Words of Innocence and Experience

When encountering essay questions in exams, quite a number of students would frown or have an instant headache. Even back to the high school days, “essays” in Mandarin, the Mother Tongue, still arouse annoyance if they make their unpopular appearances in test papers. Now in the Foreign Language Department, to write essay questions or not plays a key role for students to decide whether to major in literature or linguistics.

Yet, why the fright? The truth is that every student has apprehension over writing to some extent, afraid that nothing substantial would be thought up or the teacher would not be satisfied with the final result. Conversely, being a queer person who does not object essays, I would like to say that there are methods to answer them. It takes efforts to construct and weave a clear strategy, yet the consequence is usually favorable. In a way, essay questions are much more interesting than conventional multiple choice and yes/no questions since students’ answers are not restricted to a special kind.

Before the papers filled by words of Times New Roman and 12 points are given to students on exams, there is plenty of time to prepare it beforehand. Students are not so busy as to kneel down at Buddha’s feet and beg in desperation five hours prior to the test. Essay questions are designed to test the extent of students’ understanding of the subject, and thus careful studying is necessary before tests.

However, learning everything on the textbook by heart is inefficient and would not work when it comes to essays (although some teachers do seem pleased if students include quotations from the textbook). The first step is to organize the main points in the textbook, combined with the notes taken while in class. Then students can start guessing what will be tested. It is usually not difficult since teachers more or less would have already sent some cues. If the upcoming test is on literary works, additional research is needed if they are alien or obscure. Briefly, before taking the test, one has to make sure that s/he has the ability to analyze or discuss the particular subject.

Then it comes to the most important event—answering questions from the test paper. However hard one has worked, the result lies solely on this single trial. Therefore, a student must make their best shot in this treacherous competition (with other students, undoubtedly). If there are tips for studying, there are ones for taking the test as well.

To begin with, essay questions are not short answers, so an answer composed of four paragraphs is more appropriate than scattered strings of words without any organization. If there is sufficient time, take notice of whether the answer is written with clarity: with an opening, a body, and a conclusion. Some of my classmates had told me that it takes too much time to worry about this trifling. Well, then this is a great moment to train oneself to write faster.

Also, remember to write grammatically correct sentences and use the right vocabulary. Although some teachers say that they would not deduct points of an answer due to grammatical mistakes, using correct grammar may improve their impression on the answer and thus they are more willing to grade the paper higher. Besides, please do not write like a high school student since the time was not enough to think of better words. Using proper words would make teachers feel that the student knows the subject better.

The above suggestions are mainly about ostentation in writing essays, but the content is what really counts. Not only should one give clear principles or definitions but also fitting examples. Inserting examples, directly relevant to the arguments or not, is a benign way to enrich the content. Moreover, as mentioned above, quoting from the textbook or the author will also guarantee the teacher’s endorsement of your endeavor.

For the most part, test papers usually end with a question asking about students’ personal opinion or experience related to certain works. Some students, not necessarily moved or affected from what they have learned, would offer tedious answers. Yet, this particular kind of questions is actually the best chance to earn additional points if failing in the former ones. In stead of sounding indifferent, try to appear earnest and interested in your answer. The teacher must have undying zeal for the specific field so that s/he would teach a course on it. Though highly pretentious, students showing their appreciation of the field would certainly please the teacher.

Above all, writing essay questions seems an uphill job. Nevertheless, the strategies would become part of the nature if students adopt them constantly. Writing essays is generally more interesting than answering conventional yes/no questions, and the teacher would not simply mark the answer as “incorrect.” Students are more likely to answer with more freedom and creativity in essay questions, within the border that teachers can accept, of course.