Allocating the Final Eight Minutes in a Constructed Response
A candidate is preparing a 30-minute constructed response for the NES EAS Writing test. The prompt asks: 'Should all high school students be required to complete 40 hours of community service to graduate? Support your position with reasoning and evidence.' The candidate has written a thesis: 'Community service should be required because it helps students and communities.' They have two reasons-building responsibility and exposing students to careers-and one counterargument about busy schedules. They have 8 minutes left after drafting the introduction and two body paragraphs. The scoring rubric rewards a clear thesis, logical organization, specific support, and acknowledgment of counterarguments. The candidate is unsure whether to add a third reason or spend the remaining time strengthening the counterargument paragraph.
1. Evaluate the thesis. Revise it to meet the rubric's demand for a clear, arguable position that previews the reasoning.
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The thesis is a position, but it is too broad to guide the essay: helps students and communities could justify almost any program, and it does not preview the two reasons the candidate actually develops. A stronger thesis is: High schools should require 40 hours of community service because it builds civic responsibility and gives students early exposure to career paths, and schools can protect busy students by offering flexible completion options. This keeps the candidate's position, names the two reasons, and signals that the busy-schedule objection will be addressed.
A good thesis for this prompt needs three qualities: it takes a clear side, it limits the scope to a defensible claim, and it gives the reader a map of the argument. The revision does all three without becoming a full outline.
2. With 8 minutes left after the introduction and two body paragraphs, should the candidate add a third reason or strengthen the counterargument paragraph? Give a time-allocation plan and justify it.
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Strengthen the counterargument and write a conclusion rather than adding a third reason. The rubric explicitly rewards acknowledgment of counterarguments, and a third reason introduced with only 8 minutes left would likely be underdeveloped and unsupported. Two well-developed reasons plus a concession-and-rebuttal paragraph is a stronger, more coherent essay than three thin reasons and no conclusion.
A practical plan: 4 minutes to draft the counterargument paragraph, including a concession (Critics rightly note that many students work or care for siblings) and a specific rebuttal (a 40-hour requirement spread over four years, with weekend and summer options, reduces that burden); 2 minutes for a conclusion that restates the thesis and the two reasons; 1 minute to check paragraph order and transitions; 1 minute to proofread for sentence-boundary errors. The candidate should not start a new reason that cannot be developed.
3. Draft a counterargument paragraph on busy schedules that concedes the concern without undermining the thesis. Explain the rhetorical moves you used.
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A model paragraph: Critics argue that a 40-hour requirement burdens students who already work part-time jobs or care for younger siblings. That concern is real, and schools should not ignore it. But the requirement can be structured to fit those students: 10 hours per year, weekend and summer placements, and waivers for students with exceptional caregiving duties would preserve the benefit while reducing the burden. A requirement is not the same as a rigid schedule.
The paragraph uses three moves: concession (That concern is real), limitation of the objection (the requirement can be structured), and a specific rebuttal mechanism (10 hours per year, weekend and summer placements, waivers). It does not dismiss critics or pretend the burden is imaginary, which would weaken credibility. It also returns to the thesis by showing that the requirement is feasible, not that community service is unimportant.