Serious time issues when writing English essays

[Special At Specialist]

I've been having really bad issues with time when writing English essays. I mean REALLY BAD.

To put this into perspective, it took me 2 hours to write a 571 word language analysis essay. My teacher marked it and told me I did quite well, probably aiming at around a 7/10 or 8/10, but he commented that it was a bit short and I could have extended the ideas. I didn't bother telling him that it took me 2 hours to write when I was supposed to stop after 1 hour.

I only have one exam and I don't want to screw it up. Could you please give me some advice on how I can significantly improve my ability to finish essays on time? Should I try to be less of a perfectionist and just write whatever comes to mind at first? I know that they say "quality over quantity", but I seriously doubt I'm going to get a decent score if all my essays are 300 words each.

[brenden]

Write 2 essays a day from now until the exam trying to get your timing down.

[Special At Specialist]

Write 2 essays a day from now until the exam trying to get your timing down.

Okay. Should I try to write them as fast as possible? Should I stop after 1 hour, or keep going until my essay is finished?

[brenden]

Definitely try to write them as fast as possible, but IMO it's best to wrist as fast as possible, AND finish the essay, noting down the 30min mark, the 60min mark, the 90 min marks etc. (I actually used to mark down how long each para took me). This might help you target specific areas. If it takes you 30 minutes to write down 150 words, but you do the next 300 words in the next 30 minutes, clearly you struggle with introductions and should modify your intros or practice them.  I also think stopping after an hour, especially if it's only 300 words is relatively useless. If you do as much as you can as fast as you can, at least you can get feedback on your essay as well as practise the timing. Just try to write in less time every time you write. (I'm assuming you haven't written much throughout the year, given your work situation etc? Honestly, it might just be an 'out of practice' thing... I tried to write a ULP essay yesterday along with the kids I tutor as a morale thing, and it was a lot harder to write in <60 minutes than I remember)

[Special At Specialist]

Yeah, I've always sort of struggled with time, but last year I managed to write two essays of 500 words each in my literature exam. I think it's partially that I haven't practiced much throughout the year because I would always prioritise work over my English class. I did read the books this year which I'm proud of because every other year I just read a Wikipedia summary of each book, but apart from recently (starting a few days ago), I haven't been doing any practice essays. The only essays I did were the ones I wrote in class for the SAC's. I'm planning to do a lot of writing and cramming in the next 8 and a half days.

[brenden]

I think it's definitely crammable, particularly with you having already experienced exams and stuff like that. You'll be okay so long as you cram in the next eight days.

[Special At Specialist]

You give me hope, Brenden. Thank you!

[charmanderp]

Practise really does make perfect. My students have gradually whittled the time it takes them to write a high quality essay from over 2 hours down to under an hour just through refining the essentials like essay/argumentative structure and analytical expression, as well as getting to know their text well. What this does is allow you to just write yourself out when the exam comes. Using the simplest language is also effective, as opposed to hunting for complex language to make your essay sound more impressive, but which ultimately disturbs the flow and rhythm of your writing, and also obscures your meaning.

[BigAl]

I didn't really sit down and put time restriction for myself...because I am more productive if there is no pressure...now I wouldn't say this is good or bad...it's definitely bad for science units..because you have one go in science units...no messing around...but I think it's the other way around for English...you have to be able to extend your ideas...unfortunately, we have time constraints...so it really sucks

That said, you can still be productive in time pressure...just make sure what you're really talking about...that will keep you on track...and hopefully you'll express all your ideas adequetly...good luck