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I'm a first-year undergraduate student, and I'm a painfully slow writer (physically and mentally). I have OCD and I don't know if my problem is related to it, but it takes me an incredibly long time to write something I'm happy with. This isn't a huge issue with regular essays, but I'm almost completely incapable of doing a good job on an in-class writing assignment and a huge portion of university grades are based on them.  Do any goons have some tips on how I can overcome this? I'm kind of worried that my brain might just be poorly wired for timed-writing.
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Oct 4, 2018 21:02
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Grimes posted:I'm a first-year undergraduate student, and I'm a painfully slow writer (physically and mentally). I have OCD and I don't know if my problem is related to it, but it takes me an incredibly long time to write something I'm happy with. This isn't a huge issue with regular essays, but I'm almost completely incapable of doing a good job on an in-class writing assignment and a huge portion of university grades are based on them. 1) Try to get a note from a doctor saying that your OCD affects your ability to do in class writing assignments and try to get accommodations for it from your school. (I think this more common for ADHD but if your doctor/psychologist/psychiatrist will write a note saying you need extra time because of your OCD you will probably have a good chance.) 2) Especially if you're at a bigger school try to choose classes that won't have in-class writing assignments, to the extent possible within your major. This may depend on the school, but ideally the professors will hand out syllabuses on the first day that will show how much in class writing will be required. Seriously consider switching sections/classes if you can find ones that will require in class writing.
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Oct 5, 2018 01:48
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1) Prior to the exams, prepare detailed notes structured in a way that would translate easily to an essay format. This trains your brain for content and structure. 2) Keep practicing writing timed assignments. At first give yourself more time than allowed, then reduce those margins bit by bit. This familiarizes you with the exam conditions and allows you to perform better in the actual circumstances. I come from an educational background where in-class timed assignments were the only method of testing. Mostly you just gotta spend a lot of time and practice. If you're in college, though, my understanding is most of your writing exams won't be in that kind of timed format. Take-home assignments are the norm. I wonder if you might be expecting a lot worse than you'll get.
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Oct 5, 2018 15:32
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mystes posted:1) Try to get a note from a doctor saying that your OCD affects your ability to do in class writing assignments and try to get accommodations for it from your school. (I think this more common for ADHD but if your doctor/psychologist/psychiatrist will write a note saying you need extra time because of your OCD you will probably have a good chance.) quote:2) Especially if you're at a bigger school try to choose classes that won't have in-class writing assignments, to the extent possible within your major. Vegetable posted:1) Prior to the exams, prepare detailed notes structured in a way that would translate easily to an essay format. This trains your brain for content and structure.  .
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Oct 5, 2018 20:05
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I used to help grade writing assignments at the college level, and realistically speaking, the "meat" of the content matters more than diction, word flow, sentence structure. No one really cares how pretty it flows, or all the run-on sentences that you're doing. They just want to see that you know what you know the material you've been taught. Any reasonable professor will adjust their expectations on timed writing vs take-home assignments. Some students drew figures or diagrams because it was easier for them to make a point that way. Made it easier for us to understand, and easier for the student to make points. First thing I'd do is talk to the professor. Explain the problem, offer to go to their office hours and see if they can give you a mock exercise. At least at my university, professors bemoan the fact that no one visits them during their office hours for help. I'm sure they'll be happy to accommodate. At the *very* least, the professor will remember your name while grading, and give extra consideration when reviewing your work. But I think they would be more than willing to explain what they're looking for and how you can write something they can easily grade. I'd do that first step ASAP. If you and the professor decide that professional accommodations are needed, they'll refer you to the university services. University services will either let you test in a different classroom, give you more time, and so on. This process does take time, which is why you need to do this a few weeks before the midterms, not the day before. There is *absolutely no shame* in this. Some high performing students have serious test anxiety, others have dyslexia, or maybe the classroom they test in negatively impacts their test performance. I get that you're prideful, and I also hate asking for extra help until I'm underwater. But it's one of those things that you realize everyone else uses from time to time, and ultimately no one frankly cares about who does and doesn't use accommodations. buglord fucked around with this message at 23:15 on Oct 5, 2018 |
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Oct 5, 2018 23:11
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I got an accommodation for OCD where I was allowed to do in-class writing assignments in a separate room so that at least it was quiet and isolated and I had an easier time focusing. That really helped. And it's not like the professor makes a big deal of it in the middle of class like "ok time for so and so to leave us for a while due to his OCD problem", you simply take the test in a different room.
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Oct 12, 2018 19:52
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I got better at this kind of test (more just writing essays than exams, though) by paradoxically caring a bit less about them. If it's a prose writing test you actually don't have to include literally every single fact or facet about the question. Mostly these are "discuss" questions and depending on the length of the answer required I just do: opening paragraph unpicking the question statement and introducing the way you are going to answer it; 2 paragraphs supporting the concept, each referring back to relevant topics you have studied; 2 paragraphs against; final paragraph summing up the evidence and coming to a conclusion. That's it, examiners seem to like it as it's a nice structure and doesn't ramble, I like it as it's easy!
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Oct 13, 2018 09:26
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Just jumping in to agree with others that you should take it up with your university and get accommodations. I understand the impulse to want to simply tough it out, but you have a disadvantage in this scenario and the pragmatic decision would be to level the playing field as best you can and ask for the accommodation. That being said, if for some reason you do have to write an in-class essay, the best preparation is to practice at home. Most professors at the undergraduate level (especially in first year courses) will give you direction as to what you'll be writing leading up to the test. This usually comes in the form of an explanation of the nature and expectations of the assignment, themes from the course that will be addressed, practice questions, or even a list of all possible questions/problems you will be asked to address (e.g: the professor gives you four possible questions the class before the test, two of those questions will actually be on the test, or something similar). In some cases profs will even just give you the question and ask you to prepare to answer it for the day of the class. Professors do not expect in-class essays to be polished. What they expect is for you to answer the question or address the problem you've been given in a direct way (don't go off-topic) with some semblance of organization. Read the question carefully, take a stance on it, state clearly what that stance is and why, and then support it in the following paragraphs. People often advise that you write an outline before you start writing the essay itself - my quick and dirty version of this is to write out a simple argument and then make jot notes of points for and against it. Those jot notes then become the supporting points for my argument and I elaborate them into separate paragraphs.
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Oct 14, 2018 22:15
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Here's a template I learned back in the Neolithic, which still works today: the 5 paragraph compare and contrast essay. Paragraph 1: State the problem and give three examples. Baseball vs Football is a good one for practice. Make a basic statement, like "Baseball and football are two of the most popular sports in America today. But there are many differences between them." Paragraph 2: Here's where you discuss your first example. "Baseball is played on a diamond. There are four bases which must be touched to score a run. There is an outfield, the area past the bases, and the infield, the spaces from the other bases to home plate. Football is played on a gridiron, a 100 yard field that is marked of in five yard increments." And so forth. Paragraph 3: Here's your second example. Something like comparing the equipment used will do. Paragraph 4: Third example. Discuss the players and their requirements. First basemen should be tall, wide receivers should be fleet, etc. Paragraph 5: Sum it up. Something like "Although both are popular, they are loved for different reasons" and reiterate each of the points you made. Professors will be so shocked by an organized essay that they will give you an automatic high grade. 
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Oct 31, 2018 06:47
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Khazar-khum posted:Professors will be so shocked by an organized essay that they will give you an automatic high grade. The "venting about students" thread in SA&L would, uh, seem to disagree. It's agreed that the five-paragraph format is better than incoherent rambling, but only barely. Though admittedly it would probably be more acceptable for an in-class assignment than something that's supposed to be a polished, well-written essay.
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Oct 31, 2018 13:46
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PT6A posted:The "venting about students" thread in SA&L would, uh, seem to disagree. It's agreed that the five-paragraph format is better than incoherent rambling, but only barely. Though admittedly it would probably be more acceptable for an in-class assignment than something that's supposed to be a polished, well-written essay. It's an important distinction, yea. In my college classes, a long-term project was expected to be more polished and thought out, not just straightforward statements organized into the 5 paragraph format. You were expected to put more time and effort into it and really flesh out each section so that it flows in a way that someone might actually be able to understand and be convinced by the points you're making. In-class was a totally different standard. For in-class essays the ability to keep your thoughts relatively coherent and getting them down on paper in any sort of organized way was really the only major hurdle you had to get over. There are a TON of people who can sit down and meticulously craft an essay over several days, but who can't put thoughts together nearly as well on the fly.
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Oct 31, 2018 20:21
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I used to represent/advocate for students with disabilities at my university. Getting extra time (or access to a computer) for exams is a really common accommodation. All kinds of students needed it for different reasons. All it took was a doctor's note and a ten minute meeting with a facilitator.
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Oct 31, 2018 22:02
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What are they asking you to write an essay on for computer science? You dont need essay skills to code and writing documentation is very different from essay writing. Struggling to come up with anything in a comp sci degree that would be best tested with an essay. Unless its a security class or something and they want you to write about your countries data laws or something like that, but even that is dumb. I think after this year you are going to see a lot more multiple choice and practical assessment.
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Nov 4, 2018 07:57
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Basebf555 posted:It's an important distinction, yea. In my college classes, a long-term project was expected to be more polished and thought out, not just straightforward statements organized into the 5 paragraph format. You were expected to put more time and effort into it and really flesh out each section so that it flows in a way that someone might actually be able to understand and be convinced by the points you're making. The OP states that it's for in-class assignments, where time is slipping by while you try to craft perfect prose. The 5-paragraph essay was meant for finishing a reasonably cogent essay within a 45-75 minute timeframe.
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Nov 4, 2018 12:59
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talk to your university, there's a student wellbeing centre (or there should be) and they're brilliant when it comes to this stuff. don't know if you're a UK student, but if you are, go to them and talk. they'll either give you more time during the exam, or try and make other accommodations to help you out. other than that, all you can do is practice over and over with timed essays at home using random (but relevant) topics to your course. and try to throw your OCD out the window, if you can. it's better to submit a mediocre essay than to struggle and barely hit 25% of the essay and hand that in at the end of the time limit. I kind of have this issue with written assignments, especially lab reports. I try too hard to make them perfect and end up submitting 60% of a report and I get a lovely grade, but my coursemates submit the full thing even though it's written worse than mine and misses a lot of info out, and they get much higher grades.
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Nov 4, 2018 17:38
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buglord posted:I used to help grade writing assignments at the college level, and realistically speaking, the "meat" of the content matters more than diction, word flow, sentence structure. No one really cares how pretty it flows, or all the run-on sentences that you're doing. They just want to see that you know what you know the material you've been taught. Any reasonable professor will adjust their expectations on timed writing vs take-home assignments. Some students drew figures or diagrams because it was easier for them to make a point that way. Made it easier for us to understand, and easier for the student to make points. Totally, 100% agreed with this. I was in a similar boat as you during my first year of college, OP. I felt I needed to take my time with things I wrote so that they read perfectly, and because of this I failed my first art history midterm which was entirely essay based. I was flabbergasted because I'd never failed a test before, let alone a written test because I considered myself to be a fairly good writer. I visited the professor during office hours and his feedback was that he cared about whether or not I knew the material, not how well the essays were written. He gave me a failing grade because I had only included two or three facts about a painting or artist per-essay, and even though they were well written it didn't matter because he was looking for at least eight to ten facts. This was weird to me, so I visited the class TA who said, "oh yeah, he doesn't care about it being an essay at all. All of the kids who got A's didn't even write an essay, they just used bullet points." I was able to pull off a passing grade in the class by using exactly that formula on the final – no essay format, just a list of facts that weren't even complete sentences. From that point on, in every class for the rest of my college career I'd ask each of my professors early in the semester to see how they preferred essays be written. They're all different and usually happy to tell you what they're looking for.
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Nov 5, 2018 16:35
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underage at the vape shop posted:What are they asking you to write an essay on for computer science? You dont need essay skills to code and writing documentation is very different from essay writing. Any comp sci class is going to have theoretical underpinnings they can quiz you on. A legit CS degree is about much more than just some simple coding. That said, I had a few programming classes in my undergrad where you literally had to write code out by hand during in-class tests and stuff. That was always fun.
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Nov 5, 2018 19:45
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Raldikuk posted:Any comp sci class is going to have theoretical underpinnings they can quiz you on. A legit CS degree is about much more than just some simple coding. Yeah but stuff you can write essays on? It's a bachelor degree.
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Nov 17, 2018 19:59
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underage at the vape shop posted:Yeah but stuff you can write essays on? It's a bachelor degree.
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Nov 17, 2018 20:16
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underage at the vape shop posted:Yeah but stuff you can write essays on? It's a bachelor degree. Pretty much every bachelor degree program I've encountered includes three to four semesters of "general education" which usually means history/philosophy/etc. Every university level history class I've ever taken has an essay component on the exams.
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Nov 25, 2018 12:44
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Khazar-khum posted:Here's a template I learned back in the Neolithic, which still works today: the 5 paragraph compare and contrast essay. The reason this works so well is that the first step starts with "state the problem." This is more important for you, the writer, than for the essay itself. In a long form paper, you'd begin with a much longer overview/introduction. With time to prepare, you should never write the introduction first, because the introduction should reflect the contents of the paper, which would be much more involved than what you could possibly accomplish in the span of an hour. With more time, I would suggest making a list of topics to cover that you would then expand upon, and then you'd construct the paper out of the components that you created, but you simply don't have time for that when writing by hand with only an hour, so stating the problem straight out is efficient use of your time because it solidifies the topic in your mind and contributes to the words on the page. Essentially you just need to understand that writing an in-class essay is a fundamentally different process than writing a paper outside of class. Where a paper can be a massive, intricately constructed thing with sections that require organization but do not require segues, an in-class essay assignment is a single string of thoughts from beginning to end, which is antithetical to good paper writing. Start with a clear statement identifying the point of the essay and elaborate upon that point briefly. You can practice this method to prevent yourself from rambling, as the purpose of this method is to give the writer clear boundaries that they establish to avoid rambling on about things that are irrelevant to the topic, as that is an inefficient use of page space and time. This post was written based on the quoted method.
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Nov 27, 2018 13:54
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underage at the vape shop posted:Yeah but stuff you can write essays on? It's a bachelor degree. For us it was less essays and more multiple short answer questions about theoretical concepts like algorithms. Think like "in this operating system there are such and such conditions, which task scheduling algorithm would you use to and why" Of course this is totally dependent on what the op means by in class writing assignment, if they're actually supposed to be writing essays with proper topics and paragraphs then idk wtf is going on there Xun fucked around with this message at 17:14 on Nov 27, 2018 |
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Nov 27, 2018 17:10
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OP, did you ever request an accommodation for your disability like people in the thread were encouraging you to do? I keep checking this thread hoping you will say you talked to the school and they are giving you extra time or whatever.
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Nov 30, 2018 07:32
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If you do have OCD, as other people have said you can probably get accommodations. However, my best advice would be to write what you think first and fluidly, don't stop to edit much. Content is usually a lot more important than grammar and spelling.
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Dec 6, 2018 10:25
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I thought I should update. I've practiced my writing a lot since then and I recently got a 34.4 out of 40 on my timed-writing final exam (highest grade was 37.something) so I'm doing pretty well now .
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Dec 16, 2018 22:07
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yay, congrats! I think a lot of intelligent goons here (oxymoron?  ), have similar issues with getting things done perfectly before submission. It takes a while to train yourself how to get something out at an acceptable quality and not the level you personally prefer.
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Dec 18, 2018 00:18
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My undergrad degree is history (minors in PoliSci and Sociology) which meant every test I took was an essay test. 1. Practice. My profs gave tons of writing assignments (short 2 page describe and analyze papers.). I had so many to write I couldn’t take a lot of time, so I drafted each one fast and edited after. It gave me the habit of outlining and filling in details fast. 2. Plan. Can you anticipate what you are going to be asked to write about? Or do you understand the material? I could always figure out based on lectures what the professor found important or interesting, therefore what would probably be asked on the test. So I focused studying on that. 3. Outline and Organize. When you start and understand the question outline your points. Nothing spectacular. List the main points you want to make. Then spend your time filling it in. 4. Relax. Perfection is overrated and your professor knows that you have limited time and expectations will be lowered. Get your point across, if it isn’t perfectly constructed, it doesn’t matter as much as it would if you had a week to write it.
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Feb 1, 2019 21:30
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