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.

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.

The first thing I did when prewriting was a list. I just jotted down stuff I thought of.

New/difficult situation:

• finding out I was pregnant
• being proposed to
• getting divorced
• son’s engagement

When I had a few ideas, I decided which one I wanted to talk about. I thought learning about my son’s engagement was the best one. Then, I tried to put together an outline about my son’s engagement:

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

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

Third paragraph: what happened next

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

Conclusion

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

I think I’m ready to write it with this outline… next time I’ll show you how I write my draft.

I came up with a list of ways you can prewrite:

Questions

A good way to get ideas is to ask a lot of questions. What would you want to know, if you were reading the essay? What questions does the issue raise for you?

Brainstorm

Brainstorming means to just write down whatever comes into your head, anywhere on a piece of paper. It’s easier to do with a friend, but you can practice brainstorming on your own. Some people even like to doodle in their brainstorming!

Freewriting

Freewriting means that you just pick up your pencil and start writing on the topic. Write anything that comes to mind! Then, you can use your freewriting as ideas to write an organized draft.

Visualizing

If you’re a visual person like Dwaynee and like pictures, you can close your eyes and try to picture things related to what you’re writing about. You can draw pictures or sketches about what you want to say, and then use that to help you find the right words!

List of Ideas

This is just writing down your ideas in a list. Then, you can organize them later. You can put your ideas in an outline or an idea web…

Outline

An outline gives structure to what you’re going to write. You might write:

1. Introduction: (then your ideas for the introduction.)
2. Paragraph 1: (main idea)

• a. (detail a)
• b. (detail b)

… and keep going like that until you get to the end. I like outlines, because you can just follow down the whole outline as you write. It’s already got the structure!

Idea Web

An idea web is more visual, so Dwayne likes it a lot. You can start with your idea in a circle in the center, and then use lines to connect it to related ideas. Then, you can connect other ideas to those related ideas… so you end up with a web. Here’s more information on idea webs: http://www.inspiration.com/vlearning/index.cfm?fuseaction=webs

Remember, it doesn’t matter how you prewrite… do what works for you. So, practice a few different ways and find out what you like best.

Here’s the conclusion I wrote in my draft for the GED practice question:

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.

Like the other paragraphs, I’m going to go over this looking at the same things a GED reader looks for. Here are the questions:

1. Did I answer the GED question and stay on topic?

The conclusion really shows your main point, so it has to go back to the GED test question. The original practice question was:

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.

Well, I described the situation and my reaction in the first few paragraphs of the essay. And in the conclusion, I say that I wish I’d acted differently and why…by saying what I learned and how I’d like to act different in the future. That’s answering the question… and that’s what I want to do on the GED!

2. Is my writing organized?

In my conclusion, I tell what I learned from what happened. That makes a good ending, because it ties everything together, but it also tells something new. It’s not just repeating things, which is bad writing anywhere, including the GED. I don’t want to be boring… I want to be as interesting as I can. Maybe it’s not the most interesting story in the world, but at least I don’t have to just repeat myself… I think it’s organized, but if you have any suggestions, let me know.

3. Did I give enough good details?

The GED readers like to see details… not just generalizations. Most of the details go in the middle of the essay, but did I get any details in this last paragraph? I guess it’s a detail that I almost missed my son’s wedding. That was a big deal to me, too.

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.

But I think I give a lot of details earlier in the essay, and the conclusion is more about telling what I learned than details, so I think it’s okay for details. The important thing is that it gives new information…and it does say specifically what I could have done different… “stopping and listening to my son.” That’s not too general, is it?

4. Are there language mistakes, like spelling and grammar?

This is another big deal for the GED, and it’s a hard one. Spelling and grammar mistakes always get by me when I’m writing. This is one place where revising can pay off when you take your GED. I see a problem… I say “teached.” I don’t know why, sometimes it slips out that way. I know it’s wrong…it should be “taught.” If you pay attention to what kinds of things you get wrong a lot, they’re easier to spot and fix.

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 taught 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.

Hmmmm… I also say “my own” right near there. That’s pretty redundant. It’s better just to say “my,” unless there’s a real reason to say “my own.” I’d better change it.

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 taught 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.

I don’t really see too much else in this paragraph… if you see anything, let me know.

5. Did I choose the best words to say what I mean?

Choosing good words is also important. That means, building up your vocabulary for the GED! The more words you know, the easier it will be to think of a better word. Let me see…I use the word “bad”… “bad reaction.” I need to get away from that word, because it’s too simplistic! I mean, I want to express myself better, and that means using words with more complicated meanings. “Bad” is a generic word. What’s a better word? Why was it bad? Because I didn’t stop to think. What’s a word that means bad because you don’t stop to think? “knee-jerk”? I kind of like that.

Because of my bad knee-jerk 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 taught 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.

Can I think of a better word for “so” when I say “so sure I was right”? Something that’s got more feeling? What about instead of “so sure” I say “completely convinced”? Or, even better “stubbornly convinced.” That goes back to emphasize again how much of a donkey I was being!

Because of my knee-jerk 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 taught 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 stubbornly convinced I was right. By stopping and listening to my son, I could have made all of our lives happier.

What other word could I improve? How about “happier”? Happy is a pretty generic word. Is there a better one? What would have our lives had to make them happy? Peace instead of fighting, I guess. And love instead of being like strangers! Why don’t I say “peaceful and loving.”

Because of my knee-jerk 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 taught 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 stubbornly convinced I was right. By stopping and listening to my son, I could have made all of our lives happier peaceful and loving.

Well, I think that’s the end of writing this GED essay, and the whole process from beginning to end. Here’s the whole final practice essay:

The unhappiest time in my life was when I didn’t talk to my son for a year. I reacted atrociously to my son’s engagement. I was furious and didn’t want him to get married. His engagement was surprising and shocking to me, and I wish I had reacted different.

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

Because of my narrow-minded attitude, my son wouldn’t talk to me unless I accepted him getting married. I grew more stubborn because 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 to by having dinner with her and taking her shopping, and I figured out that I liked her. I was able to go to their wedding, and now, I love my extended family.

Because of my knee-jerk 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 taught 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 stubbornly convinced I was right. By stopping and listening to my son, I could have made all of our lives peaceful and loving.

I bet I could still make it better. The more time you have left on the GED, the more changes you can make to improve your essay. You can go in and choose better words and find errors…and that will give you a higher score. Good luck on the GED! Hope this practice essay helps!

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

Here’s the third paragraph of my GED practice essay:

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.

And here are the questions, asking about things the GED reader looks for:

1. Did I answer the GED question and stay on topic?

Remember, the best way to keep focused on the GED test question in your essay is to spend time organizing the GED essay before you write… so I’m doing good on this, I think. In this paragraph, I tell the rest of the story, and what the result is. That’s still focused… they need to know that to understand my conclusion, what I learned.

2. Is my writing organized?

See, I think that this goes with the other answer. If you spend time organizing your writing before you start the GED essay, then you’re going to stay on topic and have organization. Also, it helps to tell a story. That’s what I’m doing in the second and third paragraph. I start out by introducing everything and saying how my story relates to the GED essay question. Then, I spend a couple of paragraphs telling the story…what happened. Then, in the end, I tell what I learned, and relate it back to the GED question. That’s organization, and that’s what they look for!

3. Did I give enough good details?

Details are important on the GED, too, and you can think about details to include when you’re doing your organizing, also. Let’s see… where are the details in my paragraph? You can try underlining them when you’re looking at your essay when you take the GED.

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.

So, what’s a detail and what’s not? That’s kinda a judgment call. Thinks like “I spent some time getting to know the girl” isn’t very specific. What did we do together? It doesn’t say. But “I was able to go to their wedding” is a detail, because it says what I did. I think I did pretty good, putting in a lot of details, but you can always put in more… maybe I can add some…

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 by having dinner with her and taking her shopping and I figured out that I liked her. I was able to go to their wedding, and now, I love my extended family.

Does that tell the story better, with more details?

4. Are there language mistakes, like spelling and grammar?

Okay, on the GED, they want you to spell right and have good grammar. So I’ve got to look at my writing to see how I did. “Because I couldn’t be happy about their getting married” sounds a little awkward. Can I say it simpler? How about just saying “Because of my bad attitude”? I mean, I said what my attitude was already in the last paragraph.

Because I couldn’t be happy about their getting married, Because of my bad attitude, 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 by having dinner with her and taking her shopping and I figured out that I liked her. I was able to go to their wedding, and now, I love my extended family.

Now, what about the next sentence? That’s a little repetitive. I already says “My son wouldn’t talk to me.” Saying “He said he would talk to me” is almost the same words repeated. Can I say something different? Like, “my son wouldn’t talk to me unless I accepted him getting married.” Sometimes shorter is better!

Because of my bad attitude, my son wouldn’t talk to me. He said he would talk to me, if unless 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 by having dinner with her and taking her shopping and I figured out that I liked her. I was able to go to their wedding, and now, I love my extended family.

I kinda have a lot of short sentences that maybe I should combine… and I start some of them with”but.” That’s not very formal…I guess I can fix that some…

Because of my bad attitude, my son wouldn’t talk to me unless I accepted him getting married. But I got stubborn because. 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. But we both wanted to get along. I spent some time getting to know the girl he was engaged too by having dinner with her and taking her shopping and I figured out that I liked her. I was able to go to their wedding, and now, I love my extended family.

I see I used the wrong “to”… “too” means also or a lot. If you say “got engaged to” it should be t-o.

Because of my bad attitude, my son wouldn’t talk to me unless I accepted him getting married. I got stubborn because 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 by having dinner with her and taking her shopping and I figured out that I liked her. I was able to go to their wedding, and now, I love my extended family.

Also, I need a comma before the word “and” (after “shopping”) because it joins two sentences.

Because of my bad attitude, my son wouldn’t talk to me unless I accepted him getting married. I got stubborn because 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 to by having dinner with her and taking her shopping, and I figured out that I liked her. I was able to go to their wedding, and now, I love my extended family.

Whew! That seems like a lot, but I guess that’s it for spelling and grammar…

5. Did I choose the best words to say what I mean?

I’m going to force myself to find at least two better words again. That worked pretty good for me in the last paragraph. What about “bad”? That’s a pretty common word… and not very specific. What exactly was bad about my attitude. I guess I was only seeing my own point of view… I’d call that narrow-minded.

Because of my bad narrow-minded attitude, my son wouldn’t talk to me unless I accepted him getting married. I got stubborn because 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 to by having dinner with her and taking her shopping, and I figured out that I liked her. I was able to go to their wedding, and now, I love my extended family.

Then, there’s the word “got.” There’s almost always a better word for “got.” What about “became”? Or even better, “grew more stubborn”. That shows how I was changing.

Because of my narrow-minded attitude, my son wouldn’t talk to me unless I accepted him getting married. I got grew more stubborn because 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 to by having dinner with her and taking her shopping, and I figured out that I liked her. I was able to go to their wedding, and now, I love my extended family.

I bet I could find some even better words. How about changing “big” or “sad” to something else? Do you have suggestions? Anyway, good luck with the GED studying! Next time I’ll finish my revisions to the GED essay, and you can see how it looks when it’s finished.

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

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.

I’m going to go by the questions GED readers will think about again…and here they are…

1. Did I answer the GED question and stay on topic?

Am I still answering the question? Am I on the essay topic from the GED exam? Or did I go off on a tangent? The essay question is about how you reacted to something new or difficult, and if you wish you acted differently. GED essay questions are like that… they ask you about what you think or things in your life.

In this paragraph, I tell about the new situation, and how I reacted (getting angry!) So I’m on topic… that’s one of the most important things, and it’s pretty easy if you think about it.

2. Is my writing organized?

This paragraph is me telling the story of what happened. I begin at the beginning of the story… when my son came to tell me about getting married, and how I got upset. Telling a story of something that happened can be a good idea on the GED essay test, because it’s easy to stay organized and on topic… you’re just telling a story about something that happened to you. But remember, you’ve got to have a point at the end, too.

3. Did I give enough good details?

Well… I do give some details, right? My son coming over for dinner… and him bringing a strange girl. Me thinking that he’s too young is a detail, too. I’m not too specific about our fight… but I think it’s okay. It’s got some specific things, telling what happened, not just generalizations.

4. Are there language mistakes, like spelling and grammar?

The hardest thing about GED writing is getting the language straight! Let me look at what I did… uh, oh. I said “bought” instead of “brought.” I mean he BROUGHT a girl over for dinner… that’s a pretty bad mistake I mean, he didn’t BUY a girl. Oh my!

My son came over one day for dinner, and he brought 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.

I see another wrong word! I said “Than” instead of “Then.” “Then” means that something happens next, and “than” compares two things. I mean “then.”

My son came over one day for dinner, and he brought a girl I never met before. He didn’t even tell me he was bringing anyone. Then 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.

There’s one more thing I notice, now that I’m really reading through. I say, “my son got very angry at me, we had a fight.” That’s really two sentences, and you shouldn’t put them together with just a comma. I’ll add the word “and.”

My son came over one day for dinner, and he brought a girl I never met before. He didn’t even tell me he was bringing anyone. Then 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, and we had a fight.

5. Did I choose the best words to say what I mean?

On the GED test, choosing good words is important, and I don’t just mean accidentally saying “bought” instead of “brought.” (!) So, I’m going to look through for words that could be better… I don’t see anything right away, so I’m going to force myself to choose two words that could be better… hmmm… how about the word “very”? That’s one of those words you use all the time… and I’ve got it twice! That’s not good. I’m going to choose some other words for “very…”

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

“Very” is a good word to know some synonyms for… other words that mean the same thing. Like “extremely,” “terribly,” “incredibly,” “awfully,” or “decidedly.” That’s good preparation for the GED test… looking for words you can use instead of real common words. Next time… more revising!

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

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.

Last time, I showed you some questions to ask yourself. These are the same questions GED readers ask about your essay, so it’s important to think about them. Put yourself in place of the GED reader… how would you grade the essay?

1. Did I answer the GED question and stay on topic?

Here’s the sample GED essay question I used to write my essay:

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 don’t really say, “A time when I was faced with a new and difficult situation was…” but I don’t need to repeat the GED question, do I? I mean, it was a new and difficult situation….as long as that’s clear, I’m answering the question. I say that I was surprised and shocked, and that I had a bad reaction. I think in the first paragraph, I’m doing a good job staying on topic and answering the GED essay question.

2. Is my writing organized?

Well, the first paragraph of a GED essay is basically the introduction. It starts out by saying what the problem was, and I think that’s pretty good. It tells what I’m going to talk about. I think if you do prewriting for your GED essay, your organization is probably going to be pretty good.

3. Did I give enough good details?

Hmmmm… are there details in the first paragraph of my GED essay? It says I didn’t talk to my son for a year. That’s a detail. And him getting engaged is a detail.

You know what’s missing? I say that I reacted bad, but I don’t really say what my reaction was. Just “bad.” That’s not much of a detail, and details are important in writing for the GED. Maybe I’ll add some detail…

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. I got angry and didn’t want him to get married. His engagement was surprising and shocking to me, and I wish I had reacted differently.

4. Are there language mistakes, like spelling and grammar?

This one’s important for the GED test, too. I know I should watch for this better… let’s see what I can find… “The reason was that” isn’t a very good way to start a sentence, is it? It’s just a lot of extra words that don’t mean much. So, I’ll change it.

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

I think the word “bad” is wrong, too. Shouldn’t it be “badly”? That’s right… “badly” is an adverb… and the “bad” thing is the verb, how I reacted. So, to go with a verb, it needs to be an adverb…badly.

The unhappiest time in my life was when I didn’t talk to my son for a year. I reacted badly to my son getting engaged. I got angry and didn’t want him to get married. His engagement was surprising and shocking to me, and I wish I had reacted differently.

I think that’s pretty good now. I don’t really see any big mistakes… It takes some practice to look for grammar and spelling. The trick is to try, and to try to remember what things you usually do wrong.

5. Did I choose the best words to say what I mean?

Let me look at my words… that word “badly” doesn’t sound too good. Maybe “negatively”? That doesn’t sound bad enough. I was pretty bad! I’m going to look at a thesaurus… I can’t do that on the GED test, but the more words I know before I take the test, the easier it will be on the GED! I found one… “atrociously.” That’s a good one.

The unhappiest time in my life was when I didn’t talk to my son for a year. I reacted atrociously to my son getting engaged. I got angry and didn’t want him to get married. His engagement was surprising and shocking to me, and I wish I had reacted differently.

What about “my son getting engaged”? That’s wordy, too. Maybe I can say it in less words… “my son’s engagement.”

The unhappiest time in my life was when I didn’t talk to my son for a year. I reacted atrociously to my son’s engagement. I got angry and didn’t want him to get married. His engagement was surprising and shocking to me, and I wish I had reacted differently.

“Angry” is another word I bet I can replace. What’s a better word for angry? Really, really angry? I’m going to the thesaurus again… how about “furious”? “was furious” is probably better than “got angry.”

The unhappiest time in my life was when I didn’t talk to my son for a year. I reacted atrociously to my son’s engagement. I was furious and didn’t want him to get married. His engagement was surprising and shocking to me, and I wish I had reacted differently.

I think that’s better… what do you think? I’m going to go through each paragraph of the GED essay to make it better, and that will give me some good practice for the GED test…

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

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 draft:

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.

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.

Now’s the hard part… looking at what I wrote critically… so that I can find things that are wrong with it and improve. That’s important for the GED. I’m going to ask some questions, based on how the GED grades essays for the test:

1. Did I answer the question and stay on topic?

2. Is my writing organized?

3. Did I give enough good details?

4. Are there language mistakes, like spelling and grammar?

5. Did I choose the best words to say what I mean?

That’s what a GED reader looks for… so that’s what I’m going to look for. Look through the essay yourself, and try to answer these questions, like you were a GED reader. What do you think? I’ll start going through it one paragraph at a time next week.

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