Note: I wrote most of this earlier, waiting for the test to start. Why I spent twenty minutes writing before I took a writing test, I don’t know. And no, I can’t tell you what my topic was though I’m happy to say it was something I have strong feelings and therefore had no trouble writing about.
No one likes coming to school on a Saturday. Some of us wind up there when our attempts at studying are fruitless but most people avoid campus like the plague. Yet here we all are, sitting on the floor along a hallway in LA5. We’re here to prove something which should have already been proven multiple times, that we have the ability to write a logical essay in the English language. Yet about a quarter of students (10% of native speakers) fail the test the first time. Didn’t we all have to prove our writing abilities to get into college? How did some of us manage to learn that ability merely upon entering university? Come on, I’m an engineering student and even I have at least a basic ability to state my views in writing.
Here’s how the test works: Once you complete 65 units (typically in your third year) you show up to take a test lovingingly nicknamed the Whoopie. You pay twenty-five bucks and give up two hours of your Saturday morning to prove you know how to write. You have seventy-five minutes to write an essay on a given topic. Finish writing early? Too bad, you’ve gotta sit there, staring at whatever is in front of you. No reading, leaving early, listening to music, or knitting; those are considered distracting or cheating.
At least it’ll all be over soon and (hopefully) I won’t be back here to do it again.
Ouch, that sucks. RIT’s writing test is free, isn’t on a Saturday, and you can leave once you’re done. You can write either on the given topic or a topic of your choice. And amazingly, something like 35% of the engineers DON”T pass their first time. All you have to do is write a coherent piece of writing, mess it up a bit (or fix it a bit) so you have both a rough draft and a final copy to hand in, and you’re out in 20 minutes. Sorry that yours is so evil, but at least it’s done!