Most of us would have at least some experience in having to write good essays quickly. As such, I doubt there is any need for me to say that writing essays at high speed is a difficult task. Whether during examinations or competitions, writing essays quickly requires you to not only compose the content and style of the essay, but also manage your writing pace and the essay’s length.

In normal conditions, you have all the time in the world to plan the essay, research for examples, compose the content and tweak the style of the essay. But when it comes to limited-time conditions, e.g. 90 minutes for a 1000+ word non-fiction essay, you have only a set amount of time to plan and compose the content. You have no time (or rather, are not allowed) to do any research. And I’ll even go so far to say that only a fool (or a professional) would allocate time to style.

So, this means that you have to adjust the principles and techniques used in normal essay writing to high speed essay writing. Instead of taking half an hour (or even one hour) to create a detailed essay plan, you’ll have to make a concise essay plan in ten to fifteen minutes. You do not have the luxury of brainstorming for very long or writing out every idea that comes to mind. Short forms and symbols will have to be used, with any variant of shorthand a bonus (if you are sufficiently good at it).

Most importantly, you will have to think as you write. Many of the best high speed essay writers are able to write non-stop, fleshing out the elaborations and examples in their heads. Students weak at writing essays quickly are known to pause very often between sentences and paragraphs, and this weakness alone drains most of the time they have. Admittedly, writing non-stop is a skill in a class of its own, but there are ways to train yourself towards achieving it.

How? Seemingly simple really. On the content side, examples and details have to be learned in-depth, with most basic facts committed to memory. On the stylistic side, an oft-used vocabulary coupled with memorised idioms and quotes are necessary. Last but not least, practice, practice and practice. The more often you write quickly, the better you get at high speed essay writing. Therefore, if you stop writing essays quickly for weeks, expect your essay writing speed to fall.

Overall, writing essays quickly might seem to be something all too impossible. But like any other skill, it is one that can be tamed through consistent practice and review. And given that almost all examinations these days come with essay writing papers (e.g. General Paper for A-Levels, English Language for O-Levels, and university examinations), there will never be a shortage of avenues to both practice and display your prowess.