Written Examination: Writing
What the task demands
In Writing you produce original Chinese texts in specified genres - letters, articles, speeches, diary entries, notices, reviews - for a stated audience and purpose. You choose from set tasks, so selecting the task you can handle best is itself a skill. Assessment covers relevance and content, structure and cohesion, range and accuracy of vocabulary and grammar, and appropriateness to audience and format.
Concepts to master
- Genre conventions: letter openings and closings (尊敬的…… / 此致敬礼), article headlines, speech greetings (各位老师、同学们), diary dates and tone.
- Text structure: introduction stating purpose, body paragraphs with topic sentences, conclusion reinforcing the message.
- Cohesive devices: 首先, 另外, 总的来说, 不仅如此, 正因为如此.
- Range: vary sentence patterns - 把, 被, 是……的, 越来越, 虽然……但是 - and use precise vocabulary rather than repetition.
- Register: formal for letters to officials, informal for friends; 您 versus 你.
Common traps
- Ignoring the prompt's audience and purpose - a brilliant essay on the wrong topic scores poorly.
- Missing format features - no salutation or sign-off loses marks.
- Direct translation from English - produces unnatural word order and calques.
- Character errors and wrong measure words - accuracy is scored.
- No planning - leads to rambling and imbalance.
Rule of thumb
Spend five minutes planning: identify audience, purpose, format and three main points. Then write, reserving five minutes to check characters, measure words, tense markers (了, 过, 着) and format completeness.