Horrible at timed writing? What do I do?

Propinquity
Wed, 23 Jan 2013 17:56:48 +0000

I honestly don’t know what’s happened to me. Ever since junior year started, I’ve been absolutely terrible at writing timed essays. I’ve been getting 3’s and 4’s on my APUSH essays.
I used to be really confident in my writing skills. In fact, it was pretty much the only thing I could take pride in. Maybe I was overconfident, I don’t know. But whatever happened, it’s only getting worse.
At the beginning of the year, I was doing great. I got 9’s and 8’s. Then after I got a 4 on a Jacksonian Democracy essay, my confidence has been completely shot. Every time we write an essay in class, I literally want to cry.

Today, we had our final DBQ. Naturally, I was incredibly worried about it, so I studied the topic for hours. (she gave us three topics that we would be randomly given)
When we started the essay, I completely blanked out and forgot a lot of my outside information.
I kept second-guessing my sentences and scribbling them out. I ended up only writing 2 1/2 paragraphs, and they were all awful. I know I’m going to get a 3, or worse. Everyone else in my class either finished early or they were a sentence away from finishing. It takes me literally 20 minutes to write a paragraph, and we only have 45 minutes.
I’m always aware of the time constraint, but that only makes me even more stressed.