Gathering Ideas
Organizing
Writing
Revising
The Essay is a writing section in which you will be asked to write a well-developed
essay on a specified topic.
To write a good GED essay, you need several skills. You need to know
how to express yourself clearly on paper—how to make a point, support it
with specific examples, organize your ideas logically, and link them smoothly.
You also need a good command of standard written English—knowledge of
the rules that good writers use to decide what makes a complete sentence,
where commas belong, which words to capitalize, and when to use a
particular word form.
What the GED Essay Is Like
You will have 45 minutes towrite a well-developed essay on an assigned topic.
Here is a sample topic:
T O P I C
What is the perfect way for you to spend a day off?
In your essay, describe a perfect day off. Explain the reason for
your choice.
Your score on the essay portion represents 35 percent of your total score
on the Language Arts, Writing Test. The remaining 65 percent is from the
multiple-choice portion of the test.
Two readers trained to use holistic scoring will evaluate your completed
essay. The readers will consider features such as these as they
read each essay:
• Does the essay have well-focused main points?
• Does the essay have clear organization?
• Does the essay develop its main ideas with specific details?
• Does the essay have correct sentence structure, punctuation, grammar,
word choice, and spelling?
The two readers will read your paper and each will rate it on a four-point
scale. A copy of this scale appears on the following page. A rating of 1, the
lowest score, indicates inadequate writing; a rating of 4, the highest score,
indicates effective writing. The two readers’ scores are averaged to produce a
final score for Part II.
Your final score from Part II is combined with the score from Part I to
produce a single total score on the test. Though the essay portion is only 35
percent of the total score, you must achieve a score greater than 1.5 in order
to obtain a passing score on the Language Arts, Writing Test. Otherwise, you
will have to take both parts of the test again.
LANGUAGE ART S , W R I T I N G , PART I I
Essay Scoring Guide
The Writing Process
Most good writers follow the steps of gathering ideas, organizing, writing,
and revising when they write. Following these steps will ensure that you write
a good essay in 45 minutes.
Gathering Ideas
When a writer gathers ideas, he or she thinks of specific things to write about
the assigned topic. Although this is a thinking stage, it helps to write your
ideas on paper. First, examine the writing assignment and decide what you
want to say about it. Then, begin to jot down notes on the topic. Write words
and phrases. Use your experiences to help you think of ideas. Do not worry
about organizing your list, spelling words correctly, or writing complete
sentences. You will take care of these details in later steps.
Using the question on page 208, here is a sample idea list for a paragraph
about the morning of a perfect day off:
take a long shower and read the newspaper and
drink a cup of coffee
take my time getting ready
sleep late
not have to get up at 4:30 as on a workday
cook dinner
get up at 10:00
Notice that the writer simply jotted down a few specific ideas to use in the
paragraph. What else might the writer add to the list? Write one or two ideas
on the lines above.
Organizing
In the organizing stage, the writer checks the ideas and puts them in a logical
order. In this stage, the writer makes sure that there are plenty of good ideas
on the list, crosses off ideas that are not about the topic, and then puts the
items on the list in the order in which he or she will use them. Look again at
the list about the morning of a perfect day off. Cross off any ideas that are not
about the topic.
If you crossed off cook dinner, your answer is correct. Cook dinner does
not fit the topic of the morning of a perfect day off.
Now look at how the writer organized the list.
5. take a long shower and read the newspaper and
drink a cup of coffee
4. take my time getting ready
1. sleep late
2. not have to get up at 4:30 as on a workday
cook dinner
3. get up at 10:00
Now the writer is ready to start writing.
Writing
In the writing stage, the writer puts the ideas he or she gathered or organized
into sentence and paragraph form. For instance, the paragraph about the
morning of a perfect day off might look like this:
In the morning of a perfec day off I will sleep
late. On most days I have to get up at 4:30. Then
I have to rush to get to work by 5:30. When I
have a day off I really like to sleep until 10:00
and then take my time getting up and geting
reddy. So on my perfect day off after I get up, I
will take a long shower. Then have a cup of coffee
while I read the newspaper.
Notice that the writer made a few mistakes. Good writers don’t worry if
they make a few mistakes while they write. They just focus on getting their
ideas down on paper. Then they go back and check their work in the final step
of the writing process.
Revising
In this stage, good writers check their work. They make sure that the
sentences are complete, the words are spelled correctly, and there are no other
mistakes. Look back at the paragraph on a perfect morning off. Circle any
errors you find.
Now look at the writer’s revised paragraph. Notice how the writer
improved the final product.
In the morning of a perfec day off I will sleep late.
On most days I have to get up at 4:30. Then I have
to rush to get to work by 5:30. When I have a day off
I really like to sleep until 10:00 and then take my
time getting up and geting reddy . So on my perfect
day off after I get up, I will take a long shower. Then
have a cup of coffee while I read the newspaper.
The Five-Paragraph Essay
In order to score a 4, your essay needs to have a clear and logical
organizational plan. Good writers can use the five-paragraph format to
structure an essay on any topic. The five-paragraph essay is made up of the
following components:
• An introductory paragraph. This paragraph indicates the issue your essay
is going to address and states what your main idea is going to be. For
example, the introductory paragraph of an essay on the topic of a perfect day
off might say that the best way to spend a day off is relaxing and spending
time with your family.
• Three body paragraphs. Each of these paragraphs expresses an idea that
supports the main idea of your essay. For example, your body paragraphs
might develop ideas on what you would do in the morning (sleep late),
afternoon (go to the park with your family), and evening (watch a video).
• A concluding paragraph.Your concluding paragraph should summarize
your essay and give a final idea about the topic. For example, a good
concluding paragraph could restate the three activities you would do on your
day off and conclude by saying that after such a relaxing day you would be
ready for the rest of the week.
Here is an example of a good five-paragraph essay with the introduction,
body paragraphs, and conclusion marked:
A Perfect Day Off
Introduction There are many good ways to spend a day off.
People like to do many different things. They like to
watch TV, go shopping, or visit relatives. People also like
to work in their yards or wash their pets. I love to relax
and spend time with my family. So for me, a perfect
day off consists of sleeping late, going to the park with
my children, and staying up late to watch a good video.
Body Paragraph 1 On a perfect day off I will sleep late. On most
days I have to get up at 4:30. Then I have to rush to
get to work by 5:30. When I have a day off I really
like to sleep until 10:00 and then take my time
getting up and getting ready. So on my perfect day off
after I get up, I will take a long shower and then have
a cup of coffee while I read the newspaper.
Body Paragraph 2 My children and I really love going to the park.
In the afternoon of my perfect day off, I will take my
children to Lakeview Park. My kids love to play on the
swings there. We also like to walk along the beach and
watch the swimmers and boaters. If the weather is warm,
we like to go swimming too. After a few hours we usually
get some ice cream or drinks from the refreshment stand.
Body Paragraph 3 In the evening I will rent a nice video to watch
after the kids go to bed. I love old comedies, so maybe I
will rent a Charlie Chaplin video. Of course, I will
make some popcorn to enjoy during the movie.
Conclusion On my perfect day off I will rest and relax by
sleeping late, spending time with my kids, and
watching a good video. I am sure that after spending a
day off in this way, I will be rested and ready for the
rest of the week.
R A I S I N G Y O U R S C O R E
Using the GED Scoring Guide to Improve Your Work
LEVEL 4 writing presents a clearly focused main idea that addresses the
prompt.
LEVEL 3 writing uses the writing prompt to establish a main idea.
LEVEL 2 writing addresses the prompt, though the focus may shift.
LEVEL 1 writing attempts to address the prompt but with little or no success
