Unexpected essay topic on exam day: now what?

Knowing that the statistics of failure (over 90%) in the CSS Essay examination put the odds against them, students come to the examination room well-prepared. Or so they think. 

One obvious reason for failure is that they cannot possibly prepare for all topics under the sun. And so on exam day, many CSS aspirants are forced to choose between a rock (difficult topic X) and a hard place (difficult topic Y). I have addressed this decision challenge on this blog in detail with a helpful flowchart.  

Here, I just want to share a few techniques to get your juices flowing after you have chosen the essay prompt. 

1. Brainstorm: Using a spidergram, think quickly on paper in point form, without filtering your ideas or worrying about grammar or even language (yes, you can brainstorm in your native language!).

The spidergram format is more helpful by design than the list format because it allows your ideas to grow organically. Using different ink colours (for different ideas) and pictures (instead of just words) is known as mind-mapping. Research suggests mind-mapping can be more creative and productive than simple brainstorming. 

2. Freewriting: Give yourself 5-10 minutes to write continuously on a topic. Again, don't worry about the conventions of language. The only rule is that you write as much as you can without stopping at all. After you have done that, ask yourself: Is there a pattern in the writeup — a recurring theme, a promising idea, a lead that you could pick up?

3. Ask yourself all the WH-questions about the topic: How?Where? When? Why? What? Who/whom/whose? Park the answers to the relevant questions around the spidergram. 

4. Use Edward de Bono's six thinking hats to brood over the topic.

Of course outside the examination setting there are plenty of other ways to generate ideas but you are in the examination room. Tick tock! Tick Tock!