Anyone else struggle with the speed of their writing?

0mega

I struggle getting exams finished quite a lot due to me not being able to write as fast as I would like. Because of this, I do a lot worse in exams than I should be doing, because I actually know all the material but just can't prove it within the time constraints.

Does anyone know of anything that could help me or how I could improve the speed at which I write?

emmetmurphy

Yeah it takes me ages to read someting

Manic2

YES! I have this exact problem. Terrible writing speed, even if I know all the material, and then I end up doing worse than I could do.

Canard

maybe a bit of shorthand might help? and dont bother trying to make it look neat at all - my view is if they're going to put pressure on me to write fast, they can have the trouble of deciphering it

Bubbleope

are you a neat writer? if you are that's probably the problem. xD speedy writing = not so neat. :pac:

Togepi

I get really slow at writing if I don't do enough of it for a while.

The best solution is to keep practicing writing answers as fast as you can. You will inevitably end up being able to write faster. One teacher I had before always insisted on us taking notes down as she called them out, to make us get better at writing quickly for the exam. (It worked wonders for all of us!)

Also remember that messiness doesn't matter, just get everything down as fast as you can! They can't deduct marks because it took them a while to read your answer, but they can if you leave out half of the answer when you run out of time.

mcpaddington

Togepi wrote: »

I get really slow at writing if I don't do enough of it for a while.

The best solution is to keep practicing writing answers as fast as you can. You will inevitably end up being able to write faster. One teacher I had before always insisted on us taking notes down as she called them out, to make us get better at writing quickly for the exam. (It worked wonders for all of us!)

Also remember that messiness doesn't matter, just get everything down as fast as you can! They can't deduct marks because it took them a while to read your answer, but they can if you leave out half of the answer when you run out of time.

Actually they can just refuse to correct your test at all if you have very poor handwriting.

Togepi

mcpaddington wrote: »

Actually they can just refuse to correct your test at all if you have very poor handwriting.

I've never heard of that happening. I'm sure it can, but the chance of it happening is highly unlikely. Teachers are well used to reading messy writing! :P (Seriously, I often wonder how they manage to read some stuff, mine included.) :pac:

emmetmurphy

Did you ever get tested for Dyslexia?
Maybe that could help ye.

0mega

emmetmurphy wrote: »

Did you ever get tested for Dyslexia?
Maybe that could help ye.

No, I'm definitely not dyslexic. But I just have neat, slow handwriting and I'm just not good at writing fast. I suppose it's just something I'll have to work on with practice.

Coeurdepirate

Does anybody else pretty much forget how to write over the summer? I have a different handwriting style every year! :P

Bubbleope

0mega wrote: »

No, I'm definitely not dyslexic. But I just have neat, slow handwriting and I'm just not good at writing fast. I suppose it's just something I'll have to work on with practice.

if you time yourself in an exam situation it can make you write faster because you want to get an answer done in a certain time frame. So maybe you should make sure to check your timing while you're writing and then you might be like awh sh*t better write faster and messier and then you get the answer done! .... i'm sorry if that ^ is confusing. :L :L it makes sense to me at least. :pac:

Coeurdepirate wrote: »

Does anybody else pretty much forget how to write over the summer? I have a different handwriting style every year! :P

Hell to the YES!! haha my signature is ALWAYS changing as well.. just can't keep with the same one!! S: arghh... :pac:

emmetmurphy

0mega wrote: »

No, I'm definitely not dyslexic. But I just have neat, slow handwriting and I'm just not good at writing fast. I suppose it's just something I'll have to work on with practice.

What hand do uwrite with.

Mayo_Boy

Should try taking steroids.....

desertcircus

I know this sounds ridiculous, but bear with me. I repeated my Leaving Cert some appallingly large number of years ago, and while doing it a teacher realised I had a problem with writing quickly. The school had a handwriting specialist in once a week to help students with literacy problems, and arranged for me to spend half an hour a week with her as well. She changed my handwriting so that every letter used as little effort as possible and led as easily as possible to the next one - it didn't bring me up massively, but it definitely made a difference. It might be worth looking into, particularly if your school has anything similar.

desertcircus

I know this sounds ridiculous, but bear with me. I repeated my Leaving Cert some appallingly large number of years ago, and while doing it a teacher realised I had a problem with writing quickly. The school had a handwriting specialist in once a week to help students with literacy problems, and arranged for me to spend half an hour a week with her as well. She changed my handwriting so that every letter used as little effort as possible and led as easily as possible to the next one - it didn't bring me up massively, but it definitely made a difference. It might be worth looking into, particularly if your school has anything similar.

0mega

One thing I've been thinking of is possibly typing for the Leaving Cert? I'm a very fast typer, I could finish an exam much faster if I was allowed type it. But what kind of grounds do you need to qualify on to be allowed do this?

SureYWouldntYa

ah its a joke the time we are given for some of our exams. hour and a half to do a 3-4 page irish essay and 3 hours to do 3 essays 3-4 pages and loada document questions. whoever came up with these exam times should be proud

Superbus

For the Summer exams of 5th Year (a complete waste of time in any case, even more so in my school as our big exams are at Easter) I pretty much focused everything on getting rid of my eternal problem of running out of time in exams, at least in writing-intensive subjects like English and History.

For about a month I got random bits of text (about an A4 page long) and practiced writing them as fast as I could, over and over, trying to get my time down. By the time the tests came around I could write an A4 page in under 8 minutes (and in an hour-long English exam, I managed to write 7 1/2 A4 pages), and that really stands to me. I was always getting frustrated with my mind racing ahead of what my hand could do - not anymore. I also confirmed with my teachers that my writing was no less legible.

So I know you probably have no time to bother doing something like I did, but if you could find the time, I'd recommend it.

spurious

desertcircus wrote: »

I know this sounds ridiculous, but bear with me. I repeated my Leaving Cert some appallingly large number of years ago, and while doing it a teacher realised I had a problem with writing quickly. The school had a handwriting specialist in once a week to help students with literacy problems, and arranged for me to spend half an hour a week with her as well. She changed my handwriting so that every letter used as little effort as possible and led as easily as possible to the next one - it didn't bring me up massively, but it definitely made a difference. It might be worth looking into, particularly if your school has anything similar.

This.
Unfortunately penmanship is not really taught in the primary schools any more. You would be surprised just how many second level students hold a pen/biro incorrectly, so that it can be physically painful for them after a while.

If you could find a person like desertcircus described, or even an older primary teacher, they could help you a lot and there is still plenty of time before the exams to alleviate the problem.

The option of typing an exam is really only meant for people with an actual disability.

neemish

This sounds silly, but what kind of pen I use can have a huge effect on how fast I write. Cheap bic biros are a disaster! I need a pen that the ink flows from faster - i like Staedtler triangular pens.

I also prefer writing on coloured paper - and it turns out that both of these things are related to a form of dyslexia. Apparently the "glare" of white paper can make it difficult to concentrate. Mad, eh?

if you're writing exams, and thinking about what to write, use one booklet for outlines of answers. Scribble down all the points you want to make. I think you get marks for that. At the very least, the examiner knows where you're going

stealinhorses

There's no other way to give you advice, but to just write as fast as you can and kill yourself doing it. It's ridiculous, but you're gonna have to do it for the likes of English and History. Don't get too distracted, don't let your mind wander, have a clear and focused idea of what you want to get down on the page.

What worked for me was splitting the sections according to time intervals needed to finely tune my performance for the exam. So, let's say I set myself 50 minutes to complete my Hamlet question, and once that 50 minute mark hit, I finished the sentence and moved on - no questions asked, no time to waste.

With the same amount of pages that I wrote for my English and History exams, I managed to sqeeze out an A1 in English, but only a B2 in History. So a lot also depends on your examiner and the quality of the content. But if anything will help you, it will be a rigorous schedule to keep while writing the exam (and an additional 2-3 minutes to read the questions carefully at the start).

0mega

Thanks for all the advice guys.

Superbus wrote: »

For the Summer exams of 5th Year (a complete waste of time in any case, even more so in my school as our big exams are at Easter) I pretty much focused everything on getting rid of my eternal problem of running out of time in exams, at least in writing-intensive subjects like English and History.

For about a month I got random bits of text (about an A4 page long) and practiced writing them as fast as I could, over and over, trying to get my time down. By the time the tests came around I could write an A4 page in under 8 minutes (and in an hour-long English exam, I managed to write 7 1/2 A4 pages), and that really stands to me. I was always getting frustrated with my mind racing ahead of what my hand could do - not anymore. I also confirmed with my teachers that my writing was no less legible.

So I know you probably have no time to bother doing something like I did, but if you could find the time, I'd recommend it.

I actually did this last night and plan on keeping at it.

My handwriting was pretty awful, but I did manage to get an A4 page done in about 10 minutes. Maybe with practice my handwriting will become more readable.