Tips for Exam Essays Writing

Remember that feeling when you look at the clock and realize that you are running out of time? You desperately try to kick start your brain, organize your thoughts in some logical way, but instead, you are just stuck, and nothing worth writing comes into your mind. These are the emotions a lot of students experience while writing an essay at exam . The pressure of the deadline, or a professor who is looking at you as if you are about to cheat- how are you supposed to concentrate in such an environment?

You consider essay writing to be a process of creation, but who can create amid an atmosphere like this? Trust me, you are not the only one who has these issues. I had them too, before one day, after failing an exam, I did some in-depth research and found the information that helped me learn how to manage this type of tasks perfectly. Today I want to share this knowledge with you.

Rule #1 The essay must be short. Keep in mind that your time for writing is limited. You can have ten ideas, but there is simply no way you are able to develop all of them properly into paragraphs. That is why you need to choose only three and expand them.

Rule #2 Use the most common structure of an essay – five paragraphs. The first one has to introduce the main problem of your paper, the next three represent evidence to support your main statement, and the last one is supposed to provide conclusions. Each paragraph should have five or six sentences. Avoid writing paragraphs of different sizes, for example, if your introduction includes four sentences, the conclusion can have a maximum of five.

Rule #3 After you have read the essay topic, start brainstorming ideas for writing.

Think on paper. Write down everything that comes to your mind. Then choose the three most powerful ideas suitable for your essay. Transform them into arguments and expand them.

Rule #4 Make a plan that will help you write a well-organized and coherent essay.

Then arrange your thoughts according to that plan. Make sure your ideas are interconnected and support a general statement of your essay. Try to avoid giving irrelevant information. Each sentence must be logical and right to the point.

Rule #5 Don’t forget to leave at least five minutes for proofreading.

Reread your essay and check the structure of each sentence. If some of them are too complicated, divide them into two or more. Also, don’t forget to check punctuation. To do this, read the text with pauses. Each pause will require some punctuation marks.

More resources:

1. Essay Writing Types: Narrative and Reflection Essays

2. Common mistakes in essay writing

3. Different Types of Essays: Definition and Persuasive Essays

4. Understand the Style of Essay Writing