Writing: Guided and Free Production (Expresión escrita)
What the task demands
You produce two kinds of text: a guided task (a message, email, notice or short description following given points) and a freer task (an opinion, a narrative or a letter with your own ideas). Assessment weighs task achievement, coherence, range and accuracy.
Concepts to master
- Text conventions: greeting and closing in emails (Estimado/a…, Un saludo), informal tú vs. formal usted, layout of a notice.
- Covering all the prompts: each bullet must appear; missing one costs marks regardless of grammar.
- Paragraphing and connectors: en primer lugar, además, sin embargo, por lo tanto, en conclusión.
- Tense control in narrative: imperfect for setting the scene, indefinido for events.
- Opinion language: a mi parecer, considero que, me parece fundamental que + subjunctive.
- Range without risk: use structures you control; ambitious half-remembered idioms usually break down.
Traps to expect
- Writing far over or under the word limit and losing task marks.
- Answering only two of three prompt points.
- Mixing tú and usted in the same letter.
- Memorised essays that do not fit the question.
- Ignoring accents and basic agreement under time pressure.
Rule of thumb
Spend three minutes planning: list the required points, choose one connector for each, and decide the tense frame. Then write. Reserve two minutes to check verb endings, gender/number agreement, and accents.
Worked example
Guided task: write an email to a friend inviting them to a trip, mentioning transport, date and what to bring. A strong opening: «¿Qué tal? Te escribo porque he pensado que podríamos ir a la sierra el fin de semana del 12.» Then one short paragraph per point, ending «Avísame si te apetece. Un abrazo.» Every required element is present, register is consistently informal, and connectors carry the reader through.