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How to Pass an Exam Essay: Tips from Experienced Students
May 30, 2023
9 minutes
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Students experience stress every day. However, the weeks of midterm and final exams are the most nerve-racking. It is especially true due to an enormous number of writing assignments. They require a lot of time, precision, and specific skills. But don’t worry, as there are many things you can do to avoid the excessive stress of writing exam essays. We will focus on most of them in this article.
Some students feel desperate and insecure when trying to cope with exam essays. They are seeking someone to address a “help me write my essay” request. Luckily, many online companies are ready to assist students. You can hire an assistant at any time. They can assist you with the first stages of the process by doing a research study and organizing information or guide you through the final stages of writing – editing and proofreading. Keep reading this guide if you want to learn the secrets of writing a stellar exam essay.
Essay Writing in English
Each topic has been separated into digestible portions that can be memorised and understood in the minimum of time.
Main Challenges of Writing an Exam Essay
Before we move on to the crucial points from experienced students, let’s review some of the main challenges that stand in your way when you try to score high on your exam essay.
- Time constraints: Time is one of the crucial resources when it comes to coping with writing assignments. Students often face frustration because of the short high pressure. The limited amount of time may lead to rushed writing, lack of thoroughness, and inadequate development of ideas. As a result, you have a mediocre essay that may not meet the assignment’s requirements and your teacher’s expectations.
- Confusing prompt: Sometimes, essay prompts can be complex or ambiguous, making it challenging for you to grasp the main task. Misinterpreting the prompt can result in an essay that doesn’t address the core question or fails to provide a relevant argument.
- Absence of ideas: Creating original and compelling ideas to support your thesis statement can be another obstacle you need to overcome. It can be challenging to brainstorm and develop strong arguments, especially when you write under pressure and have limited time for reflection.
- Poor organization of points: Even when you have found all the necessary information to make your essay shine, there is still a lot of work to do. A logical and engaging structure of your essay helps readers follow your thoughts easily. It is easy to get confused with multiple ideas and arguments popping up in your mind. Poor organization can turn the most brilliant essay into a boring selection of general facts.
- Inability to manage stress: Exams inherently come with stress and pressure, impacting students’ ability to think clearly and write effectively. You can give in to the overwhelming anxiety even when well-prepared for the task. Nervousness may interfere with your focus, leading to decreased performance.
- Integrating evidence: Incorporating relevant evidence and examples to support arguments can be hard. Finding appropriate sources, correctly citing them, and seamlessly including them in the essay requires practice and familiarity with academic writing requirements.
- Editing and revising: Time constraints often leave little room for thorough editing and proofreading. You may struggle to identify and correct grammatical errors, improve sentence structure, or refine your arguments. The presence of multiple mistakes can spoil the impression and lead to a low score.
- Different essay formats: Different exams may have specific essay formats. Adapting to these formats and meeting the particular instructions can create chaos in your head.
Tips from Experienced Students
Only those writing exam essays multiple times can provide valuable insights. Here you will discover practical tips to help you go through the challenges of exams with dignity and self-confidence.
Understand the question
Take enough time to read and analyze the essay prompt. Is there more than one way of interpreting the question? Make sure you fully understand what you must write about before moving forward. Underline key points that will guide you in the right direction and stay focused if needed.
Plan your time
Allocate your time effectively. Create a rough outline or mental roadmap of your essay before you begin writing. It is a harmful habit to wait until the last minute and then write your essay overnight. Ensure you can take a break from writing after finishing your piece to reread it the next day and make changes if necessary.
Brainstorm and make notes
Spend a few minutes brainstorming ideas related to the topic. Do not rush to check what others have to say on the topic. Try to outline your own ideas first. List the key points that come to mind. This content is a reference when you start writing and help you maintain a coherent structure.
Follow an essay structure
Stick to a traditional essay structure with an introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Even though some essay formats allow you to experiment with different creative configurations, it is better to choose a well-known path to avoid all the possible risks.
Essay Writing in English
Each topic has been separated into digestible portions that can be memorised and understood in the minimum of time.
Use examples
Support your arguments with relevant evidence, examples, and quotations. Even when you are writing about something personal, you can still include a quote from someone you admire that highlights the essence of your main idea. Doing so shows your teacher that you’ve spent time researching and choosing relevant evidence.
Be concise and focused
Don’t try to impress your teacher with the number of words in your essay. Stay on topic and avoid unnecessary deviations. Some students score high despite writing less than the required word count. The quality of the content you create is the only thing that matters. Make your writing clear, concise, and to the point.
Proofread and edit
Without a doubt, editing and revising your piece are the last two things you want to do after you finish writing your masterpiece. However, you can’t ignore this step if you want to get a good grade. Check for grammar, spelling errors, coherence, and logical flow. You can use helpful tools like Grammarly to cope with this task faster.
Practice time management
One of the reassuring things you can do to practice is to simulate exam conditions by writing timed essays at home. You will learn your strengths and weaknesses. It will also improve your writing speed and your ability to think on your feet. You will develop a successful algorithm of actions for the upcoming exams.
Seek feedback
Ask your teachers to review your practice essays and provide feedback. They can offer valuable insights and suggestions for improvement. If your teachers are out of reach, ask someone who shows great results in essay writing to assist you and get some insights from them.
Mistakes to Avoid
Finally, we must address students’ common mistakes when writing exam essays. You can avoid getting into a similar trap during your exam.
Writing about something you know instead of answering the assignment’s question. If you are hesitant about the answer to the question asked or have no idea how to approach it, don’t just start writing about anything slightly relevant to the topic. Try to clarify the points that make it challenging for you to cope with the assignment.
Jumping to the writing process right away. This mistake can cost you time and effort. If you skip the preparation process that includes researching and outlining, you might need to rewrite your piece multiple times.
Relying on your expertise solely. Even though you can include your experience and attitude toward the discussed topic (if the format of your essay allows it), you still need to back up your ideas with specific examples, facts, or references
Failing to communicate the main idea of your piece in a thesis statement. Inexperienced students may fail to present a strong, focused, and debatable thesis that guides their entire essay. If you have concerns about how to create a strong thesis, look through examples and practice to write as many statements as possible before your exam.
Attempting to sound sophisticated. Some students overuse complex vocabulary or academic jargon to impress their teachers. The only goal they reach is making their essays difficult to read and understand. Keep a healthy balance between trying to look more intelligent than you are and using terms that only harm your essay. Use language that is appropriate, clear, and concise.
Failure to address counterarguments. When you are exploring a debatable topic, you must address counterarguments. Failing to do so weakens the overall persuasive power of an essay. Engaging with counterarguments and providing a thoughtful response demonstrates critical thinking skills and strengthens your piece.
Focusing on a particular part of your essay for too long. You might consider a particular part of your essay imperfect and spend hours or even days trying to improve it. It means you are not paying attention to the rest of your piece. If you have weak time management skills, you might end up writing the crucial sections of your essay in the middle of the night to turn the assignment in by the deadline.
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