heybraham said:
i've been struggling to write more than 4 pages recently for my english essays albeit i had the material in my head to write much more, i had been and may continue to be, let down by my own hand.
one of my friends suggested playing tennis because it uses a lot of the forearm, haven't had the time try it yet
but do any other you guys know any more 'techniques' to write faster, that may or may not be so drastic?
Unfortunately, teachers expect you to write a lengthy essay or composition within 40 minutes. Sure, it does motivate some to work harder, but remember the content itself counts. I've seen sample answers from past HSC exams which are up to 10 pages long because the writing is large and the spaces between words are extended.
My advice is to have plenty of practice at least once a week in addition to your usual school work. Have a go at practice questions or past papers and time yourself. The main key is preparation. Know your texts well and remember any important quotes. That way, you won't hesitate and waste time stopping to think and plan while you are writing. Use your reading time to mentally construct a plan of what you are going to write.
However, you must remember that when it comes to the HSC, markers do not look for length. There is really no specified length in the marking criteria for any extended response. A 64 word essay was enough to gain a pass mark in the HSC exam in past years. If you can manage around 3 pages within the time limit, then you're fine. The main point is to make sure that you have written everything you wanted to write about and make sure that you finish and conclude your essay.
In my first essay examination, I wrote a mere 3 page essay within 40 minutes. I managed to finish it off with a single paragraph conclusion after writing only 5 long paragraphs of explanations of all the points I could fit in. I wrote my words slightly bigger than I normally did, firstly so it can be more legible, and to take up some space. So I guess you could say I expanded a 2 page essay into 3 pages.
In the end I got a higher mark than many people who had written about 4 pages or more for that essay. Another person wrote only 2 pages and got a higher mark than me! I noticed that many people who scribbled as fast they could onto paper did not effectively answer the question, but rather, wrote anything that pops into their head down into their composition.
So that proves that length does not count, it is the content that you should really be concentrating on. As long as you write a complete essay to answer the question with enough textual evidence, you shouldn't worry too much about length.
By the way, I play tennis as well and I am a fairly slow writer!