Well Good advice. But still unable to get Idea or moving to start to write essay I am worried to take my test on January 15th . and I need to start or just giving up. I did try reading every day for one month and copying others. Or, what was the other word for copying statements making it your own?
Still having hard time to come up with an idea to write!

Okay, Vic, here’s some more advice! Hopefully we can get you going:

You’ve worked from some other people’s essays… now it’s time to start one on your own. Take some GED essay topics (see below) and try starting from scratch. Sit down with one of them and think about how it relates to your life, what you think about it, what it makes you think of. Seriously, don’t worry at all about what exactly you should write, just start getting ideas out there. That’s what all the freewriting and word webs come down to… getting SOME ideas down on paper, whatever they are.

Once you have some ideas to work on, then you can start to organize them into an essay, pick the ones you like, don’t use the ones you don’t like. It might take you some time to think of things at first. Don’t worry about the time right away. Just start with ANY ideas, even if you don’t think they’re very good. It doesn’t have to be perfect… and getting started is more important than making it perfect or even great.

So, work all the way through writing one, no matter how long it takes. Then, practice with other topics, and try to bring your time down. Here’s a list of topics to work with:

Topic 1
What are three qualities you value in a friend?
In your essay, describe those qualities and explain why they are important to you. Use your personal observations, experience, and knowledge to support your essay.

Topic 2
Many American children watch 3 or more hours of television a day.
Is watching television a good or bad influence on children? Use your personal observations, experience, and knowledge to support your essay.

Topic 3
What would your perfect job be?
In your essay, identify your perfect job and explain why that job would be perfect for you. Use your personal observations, experience, and knowledge to support your essay.

Topic 4
Why do you want to get your GED certificate?
In your essay, explain what you hope to gain by passing the GED. Use your personal observations, experience, and knowledge to support your essay.

Topic 5
A picture is worth a thousand words.
Think of a time when a picture or image was important in communicating to you. Tell about that time and explain how the picture or image was important. Use your personal observations, experience, and knowledge to support your essay.

Topic 6
Would you rather own a truck or a passenger car?
In your essay, explain why one vehicle would be better for you. Explain advantages and disadvantages of each kind. Use your personal observations, experience, and knowledge to support your essay.

Topic 7
How has the invention of the Internet affected everyday life?
In your essay, explain how the Internet has affected you and the world around you. Use your personal observations, experience, and knowledge to support your essay.

Topic 8
What is the most important invention?
Choose an invention that has affected your life and explain why you think it’s the most important invention. Use your personal observations, experience, and knowledge to support your essay.

Topic 9
What is the greatest problem facing our country today?
Explain what issue you believe is most important to our country and why it is important to deal with this issue. Use your personal observations, experience, and knowledge to support your essay.

Topic 10
Two-thirds of US adults are overweight or obese.
In your essay, explain what factors cause American adults to become and stay overweight. Use your personal observations, experience, and knowledge to support your essay.

One of those skills is seeing fragments. It’s a pretty common problem–not noticing fragments in your writing. On the multiple choice test, it’s a good thing to watch out for. Here’s an example:

If you find that you cannot return to work before the end of the day. Please update your time card the following day to indicate the time you left.

This is a hard one to see, because if you just read it to yourself, it sounds okay. It might sound a little formal, but that’s all. Actually, you need to pay attention to where the periods are… where the sentences come to an end. Each sentence should stand by itself, to give you a whole idea. Try looking at them separately:

If you find that you cannot return to work before the end of the day.

Please update your time card the following day to indicate the time you left.

Which one sounds complete? Which one sounds wrong by itself, without anything else? The first one is incomplete. It leaves you with a big question: If you can’t come back to work–then what? It doesn’t tell you. Words like if, when, since, because, while, after, although, unless, and now that begin a phrase that NEEDS to be attached to a whole sentence. They open up questions… because you did this–what happened? after you did that–what happened? unless you do this–what will happen? If you don’t have it attached to a sentence, the question isn’t answered. You don’t have a complete thought.

The GED test will ask you questions about fixing fragments like this. Try answering this GED writing practice question to fix the fragment:

If you find that you cannot return to work before the end of the day. Please update your time card the following day to indicate the time you left.

Which group of words would be included in the most effective combination of these two sentences?

A)  the day, please update

B)  the day that you please update

C)  the day, but please update

D)  the day, so please update

E)  the day, and you will please update

The trick to answering this kind of question is not to just look at the answers. They won’t make much sense by themselves. Try to put them in the sentence, to see what it looks like.

A)  If you find that you cannot return to work before the end of the day, please update your time card the following day to indicate the time you left.

B)  If you find that you cannot return to work before the end of the day that you please update your time card the following day to indicate the time you left.

C)  If you find that you cannot return to work before the end of the day, but please update your time card the following day to indicate the time you left.

D)  If you find that you cannot return to work before the end of the day, so please update your time card the following day to indicate the time you left.

E)  If you find that you cannot return to work before the end of the day, and you will please update your time card the following day to indicate the time you left.

You might be able to tell by reading these aloud to yourself that answer A is right. It sounds best–most natural to your ear. The other way to tell is to know that fragments like this, that start with when or since or although or if or any words like that (they’re called subordinating conjunctions!)…anyway, if this kind of fragment goes with the sentence after it, you can usually just join them together with a comma. If it goes with the sentence before it, you can usually just join them together–no comma needed. Answers B, C, D, and E all add extra words… words that you don’t need and that are confusing at best! The best answer is A.

Good luck!

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

So here’s a GED practice question, like is on the GED writing test:

Sentence: Flowers potted plants, and potting soil are all high-turnover products in our business.

Which correction should be made to this sentence?

1. replace are with our
2. remove the comma after plants
3. insert a comma after flowers
4. replace are with is
5. no correction is necessary

So, what do you think? Do you know what the best answer is? One thing you’ll see on the writing choice all the time is “no correction is necessary.” Most of the questions give you the choice to make no changes…which can make it hard to use elimination to find the right answer. It’s still good to try to eliminate wrong answer, though. The more bad choices you can get rid of, the better chance you have of getting the right answer.

The first answer says to replace “are” with “our.” They both sound alike, so you need to know what they mean. “Are” is a verb, the plural of “is.” And “our” is a pronoun meaning “belonging to us.” So, which one is right? I think it’s “are,” because you could say “potting soil is high-turnover.” So those other things and potting soil together are high turnover. So answer 1 isn’t right.

Answer 2 says to take out the comma after plants. Well, I know that there’s two times you put a comma before the word “and.” One time is if the word “and” is joining two sentences. Well, that’s not true here because “flowers potted plants” isn’t a whole sentence. The other time is when “and” is used as part of a series of three or more things…how many things are being joined here? Two? Or more? Let’s see… “flowers potted plants” kind of looks like one thing, but it’s really not. What’s a flowers potted plants? It means flowers as one thing, and potted plants as a second thing. And potting soil is the third thing. I think I see the problem here. There needs to be a comma between “flowers” and “potted plants” to show that they’re two separate things.

So, is that one of the answers? Yes, it’s answer 3. That’s the right answer!

I’ll get you more practice GED writing questions in the future…and if you have a grammar question you want me to write about, leave a comment on my blog! Good luck with the GED studying.

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.

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.

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.