Whether you are a university student, an aspiring essay writer, or among the best professional essay writers out there, writing time-limited exam essays is tricky for everyone. It requires months and years of practice and learning. However, one can never be a born professional. It takes patience, skill, time, and extreme effort to hone the intricate craft of writing in a limited time.
So we have the ultimate roadmap for all aspiring professionals and young students to understand the dynamics of exam essay writing. It will help them write essays that are not only authentic but rank at the top too.
So let’s explore what we have got!
What Are Essay Exams?
The primary purpose of essay exams is to showcase the understanding and skillset of students in long-format answers or essays. These are not like short 3 lines answers or multiple-choice questions, but the proper essays that consist of the opening paragraphs, a body, and a conclusion.
Students giving essay exams read the prompt for the first time. And they have to write a full-fledged essay on it in a limited timeframe. It is a requirement that these essays are crafted, outlined, grammar-checked, and factually correct as well.
Some top skills required to ace these time-sensitive essays are: Quick critical thinking, the ability to formulate arguments, and the ability to articulate thoughts and plan essays fast and accurately.
How to Prepare for Essay Writing Before Exams?
An essay exam does not mean that you read the question and start to explain your thoughts. But, the preparation you do months before your exam determines how well you will be doing in your essays. Practicing writing essays is the proactive way students can ace their exams.
Following are some expert tips and tricks to prepare for writing exam essays.
1. Analyze Past Exam Questions to Understand The Format
It is not only a clever approach, but the effective one as well. When you analyze the past questions, you get the idea of how professors craft questions, the ranking criteria, the professor’s expectations, and what he emphasizes. It will help you develop the style and standard of the essay according to the format of the questions.
Sometimes professors or instructors use the main concepts of course content to make the questions or take points from the lecture they deliver to design the essay prompt. So it is better to pay attention to the classes and jot down topics they are discussing.
The exam essays are time-bound. To ensure your preparedness, you need to have an understanding of all the potential topics and course content that the instructor might provide.
2. Apply Essay Writing Techniques & Practice
Since you have been doing essay writing all semester, you don’t need an extensive list of essay-writing techniques. You need to understand what type of skillset you will need to ace this essay exam. Here are some essay writing tips, especially for exams:
- First and foremost, read the essay prompt carefully to understand the topic and query with its proper context. Most students just skim the prompt and feel they have got what the professor is asking, which is not the case most of the time.
- Secondly, brainstorm ideas and key points you need to include in your essay. Gather the facts, stats, quotes, and references regarding the topic. Plus, list the bullet points regarding the argument you want to build.
- Avoid adding any fluff. Use a clear tone and concise wording to write down your thoughts.
3. Practice Time Management
Since you are in a time-bound setting, it is a prerequisite that your time management skills are at par. Before the scheduled day, practice writing an essay at a certain time duration. Use a manual clock or set a timer on your phone and start writing. See and judge your skills yourself.
Students can divide their time by the number of sections of the essay as well. For example, you can allot 20 minutes for the introduction and the main body. And the remaining 20 minutes for arguments and conclusion (in case of 40 minutes of essay exam).
It is crucial to have the ability to formulate good essay structure and language in a short period of time. Otherwise, your research and citations will go waste if you are unable to explain them due to a shortage of time.
Employing these trips will eventually transform you into the best essay writer.
4. Utilize Essay Structure and Frameworks
What will give you an edge over other essay writers is customizing essay structures and already-built frameworks according to your needs. It will not only save you time but enhance your productivity as well.
Plus, you will get various essay writing templates online that can help you frame your argument well. The point is to practice different techniques of exam essay writing so that you can pick the best suitable one.
Notes. Woman holding a pen
5. Develop Critical Thinking Skills
If you ask professional essay writers, critical thinking comes easy to them. But if you are a beginner, student, or aspiring essay writer, you need time and practice to master it. And to be honest, you can’t learn it one day before the exam. It’s a process that you have to follow.
However, we can give you some handy tips to develop critical thinking and analytical thinking skills.
- When you want to open to new thoughts and viewpoints, you leave your biases behind. You actively listen and read everything related to the subject matter.
- Break down complex ideas, and analyze their credibility and relevancy to form your opinion.
- Develop and organize arguments logically after analyzing every aspect of the topic.
- Practice the skill regularly and seek feedback to make your skills better.
- Maintain good focus when taking in any information.
6. BONUS TIP: Look How the Question/Prompts are Framed
Professors and instructors often give prompts asking for certain things like your viewpoint, a discussion, analysis, comparison, or anything else. So, read the prompt thoroughly and note down the requirements.
We have compiled an extensive list of potential directive words generally used in essay writing prompts with their meaning. Save these hacks to use later.
- Analyze: Condense the topic into understandable parts and examine, analyze, and explain each.
- Evaluate: Assess the strength, weaknesses, benefits, pros & cons, and other aspects to evaluate its significance.
- Compare/Contrast: Mention points of difference with another concept.
- Illustrate: Add relevant examples, case studies, and evidence to clarify the topic and state a concrete instance in the last.
- Explain: Make the reader understand the topic thoroughly by explaining each term, process, graph, data, research, and other aspects in simple words.
- Justify: Bring in relevant evidence, examples, theories, and credible research that support the argument. Anything that negates the prompt will not be added.
- Investigate: Mention different analyses, thought processes, and researches to analyze the prompt in-depth. It will help you reach a conclusion in the end.
- Summarize: Provide a concise conclusion encompassing all the topic’s aspects.
- Interpret: Describe and explain in the most effective way that clarifies the statement. Give supportive examples that describe the meaning of the argument.
- Prove: Gather all the supporting facts, stats, surveys, and research to cement the argument.
- Propose: Put forward a potential solution, idea, way out, or pathway supported with credible evidence.
- Asses: Examine the evidence, explanations, approaches, and pros and cons of the argument and judge it to give your assessment.
- Synthesize: Provide a comprehensive understanding of the topic by compiling different data, surveys, arguments, viewpoints, and ideas.
- Reflect: Provide your own thoughts, feelings, insights, and analysis considering all the personal experiences you have had regarding the idea.
- Define: Just provide concise and meaningful definitions of the terms, and don’t dive deep into the topic’s details or arguments.
- Criticize: Make judgments and analyze the argument critically and draw conclusions.
No matter whether you are one of the best professional essay writers or a fresher, having this quick list will save you a lot of time.
What to Do During Writing Exam Essay?
While writing exam essays, the following are some effective strategies you can employ. These will make your essays coherent, compelling, and synced – like works of professional essay writers.
1. Read The Prompt Properly
Reading the prompt and understanding the query or argument behind is the most important skills that every essay writer should have. Note that you do not require to write everything you know about the topic. Instead, the professor (most of the time) asks too specific questions regarding the topic.
So professional essay writers always read and analyze the question beforehand. If you got an exam at your institution and you have the choice to pick a prompt, always go for the one you can explain better. For that, read all the options thoroughly and think about every prompt. Then, pick the most suitable one.
2. Brainstorm
Make a concept map or mindmap of the prompt. Grab all related evidence, thoughts, data, or research you have. The aim is to write everything you have in mind onto the paper. And then you can make them coherent later.
3. Make a Compelling Outline
Outlining and planning the essay in a few minutes is a skill. And it is the most critical thing to do for many students. Practice crafting essay outlines for various topics within a limited timeframe to get better at writing.
Following is the tentative method to outline. You can alter it according to your essay’s demands and the time you have got.
- First is the grabbing introduction with a hook and thesis statement
- Secondly, the main body has arguments, data insights, and other supportive examples. The aim is to explain what you are writing for.
- Lastly, the conclusion is the result you have drawn and summarizes the essay’s main points.
What to Do After an Essay Exam?
Attempting an essay exam is tiring! But there are a few tips you can follow to ensure maximum productivity and grab some nuggets of learning from the experience.
- Just sit back and relax. Taking a pause after a rigorous writing sprint is necessary. It will help you clear your thoughts and mind.
- Reflect on your experiences. Take time to think and reflect on how you have performed. What were the things you did great, and what were the shortcomings? Once you analyze your performance, you are on a path to making it better.
- If possible, seek feedback from the instructors. It will assist you in navigating through and rectifying any mistakes that may arise, enhancing your abilities.
Can Professional Essay Writers Help You with Essay Writing?
Don’t worry if you do not have the stamina to learn the intricacy of writing an essay. There are professional essay writers who you can hire to do your work. Expert Essay Writer is one of the most professional and authentic companies you can contact. We have the most professional profiles who are available 24/7 to get your essay done.
Just head to the website and place your order. Tell us about your customization and other necessary details. The in-house writers will provide you with plagiarism-free, highly authentic, and accurate essays that will level up your grades for sure.
Final Words:
When it comes to exam essays, everyone feels pressurized, from professional essay writers to newbies. But there are many ways you can maneuver through this struggle. Managing time, proactive preparation and planning, and developing an analytical and critical mindset are some techniques to tackle pressure effectively. These guidelines will enhance your productivity like a pro so that you can ace essay exams this year!
One cannot master anything without putting in due effort and time. So, it’s time to gather up the courage and follow these tips and tricks to enhance your essay-writing skills today.