If you are looking for a short, simple answer, here it is: it takes about a full one or two working days for a beginner and about six to seven hours for an experienced writer or a graduate college student. In writing an essay, you must consider multiple factors. If you are looking for a clear guide to calculate the time you need for an assignment, stick around. You will find the answers to all your questions. 

Hey, here’s one more point before we start. If you must write an academic essay today and need urgent help, wait no longer! Grab the FastEssay quick essay writing service, and you will have expert online writers processing “write my essay for me cheap” orders quickly and efficiently. 

Five main factors that influence how much time you will need

Are you still here? Good, it means there is nothing urgent, and we have some time for the work. To calculate how much time you need and plan your schedule, you must clearly understand all the processes and components of writing an essay. Here are some basic variables that will influence the amount of the time needed:

1. Your acquaintance with the topic 

Writing about your favorite hobby and a new subject in your curriculum are two completely different things, right? Writing about a familiar topic takes significantly less time because you have all the information already structured in your head. On the contrary, you need more time to collect, sort, understand, and rearrange the unknown data.

2. The number of sources

The same principle works with sources, too. Usually, you need to search for each separately and evaluate its relevance to your topic. Then, you must distinguish the most valuable points and prepare them for citation in a particular format. Hence, having no sources required saves you a lot of time.

3. Your academic level and experience

The more you practice, the faster you will write your assignments. With time, these skills become second nature, requiring only the effort to start.

4. Expected word count

This point is obvious. The more extended your essay assignment is, the more time you will need to write it.

5. The importance of the paper

Let’s be honest: not all assignments are equally important. Some give you fewer points than others, so you are more likely to put less effort into it. 

How long does it take… The timing of different stages of writing

Okay, so you have an assignment due in a few days and want to schedule your writing sessions. How exactly long will it take you? Here, you will find the approximate timing for different stages of writing for an advanced and beginner student. Let’s say the assignment is a 1000-word essay with three sources on an unfamiliar topic. 

Please note that these are only approximate numbers. You may need to pay attention to your patterns and leave a few more extra hours for emergency cases. 

Outline. What takes your time on this step?

The outline step is important to clear your mind, structure your thoughts, and reveal the gaps in your knowledge. In this step, you need to make a rough draft of your essay structure. This includes the number of paragraphs and approximate major ideas for each. This way, you will make it easier to choose sources. 

Step number two. Time-consuming sources hunt

Usually, this step takes the majority of your time for the essay along with the writing process. You must allocate some of your time and resources to this step, as processing large volumes of information takes much cognitive effort. For instance, working with sources implies that you must allocate credible sources, take notes, and prepare citations for your essay. 

How long does it take to write?

Surprisingly, not that much. If you have done the previous two steps, you only need to expand your outline and citations to the full-scale paragraphs. However, if you skipped the outline and research steps, add these hours to your writing process. The only difference is that this way, your mind must do all the tasks simultaneously. So yes, we don’t recommend that. 

Editing and proofreading. The least time-consuming processes

Checking your text for inconsistencies, style, and grammar is the easiest process in writing an essay. However, it is better to use the spaced repetition method here. After checking the text once, rest and return to proofreading a few hours later. This way, you can take a fresh look at your work, so include these extra hours in your schedule. 

Fast writing tips: How to get things done quicker

Now you know how long it takes to write an average 1000-word essay. But what should you do if there are no more than a few hours left to submit the paper? The easiest option is to ask for professional help, but if you can’t do that, here are a few options:

1. Write the draft without caring much about what you are writing

When you are stressed out, it is much more complicated to concentrate. Breathe out. Just write down everything that comes to mind about the assignment prompt and then edit it. Editing is always easier than writing from scratch.

2. Ask for a time extension

Asking for help is okay; life happens to all of us. Contact your professor and honestly explain the situation. Make sure to address them politely! You will most likely be granted a few more hours or days.

3. Use AI to generate the essay structure

You cannot use artificial intelligence to write an essay instead of you. However, it can significantly help to point out your essay’s main arguments or thesis.

4. Minimize distractions

Writing an essay is not as complicated a process as you think. It can be as easy as speaking to your friend, and we all can do that. Students’ main problem is focusing and knowing what to write about. As soon as you manage these two variables, you can write an average-quality essay in a matter of a few hours.

5. Concentrate on the thesis statement

The thesis statement is a one-sentence summation of your whole essay. If you have it done, you basically have the full structure for your body paragraphs. This tip significantly helps to simplify your essay-building process. 

Hopefully, the article answered all your questions and prepared you to plan your essay writing. Remember that planning your tasks in advance is the most effective stress-beating technique! Take care, and good luck with your next essay assignment!