Here’s the GED practice essay question:

Sometimes, we don’t know in advance how we’ll react to a new situation.

Describe a time when you were faced with a new or difficult situation and explain your reaction. Do you wish you’d acted differently? Why or why not? Use your personal observations, experience, and knowledge to support your essay.

And here’s my GED essay so far:

The unhappiest time in my life was when I didn’t talk to my son for a year. The reason was that I reacted bad to my son getting engaged. His engagement was surprising and shocking to me, and I wish I had reacted differently.

My son came over one day for dinner, and he bought a girl I never met before. He didn’t even tell me he was bringing anyone. Than he told me they were getting married. I was very upset! I thought he was too young. When he saw I wasn’t happy, my son got very angry at me, we had a fight.

Because I couldn’t be happy about their getting married, my son wouldn’t talk to me. He said he would talk to me, if I accepted him getting married. But I got stubborn. I thought he was making a big mistake. Finally, though, his wedding date came up. I was sad that I might miss his wedding, and I called him. It was hard for him to trust me, after how angry and stubborn I was. But we both wanted to get along. I spent some time getting to know the girl he was engaged too and I figured out that I liked her. I was able to go to their wedding, and now, I love my extended family.

Now, it’s time for an ending. In GED terms, that’s the conclusion. You want to have a good conclusion, because that’s the last thing the GED exam reader reads. You want them to have a good impression.

When I did my prewriting (really important on the GED), here’s what I came up with:

Conclusion

• Now, I love my daughter-in-law
• Nearly spoiled relationship with son
• Need to think before I react

Hmmm… seems like I kind of mentioned some of that in my last paragraph. Well, I want to wrap up everything and give it a real ending by saying what it all means. I mean, what’s the point? That’s the biggest GED question, I think… what’s the point? Anyway, here’s what I wrote for my GED essay conclusion:

Because of my own bad reaction to being surprised, I almost missed my son’s wedding and missed out on having a new daughter-in-law who I love. It teached me that I need to think before I react and not let my feelings get in the way of what’s important. I really wasn’t looking at things from my son’s point of view, because I was so sure I was right. By stopping and listening to my son, I could have made all of our lives happier.

Another good way to think of the conclusion for your GED essay is to ask: what did it teach me? What did I learn because of whatever I’m writing? That’s like saying, what’s the point? That’s why I put in what I learned.

Well, that’s it so far… a whole GED essay, or at least a draft. The next step is to go through it and make it better. I’ll talk about that next time. Meanwhile, have fun with your GED studying!

To find out more about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at passGED.com.

Sometimes, we don’t know in advance how we’ll react to a new situation.

Describe a time when you were faced with a new or difficult situation and explain your reaction. Do you wish you’d acted differently? Why or why not? Use your personal observations, experience, and knowledge to support your essay.

And here’s the first paragraph of my GED essay (at least, so far)…

The unhappiest time in my life was when I didn’t talk to my son for a year. The reason was that I reacted bad to my son getting engaged. His engagement was surprising and shocking to me, and I wish I had reacted differently.

Now I’ve got to turn my outline of the middle part of the GED essay into a draft. I planned out two paragraphs. The first one tells a story:

Second paragraph: Story of my son telling me he’s engaged.

• I didn’t know the girl
• Thought he was too young
• Was upset
• He got angry

That’s easy. I just want to tell the story: begin at the beginning, go on to the end, and then stop…

My son came over one day for dinner, and he bought a girl I never met before. He didn’t even tell me he was bringing anyone. Than he told me they were getting married. I was very upset! I thought he was too young. When he saw I wasn’t happy, my son got very angry at me, we had a fight.

Here’s the outline of my next paragraph…

Third paragraph: what happened next

• Son wouldn’t talk to me
• Hard to get friendship/trust back
• Getting to know daughter-in-law

It’s more storytelling, so I’ll go on with my story…

Because I couldn’t be happy about their getting married, my son wouldn’t talk to me. He said he would talk to me, if I accepted him getting married. But I got stubborn. I thought he was making a big mistake. Finally, though, his wedding date came up. I was sad that I might miss his wedding, and I called him. It was hard for him to trust me, after how angry and stubborn I was. But we both wanted to get along. I spent some time getting to know the girl he was engaged too and I figured out that I liked her. I was able to go to their wedding, and now, I love my extended family.

I know a lot of people teach a five paragraph essay for the GED test, but you don’t need five paragraphs. I’ve got four in my GED essay.

The middle part needs to have details in it, and the good thing about telling a story like this is that it gives a lot of details. You just tell what happened. Next time, I’ll show you the draft of the GED essay conclusion. That’s the other important part… you want to start with a good impression and then leave off the GED test reader with a great impression!

To find out more about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at passGED.com.

Sometimes, we don’t know in advance how we’ll react to a new situation.

Describe a time when you were faced with a new or difficult situation and explain your reaction. Do you wish you’d acted differently? Why or why not? Use your personal observations, experience, and knowledge to support your essay.

I used my outline to put together my ideas. The first thing I did was draft my first paragraph. For the first paragraph, I need: (1) an interesting introduction; (2) my main idea; and (3) any background or other information that’s part of the beginning, like tying it all back to the question. Here’s all I had in my outline:

Main idea: I reacted bad to my son’s engagement

I guess thinking of an interesting introduction is the biggest challenge. I want those GED test readers to have a good first impression! I thought maybe I’d say something surprising…. something that sums up why the whole situation was bad… something like… “The unhappiest time in my life was when I didn’t talk to my son for a year.” That sounds pretty good, right? Then, I figured I’d need to explain the reason, that I reacted bad to my son getting engaged. Then, maybe explain how it goes with the question… Here’s what I wrote.

The unhappiest time in my life was when I didn’t talk to my son for a year. The reason was that I reacted bad to my son getting engaged. His engagement was surprising and shocking to me, and I wish I had reacted differently.

The beginning paragraph is pretty important. Like I said, making a good first impression! Next time, I’ll show you how I drafted the middle of my GED essay.