how long is a short essay

How long does it take you to write essays?

It literally takes me more than five hours to write a five paragraph essay. I write the first sentence, rewrite it, rewrite it again, find a synonym for a weak word, read the sentence aloud, start my second sentence, realize that my first sentence makes no sense, rewrite it, continue my second sentence, stop to think, read aloud everything written so far, etc etc. I don’t understand why I have to do this when I write, but I do. It’s not efficient and has definitely caused some problems.

How long does it take you to write a good essay? Any tips?

30-60 minutes for a rough draft. Thank you APLAC!

How long I spend on revisions depends on the class (I spend a hell of a lot more time for English than Constitutional Law, and more time on Con Law than Biotech…) An easy class not focused on writing (eg Biotech) I spend maybe 10 minutes fixing major grammar errors or replacing ridiculously overused words. Con Law - esque classes I spend another 30-60 minutes on revisions, depending on how bad the first draft was. English class I don’t write 5 paragraph essays unless it’s a timed writing, they are generally 4-8 pages (or more) so those take me a lot longer, closer to 3 hours for a rough draft and another 3 for edits. But I always had A+ papers.

Tips for you: Just write the damn paper. Seriously. Don’t stop after every sentence and revise. Just write the damn thing. Do your revisions after you have the whole paper done or at the MOST, at the end of each paragraph. Don’t do it after every sentence. Don’t be a perfectionist until the paper is done - just the write the damn thing first. I used to be like that with EVERYTHING not just papers and learning to just write the damn paper or just hit the damn ball really helps a LOT.

I’ve never written a good essay lol. In a timed setting, I can write a 5 paragraph or 2 page essay in 40 minutes. However, its quality is understandably lower than when I can choose how long I want to write my essay. I think I take at least 4 hours. Probably closer to 6 hours. I walk around to think about what to put for the next line. I am much better in maths and sciences lol.

For me, to go faster in writing essays, I just have to not care if what I am writing is good. I write slowly because I am continuously editing myself as I am writing so I do not need to edit at the end. There is a trade in quality but if you are good at editing, this might be the preferred route.

At home, I can write a solid English essay in about 2 hours. Sometimes longer if I have procrastinated or when I reward myself for finishing paragraphs.

When I write an essay, there is an inverse correlation between:

Quality by my perception, time spent per word

and

Quality by other people’s perception, length

Meaning:

The shorter it has to be, the longer I usually take to write each paragraph. (Word economy is an effort.) The better I think it is, the worse other people usually think it is, and vice versa . (Is my logic too much for the common reader to handle?) The longer it is, the worse I think it is. (I prefer a concise essay with a specific point over a paper that presents various information.)

I relate to Mark Twain: “If you want me to give you a two-hour presentation, I am ready today. If you want only a five-minute speech, it will take me two weeks to prepare.” Same applies to writing.

I type really quickly and I don’t normally encounter long periods of writer’s block, so a typical 1000 word English essay might take me anywhere from 20 - 45 minutes, without revision. (I rarely seriously revise my work - I don’t typically make spelling or grammatical errors too frequently. I just read through it and change a few phrases.)

For English, it typically takes me about an hour to google quotes and then about 30 minutes to type the rest of the essay up.

On the other hand, for college essays… It takes forever. I have no clue how to write about, well, me.

Oh, the irony. (Sorry, someone had to do it.)

I try not to spend too much time on essays, and don’t really revise very much either. I don’t think I can write out a good essay as fast as some people on here, but I never take more than 1-2 hours.

I agree about shorter essays being harder. My college essays are taking a lot more time to tweak and get right than school essays.

@evanatch - LOL true. I was going to use the excuse that I’m currently watching TV and half heartedly posting, but eh, I can’t really excuse that. You got me.

In normal circumstances, I don’t make grammar errors like that TOO frequently. (All bets are off on CC.)

Fair enough. I’m not usually one to point out small grammar errors, but with the context, I couldn’t resist. :D

Honestly, I’m usually the same way. After writing enough essays and reading enough books and articles I guess good spelling/grammar just starts to come naturally.

In the past I’ve written 20-page pieces of trash in a day or so, but I usually like to take as much time as I’m given. Just because you can theoretically write an essay in ten minutes or whatever doesn’t mean you should. But I wrote my first draft of my Common App essay over spring break and it still sucks. I don’t know.

an essay for apush or ap euro? lol like 20 minutes. dbqs are especially really fast for me.

english research papers? i write those over the span of a few days. if i were to sit down and actually write them, i would make an outline first. then i would just write from the outline. it would probably take 45 minutes.

tldr - outline first. it goes much faster that way, and everything’s organized. then you just focus on making it sound nice

I have the exact same problem. I write really good essays (at least I think I do), but I take HOURS AND HOURS writing my essays. The last paper in my English class, I spent literally all Sunday writing about Faulkner — all 24 consecutive hours, from 7 AM when I woke up to 7 AM of the next day to I leave for school, with lots and lots of coffee and Diet Coke.

I have an approach to writing where I will let out all of my thoughts about the topic into a document, some bullet points, some discarded thesis ideas, some witty sentences that I suddenly thought of, some snippets of entire paragraphs or sections. I then condense that into a somewhat-coherent outline, and I will start writing. I stare at the screen for a good hour, writing and deleting and rewriting the introduction. But once I have my introduction down and solid, it usually all flows out. But that said, I will still go back and rewrite entire paragraphs, move around sentences and sections, and even revise my outline as I go along.

This works, but this also takes a LONG time. I do not have 24 hours to write an AP L&C essay; in fact, I don’t have even an hour. I’m panicking right now as the AP exam approaches.

It usually takes me days once the essay is assigned (lit analysis ones) for me to decide what my argument/thesis will be. Then when I actually get to writing in, it takes me an hour to write the first sentence/paragraph because I always hate my beginnings and I always have the beginning of an idea in my head, then decide against it. When I eventually get around to the substantive stuff, for the 5 page essays it usually takes me about 3 hours.

I never revise though, except to look for typos or grammatical errors.

Depends on the topic. Once, I wrote an English essay in an hour the day it was assigned. Another time, I left it for 11:00 pm the night before. I can churn out things quickly if I have to, but I don’t always. I actually spend more time on summer program application essays than anything else. When writing timed essays in class, I usually figure out exactly how I want to analyze things at the end of the period, which doesn’t always go well.

I had to write a page reflection for APHG and it was due that day and I did it in 6 minutes during homeroom

Having a solid plan or outline helps a lot with my speed. The problem is that I’m prone to lie to myself about having an outline. Usually when I “outline”, I plan out my essay in a way I subconsciously know makes no sense just to get it over with. So then I sit there and write half of an essay I know I’m going to hate, only to erase it all and start over.

I’ve literally spent entire days writing essays, when in reality the vast majority of the time was me pacing around my laptop freaking out because I don’t even have a thesis.

Honestly, it depends. Under pressure/in a timed situation, such as those on AP exams or when we have timed AP essay practice in class, I can get a decent essay done in around 30-40 minutes. Argumentative ones are much better for my creativity than are DBQs :’)

But research papers…oh boy. That’s a whole 'nother story, particularly because I kind of, sort of, abhor and/or am terrible at sticking to outlines. I mean, I usually crank them out in a week or so by partitioning the paragraphs and it sounds a bit disjointed, but by that point I’m just glad I’m done.

Me too!!! For me, it takes more than five hours. I usually drag on to days. I think it’s because English is my second language. I wish I could write fast as my friends do! I need to be so organized in my head before I start writing and when I do, I tend to change every single word of the sentence until I’m satisfied. I want to sound professional. I guess I would need to practice more…

Essays for AP classes take me about 35 minutes, but I can take as long as 6 hours for an at home English essay.