Writing: Guided and Free Production (Produzione scritta)
What the section tests
Guided tasks (completing a message, reordering, transforming sentences, writing a short email from prompts) check control of structures. Free production (a short message, letter, description or opinion) checks communicative adequacy, range, accuracy and organisation.
Concepts to master
- Text conventions: email opening (Gentile Signora, Caro Marco), closing (Cordiali saluti, A presto, Un caro saluto), formal vs informal address (Lei/tu).
- Functional language: inviting (Ti va di…?), apologising (Mi scusi per il ritardo), requesting (Le sarei grato se…), giving opinion (Secondo me, a mio parere), justifying (perché, dato che, quindi).
- Cohesion: connectors of addition (inoltre), contrast (tuttavia, però), cause (poiché), consequence (di conseguenza), sequencing (in primo luogo, infine).
- Sentence variety: combine short sentences with che, quando, se, perché; use pronouns to avoid repetition.
- Accuracy checks: article–noun–adjective agreement, verb endings, accents (è/e, sé/se, dà/da, sì/si), double consonants.
Typical traps
- Mixing tu and Lei in the same text.
- Answering only part of the prompt (e.g. forgetting to ask a question or give a reason).
- Overusing the present tense where a past or future is needed.
- Omitting accents, which changes meaning and lowers the mark.
- Writing far over or under the word limit; both cost marks.
Rule of thumb
Spend two minutes planning: list the points the prompt requires, then write one short paragraph per point. Reserve three minutes to reread for agreement, accents and tense consistency. Prefer simple, correct sentences over ambitious, broken ones.
Worked example
Prompt: write an email to a friend, invite him to dinner on Saturday and explain why you are celebrating. Model opening: “Ciao Marco, come stai? Sabato sera organizzo una cena a casa mia perché ho finalmente finito gli esami. Ti va di venire verso le otto?” Note the informal tu, a clear reason with perché, and an invitation question - three prompt requirements met in three lines.