Step 6 (2 minutes): Use accelerated plug-in 1.

This is where the 80:20 Rule really shines. Now that you have pre-researched and memorized all details related to your example(s), it’s time to make full use of them and plug them in to build volume and persuasive content. Give yourself two minutes to write at least six sentences of pure supportive details/content. Of course, all details/content must be relevant to the prompt! If not, you are padding; that will get you not a zero, but somewhere in the 2-4 range.

Important: Make sure you pepper your plug-in with some statistics, full names, and dates – a sure tactic to impress your graders.

AWFUL: “Students should not play PS3 because my mom told me so!”

BAD: “Students should avoid playing PS3 because I play it three to four hours a day and my GPA is 2.5”

OKAY: “Students should avoid playing PS3 as it may lead to a lower GPA, dependency/addiction to gaming, and distraction from other important activities/duties.”

GOOD: “According to the National Behavioral Research Center (NBRC), students who play PS3 for more than an hour a day will likely develop a Game Dependency Syndrome, which will negatively affect students’ GPA their chances of getting into college.”

Step 7 (1 minute): Provide personal Input (PI).

Now that you’ve plugged in everything you know about your first example, it’s time to make some sense out of it and tie your plug-ins back to the prompt. Without a clear explanation and/or justification of why you plugged in those details, your paragraph will just be a copy-pasted version of Wikipedia.

Write one to two sentences – in your own words – about how your plug-ins help support your thesis.

Suggested transitions:

1. Therefore,
2. Hence,
3. Thus,

For example: Therefore, Winston’s actions prove that (government/leaders/country/party’s) dishonesty/deception can lead to societal/widespread chaos and rebellion.

Step 8 (8 minutes): Repeat the above process two times.

Remember! You need three examples/three body paragraphs – not two. Providing three examples/body paragraphs is another way to guarantee a double-digit score.

Step 9 (2 minutes): Write a strong conclusion: The power of “indeed.”

Your conclusion is extremely important as it is the final piece of information graders will read before grading your essay. Think of it as the last impression you leave on your graders – the stronger it is, the higher the score. Your conclusion must be succinct, to the point, and, most importantly, well crafted. By this, I mean that you should not leave such an important part of your essay up to improvisation. You must pre-plan for this and create multiple plug-ins.

For example: After a careful analysis of X, Y, Z (Plug-ins), Keyword is “indeed” Modified Thesis. . .

For example: After a careful analysis of 1984, Of Mice and Men, and Fahrenheit 451, one can see that honesty is, indeed, the best policy in building and maintaining long-lasting trust. Without honesty, societies can fall into chaos. Staying true to one another is the only way to prevent such destructive happenings/occurrences.

Step 10 (1-2 minutes): Whew! You’re almost done.

All you need to do now is go back and make sure you did not make any silly mistakes. Spend a minute or so revising and proofreading your essay. I’ve seen so many silly mistakes from my students that I must ask you to not make these same mistakes.