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What Is the GED Essay Like?
O
n the GED essay, you’ll need to write a short essay, about four
or five paragraphs long. The GED essay gives you a prompt
that asks you to talk about your beliefs or something from your life.
You won’t need to know anything special or obscure. The goal of
the GED essay is to learn whether you can write a basic essay and
communicate your own ideas, not whether you have any particular
special knowledge.
Understanding what the essay readers expect from you is
the first and most important step to passing the GED essay. If you
understand what the GED essay readers want, you’ll be able to
write a solid GED essay.
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How Is the GED Essay Scored?
T
he GED essay is scored on a scale of 1 to 4. You only need
to score a 2 to pass, but your GED essay score will affect
your whole GED writing score. If you score a 2 on the essay, you’ll
have to do much better on the multiple choice questions to pass
than if you score a 3 or 4 on the essay. Since it’s easier to improve
your score on the essay than on the multiple choice section of the
writing test, learning how to write a great GED essay is definitely
worthwhile.
The GED essay is scored on five qualities:
Response to Prompt:
Did I answer the GED question and stay on topic?
Y
our most important task on the GED essay is to really answer
the question that’s asked. You won’t know what the question
is in advance, so you’ll need to think on your feet a little bit. But
the questions won’t be too difficult. They’ll ask you about your
opinions and experiences, so you won’t need any information
except for your own thoughts and memories.
The GED prompt is really the blueprint for your GED essay.
It tells you exactly what to write. Make sure that you answer
everything that it asks, and you’re a good part of the way to passing.
Here’s an example of a GED essay prompt:
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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.
T
he prompt gives you everything you need to create your GED
essay. First, it asks you a main question. What event from
your childhood taught you an important lesson that you use today?
You’ll need to think about your experiences and figure out one
thing that happened to you that taught you something.
The next part of the prompt tells you what to put in your essay.
First, tell about the event. That’s easy. You’ll tell the story of what
happened. Then, explain how what you learned affects your life
today. That has a couple of parts. First, you’ll need to identify what,
exactly, you learned. Then, you’ll tell how that changed your life or
affects your life. That’s your whole essay.
The last part of the question is important, and it’s something
you’ll see in all GED prompts: “Use your personal observations,
experience, and knowledge to support your essay.” That means, you
need to use details about what you know. For this topic, that’s fairly
easy. You need to tell a story from your life, and that will include
details of what happened to you. You also need to tell how you use
the lesson you learned. Again, you’ll need to tell details from your
current life.
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Let the prompt guide you about what to write, and you’ll score
well on the GED essay.
Organization: Is my writing organized?
T
he GED readers expect your essay to be organized well, so
it all works together and is easy to follow. Essentially, this
means that your essay needs to have a beginning, a middle, and an
ending. It’s pretty straightforward.
If you’re already familiar with the 5-paragraph essay structure,
it’s a good, workable structure to use for the GED essay. You’re not
required to have 5 paragraphs, though. It’s more important that you
write an essay that’s logical, interesting, makes sense, and answers
the question.
The Beginning, or Introduction
T
he 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 like this?
An event from my childhood that taught me an
important lesson that I use today is...
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377
s 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:
Example Introduction:
I remember, as a child, playing with my best friend.
We were in the garden, which was overgrown for the
summer. That day, I learned an important lesson that I’ve
carried with me ever since. I learned that I shouldn’t be
afraid to ask for help.
T
his introduction makes it clear that you’re answering
the question in the prompt, but it doesn’t just repeat the
question. Plus, the wording is easier to follow than: “An event from
my childhood that taught me an important lesson that I use today
is when I was playing in the garden with my best friend.” That
sounds much more awkward.
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The Middle, or Body
T
he 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.
In the topic above, you need to 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, to tell what happened
as a child. Here’s an example of each method:
Three Different Points:
My friend Jill and I were playing house, pretending
to cook with the overgrown plants left in the garden. Instead of just pretending, though, we actually ate some
leftover peppers on the vine. They were horribly hot, and
our mouths stung. I didn’t want Jill to tell what happened,
but she told her parents. My parents weren’t angry, and
they gave me milk to stop the stinging.
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I learned that it’s okay to ask for help. I was afraid of
being criticized or getting in trouble, but I didn’t need to
be afraid. I didn’t have to go through the problem alone,
and what if the peppers had been dangerous? I might
have gotten sick. The best thing to do was to get help.
Today, I use this lesson in my life every day. If I make
a mistake, I am quick to tell others about it. It’s better to
get help and solve the problem than to let the problem
get worse. If I’m in trouble, I tell my friends and family.
Sometimes they can help. At least, they can sympathize
with me and make me feel better.
Telling a Story:
My friend Jill and I were playing house, pretending
to cook with the overgrown plants left in the garden. Instead of just pretending, though, we actually ate some of
the food. After all, this was the same food we picked and
used in the kitchen. It seemed perfectly safe.
We didn’t realize that overgrown peppers left on the
vine will get hotter and hotter as they grow. One bite,
and our mouths started to sting. We didn’t know what
to do. I was very afraid of getting in trouble, so I made Jill
promise not to tell anyone. I said we’d be okay.
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Jill didn’t keep the secret. She told her parents, and
they told my parents. My parents confronted me, and
then they were able to help me feel better. The peppers
weren’t dangerous, just really hot. My parents weren’t
angry, and they gave me milk to help relieve the taste of
the peppers. I realized that I shouldn’t have tried to handle the situation by myself. Asking for help was the right
decision.
E
ither 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 story needs
to contain details about what you know or what you experienced.
The Ending, or Conclusion
T
he 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?
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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.
Example Conclusion:
I was reluctant to ask for help because I was afraid
and ashamed, but my fear was my enemy. I learned that
fear makes problems worse. Asking for help makes them
better. I use this lesson every day, when I immediately explain my mistakes at work, or when I call my sister to tell
her about my problems. Even if others can’t help me solve
my problems, talking about them makes me feel better.
Keeping things inside makes me feel worse. I’m glad Jill
told on me that day. She’s made my life better.
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Development and Details: Did I give enough good details?
I
f you speak in generalities, you’re not saying something very
interesting. Take a look at this paragraph:
I learned from a childhood experience that it’s important to always ask for help. One might do something
and get hurt, and then be afraid to tell anyone. If you tell
someone, you can get help. But if you don’t tell someone,
the problem might get worse. This is true of many types
of problems people have.
T
he paragraph mentions a childhood experience, but it
doesn’t tell what that experience is. It mentions some
things that might happen, in general, but it doesn’t give specific
examples. There aren’t any stories here... any details of the writer’s
experiences. This type of writing isn’t going to get a great score on
the GED. Good details are very important.
One of the best ways to get details in your writing is to tell a
story. Think of an event that happened to you that relates to the
topic, and tell about it. You know what happened, so it will be easy
to write. Just be sure you’re including details of what happened.
Where were you? What did you do? Who else was there?
Besides telling stories, there are other ways to get details into
your writing. Try:
!Asking questions to the reader. A question is interesting and
gets the reader to start to think. Then, you need to answer your
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own question in your writing, and this leads you to develop your
essay.
!Creating a picture with your words, starting with: “Imagine...,”
“Picture...,” or “Visualize...” If you can create an image in the
reader's mind (including sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch),
you’re using detail.
!Saying something surprising or unexpected. This creates interest
in the reader and leads you to explain what you mean, which will
develop your writing.
!Using quotes. You won’t be able to look up quotes when you
take the GED test, but you can remember things that friends or
family members have said to you. Using someone’s exact words
adds detail.
Conventions of EAE (Edited American English):
Are there language mistakes, like spelling and grammar?
E
AE is Edited American English. Basically, EAE is the standard
grammar, spelling, use of words, and sentence structure that
is taught in classrooms around the U.S. The idea of this standard
language is to make sure that writers in English can communicate
with each other. That means avoiding slang, online “shortcut”
spellings, or confusing sentences. You should be as clear as
possible, and have as few mistakes as possible.
If you have some gaps in your knowledge of English spelling,
grammar, and punctuation, it can be difficult to avoid mistakes.
The most important thing is to be clear, so that someone else can
easily understand you. Here are some guidelines to help:
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!Before you take the test, try to identify common mistakes that
you make in your writing and learn how to correct them. Most
people can improve their writing a lot by focusing on a few
common errors that they personally make, instead of studying
lots of errors that other people make. Having other people read
your writing and let you know what mistakes make it harder to
read is a good way to find the errors you need to study.
!Try to write in simple, complete sentences. Don’t try to write
something complex. If your sentence is getting really long,
maybe you can divide it up into shorter sentences. Make sure
every sentence has a subject, a verb, and a complete thought.
!Read your essay to yourself. Try to hear the words in your head,
as if they were spoken by someone else. Does it make sense to
you? Would it make sense to a stranger who didn’t already know
what you’re trying to say?
!Make sure you’re putting punctuation at the end of sentences,
starting sentences with a capital letter, and capitalizing “I.” These
are easy fixes to remember and improve your writing.
The most important thing is to be clearly understood. If you
have difficulty with sentence structure, write in short, simple
sentences. Avoid overcomplicating what you’re trying to say. And
watch for the mistakes that you know are common in your own
writing.
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Word Choice: Did I choose the best words to say what I mean?
T
he best way to improve your word choice is to improve your
vocabulary—how many words you know. It’s not always
easy to improve your vocabulary quickly, though. The best way to
improve your vocabulary is to read a lot and pay attention to the
new words that you find. Have a plan to figure out what the words
mean. Still, it’s a slow process, and there are some guidelines you
can follow to improve your word choice.
!Don’t use words you don’t know. Using the wrong word is much
worse than using a simple, more general or overused word.
!Be specific. Don’t say ‘person’ when you could say ‘doctor’ or
‘driver’ or any more specific word to describe the person you
mean.
!Think in advance of words to avoid or to use. Make notes for
yourself of words to use or avoid:
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!Recognize words that are overused and too general. Here is a
list of overused or general words to try to avoid. Write down
more specific, engaging synonyms that you can use instead of
these words:
* very * really * bad * good * great * many, a lot * big * small * like * happy ©2008 by The GED Academy. All rights reserved.
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* hard, difficult * help * important * interesting * know Look in your own writing for words that are very general, and
add them to the list:
* Word: Synonyms: * Word: Synonyms: * Word: Synonyms: * Word: Synonyms: ©2008 by The GED Academy. All rights reserved.
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* Word: Synonyms: * Word: Synonyms: * Word: Synonyms: * Word: Synonyms: * Word: Synonyms: * Word: Synonyms: * Word: Synonyms: * Word: Synonyms: ©2008 by The GED Academy. All rights reserved.
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