Two tricks that take
essays from okay to wow
Essays are different from tests. They don't have right or wrong answers. The Stack still works — it just looks different. This page teaches you two tricks that fix the two main problems in school essays: not enough to say, and answers that stay shallow.
The two tricks
- The 5 Ws and 1 H — Who, What, Where, When, Why, How. Stops your essay being thin.
- Why-Why-Why — ask "why?" three to five times in a row. Stops your analysis being shallow.
Use both together and your essays jump up a grade. Promise.
Trick 1: The 5 Ws and 1 H
This trick comes from journalists. When reporters write a news story, they make sure they answer six questions: Who, What, Where, When, Why, How.
If they miss any of them, the story feels thin and incomplete. The same is true for school essays.
| Question | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Who | People, groups, characters |
| What | The thing that happened or the idea |
| Where | The place or setting |
| When | The time or date |
| Why | The reasons |
| How | The way it worked or happened |
Example — a history essay
Essay question: "Why did people fear the Black Death?"
Who — People in medieval Europe, kings, priests, peasants
What — A deadly disease that killed millions
Where — Spread across Europe and Asia
When — 1346 to 1353 (worst years)
Why — It killed quickly, no one knew what caused it, and it seemed unstoppable
How — Spread by fleas on rats, but no one knew that at the time
Now you have six angles to write about. The essay almost writes itself.
Trick 2: The Why-Why-Why method
This trick deepens your answers.
Most kids write something like: "The Black Death was scary because lots of people died."
True. But shallow. That's a C-grade answer.
To make it an A-grade answer, you ask "Why?" three to five times in a row.
Each "why" digs deeper. By the fifth one, you've gone from a simple fact to a really interesting insight.
Example — Black Death (continued)
Start: "The Black Death was scary because lots of people died."
Why was it scary? Because nearly half the people in some villages died.
Why did that make it especially scary? Because nobody knew what was causing it, so they couldn't stop it.
Why did not knowing the cause matter? Because they blamed each other instead — Jewish communities, witches, foreigners — which led to violence and persecution.
Why did that matter for history? Because the fear changed how people saw their government, their church, and each other for hundreds of years afterwards.
Look at that. You started with "lots of people died." You ended at a deep point about how fear shaped European history for centuries. That's the kind of answer that earns top marks.
A kid using both tricks
Meet Sienna. Year 7. She's got a literature essay due on the book Holes by Louis Sachar. The question is: "Why does Stanley dig holes?"
Old Sienna would have written one paragraph saying "He digs holes because the warden makes him."
New Sienna runs both tricks.
5 Ws and 1 H
- Who — Stanley, the Warden, Zero, the boys at Camp Green Lake
- What — Stanley is forced to dig holes every day
- Where — Camp Green Lake, in the desert
- When — Modern-day, during Stanley's punishment
- Why — Officially as punishment. Secretly, the Warden is looking for treasure.
- How — In the dried-up lake bed, in the heat, every day
Why-Why-Why on the main point
- Why does Stanley dig? Because the Warden makes him.
- Why does she make him? She says it's to "build character," but secretly she's looking for buried treasure.
- Why does she pretend it's about character? So no one knows she's stealing kids' labour for her own gain.
- Why does this matter to the book? Because it shows how the system at Camp Green Lake is built on lies, and how the kids are being exploited.
- Why does that matter to the bigger story? Because it connects to the family curse — Stanley's family has been "digging holes" (suffering bad luck) for generations, and breaking the curse means breaking out of unfair systems.
Sienna writes a four-paragraph essay using both tricks. Her teacher gives her an A and writes "really thoughtful analysis" at the bottom.
Pick an essay question from school (or use one of these): "Why is recycling important?" / "Who was the most important Tudor king or queen?" / "Should children have homework?"
- Get a blank piece of paper
- Write the question at the top
- Down the left side, write the 5 Ws and 1 H
- With a grown-up, fill in each one
- Pick the strongest angle. Write a simple sentence about it.
- Run Why-Why-Why on that sentence — ask "why?" five times
- Show your final answer to the grown-up. Notice how much better it is than just the first sentence.
Did you know that examiners are trained to look for depth, not just facts?
Two students might know the same facts. The one who shows WHY those facts matter — connecting them to bigger ideas — gets the better mark.
Why-Why-Why is literally training your brain to do what examiners reward. Three or four "whys" deeper than the average student, and you're already in A-grade territory.
Mistake 1 — Stopping at the first "why." Most kids ask "why?" once, get an answer, and move on. The interesting stuff is at the third or fourth layer. Keep asking.
Mistake 2 — Filling in the 5 Ws but then ignoring them. Some kids do the planning, then write a totally different essay that ignores their plan. The plan IS your essay structure. Use it.
Quick check
1. What are the 6 questions in the 5 Ws and 1 H?
Who, What, Where, When, Why, How.
2. How many times should you ask "why?" in a row?
Three to five times. The gold is usually at the fourth or fifth layer.
3. What's the main thing examiners look for in good essays?
Depth — showing why facts matter, not just listing them.
The 5 Ws stop your essay from being thin. Why-Why-Why stops your answers from being shallow. Use both before every essay. Your work moves up a grade. That simple.
Plan your next essay with a ready-made template — the 5 Ws, the Why-Why-Why trick, and a box to write your answer. Fill it in and save it!