Develop your voice. While you want your college essay writing to be formal, it should also be reflective of you as an individual. Work to develop your unique writing voice by writing regularly. Write informal entries in a daily journal or short accounts of personal events of information you have recently studied to practice for the college essay writing challenges you will soon face.
Read regularly. A well-developed, extensive vocabulary enhances the quality of your writing, and reading helps build your vocabulary. The practice of reading fiction and non-fiction passages daily not only helps prepare you for college essay writing but also assists you in continuing to build your reading skills.
Practice prewriting. Writing complex college essays is nearly impossible without prewriting. Review the prewriting procedures that you used in high school and keep these practices in mind when you reach college. Unlike in high school, college professors will likely not guide you through the writing process. You must use you pre-existing knowledge and move through the steps independently.
Read up on the topic. Once you know the topic you will be writing on, you can prepare yourself by learning as much as you can about the topic. The more you know about the topic on which you will be writing, the stronger your essay will likely be. To learn about the topic, read not only your course material but also supplementary articles.
Review previous essays and look for commonly made mistakes. Look through old high school or earlier college essays paying careful attention to the marks made by your instructor. You will likely notice errors that you make consistently. Once you have identified these errors, take care not to make them again.
Review the essay guidelines for the course in question. Professors commonly list specific essay requirements in the course syllabus. Before you begin your essay, look over these guidelines carefully. Do not lose points unnecessarily by being careless and failing to review provided guidelines.