Skip to main content

ESSAY WRITING || WASSCE, ENGLISH LANGUAGE

In the paper one of the English Language exam, the student's ability is tested on his effective use of the Language as a means of communication. The test is basically designed to look critically at student's ability to express themselves with detailed analysis in an appropriate and clear order, that suits the needs of the audience, purpose, topic and situation before them. Therefore, the student is tested on writing an argumentative, narrative, exposition, descriptive essays, creative and letter writing.

Inorder to achieve this, a student should be able to write good grammar, good paragraph, the use of standard English etc. A student should also be able to present good ideas and write a good punctuation and error free spelling with good use of vocabulary idioms and phrasal verbs.

Note : A student's essay should be 450 words long, and an essay that has twenty (20) errors will be awarded zero for mechanical accuracy.




HOW TO APPROACH AN ESSAY QUESTION?


For a student to write a good essay they need good organizational skills and style to plan and present their ideas in a coherent order. Without a good planning skill the student is bound to fail the exam. 
So read carefully as I take you through this trepidating topic. 


Below is the list of key things to consider while answering an essay question. 


  • GATHER POINTS
Inorder to gather points, a student should be able to read between the lines of the given topic and be able to target what he is asked to write about. In view of this, a student should select the question he thinks he has the most relevant points and is able to present the points in a good and convincing order, because this gives him more marks. Afterwards, the student is expected to write down the relevant facts on a rough draft.

  • ORGANIZE YOUR POINTS
When you complete drafting your ideas or points, make sure you select them honestly and arrange them well. You can arrange them by relevance from top to bottom or from bottom to top. But I will advise that you present them from top to bottom. That is, from the most relevant to the least relevant. By this you give a good impression to the examiner about your work before it's too late. Remember, most examiners don't read all through your essay, so make use of the opportunity you have on the first or second paragraphs of your essay.
  • BUILD OR DEVELOP YOUR POINTS
You are required to build your essay from what you have drafted and it should be well developed in paragraphs. You are expected to write a single point in a paragraph backed up with enough explanations, examples, illustrations etc., inorder to earn a better mark. Make sure that you write a simple and concise English. You can't prove yourself too knowledgeable by writing ambiguous sentences simply because you want to impress the examiner. Put your words in a clear sentence that makes sense and will thus earn you a good mark.

  • PROOF-READ YOUR ESSAY
Some of you are too confident that you can write without errors. Sometimes it's a lie. Don't be 100% sure of what you have written. Make sure you revise your work before presenting it. You will be able to correct basic errors in your essay if you re-read your essay.

Thanks for reading and do leave a comment on which point(s) you struggle with most so that I can help you with it in my next write-up. 

Follow me on Facebook 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

CHARACTER ANALYSIS IN THE LION AND THE JEWEL BY WOLE SOYINKA

MAIN CHARACTERS OF THE PLAY THE LION AND THE JEWEL BY WOLE SOYINKA. BAROKA Baroka –the "Bale" of ILUJINLE and the "Lion" in the title of the play – is the leader of the village. He is steeped firmly in Yoruba traditions, customs, and beliefs. He is very cunning, often referred to as a fox, and is prepared to use bribery, trickery, decite, and other corrupt practices to get what he wants. His main past time is satisfying his sexual pleasure by ever expanding his harem of wives and concubines. He is sixty-two years old, wiry, and sports a goatee. His eyes are very small and always red with wine. He has many wives and, even at his age, shows no sign of slowing down, having taken his last wife five months earlier. He has seen the magazine with the pictures of Sidi and targets her as his next wife. MAJOR THEMES IN THE PLAY "THE LION AND THE JEWEL" BY WOLE SOYINKA SIDI Sidi –the village belle– and the "Jewel" in the title, is a very young and beautiful
Post a Comment
Read more

TYPES OF CHARACTERS IN LITERATURE IN ENGLISH || WASSCE NOTES

CHARACTERIZATION IN LITERATURE IN ENGLISH  In Drama, characters can be categorized into types and classes: TYPES OF CHARACTERS FLAT OR STATIC CHARACTERS: These are characters whose lives change a little or not at all in the course of a play. They see things as they occur but these happenings have no physical, mental or emotional impact on them. They remain consistent till the end of the play, they don't change in height, status, effect etc. in the play.  ROUND OR DYNAMIC CHARACTERS:  These are characters who change completely as the events in the text change. These changes would have physical and mental effects on them. They don't remain consistent till the end of the play. Something triggers them to change during the course of the play.    CLASSES OF CHARACTERS    MANOR CHARACTERS   These are characters major impacts are greatly felt in the course of the play. In other words, they have intrinsic effect on the substance of the play. Their absence or death may affect the play; i
Post a Comment
Read more