How to write a good essay in WAT

It is absolutely vital that before you put pen to paper and commence writing, you spend a few minutes structuring your thoughts. What all would you cover in your essay? A good essay has a natural ‘flow’, while a poor one is just a hodge-podge of disconnected thoughts.

It is a good idea to first list out the points in rough, rather than trying to make them up after you have already commenced writing. Post this, I suggest you arrange the points/ thoughts in a logical order or according to priority to maintain the flow of the essay.

Essentials of a Good Essay
In general, your essay should have the following segments:

• An Introduction to the Topic, in the context/ background to the topic is laid out
• The main body of the essay, focusing on content and analysis: 3-4 paragraphs that contain the main points, along with supporting examples, reasons to explain your point of view, logic, facts etc. If there are multiple ideas/ different thoughts that are to be included, use a separate paragraph for each of these
• A short conclusion, that sums up the views provided or recommendation

Remember that an impactful essay is one in which the candidate justifies his points of view with suitable analysis or facts. A balanced perspective may demonstrate a maturity of thought, as opposed to an extreme one.

In the conclusion, the candidate could summarize the main points that she/ he has made. Try and tie-up or link the conclusion to the Introduction. This ensures that your essay is ‘internally consistent’ and helps to improve the flow.

It is as important to manage time well for this test as it is for other components of the evaluation process. I suggest you spend the first couple of minutes thinking about what to write and the points you wish to include as mentioned above. Then get down to the actual writing which will take the bulk of the time.

But do leave the last two minutes for proof-reading/ reviewing what you have written.