Effective Brainstorming Techniques for Exam Essays, Appunti di Lingua Inglese

Scarica Effective Brainstorming Techniques for Exam Essays e più Appunti in PDF di Lingua Inglese solo su Docsity! Brainstorming ideas for essays in exams Even if you've got the right level of grammar and vocabulary for your written exam, there's one more thing you need to be good at to get the best marks: having ideas and organising them. And you need to be able to get that done in about ten minutes. Failing to plan essays is one of the biggest reasons candidates fail their writing exam. There are two reasons why you should never overlook this stage.  It gives you a structure to follow and ideas to include so you actually save time while writing. You don't want to have to think about writing correct English and varying your vocabulary at the same time as coming up with ideas!  If you run out of time at the end of the exam, at least you have some notes which you could quickly add as sentences to round off the final couple of paragraphs. This way the examiner can see that you had a complete idea and a conclusion for your essay, so you'll lose fewer marks for organisation and cohesion. Many candidates get stuck at the brainstorming stage. The good news is that, just like with anything else, practice is the answer. A. How to brainstorm The point of brainstorming is that ALL your ideas go down on paper. You select the good ones afterwards, not before you write them down. Many people think everything they write has to be good, but that's not true at this stage. Turn off the "editor" in your head and just write whatever comes into your mind on the topic. For essays, draw two columns: 1. agree 2. disagree Not all essays have to be answered with this two-sided structure but it's the best way to start brainstorming as it makes sure all your ideas will go into the brainstorm. Now write 4 or 5 ideas for each column. Let's use an exam question as an example. Famous people, such as politicians and film stars, deserve to have a private life without journalists following them all the time. Agree 1. It's just their job like anyone else so they deserve privacy too. 2. The level of media attention can cause celebrities psychological/physical damage. 3. The "gossip culture" that is created by this kind of press is harmful to society in general. 4. The media attention can stop them actually doing their job as it takes up so much of their time. 5. These gossip stories waste news space when we could be reading about more serious issues.