Fast Planning for Both Tasks

What you'll learn: a planning routine that takes under two minutes and prevents the disorganized, rambling responses that cost content and coherence points.

Why plan at all under time pressure

With 27 and 26 minutes respectively, planning feels like wasted time — but unplanned responses tend to repeat ideas, forget part of the prompt, or run out of things to say halfway through. A short plan costs two minutes and typically saves more than that in avoided backtracking and deletion.

The 4-line planning method

Before typing your response, jot down four short lines (mentally or in a scratch area if the interface allows):

1. Purpose — one phrase: what is this email/response actually trying to achieve?
2. Points — for Task 1, one concrete detail for each of the prompt's three points, in the prompt's order; for Task 2, your choice (Option A or B) and your two reasons.
3. Tone — one word: formal, semi-formal, or friendly-but-clear.
4. Close — what action or opinion you'll land on at the end.

This isn't a full outline — it's a compass so you don't drift mid-response.

Worked example

Prompt: You have a family event next Saturday, but you are scheduled to work that day. Write an email to your coworker, Jordan, in about 150–200 words. Your email should do the following things:

• Explain why you cannot work on Saturday.
• Suggest how the two of you could swap shifts.
• Offer something in return.

Plan:

1. Purpose: request a shift swap
2. Points: (a) sister's wedding Saturday, (b) I take Jordan's Tuesday evening, Jordan takes my Saturday 9–5, (c) I cover one of Jordan's weekend shifts next month
3. Tone: friendly, semi-formal
4. Close: ask them to confirm by a specific day

With this plan, the email nearly writes itself — each body paragraph answers one of the prompt's three points.

Planning checklist

• Have I identified the single main purpose of this response?
• Do I have one concrete detail for each point the prompt lists, not one idea restated three ways?
• Have I decided the tone before writing the first sentence?
• Do I know how I'll close before I reach the closing paragraph?

Common mistakes

• Skipping planning entirely and discovering mid-paragraph you have nothing left to say.
• Over-planning — writing a plan so detailed it eats 5+ minutes of your 27.
• Planning content but not tone, leading to a mismatched register partway through.

Recap

A fast, four-line plan — purpose, points, tone, close — takes under two minutes and gives your response a spine, preventing the two most common failures: running out of ideas and drifting off-topic. Practice this planning step until it becomes automatic before moving to full drafts.