Everyone has opinions about many different things. We don’t all agree about everything which is part of what makes each person unique and special. It’s normal, though, to want others to agree with our opinions. Since writing an argumentative essay is one way to support one side of an issue, it is a skill that is tested on high school equivalency tests. The video below introduces a simple method to write an essay that can receive a passing score.
Students can actually write the 1st 3 sentences of the 7-sentence essay by carefully looking at the titles and the information before and after the passages, without reading the full passages first. In the two videos below, that information is used to write those important 1st 3 sentences. Then the passages are read and the rest of the essays are written.
The videos below provide six more examples showing how to write those 1st 3 sentences when there are variations in the information before and after the passages. Complete sets with the passages for these six essays can be found in the HiSET Writing Quick Guide. To view samples or purchase the HiSET® Writing Quick Guide, please click here to shop as an individual student or click here to shop as a school.
CAUTION: When writing Sentence 2, the debate sentence, it is important to identify the real issue being debated instead of assuming that the topic tells you what the issue is. The topic and the issue are not necessarily the same thing.
NOTE: The requirements for the argumentative essay found on the GED® test are slightly different than the requirements for the HiSET® test. A Guide to Writing the GED® Argumentative Essay that is required in the GED® Reasoning with Language Arts Test is available for purchase. Click here to shop at the online store.