Writing: Menulis dengan Struktur dan Register
What this section tests
You produce extended Indonesian texts for a stated purpose and audience: a letter, an article, a recount, a persuasive piece, or a short story. Marks reward content and ideas, structure and cohesion, vocabulary and grammar range, and accuracy.
Concepts to master
- Text types and their skeletons: recount (orientation–events–reorientation), procedure (aim–materials–steps), exposition (thesis–arguments–conclusion), description, narrative.
- Cohesion: pertama, selanjutnya, selain itu, sebaliknya, oleh karena itu, sebagai kesimpulan. Use them to link paragraphs, not to pad.
- Register consistency: choose formal (Anda, tidak, saya) or informal (kamu, nggak, aku) and keep it throughout. Mixing is a common accuracy error.
- Affix accuracy: meN- verbs, di- passives, -kan vs -i (menuliskan vs menulisi), and ke-an nouns.
- Punctuation and format: salutation Dengan hormat, closing Hormat saya, date format, paragraphing.
Traps to watch
- Answering the prompt only partly - check whether it asks for opinion plus reasons plus recommendation.
- Over-reliance on simple sentences - range marks need some complex sentences with karena, walaupun, sehingga.
- Direct translation from English - membuat keputusan is better as mengambil keputusan; sangat suka is often sangat menyukai.
- Ignoring the audience - a letter to a principal should not use nggak.
Rule of thumb
Spend three minutes planning: purpose, audience, three main points, register. Then write with one idea per paragraph and a linking word at the start of each. Reserve time to check verbs, prepositions (di vs ke), and consistency of formal address.
Worked example: Prompt: write a letter to your school principal suggesting a recycling program. Plan: Dengan hormat → state purpose (Saya menulis untuk mengusulkan…) → two reasons (Selain itu…) → recommendation (Oleh karena itu, sebaiknya…) → Hormat saya. Formal register throughout.