I have learned a lot through the last few weeks of University 150. The progress that I have made as a writer is very evident by looking at my first essays to my more recent ones. The assignments given through the last five weeks has helped me grow my knowledge in grammar, essay structure, content, word choice, and punctuation. I would say with confidence that taking this class has given me the writing tools be prepared and be successful in English 110.
I realized how much I had learned about the writing process and essay structure once I completed the midterm. While I was writing for the midterm assignment, I went through all the writing process steps. I made an outline, completed a draft based on that outline, revised the draft, and edited the final essay draft. While I was editing and revising the essay, I kept in mind the common grammatical and essay structure mistakes on the writing placement test rubric and made sure that there were none of those errors in my essay. In the beginning of the semester, I would have just written out whatever was on my mind relating to the prompt without even editing the essay before submitting it. This shows my progress as a writer throughout the course.
The in-class grammar practice has helped me immensely as an English student. I noticed that whenever I would take my in-class grammar practice worksheets, a lot of my answers were wrong. Asking for help and getting assistance on these grammar worksheets helped prevent future grammatical mistakes on all my upcoming essays. I learned a lot through this, specifically through the subject-verb agreement and punctuation exercises. I feel like now that I know what my grammar weaknesses are, it is easier for me not to make the same mistakes again.
All the things that we went over in class and the assignments given during the last part of the semester helped my progress with essay-writing and generally as a student. The class has prepared me very well for my next English class. This class has given me confidence in my writing and given me new skillsets that I can apply to all my future essay assignments. It has made me aware of my strengths and weaknesses as a writer and given me the tools to identify and correct my weaknesses. I am grateful that I failed my writing placement test, as I feel that I would not have done very well in English Composition without taking this class first.