From homework assignments, assessments, and examinations to college and scholarship essays, personal statements, entrance exams, and supplementary essays, the sheer amount you’re expected to write in high school borders on the impossible at times! However, I’ve come to learn that it isn’t always the quantity of writing that truly matters: the quality and style of your writing can have more bearing on the objectives of your content.
Every writing assignment is distinct, and you need to know how to write accordingly in any situation so you can write your best work. Here are a few tips I’ve picked up that you can use to improve your writing and perhaps get more acquainted with its general conventions. While these tips come from the perspective of a high school senior, any student can benefit from them.
1. Go over the assignment in your head
Be it an exam, college essay, or English class prompt, this is the most crucial pointer. The key to adapting your writing skills to suit the task is to initially understand the full scope of it. Before you begin writing, spend time organizing your thoughts and ideas, keeping in mind the amount of time you have. Also ensure you’re familiar with the basic requirements of the assignment so that you adhere to the format that’s expected of you.
During an exam especially, I find myself nearly overanalyzing essay questions so I’m better able to arrange my points. I often underline the keywords and phrases in the question so I know exactly where I need to focus my attention. During exams, it’s also essential to note that many questions often have two parts to them asking you to focus on analysis, evaluation, and explanation. Ensure that you take all factors into account so your answer falls in line with the expectations.
Related: 7 Tips to Boost Your Writing for Homework and Essays
2. Identify your weaknesses
I’ve had to work a lot on brevity and focus in my writing, as I often resort to rambling and using “flowery” vocabulary, exceeding the word limit in the process. It was difficult for me to write well for examinations, and many times I was asked to keep my sentence length, complexity, and structure in check. So before you start writing, you should explore and understand your writing weaknesses. Identify where you go wrong and how you need to adapt your writing style to each task. From there you can work your way steadily upward and become an expert strategic writer!
3. Start writing early
Starting early goes a long way and helps you save a lot of time as you stress less about completing the task and don’t let procrastination get the better of you. Sometimes beginning your work early can improve your writing and help you get more clarity and perspective about different subjects and concepts. Time can also give you more opportunities to rewrite and refocus. You can even use this time to read more and write multiple drafts so there’s more time for you to improve and perfect your work.
Related: 15 Helpful Tips to Make Your Admission Essays Shine
4. Get relevant feedback
When you’re trying to improve a piece of writing, ensure that you get sufficient feedback and insight on what you do. Ask your friends, parents, and teachers to read your essays so that you can get a second opinion after you finish your work. They can even give you their own interpretations and perspectives on the topic you’re covering and inform you of how your writing comes across. While writing my personal statement, I asked my parents for their opinions so I could understand how my writing and thoughts were being received.
5. Proofread and review
Once you finally complete a task, you’ll feel a sudden burst of relief. You think you can finally enjoy the rest of your day before you realize there’s still one more process left: Proofreading and reviewing—probably the most important aspects of writing. Even though proofreading and reviewing is often a time guzzler, as a student, you need to pay heed to it. After completing an assignment, be sure to go through it very carefully. If it doesn’t make sense, has any grammatical errors, or you aren’t satisfied with what you’ve written, someone else will notice too. Spend time going through your sentences and ensuring that your ideas have a coherent flow. The ideas you present must be logically consistent, accurate, and precise.
Related: 5 Tips to Help You Proofread Your Own Essays Like a Pro
Practice makes perfect!
The key to truly mastering the art of writing is to do it extensively. It’s like practicing a sport or instrument: the more you do it, the better you become. Practicing how to answer exam-style questions is one of the most essential ways to prepare for big exams, as your language and style contribute a lot to how you frame your answers. The same can be said for attempting any other writing assignment. Writing is a way you express your thoughts and ideas to the world. Spend time in high school mastering it to use it for greater things in the future.
Looking for even more writing advice to help you get through college essays? Visit our Application Essay Clinic!
