Writing essays in SACs and exams...

[TheAntiSocialist]

I've always had problems writing...my brain just takes sooooo long to give me the appropriate sentences or words to use. I just had my English exam (just 'normal' English, not literature or something else) and I came out both angry and disgusted due to my inability to write properly. Does anyone have any suggestions for my near hopeless situation? Will appreciate any comment or suggestion.

By the way, I only have problems with writing on the spot...with essay assignments I do rather okay...it's just coming up with the proper words and sentences that just takes up alot of my time (like 6 hours for an essay )

[Stick]

I have the same sort of problem as well. Writing really sophisticated pieces only comes with time and practice. You're in Year 11, so there's no reason to worry about this, as you have a whole year to work on your expression. For your Unit 1&2 written exams, just focus on getting your ideas out, even if they aren't expressed in the best possible way. It's also very important you jot down a quick plan so that you know where you are headed, rather than just writing aimlessly.

[Yendall]

A few steps you can take to improve your essay writing would be to:
-Read more
-Use your teachers to your advantage
-Draft Draft Draft!
-Extend your vocabulary and focus on embedding quotations, formal essay structures and linking content, alongside topic sentence practice
-Plan your essays carefully
-Read study guides, practice essays and examples
-Practice under pressure (eg. 1 hour practice essays in silence at home [no references when you become better]

There are many ways to enrich your writing, but practice makes perfect! The more you practice, the better your writing becomes, alongside fluency.

[jeanweasley]

I agree with the post above me, but really, the only thing that you could do is read widely and practise essays under test conditions. Also draft and redraft your works. Utilise your teacher--submit your drafts and good copies to them to be marked. Read other people's works, rework their essays. There really is no easy way to improve, it's an extensive process but with hard work and determination, I think you could do it.

[saba.ay]

I had the same problem throughout the year, and my biggest fear leading up to the literature exam was that I wouldn't be able to physically WRITE two whole essay which I'm happy with in 2 hours. I mean, I can write well, but timing was an issue especially considering that I'd almost always typed my work on my laptop and spent hours changing the sentences around.

 The only thing you really can do for this, and I know this has been said before, is to write practice essays in timed exam-like conditions. So, no laptops/typed work, no liquid paper, no music, no distractions, no nothing. If you can, have your teacher read over them and give feedback- I'm sure they'll be glad to mark extra work. I mean, in the end, your study score for English is reflective of not only your own efforts but also your teacher's. Once you start writing , you really begin to see the improvement. You'll get into the habit of picking up on 'good' sentence structure and words that work well, etc and learn to reincorporate them into your work.

And be sure to have a detailed understanding of the text before you get to the practice essays stage. This way, you can tackle any prompt given to you and creating a plan isn't as difficult. Ideas will just flow (hopefully). Also, even if you're not finished, leave at least 5 minutes towards the end to check your spelling and grammar. Often in exam conditions, you can end up making mistakes that you normally wouldn't make. In one of my earlier SACs, for example, I wrote 'ur' instead of 'your'. -.-

Also, since Year 12 hasn't actually started yet, I'd recommend typing up your work for the first term or two, and then gradually starting to write your essays on paper instead. Typing them out does help and really lets you organize your ideas; whereas, on paper, you often end up crossing things out and getting lost in the cross-outs.

Don't stress too much for the time being. You've got a whole year to prepare.

[Fantasia94]

Yeah at the beginning of the year I had this problem as well. I always felt embarrassed after my sacs because the teacher had to give me 10 minutes extra so that I can finish my essay, but despite this lol my essays usually ended up unfinished. During the year I was always scared that Ill only end up writing only 2 essays max in the 3 hour exam..and my english teacher seriously thought this too. But yeah, during the last 3 months before my engl exam I had begun to write like one practice essay every 2 or  3 days. When I first started writing the practice essays it took me about 2 1/2 hours to write up on essay lol. But then finally after writing like 30 essays I had finally reached my goal of writing one essay in an hour...which I think is something you should aim for Finally when it came to exam time I was writing and writing and felt that the ideas were flowing easily..and yeah I did end up getting an A on the exam..which is a grade that I never dreamed of getting at the start of the year. So, don't worry too much, you still have time to improve and just remember that the only best way to do well in english is to obviously understand the texts and try to write as many essays as possible in a strict time limit.

[feelgoodinc]

It may help to write different types of essays to help practice your writing skills.

Maybe try using some practice lit or language exams just so you can educate your brain to articulate in different and more complex ways it will make English exams seem extremely easy once you're done

I'm assuming that this isn't going to be the last English exam you ever do, but if it is, then I'm sorry for the misunderstanding haha.

[Lolly]

Be kind to yourself. Take tiny steps. Heck, in the beginning I could only write 700 words in two hours XD. Maybe you should try that - start with the two hour limit and slowly whittle away the time limit. You will improve: the key is constant practise.

Also, just regarding saba.ay's comment: this is just my personal opinion but I would try to avoid computers in essay writing subjects, because your brain is wired completely different when it is typing. That "cut and paste" mentality doesn't do you any favours while you're writing by hand, where you have to keep a constant, linear flow of thought. I handwrote all of my notes and I think it really assisted me in essay writing . Also, I found that the physical act of writing helps consolidate information far more than typing.

[Art Vandelay]

I've had a few friends with similar problems. Work on essays untimed, trying to perfect the flow and tone of your responses. Then slooowwwwlllly introduce time controls

[saba.ay]

Be kind to yourself. Take tiny steps. Heck, in the beginning I could only write 700 words in two hours XD. Maybe you should try that - start with the two hour limit and slowly whittle away the time limit. You will improve: the key is constant practise.

Also, just regarding saba.ay's comment: this is just my personal opinion but I would try to avoid computers in essay writing subjects, because your brain is wired completely different when it is typing. That "cut and paste" mentality doesn't do you any favours while you're writing by hand, where you have to keep a constant, linear flow of thought. I handwrote all of my notes and I think it really assisted me in essay writing . Also, I found that the physical act of writing helps consolidate information far more than typing.

Very true. I guess it's also a personal preference thing. I mean, I could never write out English/Literature homework (essays, comprehension questions,etc) for the  life of me. With notes though, I hand write them too because, and I don't know how accurate this is but I know I heard this somewhere in a TSFX lecture, apparently physically writing things does help you remember the information. I guess for me, it was easiest to start by typing my essays and then gradually move to hand writing them a term before the practice exam period. Oh, the hand aches.

[brenden]

Guys... there was a girl in my year level that got a 50. Guess what her name was. She was the type that took a full Sunday to write an essay... Of all the SACs we did, she finished one of them. She struggled for time a lot. She just worked at it, worked at it, worked at it. Made rapid decreases in the exam period. Still couldn't finish any of the three pieces in the English exam. 50.

[saba.ay]

Guys... there was a girl in my year level that got a 50. Guess what her name was. She was the type that took a full Sunday to write an essay... Of all the SACs we did, she finished one of them. She struggled for time a lot. She just worked at it, worked at it, worked at it. Made rapid decreases in the exam period. Still couldn't finish any of the three pieces in the English exam. 50.

Not too sure, but I'll take a guess? Your best friend Emily perhaps?
Congrats to her- that's an amazing achievement!

[brenden]

Not too sure, but I'll take a guess? Your best friend Emily perhaps?
Congrats to her- that's an amazing achievement!

The one and only
Point of story is, guys, there are a lot of people that have succeeded in VCE English that have come from the very same area You just have to work.

[platypus]

Point of story is, guys, there are a lot of people that have succeeded in VCE English that have come from the very same area You just have to work.

Yes I can also vouch for that, because I had the same issue when I was in VCE (just finished Yr 12 in 2012). For me it wasn't about the quality of writing, just about finishing a piece on time. The reason that everyone tells you to write write write is because the more you write, the more ideas you will have and the more they will be cemented in your brain, which allows you to extrapolate them further to show a deeper understanding of what you're trying to convey. Basically in the week leading up to my exam I'd written so many practice pieces that I had a bunch of phrases/paragraphs associated with every idea that was worthy of mentioning in my essay I'm not saying that memorising a whole heap of essays or huge paragrahs will solve your problem, but if you practise writing enough you end up memorising a lot of things anyway