Writing Topics on the Exam

Below you will find a list of writing topics included in our Compass writing download.

When you have a look at the items below, you will find that they cover the same types of topics as the passages on the actual examination.

You will see academic passages from both the social and natural sciences on this part of the test, as well as those that have a more conversational tone.

Remember that this part of the test is evaluating your knowledge of the standard structures than are commonly used in academic English.

Bear in mind that conversational or colloquial English is quite different than academic English.

That is because we often speak in a very informal way, which sometimes includes non-standard forms.

A typical non-standard form would be the word ain't, for example.

Writing Topics in Our Materials

There are ten tests in our writing materials.

Our materials cover all of the skills assessed on the writing exams, such as grammar, usage, punctuation, capitalization, sentence construction, essay structure, and style.

Our ten writing exams are on these topics:

1 - Earthquakes

2 - Abraham Lincoln

3 - The Philosophy of Human Nature

4 - Organic Food

5 - Antarctica

6 - Population Age-Sex Structure

7 - The Pilgrims

8 - Brain Waves

9 - The Middle Ages

10 - Cancer Risk

For information on the format of the writing exam, please go to our Writing (English) Sample Test

To go to the writing example exam, please visit the writing sample page.

To view the answers for the example test, please go to the writing answers page.