English Comp Essay Help!

[nick94]

Can anyone give me some of the topics that have appeared on the actual essay? I looked in the specific exam feedback section and people said it was helpful to write on the actual topics but the never listed them.

Also, where do you put the topic that you have been given? Do you put it as the first sentence? separate at the top? don't include it at all? where else would you put it?

Thank you in advance!

(No, I am not going to write the essay without capitalizing my sentences!)

[studyhard]

Technically, you're not allowed to reveal what the topic is, anymore than you are allowed to go home and tell all your friends what the test questions were. That's why people aren't listing the topics here.

But don't worry--it'll be something vague and generic enough that anybody can write about it. It'll be something along the lines of, "Should everyone be given free lunches at taxpayer expense?" not "Discuss the ramifications of President Ford's executive order number 103." You'll be fine.

[nick94]

Technically, you're not allowed to reveal what the topic is, anymore than you are allowed to go home and tell all your friends what the test questions were. That's why people aren't listing the topics here.

But don't worry--it'll be something vague and generic enough that anybody can write about it. It'll be something along the lines of, "Should everyone be given free lunches at taxpayer expense?" not "Discuss the ramifications of President Ford's executive order number 103." You'll be fine.

Okay! Thank you for the Heads-up!

[gregjohnson]

Remember to write a FIVE paragraph essay, not 3 like I did. It nearly cost me a pass.

I hope this helps. Greg

[P00057870]

Study this. There is a specific essay format that you need to study and be comfortable with before trying this. As long as you practice and can follow this format, the rest will take care of itself.

Remember to allow enough time (your mental clock) to write but then stop so that you have time to proof read what you wrote and make any editing or corrections as far as punctuation, etc.

Generic and/or fairly current topics seem to be the norm but remember they are looking a lot at whether or not you know the format, as much as what you are writing.

[abryant1960]

I was very nervous about this essay until I actually tried a timed practice. The mechanics are pretty basic: Develop a quick outline (5 paragraphs as everyone has mentioned), draft several bullets for each, then fill in the blanks and leave time to edit, work on transitions and check spelling.

This forum has great examples (good and bad) Essay Forum - Academic Writing, Editing, and Research Help that I found very hepful. Make sure to stick to the short and sweet persuasive essays. If you're interested, my practice test is here CLEP Practice Essay - effect of computers on work now versus 100 years ago.

I haven't gotten my score back yet (tested on the 12th) but I felt pretty confident when I was finished. 45 minutes goes by VERY quick so I recommend that you look over some essays and when you see a new topic, look at the clock and start typing. Then you can post your test on the forum and the moderators will provide some feedback.

Good luck!

[studyhard]

Yes, definitely write a few practice essays. You can get some topic ideas from the COMEX guide also. I wrote a couple just so I could get the feel of what it's like to write an essay in 45 minutes. It really helped.

[nick94]

Thanks for the tips and abryant1960 thanks for the links!

[nick94]

I wrote an essay and was wondering if anybody would give me feedback on it! The topic is: Rating TV shows and movies: is it ever appropriate? I wrote this in thirty minutes because I wanted to have 15 minutes to proofread during the exam so I thought I would practice writing in thirty minutes!
Here is the feedback I already got for the Essay but any other feedback would be great! Feedback for Essay

Not-Rated

I believe that rating movies and TV shows is not only an appropriate thing to do but a responsible thing as well. When you look online to check out what movie is showing down at the theater what do you see? You probably see a list of movies with ratings next to them. Sometimes you might look at the ratings, sometimes not, but have you ever thought of movies not being rated? With today’s topic I will show you first, the benefits of ratings; second, how arguments against ratings don’t really stand; and third, what could happen without ratings. I will be showing this for both TV shows and movies

You’re taking your kids down to the movie theater to be entertained. If you do your research beforehand you know what movie you are going to see, and what it is rated. You know what the worst parts are and you know that nothing in the movie is worse than what you let your kids watch. Most of the time ratings and reviews are put in the same category and they will in this essay. All the reviews of the move help rate it so that you know what movies are family friendly. To a lesser extent TV shows are also rated. Most of us don’t look for TV show ratings, but we might look for some reviews. Again, rating the show for us. You now know what will be included in the show and can decide to not watch or vice-versa.

Opponents of movie ratings might try and further their point by saying it doesn’t matter if a movie is rated. You could go watch it first and then decide if you want your kids to watch it. The problem with this is time, for a lot of adults they are busy with events and work. If you have kids you might not have time because of field trips, soccer games, practice, babies, and any other possible reason. What about TV shows? Opponents will ask. Why do we rate them? The answer to this is, People rate them, but we do so to a lesser extent. If anything we should be more aware of what TV shows contain. Without ratings someone might turn on the TV and flip on CSI for a room full of kids. It would probably happen once but it would still happen. I am not aware of any problems that exist from rating movies, but if there were some they would be miniscule in comparison to the benefits of rating movies.

What is the impact? What would happen if we didn’t have ratings? You might take your kids down to the movie theater to watch a movie with an innocent title that no one you know has seen. The theater darkens, the movie starts playing, and the movie should have been rated “R”, but, unfortunately, there are no ratings so you didn’t know anything bad about the movie.

We need continue to rate movies and TV shows so that we can be forewarned. Problems would arise if we didn’t rate them, I have shown you how movie ratings influence people’s decisions, possible arguments against ratings and their refutation, and the impact of not rating movies and TV shows. You can easily find all the benefits of something by imagining what it would be like if it didn’t exist.

[studyhard]

Just a comment on your essay--I'm in a hurry and haven't read the whole thing, but one thing I would do is start with a topic sentence that introduces the subject, rather than letting the title introduce it or just jumping right in with your opinion. In other words, begin with something like, "Should movies and TV shows be rated?" or "Sometimes the debate arises over whether TV shows and movies should be rated. Let's consider this topic briefly" or something like that. The sentence you started with is a good sentence, but it should come after your introductory sentence.