Summary

1.

Successfully taking an essay exam requires sufficient out-of-class preparation, including active review of textbooks and class notes, annotating, summarizing, outlining, anticipating questions, and often writing practice responses.

2.

In-class preparation can help with essay-exam responses: skimming the exam for an overview, allocating time to questions based on point value and knowledge, analyzing the exam questions, outlining, and monitoring time while drafting.

3.

In-class essay exams differ from our out-of -class writing assignments in several ways, including the expert audience (your instructor), limited revision possibility, and reduced introductions and conclusions.

4.

Essay exam responses are similar in most respects to our other major writing projects, including the need for pre-writing, organizing, drafting, and whatever revising and editing that time allows.

5.

Essay exam responses usually involve several patterns of development and rely on specific, detailed examples with clear explanations. Names, dates, facts, statistics, and quotations are often called for.

6.

Analyzing the essay question and answering all its parts are crucial to a successful essay-exam response.

7.

The thesis sentence should contain key terms from the essay question and will often forecast what the essay will discuss.

8.

Introductions and conclusions for essay exam responses should be concise but well- written, with a target audience in mind.

9.

Transitional words and other connectors are especially important in bridging the gap between paragraphs.

10.

An overall organizational pattern may be suggested by the essay question.

11.

Revising and editing, even briefly, will improve the essay-exam response.

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