Now, people ask me about the 5-paragraph essay structure, and I say, if you’ve got it down, use it. But you don’t need 5 paragraphs exactly. 4 or 6 paragraphs is just as good. You also don’t need to follow a special structure for your introduction. And one thing I notice, a lot of people who learned the 5-paragraph essay, learned by rote: I’ll write a thesis that lists 3 things I’ll talk about later, etc. Then, the essay sounds stiff and repetitive, a lot of the time. I mean, that’s okay. You’re not going to fail or anything for being a little repetitive, but to me, it’s more important that you write an essay that’s logical, interesting, makes sense, and answers the question.

The Beginning, or Introduction of a GED Essay

The beginning of your essay will be an introduction. Your introduction needs to tell what you’re going to write about and get the reader’s interest in what you have to say. You’ll need to get across your main idea, or thesis, in the introduction. You don’t need to restate the question. Think about the essay topic given above. Now, think about a typical GED essay reader, with a stack of dozens of essays to sift through. How many of those essays begin:

An event from my childhood that taught me an important lesson that I use today is…

As soon as the reader starts reading this exact same sentence for the twentieth or thirtieth time, he or she has already decided that this definitely isn’t a 4 essay. It’s copying the essay prompt instead of stating something in your own words. Now, it’s important to actually answer the prompt, but that doesn’t mean copying the prompt word-for-word.

A better approach is to briefly summarize the event (or at least give a hint about what it’s about) and tell that it taught you an important lesson.

The Middle, or Body

The middle of your essay is the body. In a 5-paragraph essay structure, the middle has 3 paragraphs. Each paragraph addresses one point or argument that you want to make, and each point or argument relates to the main idea in the beginning of the essay. In the GED essay, 2 to 4 paragraphs is a good length for the middle of your essay, so the 5-paragraph essay structure falls right in the middle. Making three points, and then talking about each of them in one paragraph, is a good approach. But it’s not always the best or easiest way to write about a particular topic.

Sometimes, you can tell a story about what happened, what you learned, and how you use that today. Those three things could become your three middle paragraphs. Or, you could write your middle paragraphs as story, starting at the beginning of what happened, and continuing to the end. That’s an easy structure to write and follow, for most people.

Either type of body works. Both versions answer the question and keep to the main point. For many students, it’s easier to tell a story about themselves than to break up the question into two or three different points. Either way, the middle of the essay needs to contain details about what you know or what you experienced.

The Ending, or Conclusion

The last paragraph of your essay needs to be a conclusion. Many students think of a conclusion as just restating what you’ve said before. But the truth is, a conclusion is much more effective if you’ve got something new to say. Ask yourself:

• What did I learn? Why is this important?
• How does this affect other people? What can other people learn from this?
• Can I apply what I learned to bigger ideas and issues?

If you can think of something new and interesting to say about your experience, you’ll have a great conclusion, and you’ll leave the GED reader with a great last impression. If you use the storytelling route to write the body, you’ve got a lot of material for your conclusion. You need to tell what you learned and how to use it today. In either case, you need to say something interesting that wraps up what you think.

Hey, try it yourself!

Read More: http://www.passged.com/student_blogs/elizabeth/category/ged-essay-start-to-finish/

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.

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.