Managing Time During an Essay Exam

In general for an in-class essay, students should spend one-third of their time planning the essay (Stages 1-4), one-half of their time writing the essay (Stage 5), and one-sixth of their time proofreading the essay (Stage 6). That means that in a fifty minute essay, students should spend fifteen to twenty minutes planning the essay, twenty-five minutes writing the essay, and five to ten minutes proofreading the essay.

The biggest problem for people in an in-class essay is controlling their pace. Just like runners in a distance race, some people sprint out of the starting box and run out of energy before the end, others do not get moving steadily and may not finish, while others pace themselves to do their best. In an in-class essay, students must pace themselves, allowing time to plan the essay, to write the essay, and to proofread for errors. As a rule, students should spend one-third of their time planning the essay and writing the introduction, one-half of their time writing the body and conclusion, and one-sixth of their time proofreading.

If students find that they are racing ahead, they may not be spending enough time brainstorming details for the body of their essay. They may also be making careless mistakes or may even be panicking, which can lead to serious mistakes. Students must learn to relax and pace themselves.

If students find that they are falling behind, they should focus on writing clear sentences and not worry overly much about style. Teachers focus primarily on clarity in the in-class essay and not on some of the other aspects of language like powerful word choice or complex sentence structure. Obviously, an in-class essay with these features will generally be a better essay, but an essay with good details which makes its point clearly and with few or no grammatical errors will make a solid grade. If students find theirself running out of time, they should abbreviate their final paragraphs, write a very brief conclusion (1-3 sentences), and wrap up their thoughts.

ENGL1010 Composition I