wow! i think im going to totally flunk the english AP writing test!?

Question

i took this class to get some experience, not to lower my self-esteem!
i'm bad at essay planning, that takes me a century seriously. i can't branch things or draw some spidergram with all these powerful ideas. i was never really taught that part in school, whenever i went to a new school, it seemed that my class already did that..so now im stressing about the AP writing exam and the smaller exam i will have this week. so..let's see: my planning is bad, my vocabulary becomes limited at these very "nerve-racking" tests, i can't connect anything, only after an hour maybe, it takes me a long time to read through the passage they give you..this is a practice timed writing i'm going to have, i flunked the previous one...because i wrote very little and i WAS trying to think, i just didn't hit the right buttons, let's say.
so is there some excercise or some example or short easy guide i could work out..test is coming soon. other than reviewing all the AP vocabs, what can i do to write better

and could someone please tell me what exactly a thesis claim is..b/c whenever i write one for an essay, the teacher marks that i need a thesis claim..it doesn't seem like i even wrote one.
i think that my biggest problem is with planning..got any advice, diagrams or whatever that could make things a little brighter for me? cheers,, :D

people say that i am smart when i speak. but how can i put all that on PAPEr during the 40 min?

Answer 1

(1) Don't worry about those pre-writing devices. Just scribble some notes in whatever way works for you. (Back to that in a moment.)

(2) A thesis statement is to an essay what a topic sentence is to a paragraph. It states the main idea of the whole piece of writing. Don't bother saying, "This essay is about . . . " or "It is the purpose of this essay to show . . . ." You'll just have to come to grips with your topic and your point of view on it a sentence later. So if the topic is an argumentative or persuasive one, decide right up front what your position is and state it. ("Illegal immigrants should be deported" or "Illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay and apply for citizenship"--it's your choice to defend.)

Since you've mentioned a thesis, I'm assuming that the essay must be more than a single paragraph, and the rest of my advice is based on that assumption.

(3) In the first five or ten minutes (max!), scribble some thoughts on your topic on scrap paper. (They WILL give you some, won't they?) You'll need at least two body paragraphs .There's nothing magic about three, unless you're specifically instructed to have that many. Otherwise, just decide how many aspects of the topic you can discuss--how many arguments you can present in favor of your thesis--and write a paragraph on each one.

(4) Once you have some idea what you're going to say in the body, go back and write the introduction--two three sentences leading up to the thesis. (Yes, unless you're specifially told othewise, the thesis goes at the END of the introduction. You catch the reader's interest and draw him into the topic.)

(5) In one hour, don't try writing an entire first draft and then copying it. (If you're writing on a computer, this advice is largely irrelevant, anyway.) If you're writing by hand, once you've done your pre-writing/scribbles, start the one and only draft, but skip lines. Then when you proofread, you can make any necessary corrections relatively neatly.

(6) Will they let you use a dictionary? If they do, you shouldn't have to worry much about spelling. As for vocabulary, take a GOOD dictionary, heavy as it may be, because it will probably give synonyms. Check it before you leave home to make sure it has what you need.

Tip: when you find a synonym, look IT up in turn to make sure you haven't accidentally chosen a word with the wrong connotation.

(7) When you've said everything you have to say, pull it all together in a short concluding paragraph. Three or four senntences will do--about the same length as the introduction.

Good luck!

Answer 2

Yes, you ARE smart, so trust your instincts. No 2-ways 'bout it!