Essay Exams

The standardized, timed essay exam (such as ACT, GED, Regents , SAT)... 

Section 4 of this book (Lessons 18,19, and 20) extensively covers the standardized, timed essay exams. Here is more information about how to approach and successfully complete application and class assignment essays. 

Which of the following strategies is particularly useful during an essay exam ... 

Though the writing situations discussed in this book are different, your relationship to the actual reader is quite similar in each case that of evaluatee to evaluator. The primary reason your actual readers—college admission officers, SAT and ACT scorers, AP essay exam readers, and teachers—are reading your essay is not for their reading pleasure. Instead, they are reading to evaluate. 

Essay exams are stressful. You have to come up with a well-written piece under a strict time restraint in a room crowded with other students. How can you alleviate some of that stress and walk into the testing room with confidence The answer is preparation. 

A typical exit essay is approximately 1,500 words. Possible topics include responses to literature, biographical narratives, and even business letters. Those who grade exit essay exams ask ... 

You have been assigned dozens of essays during high school. They might have been a response to something you read, an argument about a particular topic, or an explanation of an event or other subject of study. In fact, there are countless types of essays. However, almost all timed essay exams fall into one of two major categories expository or persuasive. In fact, the ACT and SAT call exclusively for persuasive essays. 

This advice might seem obvious, but it aims to correct one of the most common mistakes made on essay exams Spend time understanding the type of prompt you ll encounter. Remember that your score depends in large part on how well you address that prompt (both the ACT and SAT essay directions note that an essay written off topic will be scored 0 a GED essay that fails to adequately address the prompt also gets the lowest score—a 1). Preparation materials, both in print and on the Internet, are available for every essay exam, so it s easy to familiarize yourself with them. 

The time you spend planning for and preparing to take an essay exam can mean the difference between a great score and a poor one. Do your homework by researching your exam Understand how it s scored, what type of prompt(s) you ll encounter, what the directions say, and even how much space you ll be given to write in. Learn how to respond quickly to a prompt by practicing Come up with a thesis statement and outline in just five minutes or less. 

This lesson explains how to spend the other three-quarters of your essay exam time drafting, editing, and proofreading your essay. 

Set aside 20 minutes for this exercise. Resist the urge to read ahead and think about the exercise before you re ready to complete it. When you re ready, set a timer and take the essay exam on the next page. 

On an essay exam, you need to write a polished rough draft. Follow your outline and write carefully but quickly. Make sure your thoughts are complete and your handwriting is neat. Don t repeat yourself, or use filler words and phrases. Choose words that concisely and clearly convey your ideas. Leave a few minutes to edit and proofread your essay, correcting any mistakes you might have made. 

This final lesson presents two sample essay exam assignments and several sample responses. The responses are analyzed to give you a clearer sense of what constitutes a high- and a low-scoring essay. 

On an essay exam, most of your time should be spent... 

Does the thought of an essay exam make your palms sweat, your heart beat fast, and your stomach upset This lesson will show you how to take an essay exam without fear. You ll learn a step-by-step approach to tackling any essay exam. 

The best thing you can do to prepare for an essay exam is to think about the purpose of the exam, and the purpose of many essay exams is to test whether you have learned the material or not. These are the types of exams you are likely to have in your science, history, or psychology classes. For these exams, you will need to focus on the material you learned in class and in your textbook. In a composition class, the purpose of an essay exam will be to test your writing skills. For this kind of essay, you should put more emphasis on the form and style of your writing. 

Here are some types of essay exams you will probably encounter while in school. 

I The questions on a literature essay exam will test whether you have read and thought about the reading assignments in the class. They might ask if you can relate the different aspects of the reading assignments to each other or to your life. Or, you... 

Essay Exams LESSON 13 A BETTER WRITING RIGHT NOW ... 

I The questions on a science essay exam will test whether you have learned certain facts and understand certain processes. Can you list relevant facts objectively Can you draw conclusions from given facts ... 

I The essays on a history essay exam will expect you to recall events and dates and interpret them. What happened when Why does it matter What did it lead to ... 

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