “Japan Week” takes over Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Terminal for, curiously, just three days. 11 a.m. [Free]

- “Spring/Break,” a curator-centric art show, opens at the Old School in SoHo. Noon. [$5]

- A journalist, Ada Calhoun, talks about the gritty old days on St. Marks Place, at the New York Public Library. 1:15 p.m. [Free]

- Samantha Power discusses ending sexual violence amid conflict, at the United Nations. 6:30 p.m. [Too late to R.S.V.P., but there’s a livestream]

- Catherine Deneuve alert: The actress rings in a 10-day French film festival at Film Society Lincoln Center. 7:30 p.m. [$20, standby only, get there at 7] …

- … And a citywide disabilities film festival begins with a documentary about a wheelchair-using world traveler. Jewish Community Center, 6:30 p.m. [$18]

- Last day for “Voices of Crisis,” an exhibition featuring recordings of Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights activists who spoke at the New School in 1964. Noon to 8 p.m. [Free]

- “All the Way,” a play about Lyndon B. Johnson, starring Bryan Cranston from “Breaking Bad,” opens on Broadway. 6:30 p.m. [$45 and up]

- For more events, see The New York Times Arts & Entertainment guide.

IN THE NEWS

- Governor Cuomo has used his rivalry with Mayor de Blasio to his advantage. [New York Times]

- More than two dozen people contracted a rare skin infection after buying seafood at markets in Chinese neighborhoods. [New York Times]

- You can eat the fish, just don’t touch it, the health department says. [New York Post]

- A Dominican barber in Washington Heights is offering a pre-Passover haircut discount. “Only Jewish,” it said on the sign. Briefly. [Daily News]

- The former police commissioner Raymond Kelly took a job giving antiterrorism advice to commercial real estate clients. [Wall Street Journal]

- Where to escape the cold, without leaving the city. [New York Times]

- Where to cry in public, peacefully. [Tumblr, via New York Magazine]

- The latest animal remains to turn up in Prospect Park are rooster heads, on a platter. [Gothamist]

- A Brooklyn tattoo artist was criticized for tattooing his sedated dog. [New York Post]

- Scoreboard: Knicks top Timberwolves, 118-106. Nets over Grizzlies, 103-94. Rangers fall to Maple Leafs, 3-2.

AND FINALLY …

Two hundred years ago this spring, the Fulton Ferry Company opened in Brooklyn.

Robert Fulton’s steam ferry was the first reliable link between the City of New York and the Village of Brooklyn, which was suddenly booming.

“Her trip varied from five to 12 minutes,” the Long-Island Star reported (as was later noted by The Times).

“Carriages and wagons, however crowded, pass on and off the boat with the same facility as in passing a bridge.”

Tonight, an archivist explores how the old Brooklyn ferry slip changed transportation history at the Transit Museum.

The ferry enjoyed a brief, 69-year heyday; then it was overshadowed, by the Brooklyn Bridge.

Joseph Burgess and Joseph Goldstein contributed reporting.

New York Today is a morning roundup that stays live from 6 a.m. till late morning.

What would you like to see here to start your day? Post a comment, email us at nytoday@nytimes.com or reach us via Twitter using #NYToday.

Find us on weekdays at nytoday.com.

A Celebrity Book Thief

Dear Diary:

Time: 1985 or thereabouts.
Place: Shakespeare & Company Booksellers (as I remember it) in Manhattan.

Midwinter, bundled, I seek refuge in the warmth of the store. Walking not 10 steps inside, I spot an unmistakable tall, reedlike figure with a jutting jaw and blondish hair, wearing a floppy knit hat that could not disguise him.

Ever the fan, I begin to follow him through the aisles (stalk is more like it), trying to get more than a glimpse. He doesn’t seem to notice me as he stops and pulls a book off the shelf. He examines it. Then, he quickly snaps it shut, slips it under his oversize coat and strolls away.

Did I just see what I think I saw? Did my hero just jack that book?

I continue to follow him like a store detective, in disbelief, as he leisurely winds his way through the maze of books and then heads toward the exit. His pace, slow at first, begins to quicken as he approaches the cashier through the front exit. Wait! What do I do? Do I rat him out? I am stunned into silence.

Suddenly, as he gets to the register, he magically flips the book out from its hiding place onto the counter along with a $20 bill. He then flashes a conspiratorial wink at me and my gaping jaw.

Peter O’Toole then exits the stage, leaving this sole audience member both amused and amazed.

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