2. How to write quickly when you have a strict time limit
Process, process, process
To write quickly when you have a strict time limit, it’s crucial that you know exactly what to do when going into the exam.
This is how you should be spending your time:
- 25% Plan—based on the structure given. Because the selection of your arguments/discussion points is important, there is more time provided in planning than usual. Good selection is crucial to setting up an A+ piece.
- 60% Write—according to your plan. There is less time than usual allocated to this section as a lot of the process in writing can be templated with a set order (future checkpoints templates for you to use).
- 15% Review—if doing the process correctly, your only review should be about expression, not structure.
What we recommend you do is use these percentage to apply to your time limit.
For example, this means that in a:
20-minute exam
You’re spending:
- 5 minutes planning
- 12 minutes writing
- 3 minutes reviewing
30-minute exam
You’re spending:
- 7.5 minutes planning
- 18 minutes writing
- 4.5 minutes reviewing
It’s really important that you keep to the time block because if you choose to spend too much time planning, then you lose time in other areas.
Where do people lose time?
- Figuring out what to do
- Spending time thinking about the structure (big issue). Argumentative and discussion writing are quite ‘rigid’ in many respects which means that much of the structure can be templated. It’s the content that would be new.
- Fixing up structural issues in review time.
- Re-writing their piece mid-way
Argument and discussion point selection
In the exam, the only time you should spend in thinking about something ‘new’ is for your argument selection.
It’s important to make sure that you do spend time on this as your arguments/discussion points are where you’ll earn the bulk of your marks.
We’ll go through this in more detail in the following checkpoints but essentially, here’s how you plan to save time.
Template for Year 7 & Year 9 Persuasive Essay
- Stance statement: 1 sentence
- Argument 1: 1 sentence
- Argument 2: 1 sentence
- Optional for Year 7, but ideally should be included for Year 9: Counter-Argument and Reorientation: written out in 2 sentences.
Why is there no introduction or conclusion? To save time. Your introduction is likely template and your signposting already set up by the 2 arguments. The same goes with the conclusion.
Template for Year 7 & Year 9 Discussion Essay
- Point 1 (one side): 1 sentence
- Point 2 (the other side): 1 sentence
- Opinion: for or against and why in 1 sentence
Why is there no introduction or conclusion? To save time. Your introduction is likely template and your signposting already set up by the 2 arguments. The same goes with the conclusion.
See how speed is a part of the process?
Can you see how by planning our writing process, we can do things quickly and effectively.
It’s not just about writing quickly, but it’s about the decisions that we make that either save us time or cost us time.
But remember, writing an essay quickly and completely in the time frame doesn’t mean that it’s going to score well. Quality is key. We’ll address quality in the coming checkpoints.
Practice time!
Now, it's your turn to practice.
The questions in this checkpoint are provided to help you develop your writing skills.
To do your practice questions, click on the below to download your question paper. You can print it out or work from the electronic version. We do recommend that you write your answers by hand in a notebook or on paper.
PDW-CP2-Questions.pdfOnce you have completed your questions, review the suggested solutions. You can download (and print if you wish) the PDF suggested solutions and/or watch the suggested solutions video (all below).
Once you're done with reviewing the practice question suggested solutions, move on to the next checkpoint.
