http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/prompts.html

The important thing is to use the question to really write something… Think about what it’s asking, and try to write a whole paragraph to give an answer, not just one or two words. It’s writing practice, so you’ve got to write!

The first one is this: What is something you dislike about yourself?

Here’s what I tried to write:

One thing I don’t like about myself is that I’m always unsure. I guess I’m not very optimistic. I feel like the choices I make will usually be wrong, and sometimes it’s better not to make any choice at all! But that doesn’t turn out too well, either. I think that if I just think through a problem and trust myself to make a good decision, then things will turn out better. I need to practice clear thinking so that I can make good decisions and be more sure of myself!

Try writing a paragraph yourself, and let me know in the comments what you wrote!

im going to go take my GED test again tomorrow, i only have to do the writting part and social studies. When i write any kind of paper, i write as if i was talking to the person face to face. i dont mean to but i guess a cant grasp that i have to make it sound “pro.”

Sounding like a pro can be hard, especially if you spend a lot of time reading stuff on the internet. There’s so many blogs and journal posts out there, and they’re all written pretty informally. Most of the time, when I’m writing something myself, it’s a letter to my kids or a journal entry that’s meant for my friends or something. I don’t think too much about sounding formal. So, just like with math, it’s difficult to do something you’re not practicing all the time.

First of all, why should you sound professional when writing an essay? Is it just ’cause the GED judges are snobs? I don’t think so. It’s more about making sure people can understand you. I mean, that’s what writing and talking is about in the first place, letting people know what you think, right? Sounding professional just means getting your ideas across in the best possible way by using a straight version of English that everyone can understand.

Here’s my list of a few things to avoid in order to make your writing sound a little better:

Avoid Slang

You shouldn’t use slang when writing a formal essay. Even words like, cool or lame are slang.

“I think that snowboards are sick ’cause you can tear up the mountain like a maniac.”

This could be something you’d say to your friends, but is it going to make sense to everyone? Maybe you could write more like this.

“I think that snowboards are great because you can slide down mountains at neck-breaking speeds.”

Keep to Traditional Contractions

The internet has created a lot of new contractions that seem normal, but might not be appropriate for an essay. Words like gonna, ’cause, I’mma, and shoulda don’t seem wrong ’cause you see them online a lot. In fact, the first three words in that list didn’t even come up as “wrong” in my spell check! But they might not be the best choice for an essay. Stick with traditional contractions like it’s, you’re, don’t, and I’ll. If you’re not certain what’s “official” and what’s not, just don’t use the contraction. You’re not gonna be docked points for saying “I will” instead of “I’ll.”

Leave out Filler Words

When you talk, you use a lot of filler words. You say things like so, like, well, and anyway. These words just fill an essay up with fluff and can usually be left out all together. If you want to join two thoughts together, it’s ok to put words like, “however” or “therefor” when the ideas connect to each other. However, saying, “anyway” is more like you got off the topic and are trying to get back to it, which doesn’t make for a very well constructed essay in the first place.

Write with Certainty!

Writing prompts often ask you what you think about something. Formal writing should sound certain about its answer. Starting an essay with, “I think that snowboards are great…” is immediately less certain than just saying, “Snowboards are great.” Leave out words like maybe, and possibly.

Avoid the Second Person

What’s the “second person?” It’s one of the “points of view.” The “first person” is I, the “second person” is you, and the “third person” is he, she, or it. When you’re writing a formal essay, the word “you” kinda makes it informal ’cause you’re suddenly talking directly to the person who’s reading it. I’ve found that using “we” is a good substitute. For instance:

“If you find it difficult to sleep at night, you can take a sleeping pill to help.”

This is kind of like getting into the private life of the reader. It’s making assumptions about the reader’s sleeping habits. If you just replace you with we then it immediately takes a step back and makes it feel a little more formal.

“If we find it difficult to sleep at night, we can take sleeping pills to help.”

Just remember that “we” is plural while “you” isn’t, so make sure to make any changes necessary, like how I changes “pill” to “pills.” After all, we all can’t take one pill between us!

Here’s a prompt and answer from CanTeach:

What is a good neighbour?

I think a good neighbour is someone who’s friendly, but not overly friendly, you know? Like, it’s ok if a neighbour comes over for a cup of sugar or something, but if the neighbour’s coming over all the time and using up all your sugar, then that’s way too friendly. A good neighbour has to be like a yin-yang. They have to keep to their space, but also not only keep to their space. ‘Cause then they’re just a recluse, and not really a neighbour at all. And if you’re like, “Hi neighbour!” and they just ignore you, then that’s just rude!

So, how could you fix this paragraph? I’ll see if I can clean it up myself in my next blog. Good luck with your GED! And keep writing!

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

hi here is my sentence

I am a good cook. I can cook lots of things like lasagna which can be hard to get right and I can make my own pesto sauce or also some desserts too. I learn how to cook from when I was a child. My mother had five children so she cooked a lot and thats where I learned it from. Lots of people tell me I am good at cooking now and that makes me happy. My mom would be proud.

That’s a great paragraph, Lauren. You brought up different kinds of things that you could cook, and talked about your mom, which could end up being two main ideas in an essay. You might think about a third thing if you ever wanted to turn this into an full essay, but it’s a great start!

I noticed you had a few run-on sentences, so I thought I might talk about that a little.

Run-ons are pretty hard to catch. When we talk, we say a lot of “ands” and “buts” without really pausing sometimes. Our brains don’t think like an essay, they just kinda run and run. Just like run-ons.

“I can cook lots of things like lasagna which can be hard to get right and I can make my own pesto sauce or also some desserts too.”

This sentence can be split up. They best thing to do to split it is to find the verbs and the conjunctions (joining words). I’ll mark the verbs in green and the conjunctions in red.

“I can cook lots of things like lasagna which can be hard to get right and I can make my own pesto sauce or also some desserts too.”

A good rule to follow is to have two verbs at the most in each sentence. Since there’s three verbs in this sentence, it can be cut down to two sentences by removing the and. I would also replace the “or” with “and” because “or” means that you can cook pesto sauce or desserts, not both.

“I can cook lots of things like lasagna which can be hard to get right. I can make my own pesto sauce and also some desserts too.”

It might have been better to list off the foods first to keep things clear, too.

“I can cook lots of things like lasagna, pesto sauce, and some desserts. Lasagna is especially hard to get right.”

Here’s another run-on sentence:

“My mother had five children so she cooked a lot and thats where I learned it from.”

Again, this can be cut down to two sentences.

“My mother had five children, so she cooked a lot. That’s where I learned it from.”

or

“My mother had five children. She cooked a lot, and that’s where I learned it from.”

If you want to read more about run-on sentences, I wrote a post on comma splices a while back.

Here’s the writing topic for today:

What is your favourite room in your home and why?

I just love my kitchen. The walls are spring green, and when the sun comes in, it feels so bright and cheerful. It’s also the place where everyone always comes together. When my boys come to visit, we’re always chatting away in the kitchen, especially in the morning. We’ve leaned against the counters with our mugs of coffee or tea and talked lots of mornings away in my kitchen. It’s also the place where all the best smells come from. Whether I’m cooking up dinner, or boiling homemade potpourri, the smells always fill up the whole house.

Leave a comment with your own answer to the question, or just if you need any help with writing at all.

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

So, I’m thinking I need to write a little more. Nothing too long, not a full essay, just a little paragraph to get some practice in. And you can write too. We can help correct each other’s mistakes and learn more about the rules of writing together.

Here’s a prompt from Can Teach, and what I wrote:

What is something you do well?

I think that I am good at parenting. I had kids pretty young, and I know I made a lot of mistakes when I was raising my two boys, but I worked hard to make sure they had a good upbringing. They always had nutritious meals, and there was no disrespect allowed to their elders like I’ve seen with some other kids. I also always made sure they knew they were loved. I always went to their games, and now that they’re older, I visit them as much as I can. I know no one’s perfect, and I certainly wasn’t the perfect mom. However, I think I did a good job and that it’s something I do pretty well.

That’s a good start. It’s not a full essay, like the GED test asks for, but I could definitely write an essay from the ideas I came up with in this paragraph. Writing up short paragraphs like this as often as you can gets your brain working and thinking about how to answer these types of questions, and when you have time, you can use a paragraph you already wrote to practice writing a longer GED essay, with 4 or 5 paragraphs.

Write your own answer to this prompt, just a short paragraph, then think about how you can turn that into a full essay.

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

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.

I am going to take the Ged test,and i really need help for my essay because im not good at writting essays.so it would be a pleasure if you guys help me out with it!

So, I thought it would be a good idea to give some suggestions for the GED essay today! The GED essay isn’t too hard, but it’s important to know what they expect.

The GED essay should be fairly short, about4-5 paragraphs. Don’t make your essay too short, because it has to be an essay. The readers want to see that you can give what you’re writing a structure, and that you can think through what you want to say, not just write something off the top of your head.

Your essay needs a beginning, a middle, and an ending, and it needs to completely answer the GED essay prompt. That’s important. Let’s look at an example. Here’s a GED essay prompt:

Often, important goals require sacrifice.
What is a time when you gave up something to get something else that was important to you? Was what you gained worth the sacrifice? Why or why not? Use your personal observations, experience, and knowledge to support your essay.

This is an easier prompt, if you ask me, because it’s about your own life. But all the GED prompts ask you to use your own personal observations, experience, and knowledge. That means, you use what you know in your essay. You’ve got to show that you can communicate what you think.

The first step, is to figure out what you want to say. That means reading the prompt carefully, and then thinking about your life… think about what you know, what you’ve seen, and what you’ve done. Think of a story in your life that can help you answer the question.

This prompt asks for a story, something you’ve sacrificed. But let’s say it asked your opinion of making sacrifices. You can still think of a story in your own life about someone who made a sacrifice, or about when you made a sacrifice.

Like, a lot of GED students sacrifice time with their children to get their GED. Or, a lot of GED students sacrificed their high school education to help out their families. Your life is full of stories, and you need to think of the stories that will help you answer the question.

Okay… then it’s time to write. You need three parts to your essay.

1) The Beginning: Start out by saying something interesting! Give an overview of what you’re going to write, but don’t just repeat the question. I might write something like this:

When I was in high school, I met the man I thought would be the love of my life. I quit school to marry him. I didn’t think of it as a sacrifice at the time. Now, my marriage is gone, and I fully understand what I sacrificed by not finishing school. Still, I don’t regret the choice I’ve made.

I give an idea about what I’m going to write… and I  talk specifically about my life. I’m talking about something that I know, so it’s easier. And, I’m answering the question: The reader knows what I sacrificed, and that I don’t regret it. I’ve left out why I don’t regret it…. I’ll save that for the middle.

2) The Middle: This is the part that should contain most details. The GED asks you to include good specifics in your essay. That’s easiest if you’re writing about stories in your life. You know the details, because you lived them! Don’t be too general. Say what you mean, and stay on topic. The middle should be about 2-4 paragraphs (3 is a good number). You can either tell a story or write about 2-4 different points you want to make. Here’s what I’d write for this essay:

One day, my son came home from high school with math homework that was giving him trouble. I didn’t understand it at all. It made me realize clearly for the first time that my children were passing me in education. I knew that, without a high school diploma, I wasn’t qualified for many jobs, and I missed high school memories of dances, classes, and graduation night. But realizing that I couldn’t help my son anymore made me feel, for the first time, the cost of quitting school.

Still, I know I’ve gained a lot from my marriage, even though it ended several years ago. I remember another day, when my son got accepted into college. He came into the kitchen waving the letter and jumping up and down. I would have sacrificed anything to give him that.

I’ve got two middle paragraphs. The first one talks about what I missed out on… and the second one talks about why I don’t regret the sacrifice. I added details by telling stories, being specific about the moment that I realized I regretted quitting school and another moment that made me happy to be a mother. Thinking of specific moments and things that have happened in your life makes your writing better.

3) The End. Try to say something new in the last paragraph of your essay, instead of repeating what you’ve already said! Comment on what the issue means to you, and expand that into a bigger picture. If you have something new to say in your conclusion, that will leave a good impression on the reader. Here’s my ending:

Part of me will always regret giving up my high school days to get married, but I gained a lot from my sacrifice. I gained two wonderful sons. Now that I’m older, I am more dedicated to learning, too. I may have gotten a late start, but I’m ready to make new sacrifices to get my education and become a success.

On the GED test, you’ll have scratch paper to use. Use it to come up with your ideas and organize them before you write. After you write, go back and look over your essay. Ask yourself:

1. Did I answer the question completely?

2. Is my essay organized?

3. Did I use details and expand on what I mean?

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

5. Did I make any grammar and spelling errors?

Make any corrections that you can before the time is up. I recomment practicing writing timed GED essays before the test, and reviewing them by asking those five questions. Show your essay to other people, to get their opinion and see how you can improve.

That’s my best GED essay advice! Good luck on the test, everyone!

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

HI Yesterday I took the tape test at Ircc here in florida and the only one im ready for is reading 100% cool ok what is this essay thing.what do I have to write about. im 50 and Im going back to get my GED I got married at 18 and should have stayed in school. ok about this essay.my score on lahnguage was 7.4 has to be 10.0 .wow I have the GED study guide its great .

Valerie,

Congratulations on being ready to pass the GED reading test! Remember, that’s a success already. The good news is that the GED essay doesn’t have to be tough. Really, it’s more about realizing what kind of thing they expect you to write.

You won’t know beforehand what the essay is supposed to be about. When you take the test, they’ll give you a prompt. It sounds something like this:

What event from your childhood taught you an important lesson that you use today?

In your essay, tell about the event, and explain how what you learned affects your life today. Use your personal observations, experience, and knowledge to support your essay.

That last part… “Use your personal observations, experience, and knowledge…” that’s important! It means that you need to write about what you know. The topic could be anything, but it won’t ask you about things you couldn’t know about. It asks for your opinions and experience from your life.

I usually tell people to brainstorm about people they admire, important things that happened to them, and important events in the world that they remember, to get your memories  going before you go take the writing test. You’re going to have to call up some memories and opinions to use in your essay, and thinking about some things you could write about in advance helps–even if you don’t necessarily end up using them on the test.

When you take the test, first read the prompt. Make sure you understand what it’s asking. The prompt up above asks about an experience in childhood and what you learned… so you’d need to pull something up from your memory. Take some time to think about what you’re going to write about. Even if the prompt doesn’t ask you to write about a specific event in your life, relating the prompt to a story in your life helps. Telling a story from your life is the easiest kind of writing, and it can help make your GED essay good!

When you write your essay, you need to have a beginning (1 paragraph is good). In your beginning, give an overview of what you’re going to write. What’s your point of view? What’s  the main point of your response?

Then, you need to have a middle, with details…probably 2-3 paragraphs. Now, if you have events from your life to put in your essay, those are details. Telling a story gives your essay details. That’s why writing about something that happened to you is a good thing… just make sure your story has a point, to relate it to what they’re asking you about.

Then, you need an end, usually 1 paragraph. Wrap everything up. What did you learn? How does what you wrote about apply to the world? Why is it important? What should the reader take away from what you wrote? Try not to repeat what you said… instead, give a bigger picture view about the issue.

When you’re done, you’ve got 4-5 paragraphs that tell your point of view, explain why you think that, with examples from your life, and apply what you’re talking about to the big picture…the rest of the world. Now, how do you know if you did it well? Here are the questions to ask…because this is how the essay is graded:

1. Did you answer the question? Does what you wrote  always relate to what they asked you to write about, and did you include everything they asked for in the prompt?

2. Is what you wrote organized, with a beginning, a middle, and an ending?

3. Do you have good details that explain what you mean? Details can be stories from your life, facts about the world, quotations (but you won’t be able to look anything up!), a description of what something looks like…  examples and events from real life!

4. Do you have good grammar and spelling? A lot of people have trouble with this, and learning grammar can take time. The most important thing is that your writing is clear, that they can understand what you mean. Try to use simple, clear sentences, and read over what you wrote to catch mistakes.

5. Did you choose good words that say what you mean? Working on your vocabulary can help you get ready for the test… but in general, try not to use the same word over and over, and try to use specific words like “angelic” instead of more general words like “good.” If you use the words “very,”  ”really,” and “good” a lot, try thinking of some other words that mean the same thing, that you could use on the test.

Take a look around my blog, and read some of my posts about the GED test and how to write a GED essay. I’ve also got a lot of sample student essays to look at that can help. Try writing a few practice essays (like one that answers the prompt at the top) to see how you do. Remember, the essay test is timed, so keep track of how long it takes you to write an essay. You’ll get faster with practice!

Good luck on your GED!

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

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

Loraine,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I found some places with essay prompts to get you going. The more you practice, the better you’ll do on the GED test!

Writing Services.org has some college application prompts. These are good, because they’re a lot like GED essay prompts. They ask you to write about yourself!

Here’s a website on the five paragraph essay that has different kinds of essay prompts for practice.

This website has narrative writing prompts… that’s prompts that ask you to tell a story! Telling a story can be a very good way to write the GED essay. Many of these ask about yourself, just like the GED prompts.
The College Board website has SAT essay writing prompts. These are also a lot like the GED essay, and so they’re good practice prompts for the GED writing test.

That should give you lots and lots of practice! Be sure to use the writing process, and go over your work yourself to see how you think you did. Getting someone else to look at your work can help, too!

Good luck on your GED!

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