10 tips on vocabulary building

1. Target learning just 5 new words a day. For each word, note its English meaning, as well as its Urdu meaning, its pronunciation, 2-3 synonyms and craft at least one sentence illustrating its meaning. 

2. Instead of cramming random vocabulary lists (GRE/TOEFL/SAT/GMAT etc), pick your words from the newspaper and from books and blogs related to your topics of exam preparation. 

3. Maintain a dedicated vocabulary register for noting down new words as described in (1). Don't work on your vocabulary on loose sheets of paper or in notebooks shared with other subjects. 

4. In addition to the vocabulary register, also maintain a pocket notebook for vocabulary building. From time to time, copy words and their meanings from the register to the pocket notebook.

5. Play the game of Scrabble a couple of times each month. 

6. In addition to discrete words, look for idioms, phrasal verbs and any catchy expressions in your everyday reading to note down in the register and the pocket book.

7. Build your stock of common English prefixes and roots.

8. Master the Academic Word List and regularly take some of the numerous free online tests to check your vocabulary growth.   

9. Deliberately put your vocabulary into practice in the essays you write. 

10. Borrow, buy or steal (ok, I am kidding!) one of the following books and read it from time to time. 

a. Webster's New Word Power Vocabulary.

b. 30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary by Dan Strutzel.

c. Instant Vocabulary by Ida Ehlrich.

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!

A paragraph or three about paragraphing

In any essay longer than one paragraph, paragraphing is the decision to end the sentence mid-line, almost always to start a new block of writing (another paragraph) from a fresh line. The 'almost' in the last sentence is to accommodate the very last paragraph of the essay, to which the second half of the definition of paragraphing obviously doesn't apply. 

Now a paragraph performs certain well-defined functions. One, it may convey a new idea or a major development of an idea that has already been presented. Two, it may bridge distinct lines of reasoning, signalling a transition or shift from one way of thinking to another. Three, a paragraph (as in the case of the opening or closing of the essay) may have a strategic function. In the case of the essay opener, the goal is not only to situate the topic and plant the thesis but crucially to grab the attention of the reader. Similarly, the closing paragraph aims to wind the topic down to a graceful halt but also looks to leave a lingering appeal.

Indented, justified

Flush left, justified

In addition to being mindful of why you want to end one paragraph or start another, there are also a few simple tips about the mechanics of paragraphing.  If you are going to indent your paragraphs, indent all but the first paragraph. Try to keep the size of indentation consistent throughout the essay, say, the width of your forefinger. It is perfectly fine however to start all paragraphs, flush left. 'Justifying' i.e. writing within column borders on both sides of the page (as in a newspaper) is also a smart practice. And yes, leave one line blank between paragraphs. The upshot of all this advice is that paragraphing is intended to facilitate the reader. If you do it right, your essay will be easier to bite, chew and digest.