Writing Sample essay

I’m trying to study for my English course and I need some help to understand this question.

Topic

The purpose of this assignment is to give me a snapshot of your writing skills which will help me to determine the skills we will review in our English 020 class. For this writing sample assignment, you will compose a short essay on the following topic:

Write an essay about a memorable personal experience that has made a big impact on your life.

Instructions

• In your essay’s thesis, identify your subject (the personal experience) and the point you want to make about this experience.
• Use descriptive details that support and develop your thesis.
• Use a logical organization and transitions to help the reader easily follow your essay.
• Write at least 350 words. (The maximum is around 500 words.)
• Spend no more than 75 minutes on composing the writing sample because I want to see an example of your unpolished, “raw” writing.

Sample Essay

I was never one to believe in things like miracles or fate, but since my accident a few months ago, I look at things a little differently. Whether it was a miracle, or fate, or just plain luck, I’m still here to tell this story.

It was a Monday morning, just about 8:15. I was actually a little early for once and was glad I didn’t have to race to work. It was my second week as a bank teller at Harrison Savings and Loan. There had been some freezing rain earlier that morning, but the roads seemed clear as I pulled out of the driveway. I turned left at the light, right at the Dunkin Donuts, and then left again onto the onramp for Route 61. I sped up to merge with the oncoming rush-hour traffic when suddenly I felt my car, a brand new Durango, lose control. I’d hit a patch of ice.

What happened next probably lasted no more than fifteen seconds, but if felt like hours. I spun around like a top, turning two full revolutions as I crossed the two southbound lanes. Then I hit the median strip and the car flipped over as it crossed into the northbound traffic. I skidded across the highway and the car stopped in the right-hand lane. There I was, upsidedown and backwards, after crashing across four lanes, and somehow I was alive. Somehow I hadn’t hit a single car.

But I had no time to appreciate that miracle, because when I looked out the shattered windshield, I saw an 18-wheeler was bearing down upon me at about 65 miles an hour. There was no time to get out of the car. I screamed and braced myself for the impact. But instead of hearing the crunch of metal crashing into metal, I heard the screeching of brakes as the truck swerved around me, just in time to avoid a head-on collision. The truck skidded to a stop on the shoulder about a hundred feet away from me. Then the driver jumped out and ran over to see if I was okay.

That night at home, I eased my aching body into bed. But I was climbing into my own bed, in my own room, not in the hospital. Somehow, the only injuries I sustained were a few cuts on my face and hands, a bruised right shoulder, and two bruised calf muscles. My new car was totaled, but I didn’t care. All that mattered was that I was alive.

Grading

Your grade will be based on effort. You will earn the full 25 points if you write at least 350 words.