epdf.pub_cbest-cliffs-test-prep13a9b242c7cb4125e6cca92d00a73d5a41681

Part II: Analysis of Exam Areas
The Descriptive/Narrative Essay
This type of essay topic asks you to draw directly from personal experience, to show
(describe) and tell about (narrate) a significant event in your life. For example:
Students can look back on their years in school and pinpoint one particular
course or one particular teacher most instrumental in shaping their lives.
Reflect on your own school years and focus on one such instructor or course.
Describe the conditions or qualities that made that particular experience or
teacher special.
You should understand that the test is concerned with your writing ability, not
your personal experience. Therefore, you can describe a fictional character or
course. You can make up the conditions or qualities. Try making up information or
a fictional character at least once when you practice writing an essay. This can
help you in the event that you get stuck trying to recall a person or situation on the
actual test.
Preparing to Write Using Clustering
Inventing and organizing information on short notice, given only a few minutes,
can be difficult unless you are ready with an effective technique. One technique
well suited to the timed essay is called clustering.
Use clustering as a way of organizing your thoughts before you write. Clustering
provides a way to put all of your thoughts down on paper before you write so that
you can quickly see the structure of the whole paper.
After you choose a topic, write it down in the prewriting area (given under the actual
topic question) and draw a circle around that topic:
Psychology
Course
For a few moments, think of all the elements of that topic and connect them to the
central topic cluster:
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