3 essays in 2 hours

I have an exam on friday that requires me to write 3 essays in 2 hours. I am in my final year of uni so i should be use to this but i have always had 3 essays in 3 hours. I am not sure on how much i will be able to write in such a short amount of time. What does anyone think? Obviously it depends on the question and how fast i can write but not sure on how much detail is expected (before you ask there is no point asking the lecturer since she takes days to reply to emails) just wanted people's opinions or experiences

Reply 1

Zaf47

1

Last term I had to write 3 philosophy essays in an hour and a quarter. 25 minutes each. I wish I was joking.

But my advice is don't think of it as 2 hours to write three essays. Think of it as 40 minutes per essay. 10 minute Intro, 20 minutes main body and 10 minutes conclusion. It's much less daunting that way.

Also, if you've got the time, try it out and time yourself for a question so you know what to expect!

GLUCK.

Reply 2

dreamer247

OP

6

Original post by Zaf47

Last term I had to write 3 philosophy essays in an hour and a quarter. 25 minutes each. I wish I was joking.

But my advice is don't think of it as 2 hours to write three essays. Think of it as 40 minutes per essay. 10 minute Intro, 20 minutes main body and 10 minutes conclusion. It's much less daunting that way.

Also, if you've got the time, try it out and time yourself for a question so you know what to expect!

GLUCK.

Thank you. That's really helpful.

Reply 3

Jordenfruitbat

Original post by dreamer247

I have an exam on friday that requires me to write 3 essays in 2 hours. I am in my final year of uni so i should be use to this but i have always had 3 essays in 3 hours. I am not sure on how much i will be able to write in such a short amount of time. What does anyone think? Obviously it depends on the question and how fast i can write but not sure on how much detail is expected (before you ask there is no point asking the lecturer since she takes days to reply to emails) just wanted people's opinions or experiences

I am doing A-Levels and have to write 4 essays in 2 hours I don't see the problem? Just put a set ammount of time beside for each essay and move onto the next one if you run out of time.

Reply 4

dreamer247

OP

6

Original post by Jordenfruitbat

I am doing A-Levels and have to write 4 essays in 2 hours I don't see the problem? Just put a set ammount of time beside for each essay and move onto the next one if you run out of time.

You might not see the problem but I am doing degree level not A level, we are expected to write much more differently than A level to get a decent mark

Reply 5

Kerny

14

Well they arn't going to expect you to write the same amount in 2 hours time than would normally would in 3 hours time.

Reply 6

ilikemusic

Think of it as not being expected to actually write that much or you'd have been given longer.

Reply 7

Erich Hartmann

13

Just took an exam today where I had to write 3 essays in 2 hours. We had 10 questions answer 3. I would look at it as 35 mins per essay. 5 mins each to plan what you going to write and stick to your plan.

Definitely do-able, wrote about 4 pages per answer.

Reply 8

Aeschylus

17

Leave yourself 5-10 minutes at the end of each essay to read over it to make sure you've not left any hanging sentences, poor grammar etc.

I'd do 5minutes (very) basic planning 30 minutes writing 5 minutes checking for each essay.

Reply 9

stewe

10

I think this is ridiculous. I'm in my final years and I had a three hour history exam for which I had to write four essays. I've never had that before - it had always been three essays/three hours. I'd normally expect a few people (out of about 30) to leave before the time is up but people were still frantically scribbling at the end. Three hours for four essays doesn't give you time to think!! It's ridiculous - I didn't even have time to go over them; and by the end I just had to crash out cos it exhausted me so much. Imagine having two of those sorts of exams in one day?! It would be impossible. It really frustrates me having exams in a history degree be worth so much of your final grade (mine this year were 60% and 75% exam) - because just speculating what is going to come up in a question that you have barely any time to answer doesn't reflect your abilities and I don't think it accurately assesses your skills as a historian - it's not about remembering dates and facts.

But anyways there's no point in ranting about it really. I agree with the other people on here - allocate your time per essay - mine was 45 mins for each one. I was able to stick to this quite effectively and just about got everything in that I wanted to! My hand was in a lot of pain towards the end but just stick to it!

Reply 10

dreamer247

OP

6

Thanks for the advice everyone but why the neg rep?

Reply 11

andrewsegawa

It depends on how you time your self, there was a time i did 4 essays in 3 hours. I passed so well. Give each easy 30 minutes and you will even have more time remaining

Reply 12

ByronicHero

20

A couple of pages for each, probably. Unless you are one of those people, they always seem to be girls, that writes loads really quickly.

Reply 13

Cristiano07

1

I was required to do the same thing. Although my lecturer allowed me to dot point concepts as a last resort had i not have much time remaining. I was only able to write a thousand words for one essay, and dot-pointed for the other 2. It was my first time being required to write that many essays in such short a timeframe as a 3rd year uni student.