Write between 150 and 200 words on your previous experience with writing an essay in an in class, high pressure setting. Answer as many of the following questions as appropriate in the body of your paragraph. It is not expected (or possible) to answer them all. Choose the questions that reflect your experiences the best and expand on these. Give examples to illustrate.
What kinds of problems have you had with the organizing/brainstorming section? Give an example of something that has happened at this point.
What do you usually do first (second, third etc.) during the test? Why do you do that? Do you feel that you are efficient in your use of time?
What kinds of feedback have you received on your writing in the past? How have you tried to improve based on the suggestions your teacher has given you?
Do you have any funny (or sad) experiences while writing an essay that you would like to share with the class?
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Although it has been a very long time since I had the experience of writing a time pressured in class essay (25 years, give or take, when back at university to upgrade my qualifications), I do still remember it was a sweat inducing experience. My problem has always been spending too much time in the planning phase, wanting to get things absolutely perfect before beginning to write. That behaviour used to crop up when I worked on out of class essays as well where my wife’s advice to me was always to say, “You’ve got everything you need so start writing already!” She was right. Of course, writing without enough preparation could also be a problem. Division of topic into sensible and logical parts is tricky at the best of times. At this level, I mostly at least hint at the division of topics that a student may use to make the standard three body paragraph essay work correctly. It was interesting last term when I used more explicit directions (in other words, I dictated the exact three topics needed). Some students did not like that, preferring to have more flexibility to accommodate their own ideas. Whatever your style, know yourself and adjust your writing to reduce the pressure as much as you can.
—214 words
Despite having difficulties writing essays in an in class setting, I managed to handle the stressful time thinking of what to write and how to start an essay (English 10 class). I often brainstorm before I start however; I find myself taking too long to think and write ideas that support the topic. I write as much Ideas as I can think of, not realizing I'm running out of time trying to finish my essay. I made sure that all the ideas that I wrote are organized so I can give a good interpretation and specific examples. I refer to a dictionary to make sure I don't repeat the same words(looking for synonym), and use proper meaning to form a good sentences, and to avoid vague ideas. It's funny when I write essay homework at home; my cousin will laugh at me, because I would stay up late till one o'clock in the morning. She would tell me to not take it too seriously and just write what ever I think of according to the topic. By ensuring time is managed properly and stress checked sufficiently I can expect the essay will come out correctly.
---196 words
Writing a essay in English is not easy for me because of the languge skill. But the English standard construction (3 bodies with 150 words) helped me some. Both with test and homework, in my experience, the first important step was getting sense from a brainstorm. If I did, it was easy to finish an essay smoothly , even in a class test. Sometimes, when I had no sense from a topic, that should be hard just liked “ to born a baby ” (Chinese idiom). I still remember the topic (a plant or flower you relatived or involved) which assigned by my teacher when I studied in the secondary school. Actually I didn’t have knowledges with plants or flowers. I enjoyed the beauty of them but never cared them personally. Just at the moment of my brooding, I got a brainstorm. O, with full of emotion, I wrote an essay at one go than-any-once. Later, out of expecting, I received praise from my teacher. Certainly I was sad and unefficient with finishing an assignment without sympathetic response about a topic.
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When I studied in my university, writing essays was my nightmare (struggling with academic formats, essay structure and writing styles). My serious issue was gathering ideas through brainstorming. I thought that brainstorming was the most difficult and time consuming part for the whole writing procedures, especially with a tight timeline. When brainstorming is successful, the writing part becomes smooth. Occasionally, I spent extremely long time on brainstorming but could not get any clues. At this point, I realized that I might go to a dead end and needed to refresh my brain and find a new path. Nowadays, internet is one of useful sources to collect information. Research via internet helps to improve the efficiency of brainstorming. Furthermore, a good idea also needs a strong support. If there is lack of examples, the idea would be too vague for readers. Therefore, a good essay tends to draw a detailed picture with some supportive examples for its readers. Although being proficient in writing essays has a long way to go, I am confident that my skill will improve gradually with all the efforts I contribute and helps I receive.
---186 Words
Writing an essay in the class is a hard task. For me it is hard to come up with an idea to write about. Recently, I had to write 500 words the essay about ethic on workplace. What I was thinking was, what a boring topic. The instructions were very clear: introduction – way I chose MOA program, body – six attributes of MOA and five ethical principles, and for the end – how I see myself in this profession in the future. Before I even knew It I had the essay with 500 words. The structure helps me a lot. I spent more time on grammar and spelling check. I did not write down anything new for me or for a reader, but a job has been done. I did not like my essay too much because it was “too dry”, with too many facts. I tried to add a little bit of my personality, and the more I tried to “fix” it, the more I messed with structure and the main point. In the end I just ended up submitting my first “dry” version. I have to admit writing is a hard task.
Honestly speaking, I don’t have many experiences with writing essays in class in English, but I am extremely tense each time when I have to write under time-pressured circumstance. Having learned the structure of an essay here, I tend to brainstorm my essays based on the sandwich format – introduction, body and conclusion. After simply construct every part, I started to draft the essay. Being a non-native English user, it has been the biggest obstacle I encounter to fully express my thoughts only with the limited vocabularies and phrases in my mind in terms of writing in class. Additionally, in order to search for proper words and make sentences following the rules of grammar, I unconsciously spend longer time at this stage, which I also do for writing at home. Because of this inappropriate time allocation, I almost don’t have enough time to complete the good copy. As a result, I would end the essay roughly and my handwriting becomes messy as well. For one time, I even forgot to include the conclusion part. To avoid being lack of time to finish in-class essays, it’s necessary to improve my ability to adequately arrange time, and endeavor to increase the amount of my vocabularies, phrases and idioms so that I would have less anxiety concerning writing in class. – 215 words
A Challenge Work
Writing an essay in a set period of time is a challenging experience for me. I know that I have to be quick in order to organize my ideas. For example, I spend too much time in making a good topic sentence. I want to be as clear as possible, so I write many sentences and it is hard to choose the right one. Furthermore, I try to spend equal time on the brainstorm, introducction, body parts and conclusion, but I always overwrite sentences than don’t flow smoothly. On the other hand, I have a hard time to restate the introduction in my conclusion; the lack of time made me write a weacker conclusion. In essence, an essay is an apprenticeship where we have to follow a specific structure; however, the time is not in my favor. I have to improve my speed in organizing my ideas and delivery a good essay.
154 Words
Writing in English is not a mere understanding English language. It needs creativity to convey your idea in a limited amount of words. Of course first you have to be conversant what you are going to say. Without having interest in the subject, it is almost impossible to write a good essay. I do brainstorming and then write whatever idea comes up to my brain. After that I count my words. If I write too many words then I truncate some words which are repetitive and look for another way to say something in fewer words. I avoid writing too much but saying a little. Because I have a limited vocabulary I do not have many words to choose in order that my sentences do not bore the reader. It is frustrating to see that my style looks awkward because lack of vocabulary, but I am sure with more practice I can overcome my weaknesses.
--- 158 words
Writing an essay in class was difficult work for me, but I managed them to do most of the time. I remembered when I was writing an essay in a class, I always took a long time to think about the topic before I started my essay. That’s why most of the time I had a lack of time for actual essay. This problem caused me to not get a high mark for my essays because I did not check my essays before handing them to the teacher. Moreover, the feedback I have received about my essay was from Mr. L. When I was in L’s class, he told me, “ Don’t tell me water is wet because I knew already water is wet” After that, I always tried my best to be specific and have a clear idea about what I wished to communicate. Writing an essay in a class is not an exciting thing for me, but I like to assess my knowledge of how much I know without any outside help.
Words: 175
Last time I wrote an essay with time pressure was on IELTS test five years ago, just like experience of other essay writing I got before (TOEFL test, University Entry Examination and final test of every term), I spent more time on choosing appropriate subject which I were more familiar and could talk more, but spent less time on organizing section. As section was not thoroughly organized, when I wrote a paragraph with 200 words, I found I didn’t hit the point yet! And feedback I received from my teachers was often related to structure and organizing. I tried to improve it by spending more time on organizing section before I began writing, but I worried I won’t have enough time left to finish my writing. Contrast to writing essay in my mother tongue, I need more time to write essay in English as I have to pay attention to grammar and vocabulary besides expressing my thoughts. During the test, first of all, I usually chose a subject which I felt interested and matched the topic. After that, I hastened to begin writing. And finally, if there was time left when I finished, I would go back and refine my paragraphs and words. I believe I need an effective approach to organize section during writing essays.
-216 words
That behaviour used to crop up when I worked on out of class essays as well where my wife’s advice to me was always to say, “You’ve got everything you need so start writing already!”
I can't understand the meaning of those sentences above. Brad, could you please to explain them in an easy way?
Writing in English is a big challenge for me (English is not my native language). However, English has settled structure which I can follow. My problem is when I writing paragraphs, I always forget to double check my grammar. In class writing is much difficult because the teacher gives us limited time and limited words to write. I’m busy writing with correct words and make sure that I’m not off the topic so sometimes I forget the grammar. I don’t think I spend the time very efficient because I spend too much time on the content and structures. As the result, the mark I get is not I was expected. I remembered that when I study ESL in other school, my teacher told us to write an essay in class. I tried my best on the essay: brain storming, using many examples, etc. However, my teacher gave me a very low mark and she told me that I need to concentrate on my grammar or I’ll fail on that course.（174 words）
Qin He: Sorry not to be there to answer your question in person. I use "to crop up" to mean "to occur" and I refer to my "spending too much time in the planning phase" or, in other words, my procrastination. Her advice is useful since she means to say that if I only planned my essay I would have never gotten it done! Many students in both classes commented on their planning activities being lengthy and taking from their ability to finish in time. I am the same.
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