Essay

1. Always remember that your story plot (intro > climax > solution > ending) forms the skeleton of your narration. If you omit any part, your story will crumble. Like your human skeletal system, the spine (climax) is the FOCUS of your story, so do not ramble on and on at the beginning. All humans also prefer to have their feet firmly on the ground, thus you MUST have a conclusion. Manage your time well so that you can have a proper ending.

2. Try as far as possible to make your story stand out from the rest. Try narrating from a different perspective or use humour to engage your readers or have a twist or weave in current issues or describe using your 5 senses etc.; the list goes on and isn't exhaustive.  Keep your nerves in check, calm down and let your ideas flow. Always remember that CREATIVE IDEAS that flow smoothly precede (come before) some bombastic and forced phrases that your regurgitate (vomit) from some composition books. 

3. Varied and solid sentence structures are the next keys to your success. Please analyze how good writers narrate their stories: the way they begin a paragraph or sentence, the way they link 2 or 3 phrases together (never 4 like what some of you do). Readers like clarity. Sometimes simple sentences thrown into your narration do the trick. Examiners NEVER appreciate flowery and unnatural sentences that pop out of nowhere. If you cannot sustain that high a standard that these sentences present, you are actually digging a hole for yourself and burying yourself in it. 

4. Precise punctuation (especially for conversations), strong verbs, adjectives, adverbs  and poetic language (similes, proverbs and idioms) add meat to your skeletal plot.  And since everyone loves flawless skin, you make sure your spelling and tenses are also ACCURATE!!! Do not use contractions (for e.g. 'couldn't' has to be written as 'could not'). 

5. And finally, I have 4-letters for you. Can you guess what it is? No, it's a very decent word. It's none...