if I were to ask you what your least
favorite type of test question is I'm
pretty sure I could guess it before you
gave me your answer because it is
clearly the essay question other types
of questions are easy right multiple
choice we're like multiple guests
true/false 5050 I'll take it but with an
essay there's no guessing everything
that's gonna be on that piece of paper
has to come out of your head and that
could be intimidating but if you look at
it from a different perspective it's
also an opportunity essay questions put
you 100% in control rather than having
to pick from questions that were written
for you you have the opportunity to
demonstrate exactly how well you
understand the question and the material
that it was based on and assuming you
actually did study and you do understand
the material the five rules we're gonna
go over it in today's video will show
you how you can most effectively
communicate the understanding in your
next essay question
when you're faced with an essay question
on a test you're almost always working
under a pretty stressful time limit and
it can often feel like the best way to
tackle that is to start writing
immediately but before you do remember
good essay is one that communicates your
thoughts in an organized way and if it's
not organized it's not going to be
effective and it's not gonna get you a
good grade without a good plan to guide
you it can be really easy to
misinterpret or even outright miss
important points that the prompt wants
you to cover so before you start writing
your essay use a piece of scratch paper
to plan it out in advance first read the
prompt carefully and make sure you
understand exactly what it's asking for
and if it's a long prompt it might
actually be useful to highlight the
important points in that prompt or to
create a checklist so you know that
you're gonna cover everything within it
next you want to create a rough outline
of the essay and I recommend going
through a two stage outlining process in
the first stage you just want to create
a full list of everything that comes to
mind related to the prompt this is
essentially a brainstorming phase so at
this point don't worry about the order
of the points that you're writing out
because it's all about just getting
things out of your head and onto the
paper and ensuring that they cover
what's being asked for in the prompt
once you've got that done then it's time
to move on to stage two and at this
point you're creating a more organized
order list of points that represents the
flow of your essay when you have that at
hand you'll find that writing the actual
essay itself is much easier
alright let's talk about essay formats
now there are plenty of creative ways to
structure your writing as I'm sure
you'll probably know if you've ever seen
memento or read house of leaves but when
you're dealing with an essay on a test
it's often best to stick with a simple
time-tested format both to compensate
for your own limited time and as a
courtesy to your teacher as the author
Walter pokémon throat instructors don't
have time to treat each essay as a
puzzle in need of a solution take the
guesswork out of your essay a good
default format that does this is the
five paragraph essay which consists of
an introductory paragraph three body
paragraphs though you can use more if
you need to and finally a conclusion
within this structure there are several
different methods that you can use to
organize your points the most popular is
probably the decreasing importance
pattern and what your first body
paragraph contains your strongest
argument and the last one covers the
weakest or least consequential however
this pattern isn't always the right one
to use for example if you've been asked
to summarize an event then it's probably
best to go in chronological order and
likewise if you've been asked to write
the word potatoes 600 times then you
should probably do that ensure use the
prompt as a guide for choosing the
pattern that you're going to use
now going back to that idea of taking
the guesswork out of the essay let's
talk about the introduction in most
contexts an essay has to earn its
audience that's why it's usually a good
idea to start with a hook something
designed to grab the reader's attention
and draw them in you might use a quote
or interesting statistic or sometimes
even a story but when you're answering
an essay question on a test you've got a
guaranteed audience namely your teacher
and when you're writing for an audience
that you know you can write with their
needs in mind so the question is what
are your teachers needs well number one
your teacher is looking to get through
your essay as quickly as possible
because he's got dozens of others to
grade and number two he's looking for a
solid understanding of all the points
that were asked for in the prompt and
here's the thing a clever introduction
doesn't really serve either of those two
purposes and also wastes your precious
time during the test so unless you think
it's absolutely necessary I say just
jump right into the thesis statement
instead
now when you write that thesis statement
there is one big thing that you need to
make sure you avoid and that is
blatantly restating the prompt what do I
mean by that well say you're faced with
prompt like this explain the tactics
used by Chinggis Khaan against the quiz
me in Shaw's Army's that allowed for his
victory in twelve twenty one with a
prompt like this your teacher is almost
guaranteed to get a ton of essays from
your classmates that all start virtually
the same way the tactics used by jenga's
khan against the korres me and shaw
included utilizing superior speed etc
etc etc you get the point this is boring
lazy writing it literally grabs a phrase
from the prompt and restates it verbatim
and you're better than that so let's
consider an approved way to do it mmm
Genghis Khan's Swift conquests of the
choirs mid Empire in 1220 one hinged on
the use of several innovative tactics
chief among them being the constant
utilization of superior speed and
maneuverability the Khan also subvert of
the charisma and Shahs expectations by
sending a force across the dangerous
chen shan mountain range in order to
attack from a different angle and
dedicated another force solely to the
task of hunting down the Shah himself
forcing the Shah to continually flee and
diminishing his ability to effectively
command his forces these tactics in
conjunction with a numerically greater
force allowed for a decisive Mongol
victory that led directly to the
destruction of the entire chorus man
Empire this is the kind of introduction
that covers what the prompt was asking
for but does so in a much more
interesting way that demonstrates your
ability to think and write independently
speaking of writing and thinking
independently I love what the Harvard
Writing Center has to say about the
conclusion to your essay so much is at
stake in writing a conclusion this is
after all your last chance to persuade
your readers to your point of view to
impress yourself upon them as a writer
and thinker with that being said I want
a way to leave a really weak impression
with your reader well if you do and
you're in the market for sabotaging all
of your hard work then just do what all
of the other study skills books and
websites that I came across seem to be
recommending just blindly restate your
points in the conclusion summarize them
and call it a day I'm kidding don't do
that instead synthesize find a way to
tie everything gather here's how I might
end that essay about the Mongol tactics
as countless military conflicts
throughout history have demonstrated
numerical superiority is not always a
perfect predictor of victory Hannibal's
victory over the Romans the Battle of
cannae is a perfect example however
jenga's Colin's use of speed surprise
and unrelenting aggression towards the
Shah gave his forces an unbeatable edge
the core Esmond Empire with its more
settled ways Lance of fortifications was
unable to adapt all right so let's
quickly recap to make sure that you
write the best essay possible on your
next test first start with an outline
get really really familiar with the
prompt know exactly what it's asking for
and then use that to stage outlining
process to create a plan so you know
that you're going to hit every single
point next follow a standard essay
format like the five paragraph essay
don't make a teacher work more than they
have to third get right to the point
don't waste time on a clever
introduction fourth don't restate the
prompt in your introduction instead
write an interesting thesis statement
that covers the prompt but in your own
words and finally ensure your conclusion
synthesizes everything you've written
avoid simply summarizing your points
especially since your essay is probably
a short one now in addition to keeping
these points in mind always seek to
ensure that your essays are logical and
thorough but they are also concise and
don't waste words as the author William
Strunk wrote in The Elements of Style
vigorous writing is concise this
requires not the writer make all
sentences short or that he avoid detail
and treatise subjects only an outline
but that every word tell
now when it comes to doing well on tests
whether they're full of essays or other
challenges one of the best tools in your
arsenal is your ability to think
critically and to analyze the problems
facing you from all sides and if you're
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the channel just recently passed that
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