How should I approach an essay question in a writing exam?

Many people worry about these type of exam questions however, if you follow a set way of approaching them, then they are much less daunting that you might think. Here are my top tips:1)   Make you fully understand the question. This is important to make sure that what you are writing is relevant to what you are being asked to do.For example, a question may ask ‘Escribe sobre tus vacaciones el verano pasado’ (write about your holidays last year). Here, although the question is about your holidays, as the question is asking about a specific time in the past, it would be inappropriate to describe any future holiday plans or a previous Christmas holiday.2)   Decide on the formality of your response and signpost your understanding.For example, an email to your best friend would be more informal compared to a formal letter to the prime minister. Whereas ‘Hola Pedro’ may be appropriate when addressing a friend in an email, it would be an inappropriate opening of a formal letter, where 'Muy señor mío' would be the correct phrase.3)   Plan your answer.This is not only a great way to organise your thoughts in an exam, but also will provide a structure to your response that will allow you to avoid repeating the same ideas.4)   Make sure you leave enough time to check your spelling and grammar. Often students are too focused on the content of their answer and forget to check that they have used the correct grammar. This is an easy way to improve your mark by avoiding silly mistakes!