Tips for the Test

1. Take a deep breath and trust your intelligence. You’ve been persuading people to do what you want them to do your whole life.

2. Take another deep breath and choose the proposal that you think will give you the most juice.

3. You have 5 – 10 minutes for planning. Scribble. List. Write fast. List every reason you can think of that would support your proposal.

• If you have some strong negatives against the other proposal, scribble those too. Make sure that you label it clearly so you don’t mix the two lists up.
  
  
• Don’t waste time on the negatives of your proposal; you’re going to ignore them.
  
  
• Don’t waste time writing out whole sentences. Just words.
  
  
• Don't waste time worrying about good ideas/bad ideas. You can sort that out in the next stage. In this first jotting, every idea is a good idea.
  

4. So you speeded up for your scribbling. Now slow down again and concentrate on a clear organization. Either choose the three most compelling reasons from your list, or create some grouping of your reasons to come up with a strong three.

• You don’t have three strong reasons? Try analyzing one and figuring out a way to split it into two. For example, a reason is that kids will learn computer skills. So maybe you could have them learn computer skills for school in one paragraph and computer skills for the workplace in another.
  
  
• You have more than three good reasons? Is there a way to combine some of them? For example, you’ve listed “leadership” and “self-esteem.” Your topic sentence can state “the program will help young people build their character,” and now you have a two-part paragraph organized around leadership and self-esteem, with “character” wrapping it back up at the end.
  
  
• Remember that you're inventing this world. You're advocating for a community center? It's yours. Do you want exercise classes for seniors? leadership training for teens? intergenerational hockey games? Invent them. An author has authority over his or her world.
  
  
• A good place to put your organized outline is on the back of the first page so you can refer to it. Write the basis for deciding at the top with a big fat circle around it to keep you focused. Then list the reasons that you've decided on.
  
  
  

It’s your call in terms of how much detail will help you in the outline. It’s the three clear reasons that are essential, and the other important thing is not taking more than ten minutes on it.

• If you feel like you're starting to freeze up during your planning, first breathe. Then you might try going ahead and writing your introduction -- you know what it's going to say -- just to get yourself writing. Then come back to brainstorming with your brain ready to go again. Scribble away.
  

5. Now you’re home free. You’ve done the hard work up front, and you’ve got plenty of time left.

• just a few minutes for the intro
  
  
• a juicy 15 minutes each for your body paragraphs
  
  
• just a few minutes for the conclusion
  
  
• and if you have time left over, you can proofread.

6. If you make mistakes, don’t stress about crossing them out neatly. It’s ok. It will show them that you’re thinking about what you’re doing and that you cared enough to fix something. Caring is good ;-).

7. If any of the proctors make distracting noise, ask them what their name is and tell me. I’ll raise cain.

8. Celebrate! You’re done!!!

Assignment for Tuesday 12/9

Hi all,
Email me for the final practice prompts.

Assignment for Tuesday 11/25

You have a choice among five prompts. I'm trying a new strategy for getting them to you. Send an email message to me in my writing class account, and you'll get an automatic message back containing the prompts. The formatting will be a little bit messed up, but it should work. For that message, use this account --

• pettersenwriting@gmail.com

Let me know if it doesn't work.

Requirements

We're bearing down here because we have only four more classes before the test. Here are the requirements:

• Have your essay emailed to me by 6:00 Sunday evening (or before).
  
• Outline or bubble map before writing. You must submit your outline on Tuesday. The essay doesn't count without it.
  
• I'll send your essay back with revision suggestions.
  
• Have your revised version back to me by 6:00 Monday evening. If you know you won't have time on Monday, get your draft to me earlier, and I'll have my suggestions back to you earlier as well.

Also --

• Email me now for a sample essay that I wrote.
• Outline it and bring your outline with you on Tuesday.

For that message, use this account --

• nlpettersen@gmail.com

If you don't hear back from me, assume that you've spelled my name wrong and try again!

People who do not meet requirements for the next four classes will not be allowed to take the test. They will either receive a grade of Repeat or and Incomplete, depending on how much work they have done so far.

Sample Essays

People asked for sample essays, so I'm posting a link. Look at the top of the LINKS list on the right of this page, and you'll see Sample Essays.

The second link is an on-line tutorial for the test. You can check it out & see if it's helpful. I'd suggest skipping down to the links marked "Planning Your Response" and "Writing Your Response."

I'll also start writing more samples for you. ;-)

See the post below for Thursday's assignment.

Assignment for Thursday 11/20

We brainstormed the following prompt for Thursday:

Your college has received a grant to improve the health of QCC students. Two proposals have been made. One is to make the entire campus a smoke-free area. The other is to expand the programs available through the health center. Write a letter to your school president advocating for one of the proposals.

I cautioned the class that most of the essays being written now would probably get a 6. Body paragraphs need MORE DEVELOPMENT.

Assignment for Tuesday 11/18

We did some important work on brainstorming, so plan on staying five or ten minutes after class to talk with me about it.

This is the new prompt:

Your college has devoted a fund of money to improving the safety of its students. Two proposals have been made. One is to install metal detectors in the entrance of each building. The other is to build a student parking lot close to the school buildings so students do not have to walk to their cars in the dark. Write to the college president advocating for the proposal that you believe would most improve the safety of you and your fellow students.

It's time to get serious about readiness for the test, so I've started marking people absent if they show up without an essay. So don't let that happen to you!

Assignment for Thursday 11/13

We analyzed an excellent sample letter written by a student and learned a lot from it, so be sure to ask me for it in class.

We also began brainstorming in actual test bluebook booklets. I'll show you on Thursday the format that we used.

IMPORTANT: If for any reason you are going to miss class Thursday, it is essential that you email me ahead of time about test sign-up dates.

Email me for the prompt for Thursday's essay.