One’s tense will vary depending on what one is trying to convey within their paper or section of their paper. For example, the tense may change between the methods section and the discussion section.

Sixty seconds to take in the ring of tributes all equidistant from the Cornucopia ... It is also common for essays to be written in the present tense. For example, if you were to write an essay ...

I walked to the shop. However, not all past tenses are written like this as there are exceptions which need to be learned separately. For example: I bent down to pick up a penny. The correct past ...