How do I write about an unseen prose passage?

Tackling an unseen prose passage and having to write an essay about it can be daunting, namely because there is usually a lot of text and a lot more to read than if it is a poem. Opening an exam paper and seeing a page filled with text, long sentences and a lot to get through can lead to panic and cause you to lose concentration. I would often start reading the passage and get halfway through before realizing that I hadn't absorbed any of the information. It is best to begin by reading the extract twice over before going into the detail of the language to make sure you have fully grasped what it is about. This helps to get a sense of the overriding themes of the extract which will help you to structure your essay. After this, read the passage a few more times over but this time looking at the language in a lot greater detail. You should think about syntax, tone, imagery, irony, narrative voice, and how the passage flows to help you pick out specific quotations for analysis. You should also think about the meaning behind the language and to find an argument for the question being asked, using the themes of the passage to help organize the argument.In your introduction you should lay out the historical context if necessary, and then address your argument, briefly going into the two or three different sides to it and the themes in the passage which support this. Each paragraph should discuss a different aspect of the passage, using evidence that you have picked out from your close analysis to support it. Each paragraph should end centering around the question - it is vital that you clearly show that you are responding to the question and that you aren't drifting away from what they are asking. Using the words of the question in opening and concluding sentences of paragraphs can often help with this. Your conclusion should some up what you have been talking about but also try and articulate the relevance of these ideas so that you are not just repeating what you have already said.