How to Write a Great Essay Exam

Managing Your Time and Making Your Point

The time pressure is on and you are under the gun to produce a well thought out essay on a question just put in front of you. It's an essay, which you may be good at, but the clock is running and as the minutes tick by you get more uptight and its harder to think. Just how are you supposed to answer these questions in a coherent way? Well, that's the cruel idea, turn up the heat and see if you can still perform. It can be frustrating if you have studied and know the material, but have a hard time getting it all into an essay that hangs together. Understandable, so here are some tips for those online classes that require timed essay exams. Catch your breath, and practice these techniques and you will pull it all together (that is assuming that you are prepared and have studied regularly throughout the semester).

If you are competent at writing essay assignments usually, then you have a leg up here. There are similarities in the tasks, and clarity in your writing is more critical than ever. Conveying a clear message with focused answers is your goal in the exam as in the normal essay. The main difference is that how you prioritize is much more critical. And here you are trying to prove your mastery of the information you were to have learned in class.

Before you begin. Remember those study questions that you scanned and thought to yourself; I could answer those if I had to? Well, do it! It is one thing to glance them over, and quite another to actually put yourself through the paces of answering those questions in writing. Practice will get you ready to do the same exercise in the test mode. Even though the question will be a different one, you will have gotten yourself in shape for the real contest through training. Writing out those practice questions will make you faster and more efficient when you need to be, and that translates to more points.

Read the directions carefully. Of course you have heard this over and over since second grade, but it bears repeating. Why? Because when you are under pressure and a little nerved up, you are more likely to misinterpret what is being asked. Sometimes you are given options for how you go about completing an exam, or a choice of questions to answer. If you don't catch the details, you could bomb the test. Furthermore, as you are reviewing the directions, read all of them and all the questions.

Make a plan. Evaluate what questions you should answer first. Start with the easiest ones, and no need to feel guilty about that. It is standard operating procedure on timed exams to increase your points by getting the most points that you can as soon as possible. It is reasonable to think that the "easiest" questions are the ones that you happen to remember the most information about and will do well on.

Time yourself. Set a reasonable pace so you can optimize your time. Depending on the total amount of time you have for the exam, and the amount of points for each question, determine how much time you will dedicate to each answer. Keep yourself to this time and move on to the next question when the time is up, even if you feel that you could say more.

Take notes. As you start a question and begin to think through how you might answer it, use scratch paper to jot down quick notes. It is okay at this point to scrawl out thoughts and figures as you recall them in a random fashion. You will draw them into an organized whole as you write the essay. Check your notes as you conclude your answer to be sure you have not left out an important element. Do not get hung up on a lengthy introduction with body and tidy conclusion. Those are nice, but not as important as getting down what you know about the topic. Since you have time constraints, worry less about formal appearances, but instead focus your energy on getting the real message in writing. Do not stray too far from the main concepts and make sure you respond to all parts of the question. You will surely get docked points if you leave out an answer for something that was asked and get carried away with answering one point that you know particularly well.

Back it up. Probably the very best advice you can get from anyone on writing a solid essay exam is this; Support your statements with evidence! Back up what you say with facts, quotes, concepts and data from class resources, like the text, lectures and other reference materials. Reflect the important terms and key concepts from the question in your answer. That is, restate the question in your answer. However, just taking away the question mark is a glaring way to burn up space while trying to sound intelligent by using the instructor's own words. But it is appropriate to include the main ideas of the question clearly in your answer. Then respond to those concepts with as much expert confirmation that you can.

Speed is important, but not at the cost of mindless rambling. Semantics and spelling are important, but they are not the most important thing. Proofread at the end if you have time to catch those details. Bear in mind throughout the exam that responding to all the points of the question in a concise manner, with as much evidence to back up your assertions is your main priority. If you set a good pace and stay focused you will do well.