Essay Writing Tips!
Quick Tips for Timed Writings
Timed writing is preparing you for the essay component of the SAT’s and the AP’s. Here is a list of do’s and don’ts that the evaluators expect you to incorporate in your writing.
Do read the prompt. It hurts to give a low score to someone who misread the prompt but wrote a good essay.
Do everything the prompt asks. Most writers focus on a few elements of the prompt and never fully answer the question.
Do think and plan your response before you write. It is not easy for the reader to pick over an essay and attempt to decipher sentences. A little organization will help you avoid extensive editing.
Do make a strong first impression. Build your opening response. Do not repeat the prompt word for word. The reader knows it from memory.
Do begin your response immediately. Do not take a circuitous route with generalizations.
Do not simply “point out” strategies. Be thorough and specific. Explain how they are used, give examples, and show how they establish what the question is asking. Do not use long quotes!
Do use clear transitions that help the reader follow the flow of your essays. Keep your paragraphs organized; do not digress.
Do not put in a “canned” quotation or critic’s comment if it does not fit. *You will get a response from your reader but it will not be the one you want.
Write to express, not to impress. Keep vocabulary and syntax within your zone of competence. Students who inflate their writing often inadvertently entertain, but seldom explain.
Demonstrate that you understand style. Show the reader how the author has developed the selection to create the desired effect. This indicates that you understand the intricacies of the creative process.
Maintain an economy of language: saying much with few words. The best student writers see much, but say it quite succinctly. Often ideas are embedded rather than listed.
*Remember skirt length- long enough to cover the topic but short enough to keep it interesting.
Let your writing dance with ideas and insights. You may receive a decent grade with a lockstep approach, but the essays that earn excellent grades expand to a wider perspective.
Do write legibly. If the reader cannot read half the words you will not earn a passing grade. Patience decreases as the reading progresses.
Let your work stand on it’s own merits. Do not include “pity me” notes (”I was up all night.” “I have a cold,” etc.)to the reader.
*compiled during the 1994 AP English Reading Trinity University San Antonio
