This series of exercises coaches students on how to: prepare in advance of a timed essay, anticipate the types of prompts featured on a variety of standardized tests, construct roadmaps during exams to keep essays focused, and construct concise meaningful introductions, body paragraphs, and conclusions. Included are exercises aimed at fine tuning word choice, sentence structure, and punctuation prowess in order to reach the top of scoring rubrics. Sample student writing samples labeled "the good", "the bad", and the "frilly" offer examples of effective and ineffective writing and illustrate the importance of striving toward "sniper fire rather than buckshot" in on demand writing situations.