Deare All,

I gave headings in my essay and scored 45 marks. The topic that i wrote on was , Pak rich in natural resources but poor in their management. I had done no prior prepartion of essay. Did not write any essay during my preparation or have any such writing checked from some teacher or somebody else. I gathered all my ideas inside the hall, and wrote there and then.

I was myself very confused regarding the issue of giving headings or not. The night before the exam, I called my cousin and asked for his opinion. He stood 13th in the 2008 exam, and was doing his CTP at that time. He was of the opinion that headngs should be given. Infact the he told me that the year that he cleared the exam he did give headings. A year earlier he was unable to clear essay, and that year he had not given headings. So, i followed that thing and went with headings, and cleared myself.

I cannot advocate that if you give headings you will pass.As essay requires alot more than just the absence or presence of headings only. But i am of the opinion that headings facilitate the reader, and that definitely helps you score little more. Yes the outline is there, but examiner would not be remembering the outline after just reading it once. If one gives headings the reader has the ease of grasping the argumentative flow of essay.

Just to add here, on the same night when i asked my cousin regarding headings, a friend of mine asked the same from a renowned teacher of english, who teaches for the precise and composition paper. The teacher said that headings do not put any negative impression, so one may give headings.

Now this is my personal opinion, formed because of my experience, and through the suggestions given to me by people.

I wrote 22 pages, plenty of grammar/ spelling mistakes, no quotation whatsoever, intro of just 10 lines, conclusion was in progress and paper was snatched....

I don't know how I got 47 marks
I failed in aggregate, overall

senior pleaze elaborate this issue. it is really confusing. I remember one of our member USMAN KHALID who attempted essay with excellence but got approx 33 or something like that and there are many others like him who tried their best but failed. Now look at lucky BAGGIO who passed paper with plenty of errors. Secondly, the matter of headings in essay paper is creating ambiguity. to some it is childish practice but others are benefiting. Please elaborate.

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"Man is never Prepared for examination".Put in your best and hope for the worst...

Follow what may please you but i would say headings in an essay is tantamount to suicide.

Our friend Usman Khalid sure was very unlucky to have missed out on the essay, and that too by such a slight margin. However, i and many others like me must have observed that Usman's English was quite weak, as was evident from some of his posts. This gives a really poor impression, if after every few sentences the examiner has to cross a line for minor grammatical errors.

I personally believe the first thing an examiner checks is whether the writer can even write basic english without faltering. That is my personal opinion however.