[Highschool – English] Help me get an academic scholarship?

[SaFyre13]

(I have no idea where to put this thread, I guess preparation counts as homework)

I was talking about this with drizzleRomanceGirl in profile chat a few weeks ago but I’ve only made this thread now. I’m 14 and in Year 9 in 2014. I’m going for an academic scholarship in a week so I can save my family money. The testing is as follows:

Written expression (25 minutes) – I can barely plan and write anything in 40 minutes, let alone 25.
Reading Comprehension (40 minutes)
Mathematics (40 minutes)
Written expression 2 (25 minutes)

I’m fine with mathematics, but the majority of the testing consists of what I would see in a typical English exam. Creative and/or persuasive writing, (it could be either or both in the test, I don’t know) I’m terrible at. Then there’s reading comprehension, where they give you some 4-5 paragraphs excerpts from a novel and ask you questions that involve you to inference information. They’re multiple choice (A-D), and I find usually myself tossing up between two answers because they seem similar. Of course, you only get a mark if it’s the correct answer of the four.

I assume the majority of people here are 18+ and hopefully there are some people who are academically proficient or did well in exams. I won’t get better at writing and comprehension overnight but I hope some people could give me general advice or maybe even just some encouragement. I’ve been upset with my life recently and this scholarship thing has made me stressed out more, so this post probably isn't well structured.

I hate making a big deal out of this but this community and place really make me feel like I actually mean something nowadays.