Liz’s World

Loraine writes:

HEY I TOOK THE GED BUT THE ONLY TEST THAT I DIDN’T PASS WAS THE WRITING, BECAUSE OF THE ESSAY WAS OFF TOPIC CAN YOU PLEASE HOPE ME? MY TAPE WAS TO TALK ABOUT THE TELEVISION. CAN YOU PLEASE HOPE FOR I CAN PASS THIS TEST AND I COULD GET MY GED. THANK YOU FOR ALL THE HOPE THAT YOU CAN GIVE ME ..

Loraine,

Thanks for writing in! It’s great that you passed all the other parts of the GED test. You can pass your writing test. Being off topic is a problem! Just because the last question was about television doesn’t mean you’ll get that question next time. You’ll get a different question… but it’ll be about something that relates to your everyday life. The topics ask for your opinion about something that you can relate to… and you need to relate it to your life and your experience.

To stay on topic, you need to understand the question. A GED essay prompt sounds something like this:

Some people say that it’s important to live and work with people who are different from you, who come from different cultures and have different ideas. Other people want to be around people with similar cultures and ideas to their own.

In your essay, tell whether you think it’s more important to be around people who are different from you or people who are similar to you. Explain why. Use your personal observations, experience, and knowledge to support your essay.

A GED essay prompt really has two parts. The first part introduces an idea. When you took the test, the idea was about television. Here, the idea is whether it’s better to be around people who are the same as you or people who are different from you. Remember… read the prompt closely. If it’s about television, what’s it saying about television? Whether television is good or bad? Here, it’s about whether being around people with different ideas and cultures (that could be political ideas, religious views, speaking different languages, from different countries…all kinds of differences) is good or bad.

When you read the beginning of the prompt, that introduces an idea, try to relate it to your own life. Do you live with people who are very similar to you? Family that comes from the same place you do? Do you work with people who are all the same? Have you ever had a friend, family member, or coworker who was very different from you? You should ask yourself the same kinds of questions no matter what the topic is. If it’s about television, ask: Do I watch a lot of television? Do I think that television is important? Is television a good or bad thing? No matter what the topic is, ask yourself what you already know about it…what you already think. Because that’s what the GED essay wants you to write about… about what you already know!

Now, there’s a second part to the question. It tells you what to include in your essay. In the example I give, it tells you to PICK A SIDE. Do you agree that it’s better to be with people who are the same? Or people who are different? Maybe you’re not sure. But for your essay, you need to pick a side to write about. If you can see advantages to both, that’s okay… pick one that you’re going to write about.

Then, it says to tell WHY, and to use examples FROM YOUR LIFE. That’s going to be part of every good GED essay. You need to tell why you think something, and you need to give examples from your life. So, if you’ve ever had a good friend who’s different from you, that’s a good basis for your essay. If you’ve had problems because you and your mother are too different from each other, that’s a good basis for your essay.

The prompt tells you everything that needs to go in your essay. To stay on topic, you just need to include what it tells you to. Write about the topic, what you think about it, why, and how it relates to your life. Sometimes, it’s easy to get off track. A good way to stay on track is to keep your writing organized. Before you start writing, think about what paragraphs you’ll write, and what they’ll say.

A good way to organize your writing is to have about five paragraphs:

1) Introduction…tell what you think, and introduce three reasons why that’s what you think.

2) Talk about the first reason. Use an example or story from your own life!

3) Talk about the second reason. Use an example or story from your own life!

4) Talk about the third reason. Use an example or story from your own life!

5) Conclusion…end by summing up what you think, and making a point about it… how do you think it affects other people and the world? How do you think it affects the future?

You don’t have to have three reasons. You could have two, or four. But this gives you an idea of how to organize your writing. If you read and understand the prompt, include what it asks for in your essay, and keep your essay organized with a BEGINNING, a MIDDLE, and an ENDING, then you’ll pass!

For more information about the GED test or GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passged.com.