What could be more terrifying than the thought of how you’re going to write a 1500-word essay in 2 hours? The multiple reasons that could have led to this situation – whether it could be procrastination, too many commitments, or difficulty understanding the topic notwithstanding – it is an uphill task to beat such a short deadline. But what if I told you that you’re not the only one who has faced this predicament? Many have found themselves in the same situation and proved that 2 hours is enough to write and submit a coherent essay. Keep reading to discover a clever and practical approach developed by our team to help you finish your task within the deadline and ensure you ace your coursework.
Step 1: Understand the Prompt and Plan to Write a 1500-Word Essay in 2 Hours (10 Minutes)
This segment is the most critical; thus, do not skip it out of panic in order to plan how to execute the task. So, use up approximately 10 minutes understanding the topic and formulating a plan for developing your essay. Essentially, read the topic and identify the main requirement or keyword of the assignment, which can be anything from “analyze” and “compare,” to “argue” or “discuss,” among others. These crucial directions shape your writing voice or the approach you should take with the task. Next, understand the requirements of the topic and map its extent.
After discerning the requirements of the topic, it is necessary to define the focus of the discussion or its central argument or thesis. For your stance, select a position that you will defend reasonably, even if your knowledge of the topic is superficial. The importance of developing a stance is the focus that it adds to your work while making the writing plan solid. With the stance chosen, formulate an outline. The default outline follows an introduction, at least three body paragraphs (every paragraph focuses on one idea), and final thoughts. Draw on your thesis for the central ideas of each paragraph.
This short planning session is critical in structuring the essay. Additionally, it keeps the writing aligned in a particular direction, thus minimizing uncertainty along the process.
Step 2: Do Rapid Research to Help You Write a 1500-Word Essay in 2 Hours (20 Minutes)
Armed with your stance and outline, proceed swiftly to finding relevant content. Notably, research is crucial, but the timeline to complete the assignment requires restricting it to a maximum of 20 minutes. Thus, your research should strategically help with writing enough content within the limited time. Go for the easily accessible content like Wikipedia and others to gain more perspective on the topic. Thereafter, quickly find credible information on the topic from reputable sources that will help reinforce your arguments. Take notes on a few quotes or statistics from the sources.
Subsequently, add your findings from research to their respective sections in the outline. However, avoid writing out your notes in complete sentences or evaluating the ideas at this point. Also, be careful not to be caught in the urge to click endlessly looking for additional material when you already have enough sources aligned with the central theme of your essay.
For the sake of time, it may be a good idea to use AI-generative tools to brainstorm ideas and seek counterarguments. You can also use the tools to seek understanding of complex ideas or generate an alternative essay structure. Notably, avoid using the tools as a substitute for writing to avoid getting in trouble.
Step 3: Speed Writing the First Draft (80 Minutes)
As it regards getting the work done, aim to complete the first 1,000 words of the essay within an hour. I know this is daunting, but it is doable with the right strategy. Thus, focus on completing each section of the outline as quickly as possible without wasting time on making every sentence perfect. Follow the outline generated earlier while understanding the prompt.
✦ INTRODUCTION WRITING TIPS ✦
The introduction lays the groundwork for your ideas. The standard practice is to begin with 1 or 2 general lines that capture interest: you may provide a statistic, ask a rhetorical question, or state a fact. Layer this with some background information, between 2 and 3 statements that contextualize the discussion. Before the thesis, begin to narrow down to the focus of the essay with one statement. Finally, provide the stance or central theme of your discussion. Keep the introduction to a maximum of 250 words.
➤ BODY PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE ➤
Given the word count requirements, aim for paragraphs of approximately 350 words. The standard practice in developing one is to begin with a topic sentence, which is followed by the evidence, an evaluation/analysis, and finally a smooth transition to the next idea. Although a shorter essay would require approximately four lines, it will be necessary to tailor our paragraphs to meet the aim of having 350 words. The topic sentence introduces the main idea of the paragraph, while the subsequent sentences layer it with evidence and analysis.
◉ CONCLUSION FORMULA ◉
The essay needs a conclusion to summarize the discussion briefly. Open the conclusion with a restatement of the thesis, albeit in a fresh way. Next, briefly restate the points linking them to the argument. Finally, bring the discussion to an end in a memorable way with different strategies like a rhetorical question, an insightful idea, or a forecast.
Step 4: Fast Editing and Proofreading (10 Minutes)
Now that you have managed your time well and written your essay with at least 10 minutes left, proofread your work for final touches. You may use a grammar checker like Grammarly to complete this almost effortlessly. The tool should help you find issues like run-on sentences and subject-verb agreement inconsistencies faster than doing it manually.
At this point, avoid being tempted to rewrite the entire work, but just correct the minor issues affecting readability of ideas, such as incorrectly placed commas or repeated words. Also, ensure every paragraph has a clear purpose and improve any structural issues in the work, such as very long paragraphs.
Lastly, format the work using the recommended approach, give the essay a title, and provide any necessary citations.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
🧨 Pitfall #1: Over-researching
Resist the urge to perform extensive searches for additional insights because this will slow you down.
🪤 Pitfall #2: Writing and editing simultaneously
Avoiding this trap is critical to meeting the target of generating 1,000 words per hour.
⚠️ Pitfall #3: Bypassing planning
Diving into the essay without a plan will cost you ultimately by requiring you to stall multiple times to plan for each step, leading to more wasted time.
🚫 Pitfall #4: Using unreliable sources
General sources do not provide anything deeper than surface-level insights, hence should be avoided for academic work.
🎯 Pitfall #5: Misalignment of thesis and ideas
The discussion points need to be aligned with the thesis; thus, they should be edited to align or eliminated.
Conclusion: Yes, You Can Write a 1500-Word Essay in 2 Hours
Thank you for following our guide on how to write a 1500-word essay in 2 hours. Remember that the key to being effective in this mission is to plan, spend little time on research and note-taking, and draft as fast as possible. Also, use tools that can boost your speed, like AI for brainstorming and creating an outline. Lastly, remember to avoid perfectionism and use a grammar editor to edit readability issues before submitting your work.
Last-minute paper creeping up on you? Don’t sweat it, we are one click away
Racing the clock? Let us handle the pressure while you focus on breathing. Get a fast, polished, and on-time essay
