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No matter what major or discipline you have selected to pursue in college, there is one common monster that strikes fear into the hearts of almost all students – the dreaded Essay Exam. Essay exams, in all their five-paragraph-format and restricted-time-limit glory, can appear in classes outside of English, including engineering, psychology, art, history and even higher sciences and maths, like physics. In fact, most standardized college admission tests, like the SAT/ACT and the GRE require you to write an essay in response to a prompt.

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Regardless of whether you come across an essay exam while applying to colleges or taking classes as you work towards your degree, there are six basic steps you can follow to compose a solid, effective essay in the time allotted.

1. Read the directions completely and pay close attention to what you’re being asked to do. Some exams may ask you to answer a series of questions; some may ask for 2 out of 3; some may ask you to choose only one. You don’t want to do more work than necessary or not complete the assignment.
2. Make sure you understand what the question is asking you. Look for key words or phrases to help you know what information you’ll need in the essay. For example, a question that asks you to discuss, criticize or justify a point will require different information and examples than one that asks you to list or enumerate a set of causes/effects.
3. Quickly jot down a few ideas/points you know you want to include and decide how you’re going to budget your time. Don’t waste a lot of time setting up a complex outline. If you have to write more than one essay, work so that you spend the bulk of your time and effort on the longest essay (or the one worth the most points).
4. Don’t worry about long, varied introductory and conclusive paragraphs. In essay exams, time is precious, and usually you just want to get right into the main discussion. One way to be sure you’re addressing and introducing the topic you’re going to talk about is to rewrite the question you’re answering as your first or thesis sentence. For example, if the question is, “What role does nature play in Early American literature?” your first/thesis sentence could be, “Nature played several different roles in Early American literature, but it was especially used as…” You not only have set up the basic topic/introduction in one sentence, but you’ve immediately launched yourself into the essay. When you reach the end, you can restate your first few sentences to reinforce and cap the essay so it doesn’t just seem to stop. If you have time when you finish to go back and add more to the intro or conclusion, then you may choose to do so, but if you don’t have time, your essay will still be complete.
5. Don’t leave anything unfinished. If you are running out of time and realize you will not be able to properly finish the exam, don’t just leave it incomplete. At the very least, sketch out what you would have done had you had enough time. Give a brief outline or use the remaining time to write a short paragraph saying what points you would like to give more time to. Some professors/readers will at least give partial credit for attempts to finish exams, but even if you are docked points for being incomplete, you will have a better chance at passing the exam as a whole because you didn’t just quit or leave bits unanswered.
6. If at all possible, leave yourself at least five to ten minutes at the end of the exam period to read back through your essay looking for grammatical mistakes, format errors and/or places where you left out information you wanted to include. If you’re doing the essay by hand instead of typing on a computer, you may insert the information in the margins of the page and use carefully drawn arrows to show where it should be included. While most professors/readers understand that timed exams will have their fair share of errors due to the very nature of the exam, they are impressed by students who at least attempt to have a clean, edited piece at the end.

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As you go throughout the essay, remember to relax, breathe and not panic. Oftentimes, students will shoot themselves in the foot with text anxiety. They’ll get so bogged down in the very idea of taking an essay exam that they don’t even have time or a chance to worry about the material the exam is actually asking about. Since you know you’ll have to encounter essay exams at various points (like the ACT/SAT or GRE), it might make sense to go to those websites and take the various practice exams these organizations offer. This will not only help prepare you for these exams, but you can also count it as practice for when you start working in your classes.

The author, Ms. Laura Holder, currently teaches at a medium-sized state university, where she is a candidate for a PhD in English.

Essay questions are the story problems of exams…very few people like them, but there is no
way to avoid them. Many professors add essay questions to exams that include a mixture of types of questions, while midterm and final exams often come with a Blue Book to be filled by students with profound thoughts. But even if you are one of the many who detests essay exams, these tips will help you successfully complete them with confidence.

Take a good look

Before you start, look at each of the sections of the exam. Many professors will tell students ahead of time what types of questions to expect, but skimming through to get an idea of the number of each type and the topics covered can alleviate stress and help you better plan your time.

Gauge your time
Once you have looked at the whole exam you will have a better idea of how much time you will have to devote to each section or prompt. Many students don’t do well on essay exams because they run out of time to complete each question. By estimating how long you have to work on each individual essay question, you will be better able to keep track of time and finish each one.

NOTE: Take a watch with you to sit on the desk so that you can see the time. Even if your classroom has a clock, having a watch right in front of you will remind you to budget your time. Don’t use your cell phone for this. The examiner might see you messing with your phone and think you are cheating.

Jot down notes
When you read an essay prompt, write down a few quick key words and phrases that will help you remember points that you want to mention. When another question on the exam jolts your memory about something else you could include in one of your essay answers, take the time to add those ideas to your notes too. This will ensure that you don’t forget an important point.

Re-read the directions
By this time in your educational career, you may think you have seen it all, and therefore, don’t need to read the instructions. Wrong answer! Before you begin writing, read and then reread the directions so that you give the instructor exactly what they are asking for. By carefully reading the directions you are less likely to misinterpret a question. For example, you want to avoid comparing when you really should contrast. You may also be pleasantly surprised to find that you only need to choose one of the prompts listed instead of answering all of them.

Be specific
Since professors create essay questions to make sure that students understand the course material well enough to explain the concepts in their own words, they are looking for specifics in these types of answers. Providing examples, illustrations and details from the reading and lectures will show the instructor that you were engaged in the class.

Jacqueline Myers has been guiding college students through the murky waters of writing and research for many years. And she can be your personal English instructor if you visit her on her blog Nitty-Gritty English: The complete site for tips, tricks and techniques for the UN-enthusiastic English student. Jacqueline is a proud member of the AEGC writing staff.

I teach basic Freshman English at the college level, and every semester I have at least one student who complains, asking why he or she should have to take two semesters of English if it’s not his or her major. My answer is always the same – English isn’t the only major that requires you to write.

Even if you’re majoring in Mathematics, Engineering or the Sciences, you will still be required to write papers at some point – for conferences, exams, experiment proposals, job proposals, etc. Learning the proper way to write a term paper will go a long ways toward helping you sound competent in other writings. And while each type of writing and the different majors have their own specifics, there are some basic tips that can be used for almost any paper:

• Tip #1 – START EARLY! Yes, I realize that’s in all caps and yes, do please take it as me yelling at you. I’ve heard it all before – “I work best under pressure,” or “I have it all planned in my head, so writing it won’t be a problem.” Do you know the kind of papers I get from that? They’re not A-papers. Sometimes, they’re doing good to be C-papers. Start working on papers early. Spend time developing your argument and making sure it fits within the parameters of the assignment. Read any material or assignment sheets the professor has given you about the assignment to make sure you’ve planned for all the requirements – sources, citation style, length, topic, etc.

• T ip #2 – Outlines and Drafts – do them. You don’t have to do the traditional outline with Roman numerals and little letters, nor do you have to write a draft in correct order, but I advise you to get into the habit of doing some form of written pre-planning and draft work. Write the body of the essay first and then worry about the introduction and conclusion. Write the conclusion (what you want people to take away from the essay) and then work on the body to be sure you get there. Work on it in any order you want, but give yourself time to have a draft ready before the final version is due so that you can edit it.

• Tip #3 – Thesis – you should have one. This is the place where you identify your argument, the stance you’re taking in the paper. The basic five-paragraph essay we’re all taught in high school tells us that the thesis should be a single sentence at the end of the introduction paragraph. That’s not necessarily true once you get to college. You’re writing about more complex topics, so it stands to reason your thesis will be more complex. It may take more than one paragraph to introduce the topic. You may need more than one sentence to identify and outline your argument. A good way to start forming a thesis is to take the main question or topic assignment of the essay and reword it into a sentence. This way, you’re guaranteed that the essay will at least be addressing the assignment. Once you have this basic thesis in place, you can work to make it more specific or sophisticated to match the direction of your essay.

• Tip #4 – Introduction, Body, Conclusion, the Whole Shebang – One of the most common mistakes Freshmen writers make is to look at the minimum required limit, reach it and then stop. One of the reasons we require minimum lengths, either in words or pages, is because professors have learned that just saying “write until you’ve answered the assignment” will almost always get us at least one student who, either out of arrogance or obnoxiousness, will write a paragraph and feel they have handled the assignment. But just because you’ve reached the bottom of the fourth page (a free tip, if the assignment says at least 4pgs, that doesn’t mean three full pages and a paragraph on page 4 – go to the bottom of the page), as required, does not mean you’re done. You need to introduce the topic, discuss it, and then include a conclusion. You need to fully deal with the assignment. The introduction is the first few paragraphs where you outline and introduce the topic. The body is where you handle the discussion – examples, research, opinions, arguments. The conclusion isn’t a two line paragraph that you wrote when you realized you were at the base limit. It’s where you wrap up the argument. If you leave out any of these, your essay will feel as if it’s missing something.
  

• Tip #5 – Edit/Proofread. Most colleges will have some form of Writing Center or tutoring available for free to enrolled students. Usually, these will be manned by graduate students from the English department – make use of them. Take a draft of your work (or even go see them to help you get started with brainstorming or an outline) and let them look at it with you. Even if you don’t want to go see a tutor (or perhaps can’t because they’re not available), make an effort to proofread on your own. Give the essay to someone you trust to read and see if they get the point you’re trying to make. When we read our own work, we automatically fill in gaps or holes in the logic because we know what we’re trying to say or we know they’ll be addressed later – an outsider won’t have that knowledge and will only be able to tell you what they read, not what you intended to be on the page. Look for basic grammar errors – the little red or green squiggly lines in a word processing program help you identify those. Read the essay out loud – it’s easier to fix grammatical errors when we read silently, but when we read out loud, we’ll stumble over errors. Obvious grammatical or spelling errors (or even format errors such as spacing and margins) automatically set your essay off on a bad note. It tells your professor that you don’t care enough about the assignment to take care of the little things. If that’s the case, why should your professor care enough about the assignment to take the time to grade it?

The author, Ms. Laura Holder, currently teaches at a medium-sized state university, where she is a candidate for a PhD in English.

When is a piece of art not a piece of art? Does an image have to be committed to canvas before it is beautiful or meaningful? Need an artist be professionally trained, or can a hoodlum with a stocking on his head create something worthwhile? For years, the world of street-art has existed all around us; disenfranchised individuals taking to the cities, using spray cans, stencils, stickers – whatever they could – as a means to express themselves wherever they could. But the question still exists: are they creating art? Exit Through The Gift Shop is the documentary with the opportunity to answer that question, as well as to showcase some of the most talented individuals in an industry flourishing just outside the law. Like the very best pieces of street-art, the film is spectacularly original, ironically funny, defiantly independent and effortlessly cool, and the fact that the whole thing might be nothing more than an elaborate prank by the world’s most renowned street-art not only makes the movie that much more interesting, but also reflects better than anything the elusive and rebellious art form that it supposedly documents.