Do you know why some essays get better grade than others, even though both are on the same topic? Same topic means same type of content. So what separates one essay from the other? The answer lies in the presentation of the content. There are one hundred and one ways to write on a topic. It all depends on how you plan for your essay.

For example, how do you even begin writing an essay? There are so many ways to start. You can start with an introductory paragraph (the conventional way), or you can start with the key idea.

As you write your essay, you will be struggling with similar questions, and you will have to make similar decisions. Each decision you make will either push you towards a better grade, or pull you away from the grade that you want. So you have to be careful while you are writing.

Let's take a step back and look at what makes a good essay.

1) Great content.

This is, of course, essential to the essay. You must have great content. Great content means your ideas should be original and interesting. How many ideas do you have?

2) Lively use of language.

Your essay comes to live when you use language in a way that's lively. Use highly descriptive words and include as much details as you can. When you do that, your story comes to live.

3) Well organized and flows easily.

This doesn't come easily to all students, especially when you are writing under time constrains. But it is important to keep your essay well organized. Don't jump to the next topic until you are finished with the current one. Your essay should also flow easily, and naturally. When you have a well organized essay, the reader will not be easily confused.

4) Sentence structure and grammar.

In the beginning, there is no need to pay too much attention to technicalities. Focus more on how to flesh out the content. However, your grammar and sentence structure should still be decent. It shouldn't be so horrendous that your reader gets put off by it.

As you plan for you essay, all you have to do is to recognize when to perform the above steps. Here is a sample plan:

Step 1: Brain storm for ideas.

Step 2: Elaborate on ideas.

Step 3: Add new ideas.

Step 4: Organize ideas.

Step 5: Eliminate grammar errors.

When you have a plan, and you stick to the plan, your find that the quality of your essay improves tremendously. How did that happen? It happened because you put in extra effort to plan your writing, which is what most students don't do!

So don't just be an average student. Be an outstanding student by planning for your essay. This is what separates the B and C students from the A students.