How to Study

Writing Prize-Winning Essays
You need to budget your time for an essay test just as you should for
any test—the mathematical calculations are just easier. Five questions
in 50 minutes? Doesn’t take an Einstein to figure out 10 minutes 
per essay.
Or does it? In this example, allow seven or eight minutes per 
essay, which will give you anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes to review,
proofread, and make corrections and additions to all your answers.
And if any of the questions are “weighted” more than the others,
adjust the time you spend on them accordingly.
When the time you’ve budgeted for the first question is up, immedi-
ately move on to the next, no matter how far you’ve gotten on the
first. You’ll have time at the end—if you follow my suggestion—to go
back and add more.
Most teachers will give you a better overall grade for five incomplete 
but decent essays than for three excellent ones and two left blank.
How to Study
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Don’t ever, ever begin writing the answer to an essay question 
without a little “homework” first, even if you’re the school’s prize-
winning journalist.
First, really look at the question. Are you sure you know what it’s 
asking? Put it in your own words and compare it with your teacher’s.
Do they clearly mean the same thing? If not, you’ve misread it.
One way to avoid this problem is to paraphrase the question and make
it the first sentence of your essay. Even if you have misread 
the teacher’s question, you have shown her how you interpreted it.
If you answer a slightly different question than the teacher intended,
you may still get full credit for a well-written essay.
But please don’t, intentionally or otherwise, misread the question 
in such a way that you answer the question you’d like rather than 
the one you’ve actually been given.
Make sure you understand the meaning of the “direction verbs.” 
Don’t “describe” when you’ve been told to “compare and contrast.”
Don’t “explain” when you’re supposed to “argue.” See a list of the
most-used such verbs and what each is instructing you to do later in
this chapter.