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How do you make an essay plan and write an essay within 40 minutes under exam conditions? Tips and Help?

Well, I have a few exams coming up soon where it is required to write around two page essays in 40 minutes. I have read that you should do an essay plan and stick to a structure but I have no idea how? Please Help?

Public Comments

1. practice........................you should be practicing how before the exam and they should be encouraging this at school..........if your plan is there they can see that even if you didn't Finnish the exam they know you had the idea to complete
2. 1. Consider the topic for about 3 minutes making notes about ANYTHING that comes to mind. 2. circle the most relevant items 3. Decide if there is a conclusion to draw - and consider that 4. Make the points into an outline using this format: I. point a. point b. point c. II. a, b and c. III a, b, and c All the above should take about 7 minutes Then the conclusion sums up the thoughts that you have had. Leave 2 minutes at the end for fixing things like wrong verbs or fragment sentences.
3. Omg, I'm in the same situation!! I've got my English GCSE exams coming up very very soon (in fact, I have a literature one tomorrow!) and although I'm a good writer (A/A* grade) I have trouble with planning! I find it really tedious and it never really helps me but my teachers are so insistent upon it so I'm willing to try it tomorrow! My advice would be to set your paragraphs out something like this: Paragraph 1: Short introduction - Show you've considered the question.. Pick out key words of the question and make sure you mention them and why they are important P2: Start with your first point.. If the question is asking you to compare something then pick out one thing they have in common and compare and contrast.. Reference and quote the text to back up your points!! A lot!! P3, 4, 5.. etc.. However many paragraphs it takes you.. Depending on the question, you should probably make different points.. If it's a comparing one then keep comparing and contrasting the two texts together.. If it's a 'do you agree with this statement' one then do paragraphs on why you do or don't but ALWAYS have a 'however' where you show you've considered opposing views!! If it's one like 'who was most responsible for something' then make sure you focus a fair bit (but by no means most of it) of your argument on the character/event the question is concerned with.. Well, you'll know best what you need to say when it comes to the exam, so yeah.. oh and REFER TO THE QUESTION THROUGHOUT!! Paragraph.. Err, last paragraph: Conclusion!! Always make sure you've ANSWERED THE QUESTION!! Don't digress from the main point the question is asking!! And in this paragraph, if you have a compare/contrast question it will probably ask which is more effective so you'll have to decide which is more effective and summarize why! If it's a do you agree then say why you do or don't agree! And if it's a who was most responsible/what is the main reason for blahh.. then you should say who or what you think is the most responsible/the main reason!! And don't forget to QUOTE! I don't wanna be off-putting but if you don't quote and reference from your text then the examiner won't be too happy!! :o So yeah, good luck with all your exams, I'll employ my planning techniques tomorrow in my exam! I'll let you know if they do me any good, lol! xx p.s. I forgot to say, my teachers said for a 45 minute question you should spend about 10 minutes planning (which I personally think is WAY too long, but hey, what do I know?) so I guess for a 40 minute question 5 - 10 minutes would be good? But I wouldn't worry if you don't spend that long planning.. It'll just give you more time to really write your answer!! :D Good luck again, lol! Byeeee!