90% of Failing Essays Fail to Answer the 'Task' or 'Question'!

Last updated: 2025/04/23

This series, [Basics of Essay Writing], introduces the fundamental aspects of writing that I, Shimeno, an essay and composition instructor, teach during my regular correction and grading sessions.

(You can see Shimeno's self-introduction here.)

Since it is an exam question, it is a prerequisite to answer the 'task'.

An essay is not a 'literary prize'.

The title says, '90% of failing essays fail to read the task'. Do you think this is an extreme statement? I believe most Japanese language and essay teachers would agree with me on this.

Most low-scoring answers fail primarily because they do not read the task—that is, the problem statement and the source text—and therefore do not answer the task. Before even considering the persuasiveness of the content, the majority of answers simply do not address what the question is asking.

If you think that essays are evaluated based on vague notions of 'good-sounding writing', please discard that idea. The same applies if you think people with a natural sense or talent for writing will be evaluated highly in essay exams. That way of thinking is wrong. An essay exam is not a 'literary prize'.

Before even writing, if you stand on the premise that 'this is an exam', you should realize that 'if you don't answer the task, you won't get points or evaluation' is perfectly obvious. In other subject exams, if you don't answer what is asked, you can't get points, right? It is the same for essay exams.

Now, I will give you an ultimate choice!

'An essay that doesn't answer the question but has wonderful content' versus 'An essay that answers the question but has mediocre content'. Which one is evaluated higher?

...The correct answer is the latter, 'an essay that answers the question but has mediocre content'! Since the former does not answer the question, it is outside the scope of evaluation from the start, regardless of whether it is good or bad. Even if the former is wonderful in terms of writing content, it is not a 'literary prize', so that alone will not be evaluated unconditionally. Answering what is asked is the basis of an exam. Based on that, the content of the answer is evaluated. Not answering what is asked doesn't even put you on the table for evaluation. It's like being asked to find the value of X and answering with the value of Y; even if the value of Y is correct, it is not the value of X that was asked for, so it becomes 'incorrect'.

90% of failing essay answers do the same thing. It is the same as swimming the crawl in a 200m butterfly race and coming in first. That is a problem before even talking about whether the swimming is fast or wonderful; it is 'disqualified'. Some people might think, 'That's harsh...', but that is what an exam is. Competing under the same conditions (answering the task) and having superiority or inferiority determined there is what an exam is. Please study and prepare for the actual exam while being fully aware that an essay exam is such an exam, just like other subjects.

Now, regarding this 'case of not answering the task', there are broadly two types. One is 'the case of not answering the problem statement', and the second is 'the case of not answering the source material'. Here, I will divide them into those two cases and show the problems and solutions.

The case of not answering the problem statement

In an essay, when we say 'task', it is broadly divided into 'source material' and 'problem statement'. For example, in the case of a source-text-based essay, it says 'Read the following text and answer the questions that follow', then the source text is shown, followed by 'Question 1...'. Here, we will first think about the 'case of not answering the problem statement'. In other words, it is the case of not following the conditions instructed in the problem statement.

For example, if there is a question like the following, Question 1 says 'Explain' about 'what the author is claiming'. As you can see from reading this, this is not asking for your own opinion or claim, but 'explaining' what the author is claiming, so it can be said that this is a 'discursive question' or 'summary question'. However, when faced with such questions, some people often write their own thoughts or impressions. Naturally, this becomes an answer that 'does not answer the problem statement'. You must not write your own opinion. Since this is a 'reading comprehension question' from the text, you should read how it is explained in the text and explain it within the character limit using the words and expressions from the text.

Also, in Question 2, it says, 'State your thoughts on the author's view regarding 'listening ability', incorporating your own experience.' Therefore, it is important to first read the 'author's view regarding 'listening ability'' thoroughly and then state your own thoughts on it. If the subject you are discussing deviates from that, even if it is a wonderful argument, it will be an answer that 'does not answer the problem statement'.

Since this asks you to state your thoughts on "the author's perspective," I believe it involves presenting an opinion on whether you agree or disagree with that perspective. However, if the question is "What do you think about X?", you need to answer how you think about it, rather than just agreeing or disagreeing (I often see students who automatically argue "agree" or "disagree" without thinking, and it can be said that those students have failed to grasp what is being asked). In other words, it is also important here to carefully read the question in the problem statement to determine if it is a so-called YES/NO question (agree or disagree) or a WH question (how you think about it) and answer accordingly.

In addition, what you must not forget is that Question 2 says, "while incorporating your own experience." You must always follow the conditions and instructions of such questions (it is just a feeling, but I suspect a certain number of examinees in this actual exam forgot this when writing their answers). In other words, you need to discuss by bringing up your "own real-life experiences." If this is not included, naturally, that answer will be considered as "not answering the question." During the actual exam, it is important to underline the conditions and instructions of the question and check them thoroughly.

Cases where the task material is not addressed

As mentioned above, when the instructions in the problem statement are somewhat specific, it is still manageable because you can accurately grasp those instructions, not forget them, follow them strictly, and, so to speak, dare to "follow the guidance of the question" while putting together your essay answer. However, some essay questions only have the instruction, "Read the assigned text and state your thoughts in 800 characters or less." In my opinion, these types of questions are more troublesome.

The pattern like the example earlier can, in a sense, be said to be "the problem statement taking the lead and showing you what you should read and understand."

Think about it. Having you summarize "the importance of listener behavior as claimed by the author" in Question 1 indicates that this is the core of the author's argument in the text. Also, instructing you to state your own thoughts on "the author's perspective regarding 'listening skills'" in Question 2 suggests that this is the "subject (theme)" and "point of contention (what is being discussed)" in the text. In other words, to put it another way, there are no better "hints" and no more "kindly designed" problems than this. Ideally, even without such "guidance," you should be able to read these things on your own.

Therefore, simple problems with no question conditions, such as "Read the assigned text and state your thoughts in 800 characters or less," can be said to be more troublesome. You have to read the "subject," "point of contention," and "author's argument (in the case of an assigned text)" from the task material yourself, raise the issue properly, and write the essay.

What I often see here is "a shift in the point of contention." There is almost no one who cannot read the "subject." For example, if there is an assigned text discussing "the aging of society," most examinees understand, "Oh, the theme is a super-aging society." However, there are cases where they have not read well what the point of contention of that assigned text is, in other words, what aspect of the aging of society is being discussed as the issue.

This is an answer I actually saw in the past. The assigned text for that problem had the theme of the aging of society and was discussing the nursing care problem (so-called elderly-caring-for-elderly). It was discussing the difficulty of home care due to the caregiver also becoming elderly. However, although that student did indeed write about the aging of society, they discussed the problem of the declining birthrate in the background of aging and mentioned the problems of non-marriage and late marriage among the younger generation. Although they are discussing the same theme of the aging problem, the point of contention is shifted, and this does not count as "reading the assigned text and stating your thoughts." They should have discussed the problem of elderly-caring-for-elderly.

"Reading the assigned text and stating your own thoughts" means that if you do not also incorporate the "subject (theme)" and "point of contention" of the assigned text, it cannot be said that you "read and wrote." Whether you agree or disagree with the author's opinion is fine as a presentation of your own opinion, but if the "point of contention" is not shared with the assigned text, it cannot be said that you have incorporated the task material. High school students almost never mistake the "subject" (junior high school students do occasionally), but it is not uncommon for the "point of contention" to be shifted. Naturally, such answers are also considered "not answering the task," so it is important to accurately read the "subject (theme)" and "point of contention" from the task material, and in the case of text materials, the "author's opinion."

Summary ~Don't forget the attitude of answering the 'task' even in essays~

Since essays are also assigned as one subject of university entrance exams, evaluations that affect pass/fail are made. It is better to be able to write a good essay, but before that, the attitude of answering the exam question at the "starting stage" is necessary first. Let's make sure to read the "task" thoroughly and work on the essay problem.

<Appendix>

In this article, Mr. Katsuhiro Suzuki, who has been involved in essay guidance at high schools for 36 years and has served as a chief researcher at the Yoyogi Seminar Education Research Institute since 2020, writes about the same point as this humble article, so I will quote and introduce it.

Based on this realization, Mr. Suzuki carried out "a certain initiative." That was to have them read the question text "out loud."

As a result, students were able to create essay answers that did not miss the "conditions" of the question and answered the "requirements" of the question. Mr. Suzuki states the following after this.

That is exactly as the teacher says. The veteran Mr. Suzuki saw that the bottleneck was that students were not answering the questions or tasks, and he changed his teaching method to deal with it. It was a very informative article!

Please read the article itself for other content!

For those who are worried about "how to write a statement of purpose," I recommend this "Shimeno-style template statement of purpose creation method"! (Price reduced on 2025/03/25!)

5 points to keep in mind when creating a statement of purpose for those aspiring to medical school (and medical-related faculties)!