This chapter contains the following sections:
- PART A:Budgeting Your Time
- PART B:Reading and Understanding the Essay Question
- PART C:Choosing the Correct Paragraph or Essay Pattern
- PART D:Writing the Topic Sentence or the Thesis Statement
Chapter introduction:
Being able to write under pressure is a key skill both in college and in the workplace.
Throughout your college career, you will be asked to write timed papers in
class and to take essay examinations. In fact, many English programs base placement
and passing on timed essay exams. Clearly, the ability to write under pressure
is crucial.
An essay question requires the same writing skills that a student uses in composing
a paragraph or an essay. Even in history and biology, how well you do on an
essay test depends partly on how well you write; yet many students, under the
pressure of a test, forget or fail to apply what they know about good writing. This
chapter will improve your ability to write under pressure. Many of the sample
exam questions on the following pages were taken from real college examinations.
To navigate through this chapter's online resources, click the Prepare for Class, Improve Your Grade, and ACE the Test buttons in the blue sidebar on the left.
