Analysis

Write a coherent well organized paragraph or essay which analyzes an abstract concept or provides reflective thought on a topic of personal interest to the learner; i.e. personal growth, career future, family history, relation of historical events to self; write a coherent essay about a topic from history, science, geography, or politics.  

Analysis writing is the most common writing prompt on the HSGQE. On these writing assignments, I can't emphasize enough how important it is for you to be cognizant of the six writing traits from which you are graded. To refresh your memory, or introduce you to these traits for the first time, they are:

Ideas

Organization

Voice

Word Choice

Sentence Fluency

Conventions (grammar, spelling, punctuation)

Look at some of the prompts below taken from HSGQE practice tests:

1. Sometimes we make choices based on appearance or external qualities. Other times we make choices based on internal qualities. The passage below asks you to consider these two possibilities in making a very pleasant choice. Read the passage and then complete the writing assignment that follows.

Your parents have offered to help you buy a car for your sixteenth birthday. You have saved up some money of your own as well. After searching for quite some time, you have narrowed your choices down to two cars. One is a very small sports car complete with sunroof and tinted windows that seats only two people. The other is a very sturdy four door, all-wheel drive sedan.

Choose the car you would be most likely to buy. Explain why you made the choice you did, what appeals most to you about the car you chose, and what you think your choice says about you as a person.

For this answer, make sure you use complete sentences and check your work for correct spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.

Okay, this is the prompt you have to work with. But suppose you don't care about either car choice. Perhaps you have your mind set on that aqua green Acura, or that baby blue Mercedes, or that cherry red '59 International Harvester pick-up truck, and you wouldn't be caught dead in either of the choices the writing prompt gave you? Well, so what! Remember, the writing prompt is simply a vehicle to evaluate your writing and you should be able to "pretend" or "play along" with the prompt, even if you're adamant that you would never own a small sports car or a all-wheel drive sedan. However, you can show off your writing skills and avoid the constraints of the prompt as long as you address it in your writing. A skillful writer will enjoy the challenge but be careful: if you stray too far from the prompt, you may be penalized, so be careful.

Here's some more prompts:

2. If you could bring one new activity to your community, describe what it would be, and explain why you would like it added.

(The actual test leaves about one blank page for this exercise.

3. Write about a time when something that you have learned helped you in some way. Make your response as complete as possible.

4. If you could live anywhere in Alaska or anywhere else in the world, where would you choose? Would you rather live where you do now? Explain why you would choose to move or why you would stay. Make your answer as complete as possible.

As you can see, all of these prompts ask you to analyze and reflect about a particular issue or topic. My best advice I dispense to my students is threefold:

1. Personalize your writing. If what you write about is interesting to you, it will be interesting to the reader.

2. Prewrite. I can't stress this enough. If you take the time to organize your thoughts by brainstorming and outlining, I can almost guarantee your writing will prosper.

3. Focus. Keep your paper focused. Don't try to tell the reader everything you know about the subject you are writing about. Just touch on the main ideas, sprinkle in some strong details, and keep the reader interested. Remember, a long, rambling paper scores only a bit higher than a short, abbreviated one. (And both should be avoided if you want to pass the HSGQE!)

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