How do you plan your essay during the exam?

First of all, read through the question a few times to make sure you understand what it is asking you. Underline any key words or phrases in the question that you will be able to discuss throughout your essay. For example, if the question asks 'Discuss three works by at least 2 artists who have depicted ideas of the female experience'. With this question, the key points would be that you have to write about 3 works, therefore you should be writing a paragraph on each work. Secondly, the question asks you to discuss 'the female experience'. You might want to start thinking, for no more than a minute or so, some key words that you would associate with the female experience. Perhaps such as 'feminism', 'emancipation', 'motherhood', etc.With these ideas in mind, spend 3 or 4 minutes writing a few simple bullet points at the top of the page summarising and condensing your overall essay, next to the titles of the works you will be discussing. If you were to discuss the work 'The Dinner Party' by Judy Chicago, you could write down the title of the work, a hyphen, and some brief phrases such as 'famous women throughout history', 'contrast between high art and low art', and 'a collaborative female effort'. Once you have quickly done this for each example, you can begin writing your essay! It's helpful to cross off each key phrase as you go along (i.e. once you have written about it in your essay). Don't forget to start your essay underneath this short plan, otherwise the examiner will think it's a part of the essay.