12. How Should You Handle Compositions on Examinations?

If you could take as long as you liked to complete it, there would be nothing special about writing a composition for a mid- or end-term test in school, a state examination in Eng­lish, or a college entrance essay question. Admittedly, under these conditions, you miss some of the advantages of doing an assignment at home, such as having a dictionary handy for checking spelling and vocabulary or drafting friends and relatives to act as consultants. But when you find that, in or­der to answer all the questions on an examination, you must start and finish a composition in an hour or so, your biggest obstacle is not the lack of help. It is the time limit.

To overcome this handicap, you must train yourself to write under pressure. You don't eliminate any of the steps recommended before; you streamline them. Let's see how this works in a typical situation:

QUESTION

Write a composition of 250 to 300 words on one of the topics below:

The family doctor                   Why I like ballet
The hunting season                 Earning and learning
Judging farm land                  A celebrity I've met
My first formal                        The bells in my life
The Chinese puzzle today        Commercialized athletics
Students from other lands       Experiments Id like to try
The value of mathematics       Effects of science upon our
Careers for the handicapped  amusements
 (30)

This question happened to be one of six on a three hour examination. How much time would you have allowed your­self? To avoid being caught short, you should learn to appor­tion your time in accordance with a standard procedure:

Steps                                 In this case

Convert the number of credits assigned 30 out of 100
into a percentage of the total.          Or 30%

Now apply the percentage figure to the 30% of 180 (3
number of minutes allowed.     hrs.) = 54 minutes

To be on the safe side, add about 10% 1 hour for the for an essay question, if there are also some composition, short answer types that can be worked from rough faster.        draft to final copy

The number of words required and the time allowed will vary, of course, since not all schools follow the same prac­tices in examinations. However, once you have learned how to handle a composition of 300 words in an hour, you should have little trouble adjusting your schedule to slight differ­ences up or down.

All right, then, we go back to the question. You have one hour to write a composition of 250 to 300 words on any one of 15 topics. This is how you should divide your time.

The First Fifteen Minutes

(The following plan is based on the assumption that you have been permitted to choose a topic. Naturally, if only one has been assigned, you skip the first item below.)

1. Selecting the Topic (3 minutes) You can't afford to waste time making up your mind or bemoaning the fact that not a single topic looks inviting. You have to pick one; so get started immediately. Use the elimination process. Take a pencil and, in the first minute, cross out every title that deals with a subject about which you have very little information. This might reduce the original list to these:

The family doctor

My first formal

Earning and learning

The bells in my life

The value of mathematics

Commercialized athletics

Experiments I'd like to try

Effects o£ science upon our amusements

Now, if you are not very strong in mathematics and science, and you've learned that writing about sports is very difficult, you cross out four more titles, leaving:

The family doctor

My first formal Earning and learning The bells in my life

You have one more minute. Ask yourself some questions. Have you ever gone to a formal dance or party? Do you work after school or during the summer vacations? A girl might be interested in the first, a boy in the second. But sup­pose you must say "No" to both. Then you are down to the last two:

The family doctor The bells in my life

You can see that by elimination you have arrived at the topics that can be handled by anyone. We all get visited by doc­tors and the lives of students especially are controlled greatly by bells. Which do you pick? You pick the one that is closer to a recent experience. If you haven't seen a doctor for a long time, you may have trouble recalling details and emo­tions. Cross it out. You practically live by bells. Your experi­ence here is as recent as yesterday.

Before going on, let me say this: The reasoning thus far has been sheer guesswork. No elimination process can be the same for any two students. Undoubtedly, we crossed out three or four topics that might have suited you better than the one selected. Suppose you did know a lot about and en­joyed hunting or the ballet or mathematics. Good. Then you would have included one or more of these in your final pair. The main thing you must do, in the first three minutes, is to get your choices down to no more than two, and then make the final decision. A very strong interest or preference will make your job of selecting a topic easier. But when they all look alike to you, limit yourself to the titles that can be de­veloped without special information.

2.         Narrowing Down the Topic (4 minutes) Now, as usual, you take stock of the number of words required. For 300 words, you know that the best arrangement is two mid­dle paragraphs. With this in mind, you re-examine the title you have chosen. You must narrow it down quickly so that you can develop it by featuring two main ideas.

Settle for the first ones you can think of. They are prob­ably just as good as any others that might occur to you if you had more time. And to help yourself think, ask your­self what generally happens in connection with the topic. For instance, your reaction to "The Family Doctor" might be that you get sick and he comes. As for "The Bells in My Life," you hear them in school usually and there must be at least one you enjoy hearing and one you do not. There you are. Focus your attention on the familiar aspects of the topic and you will be able to narrow it down without any loss of time.

3.         Preparing the Outline (8 minutes) Here is where the streamlining begins. You forget about trying an unusual approach if one does not occur to you in 60 seconds. On an examination, unless something comes in a flash, you will lose time by stopping too long in an effort to be strikingly original. If you get an inspiration, by all means go ahead with it. But don't press. Time is the ruling factor.

In most cases, you will go directly to your outline. Don't leave it out! We went over this point before. The few min­utes you spend now will save you many more later and un­questionably bring about better results. Get busy. Draw the two lines:

Insert the paragraph headings:

The family doctor

The need for a doctor The visit

OR

The bells in my life

Lunch hour             Before a test
Put your details in:

The family doctor

The need for a doctor                         The visit
sore throat                                            his cheerfulness
mother's concern                                  gentle poking
stalling tactics                                        reassuring words
telephone call                                        prescription
dread                                                   relief

OR

The bells in    my life

Lunch hour                              Before a test
third period                               the night before
struggle with geometry  lack of study
hunger pangs                             one more period
clock watching clock watching
desperation                               desperation
bell of joy                                  bell of doom

The Next Twenty-five Minutes

You are ready for the rough draft. You must practice until you can write at the speed of 12-15 words a minute. This is not difficult to do if you have prepared an outline. You know what's coming and you can pour out the words, knowing that you will have time later to get your material into its best final form. For this purpose, skip spaces between lines.

If you can't think of a good narrative beginning paragraph, use the standard type: a sentence or so introducing the topic as a whole, a few sentences suggesting each of your main ideas and indicating what point of view you will take, and a final sentence leading into the body of the composition. Then, following the outline closely, write the middle paragraphs. Avoid introducing new details as you proceed because they may throw you off the track. Just concentrate on two things. Keep your sentences complete and as varied in structure as you can manage. Use words that are concrete and colorful.

Finally, write the last paragraph, again remembering that any extended effort to introduce a special effect may cost you valuable time. Before you get to the test, review some of the suggestions made in the earlier chapters about writing good ending paragraphs. This will enable you to choose quickly the type that is best suited to your composition.

The Last Twenty Minutes

It would be quite accurate to say that your ultimate suc­cess with your composition on an examination depends upon what you do before and after you actually write the final copy. You must use an outline if you want good organization and proper development. And you must revise if you want a minimum of errors and a maximum of interest.

Spend a few minutes doing a thorough job of checking your paragraph and sentence structure. Make sure you have good continuity, clearly defined topic sentences, and no frag­ments or run-ons.

On an examination, you won't have time to do any exten­sive polishing, but you can use another three or four min­utes inserting some words that change vague concepts into concrete images. Check your spelling carefully. Follow this rule faithfully. When in doubt, use a substitute. Don't take chances. If a construction sounds grammatically incorrect or awkward, change it to a simpler one.

After you have completed your major revisions, you should have just enough time left to write a clean final draft When you are copying, it is possible to write neatly at a speed of more than 25 words a minute. You are familiar with the material and have worked on it three or four times. Try it. Take any composition you have previously written and copy it. You will see that the suggested speed is not too much for you.

A word in summary! Your first reaction to the plan just presented for writing compositions on examinations is likely to be: "It's impossible.'' If you have never done it this way before, your doubts may be justified. For a while you may have difficulty completing the steps within the time limits. But you must work on this system to master it.

An examination is like a race against competition. You are expected to put forth your best effort because you will not get a second chance in the same contest. But you know that you can't even come close to your top abilities unless you practice. Not long ago, a college high jumper began to clear seven feet consistently. What do you suppose he was able to jump when he started? Six feet? Six feet four inches? Whatever it was, it surely took him months, perhaps years, to reach his peak.

Therefore, don't give up before you make a real try. If you go at it with determination, it won't take years for you to de­velop the proper techniques. One thing is certain. A good composition of about 300 words can be written on an exam­ination in an hour or less. Thousands of students before you have learned to do it. You can, too, if you are willing to ac­cept the self-discipline required in any training schedule. Good luck to you in your future writing endeavors.