Timed Writing: What, Why, and How?
Timed Writing: What, Why, and How?
Timed Writing: What, Why, and How?
11 Timed Writing
Reviewing the elements of an essay
Breaking down a prompt
Creating a rough outline
Managing your time
Practicing
Additional tips
Timed writing checklist
WHAT IS TIMED WRITING?
Also called timed essays, essay exams, or in-class essays, these essays require you to demonstrate
disciplinary knowledge by producing a writing sample within a limited time period. Timed writing
measures your raw writing ability and your skill at thinking under pressure. It also reflects your ability
to quickly recall, synthesize, and analyze detailed material. One of the major skills that is being
tested in a timed writing exam is your ability to write to a prompt. A prompt is simply the exam
question or writing task. In a timed exam, your thesis will generally be your answer to the prompt.
some large survey courses base the majority of the student grade on in-class timed exams.
it improves your own mental agility—being able to think quickly and logically is an invaluable
skill.
in college and in life, you will be required to compose arguments (written and verbal) on the
spot, so the better you are at it, the more convincing and successful you will be.
American culture highly values polished written skills, so the more adept you are at crafting
well written responses and proposals quickly, you’ll be the one who gets better grades, gets
hired, gets the promotion, and will get more respect due to your effective communication skills.
HOW DO I DO IT?
Timed writing is challenging, so break down the task into manageable stages:
1. Review the elements of an essay (so you are sure to craft a good one).
5. Practice!
Reviewing the elements of an essay
Writing in a timed situation can be stressful so go in having a clear and confident sense of your goal:
to produce a focused, organized, developed, proofread essay. Even in a timed situation, you will be
expected to write an essay with the standard essay elements so here is a review of what to include:
FOCUS-THESIS: ORGANIZATION:
One of the major skills that is being tested in a timed Considering both your argument and your allotted
writing exam is your ability to write to the prompt. writing time, select an appropriate number of main
Your thesis will be your direct answer or response to points you can adequately develop, and present them
the question or task in the prompt. in a clear order, so the essay proceeds smoothly and
logically from one point to the next. Be sure to put
A thesis needs to be arguable (contain your opinion). your main supporting points into separate paragraphs,
so there is a clear beginning, middle and end as
No opinion—not a thesis: In Sarah Katin’s “Naked,” opposed to a long, uninterrupted block of text. Here
the narrator tells of her uncomfortable experience in a are some common methods of organization:
Korean bathhouse.
o Climax: Present your ideas so they build to a
Arguable thesis with opinion: In Sarah Katin’s climax, ending with your most dramatic
“Naked,” the narrator’s experience in a Korean examples.
bathhouse reveals that American notions of o Complexity: Start with simpler ideas and build
nudity are unhealthy and harmfully produce feelings to more complex ones.
of shame and this distances women from each other. o Familiarity: Start with more familiar ides and
move towards newer ones.
You will want to make your thesis immediately clear to o Audience appeal: Start with “safe” ideas and
your reader, so it is best to put your thesis statement move to more challenging ones.
in your introductory paragraph. Then stay focused on o Chronological: Present ideas in the time order
proving that thesis throughout the essay. Anything in which they occurred.
that does not directly prove your thesis and respond o Comparison/contrast: Examine the similarities
to the prompt should not be included in the essay. and/or differences between two or more items.
In timed writing, you will be given a prompt. Be sure to use techniques to effectively break down and
fully understand that prompt before you begin the writing task. This will ensure you do not write off
topic or miss important elements of the assignment.
It is essential to understand and identify key words within any writing prompt. Here are some
commonly used command verbs used in prompts. It is not guaranteed these words will be used, but
if they are, be sure you understand what each command is asking you to do:
Since you have a limited amount of time, do not waste any of it writing off topic. Follow exactly what
was asked in the prompt. Try this approach:
(1) Read the prompt carefully and several times: do not “rush in” and start writing as this puts you
in danger of writing off topic or missing important parts of the prompt. Take a moment and read
the prompt through several times.
(2) Sum up the topic in a few words: What is the focus of the prompt? Narrow down the focus of
the prompt in a word or two to help you mentally focus as well.
(3) Circle and/or underline the key words: Circle or underline the command verbs or question
words that are telling you do something or asking you about something.
(4) Identify and count the required steps in the writing task: this is a crucial step in timed writing.
You don’t want to overlook any parts of the question and get little to no credit for your work as a
result. Number the parts of the prompt you need to address in your essay and oftentimes you can
even use this as an informal outline for the essay.
PRACTICE Use the method of breaking down a prompt
PROMPT:
In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass contends “there can be no freedom
without education.” Citing specific examples from the text, discuss this concept and examine how
Douglass is a testament to this idea. Then explain how this concept can be applied today and what
we can learn by applying Douglass’ words to a modern day example.
(4) Identify and count the required steps in the writing task
PRACTICE Use the Douglass prompt you just broke down and
create a rough outline for it.
Possible thesis:
10-15% of time: Prewriting: (1) Read the prompt carefully, circling key words, counting parts
(2) Make a rough outline to determine your thesis, main
supporting points and strongest evidence.
70-80% of time: Write the essay: (3) Write your essay following the outline.
(4) Skip lines in case you want to make some changes when
you’re proofreading after you complete the essay.
10-15% of time: Proofreading: (5) Proofread your essay carefully adding missed evidence,
catching misspellings, putting in left out words, revising
confusing sentences, joining sentences, etc. Wait until the
end to proofread. Focusing on sentence-level concerns as
you compose the essay will slow you down too much and
potentially sacrifice essay content.
Practicing
We all know we are better at something when we practice. Were you a good driver the first time you
got behind the wheel? If you’ve played a sport or an instrument over the years, how were your skills
when you first started? The same is true for timed writing. The more you practice, the better, more
confident, and more accomplished you become.
Also, when you have a timed written exam coming up, you can ask your teacher for a practice prompt
or you can create one yourself. The best preparation you can do is to take a practice timed exam on
the topic you are being tested on. Also, if you take a practice exam ahead of time, you can even
make an appointment with your instructor to go over the practice exam and get valuable advice and
feedback you can then directly apply on the graded exam.
Relax: You know what an essay is. You know that it has an introduction, several body
paragraphs, and a conclusion. You have done essays before, and you know what you're doing
now. The more you can take the exam in a calm and confident state, the better you will do.
Bring a watch or timepiece: You want to be in control of your time and not the other way
around, so be aware of the remaining time throughout the exam. Follow your time
management plan but make adjustments as you see fit. For instance, if you budgeted 15
minutes for proofreading and in your last 15 minutes you don’t yet have a conclusion, donate 5
minutes of your proofreading time to your conclusion. Be in control of your time so you can be
sure that you complete all your tasks in the time allotted.
Check out the testing room in advance, if possible: This way, you’ll be better able to judge
the amount of time you need to get there, and you’ll be more familiar with the test setting.
Get plenty of sleep the previous night: no one does well when sleep deprived. Stay in the
night before an exam, study but you shouldn’t be causing yourself stress by cramming last
minute. Go to bed at a decent hour and be sure to have a healthy meal before the exam.
Being physically prepared will improve your mental preparedness.
If you are prone to distraction: sit apart from other test takers.
Listen to music: some can focus better when listening to music. Check with your professor or
the exam proctor ahead of time to see if it’s ok to listen to music using headphones during the
exam.
Timed writing checklist
Here is a checklist with an overview of the timed writing advice you can review
before taking a timed exam:
Break down the prompt: read it carefully, sum up the topic is a word or
two, underline/circle key words (command and question words), and
number the different parts or tasks. Address all parts in the response.
Create a rough outline before you start writing, so you can stay focused
on what was asked and be sure to address all parts of the prompt.
Make a time management plan dividing your allotted time for three
tasks: 10-15% for prewriting, 70-80% for writing, 10-15% for
proofreading.
(2) Sum up the topic in a few words: TOPIC = FREEDOM THROUGH EDUCATION
In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass contends “there can be no freedom
without education.” Citing specific examples from the text, (1) discuss this concept and (2) examine
how Douglass is a testament to this idea. Then (3) explain how this concept can be applied today
and (4) what we can learn by applying Douglass’ words to a modern day example.
Possible thesis: Frederick Douglass’s life proves that lack of education can lead to marginalization and
this is still happening today with our urban poor and can be seen here in San Francisco.
Main supporting point: 1) discuss how Douglass’ Main supporting point: (3) explain how
freedom was connected to him becoming educated. poorly funded inner-city schools deny freedom
to the students who have high rates of drop
Supporting evidence: He read The Columbian out, drug use, and incarceration.
Orator and learned of a slave who argued so well his
master set him free. He also learned from Sheridan Supporting evidence: Use personal
a “bold denunciation of slavery and a vindication of knowledge of a news report on students who
human rights.” attended school in San Francisco’s Bayview-
Hunter’s Point.
Main supporting point: (2) examine how
Douglass is a testament to the idea of freedom Main supporting point: (4) what can we
through education. learn? Explain how we have a form of modern-
day slavery as the main victims of the
Supporting evidence: Through his underfunded inner-city schools are blacks and
determination of getting the white neighborhood Latinos.
boys to bring him books, he taught himself to read
and eventually gained his own freedom and then Supporting evidence: Use evidence I
fought for the freedom of others throughout his life remember from reading Jonathan Kozol’s book
as a human rights activist. Savage Inequalities to prove harmful outcomes
of educational inequality and the cycles of
poverty it produces.
Breaking down the PRACTICE PROMPTS: ANSWERS
Prompt—English 100 in-class essay (30 minutes) TOPIC = music file sharing
In his book, Jim Rogers explores the issue of music file sharing on the internet and he looks at how
the record companies have tried to sue individuals, web sites, and internet service providers for
copyright infringement. (1) Do you feel any of these groups should be held financially responsible for
sharing music? Why or why not? (2) Do you feel anyone is harmed by music file sharing?
Prompt—History 100 practice midterm (75 minutes) TOPIC = ONE significant past event
Prompt—English 846 Final exam (2.5 hours) TOPIC = greed and materialism in 3 texts
Select three (3) of the authors and texts we have read this semester and (1) examine how each
author argues that greed and materialism function in our lives in the U.S. (2) Explain who is mainly
guilty of greed (3) and who is most affected and how. Finally, (4) explain what you feel, and
(5) analyze the larger impact of your views.
Prompt— English 100 Final exam (2.5 hours) TOPIC = activism of 4 authors
(1) Compare the different ways that four of the authors that we have read this semester used
activism to change their current system and to bring about social change, and (2) explain what we
can learn about effective approaches through this comparison. Finally, (3) argue which of the four
you feel was the most successful as a revolutionary and as you make your case, be sure to define
"revolutionary" and "success" according to you, and (4) explain the implications and importance of
your findings.
Prompt— English 110 Final exam (2.5 hours) TOPIC = pressures women face in 3 texts
(1) Select three (3) of the authors and texts we have read this semester (one poem, one short story,
and one play), and (2) compare the characters the authors have created in order to examine the
pressures women in particular face. (3) Describe the gender-based expectations placed on these
women and (4) examine the impact. Finally, (5) examine the connecting patterns that transcend
location and time era in regards to the attitudes toward and treatment of women.
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