Essay Writing Topics

How can I prepare for a great Essay Writing?

This Section is an attempt to give you tips on writing essays specifically under time limitations. How do you Write essays under a given period of time 20 Minutes!! Specifically stating most of the Bschools keep essay writing as a part of selection process. Some of the elite institutes including ones under FMS, IIMs etc. have now started essay writing making it as one of vital process and thus it becomes imperative for every MBA aspirant to know more about essay writing .Breaking it up into several sections as : What is essay writing Test? What can we do in 20 minutes? What are the key points to highlight? What can be the topics in essay writing?

What does Essay Writing Test achieve?

The essay is used as a tool to judge the social and ethical values of the aspirant as the written piece provides a valuable insight into the mind of the test taker. The B-school uses the essay as a pre-interview yardstick. An Essay can test you out on: Clarity, Logic, Focus, Structure, argument and several other factors. Each of these factors reflect your personality traits and that is the main criteria for selection. For example, XAT essay would test you out on these parameters including the knowledge about the topic, so the interviewers would know some of your personality traits and can easily spot you on lying.

What can we do in 20 Minutes Essay Writing Test?

In 20 mins [as in most of the bschools as IIFT,IIMs,XAT] given a topic, if you have substantial information regarding the topic or even if you don't have, always remember one of the most important criteria is to STRUCTURE you essay! A 20 min essay can test you out as a panic situation if you aren't sure of the information you know. In that time it is very important to keep your cool and structure. A structured essay is always interesting and gives vital insights about a person, who is clear and structured in his approach. You are not expected to know everything but you can show that you are meticulous in your approach which is the desired quality by all the b-schools.

Key points to Highlight during an Essay Writing Test?

As mentioned you already know which are the desired qualities that you need to show case through an essay. One main criteria for writing an interesting essay would be think of what the reader would like from an essay. You are a reader and reading about 1 lakh essay how would you select! You would only select those which are different from the rest and provide interesting points. Few more general points are: Develop your main idea with vivid and specific facts, events, quotations, examples, and reasons. There's a big difference between simply stating a point of view and letting an idea unfold in the details. 1

Be Specific and avoid clichd, generic, and predictable writing by using vivid and specific details. Cliches are overused expressions, expressions that may once have seemed colorful and powerful, but are now dull and worn out. Time, pressure and anxiety may make you lose focus, and that is when cliches may slip into your writing. A reliance on cliches will suggest you are a lazy thinker. Keep them out of your essay by thinking ahead and proofreading. Avoid any regional expressions

Topics in an Essay Writing Test

As such we cannot predict but looking at trends our suggestion is to read current affairs and once a story is found try to read more stuff about past instances of it in wikipedia . We were mentioning in our GD Special that probable topics include Corporate governance which came in IIFT 2ndFeb09.

Some More Tips:

Essay's as explained in tips are a vital part of selection process in Bschool. Some more tips are given through examples: 2 3 Expressing yourself in positive language Use paragraphs and connect those paragraphs using words like later, furthermore, additionally, or moreover; If you are writing about Topic A and now want to discuss Topic B, you can begin the new paragraph with a transition such as "Like (or unlike) Topic A, Topic B..." Vary your sentence structure. It's boring to see subject, verb, object all the time. Mix simple, complex, and compound sentences. Understand the words you write. You write to communicate, not to impress the admissions staff with your vocabulary. When you choose a word that means something other than what you intend, you neither communicate nor impress. You do convey the wrong message or convince the admissions officer that you are inarticulate. Be succinct and avoid qualifiers such as rather, quite, somewhat, probably, possibly, etc. and always use the active voice as it is more precise and less wordlier.

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Examples:
7 XAT Essays: 1996 There is no right way of doing a wrong thing. 1997 "By the third or fourth week of the term, business school had succeeded in afflicting me with a variation of the Stockholm syndrome, named after the incident in which a hostage in a Stockholm bank robbery fell in love with one of her captors." (Peter Robinson in Snapshots from Hell : The making of an MBA) 1998 Max Weber, a German Sociologist, defined state as an entity that has a monopoly over legal violence. India proves that the converse is also true; if criminals cannot be punished by the law, its effect they become the state. (The Economist September 27, 1997)

1999 "Television really is, another eye so you can sec anywhere, another part of your heart so you can feel and care about things you never felt and cared about before, another ear to hear strange music .... The first and only international language? 2000 Ships are safer in the harbour. But they are not meant for the same. 2001 Economic Growth without distributive justice can only lead to violence 2002 "Indian Economy in the Post WTO Era." 2003 To give real service, one needs to add something that cannot be bought or measured, like sincerity and integrity. 2004 Asked at the age of 83, as to which of his project would he choose as his master piece, Frank Lloyd wright, the architect answered, "The next one 2005 More than one billion Indians: A gigantic problem or a sea of opportunities. 2006 India has one of the largest pool of talented manpower but few innovations and patented products. 2007 Economic growth without environmental damage a mirage or a reality 2008 Gender Imbalance would lead to Third World War

Read Our Article on What could have been been written on these topic>>

IIFT Essays: *Balance between professional and family life(2005) * Coalition governments and their impact on the country.(2008) * National rural employment scheme is a step in right direction for rural development.(2008) * Globalization and the Indian value system.(2008) *The implication of the change in US presidency for India (2009) *Ramifications of change in US presidency on India(2009)