Writing Exam

1. Writing Exam A Guide

2. Steps to Success • Choosing the correct question • Time management • Planning • Engaging the reader • Technical accuracy

3. Types of questions • Personal experience (thoughts and feelings) • Short story • Discursive • Functional

4. Time Management • Seventy five minutes to choose, plan, write and check an essay. • Five minutes- choosing a question • Five/ ten minutes – writing a plan • 50/55 minutes- writing your essay • Five / ten minutes- checking and correcting

5. Activity A • Choose an appropriate question • Create a plan for your essay • Ensure that it includes thoughts and feelings, as well as at least one setting

6. Describing Setting • Use the senses- touch, taste, sound, sight, smell • Use imagery- simile, metaphor, personification. • Use sound techniques- onomatopoeia, alliteration.

7. Activity • Highlight/ underline all references to the senses in the extract you have been given. • Find one example of each of the following: simile, personification, alliteration.

8. Activity • Complete a senses chart for a setting which features in your personal writing. • Use this to write one or two paragraphs describing your setting. • Include imagery and sound techniques

15. Success Criteria • You have used at least three of the senses • You have included at least one example of imagery and one sound technique.

16. Describe Thoughts and Feelings Fully • Describe your thoughts and feelings in more detail • Explain why you were experiencing these feelings

17. I felt sad. • I felt distraught. • I felt distraught because I would never see my uncle again. • The realisation that I would never see my uncle again made me feel distraught. • The sudden, sharp realisation that I would never see my uncle again welled up inside me. I attempted not to cry, but this was as futile as a few sandbags guarding against a tsunami. Wave after wave of fear, upset, shock and confusion devastated me, leaving me completely distraught.

18. I was worried. • All the potential embarrassments, awkward situations and outright terrors stomped relentlessly through my mind: what if I was late; what if I made mistakes; what if the office was populated by Rangers supporters; what if it even more tedious than a double period of Close Reading?

19. Improve the following • I felt happy • I was excited • I was nervous • I was angry • I was upset • I was worried

20. Activity • Take the most emotional part of your experience • Write a paragraph explaining how you felt and why • Use imagery to describe your feelings

21. A good introduction should . . . • Write down two things a good introduction should do

22. Introduction • Engage the reader • Give a clear idea of what your essay will be about • Set the tone for your essay

23. Paired Activity • Read the two introductions • Highlight anything which makes them an effective introduction

24. Solo Activity • Write your own introduction • Try to use language in a way which will engage the reader

25. Peer Assessment • Two positives • One area for improvement

26. Vocabulary • Highlight all uses of the following ‘got’ ‘said’ ‘went’. • Rewrite any sentences which include these words, using more descriptive verbs instead.

27. Sentence Structure • Varied • Use punctuation for effect • Avoid starting all your sentences with ‘I’

28. Use colons to introduce examples • My workplace resembled the aftermath of a hurricane more than an office: papers were scattered everywhere; almost no floor-space was uncovered; there was even a couple of broken windows.

29. Use question marks to indicate uncertainty / confusion. • How would I be able to find a suitable question in my Writing exam? How would I read the Close Reading passage without falling asleep? How do I answer link questions again?

30. Use long sentences to indicate a large amount / duration or length. • The rest of the week seemed to drag on like an eternity. My days consisted of tedious and largely futile tasks: filling out forms; counting envelopes; struggling with the photocopier; filling out more forms; staring at the clock willing it to leap forward; taking calls about forms; filling out even more forms.

31. Use short sentences for emphasis / to suggest brevity /climax. Make sure that these still contain a verb and a subject. • Here I was.

32. Rewrite the sentences below. Use more varied sentence structure. • I was very worried when I arrived at my new school. I nervously tapped on the door. At first no-one replied and I was worried that I had arrived at the wrong place.

33. Flows Through Good Linkage /Topic Sentences • Use these to connect the ideas in your different paragraphs. • Use linking phrases: however, although, as well as, also • Refer back to previous paragraph and introduce idea of new.

34. Topic of previous paragraph: how I first became interested in being a lawyer . • New paragraph: when I found out about the qualifications required. • Afterthat first interest in a legal career was ignited inside me, the next step was to discover what qualifications were required.

35. Topic of previous paragraph: Worries before first day of new school • New paragraph: first day and how it was much better than expected

36. Conclusion • Rounds off what you have been saying • Contains reflection • Not simply a description of the last part of what happened • Try to return to a phrase or image from earlier in your essay

37. Look back on this experience- with all the added maturity and insight that a whole 24 more on this on this planet brings- I now understand why I was so frightened.