The GED Essay: Writing Skills to Pass the Test

Book excerpt: Contemporary's The GED Essay: Writing Skills to Pass the Test provides instruction and practice from sentence-level grammar to building multi-paragraph essays, giving students complete guidance on the GED essay. This text takes a developmental approach to the essay writing process by beginning with simple one-paragraph essays and sentence-level grammar, moving to building multi-paragraph essays. Plenty of practice is offered giving students opportunities to further develop their writing skills. Each chapter opens with sample GED essay questions and GED essays related to the chapters' topic and themes. Students will better understand topics and further their knowledge of the GED essay process by reading and critiquing sample essays provided. Students are provided with an understanding of all different types of essays; compare/contrast, cause and effect, and argumentation are all addressed in separate chapters allowing students detailed study of each essay. Practice exercises provide students ample opportunities to reinforce their skills. An important skill for GED students is to learn about the GED essay process and strategies for writing an essay. The text contains tips for developing a plan for writing an essay in the 45 minutes allowed during the GED exam. A graphic organizer is available for students to chart their individual plan for the GED exam. Each unit contains activities and exercises to reinforce topics and skills. Types of exercises include sample essays, genre/feature, graphic organizer, traditional grammar, writing prompts, review/revision, recognition/correction, and many more.