Help Your Teen Stop Writing Disaster Essays in 3 Simple Steps
Writing a good essay or exam answer doesn't need to allude as many teens as it does.
Reading bad writing can really make you want to poke your eyes out.
Imagine being an examiner and having to get through hundreds of bad essays every exam season. Shudder.
I want to make sure that your teen’s essays and longer exam answers DON’T make the examiner want to poke both their eyes out.
Why your teen needs to up their writing skills
I recently helped a 17 year old with her chemistry assignment, and a few things struck me about her writing that I have seen time and time again.
It was weighed down with clunky sentences, a lack of structure and deep understanding of the topic.
This is always such a shame because there’s good stuff in there, but it’s hard for examiners to give a decent grade if they feel mentally exhausted just trying to get through it.
Your teen’s exam answers and essays need to make it easy for the examiner to understand what they’re saying, and easy to see that your teen has hit upon the key points.
And it’s not just aspiring playwrites that need to write well; it’s a must across all subjects.
I can’t think of a subject that doesn’t sometimes require long-form or essay writing, including science subjects.
So here are three simple steps for helping your teen stop writing eye-poking-inducing essays and long-form exam answers.
Step 1. Keep it super simple
I think there is a tendency of teens to panic while they are writing, and that panic manifests itself onto the page.
You can often tell just by looking at a piece of writing whether it’s going to be enjoyable to read, or poke your eyes out territory.
Unfortunately the assignment of the 17 year old fell into the latter category.
There were huge chunks of text without paragraph spaces, sentences five lines long with no punctuation, and no clear indication of what point was trying to be made.
My advice to her was, simplify.
Simplicity breeds clarity, and we need your teen’s writing to be clear so that the examiner actually understands what they are saying.
So here are some practical rules for keeping essays and exam answers super simple:
Keep sentences short. If possible, avoid using commars to make a super long sentence. If they’re tempted to string two thoughts together, it’s usually preferable to make them two separate sentences.
Paragraphs. Separate out the ideas and topics of the essay or answer with paragraphs. I cannot tell you how common it is for teens to just write one gigantic chunk of text without using paragraphs. So please, I beg you, make sure your teen is using paragraphs.
Headings. Where appropriate, use headings. Headings act as sign posts to the reader what the upcoming paragraph is about. They also force you to think about the point you want to make in that paragraph section, and make it clearly. Thirdly, using headings forces you to think about the overall structure of the essay / assignment. Does the order of the headings make sense? Are you taking the reader through a story that flows?
Language. Keep the language simple too. There is absolutely no need for your teen to feel the need to adopt the vocabulary of an Edwardian English Professor. The words they already know are 100% sufficient to write a fantastic answer.
Step 2. Don’t forget the big picture
We have established that good writing is simple and that simplicity breeds clarity.
A good writer also keeps their eye on the ball.
Every sentence has a purpose, which feeds into the purpose of the paragraph it inhabits, which in turns adds to the overall point being made.
Teenagers often get side-tracked when they’re writing. I think that feeling of panic, particularly in an exam setting, can lead them down tangents.
And the problem with tangents is that they use up precious time and don’t scoop up many marks, because they don’t get to the heart of the point the question is getting at.
I could tell the 17 year old I was helping had gotten so bogged down in the marking schedule of her assignment that she was overlooking the actual question the assignment was asking.
I suggested she take a break from writing anything more. She probably had all of the words she needed to write already on the page, but their configuration was way too complicated and confusing.
She needed to think about her writing from the readers point of view. Take them on a journey that’s enjoyable and easy to follow.
What are you ultimately trying to say? What do you want the reader to understand? What are the most important parts of your answer?
Are they spelled out nice and clearly, or are they mentioned somewhere in the middle of a complicated paragraph, buried in a sea of other points?
This is where planning helps a lot.
Taking 10 minutes before your teen starts writing an assignment, and even a few moments in an exam, will help them figure out what they actually need to say and in what order.
For essay writing, for assignments and essays in an exam, I strongly recommend your teen always makes an Essay Plan. You can read all about the magic of Essay Plans and how to make them here.
Step 3. Read it out loud
Obviously I am not suggesting your teen reads aloud in an exam…
But when your teen is studying at home, I strongly suggest they start reading their practice essays and answers back to themselves out loud.
This will very quickly show them whether their writing makes sense, or not.
It’s a sense check of your teen’s writing.
Is it easy to read? Does it make sense? Have they got the important point(s) across?
Good writing does not need to allude as many teens as it does.
Yes it takes some effort and practice, but so does everything.
I don’t want any teen to think that they need to have some kind of Shakespearean gift with the written word in order to do well in long-form and essay writing.
If they start with these three simple steps, they should be well on their way to writing some fantastic, clear, simple, and no pokey eyes out answers.
How’s your teen’s writing going? Is it something they despise about school? Do they think they’re no good at writing? Let’s talk it out in the comments.
Thanks so much for reading.
Clare
P.S. I have written a Master Class on essay writing, primarily focused on essay structure. This is a must read for any teen struggling with essay writing.
P.P.S. You can find all of my other posts about essay writing from this compliation page.