I’m a freshman in high school and I can’t write an essay to save my life. Whenever we’re assigned an essay, I get frustrated because I know it’s going to turn out horrible. Even when I think I did my best, I didn’t. Also, when it comes to free response questions, I don’t know how to put my words together in the right way. Most of the time I know what I want to say, I just can’t form it intelligently. Sentence minimum requirements get me really bad too. I have all A’s but I know I have to improve on this because it’s going to catch up with me one way or another. For example, I’m in AP Human Geo and there’s supposed to be free response questions on the exam. Does anyone know any free websites where you can improve/practice writing?
First of all, as a freshman you have plenty of time to improve. Kudos to you for recognizing a deficiency and working to correct it.
Try writing as though you are talking to a friend, then go back and edit the parts that are too casual.
Also, read for fun in a variety of genres.
Ask for suggestions from your English teacher. Honors English is writing intensive, especially freshman and junior year, and the AP social studies classes force you to make evidence-based written arguments, which also improves your skills. You know better than I do whether you’re ready for those classes.
Summer is coming! Why not sign up for a writing workshop somewhere? You’ll find a variety of options available, depending on how much time you want to spend. Check community colleges’ offerings, or your own high school might have a summer class. Your local library might even have a short class or two, likely for free. You can go further afield to college summer programs if you have the inclination and the funds.
Have you been given samples of good essays? Sometimes I think teacher instruct and and students to produce certain kinds of work without ever showing them the end product of what they are striving for. If you have been instructed in this way, try to get your hands on some good essays. Read them, deconstruct them and if you have a good English teacher who will sit down with you take advantage of that and together pick apart what makes them good writing/work samples.
Read your post aloud. Are there any parts of the post that you could improve upon or clarify? Are there any sentences that seem too informal or that contain slang or expressions that you would rarely read in an essay?
Thank you all! Yeah, I think what I’ll do is read a variety of essays and the next time I have to write an essay for class I’ll ask my English teacher if I could stay after school with her for guidance. I’m in Talent Search right now and I’m going to be doing Upward Bound during the summer so I’ll also ask them if there’s anything available outside of school or if they’re hosting some.