Writing and Producing Texts
What this domain tests
The writing section asks you to produce coherent, well-organized text for a stated purpose and audience - a narrative, a descriptive or persuasive piece, a letter, or a short response to a prompt. Examiners assess content and organization as much as surface correctness: a clear controlling idea, logical paragraphing, relevant development, and a deliberate voice. You are expected to plan, draft, and revise within the time allowed.
Core rules and concepts
- Purpose and audience. Every choice - tone, vocabulary, level of detail - should fit who is reading and why you are writing.
- Controlling idea and thesis. State your main point early in persuasive/expository writing; let each paragraph develop one aspect of it.
- Paragraph unity and coherence. One idea per paragraph; use transitions (however, in addition, as a result, for example) to link sentences and paragraphs.
- Show, don't tell, in narrative. Replace "she was nervous" with concrete action and sensory detail.
- Development. Support claims with examples, reasons, or evidence - not repetition.
- Introduction and conclusion. The opening engages and frames; the conclusion reinforces without merely restating.
Worked example
Prompt: Write a paragraph persuading your school to start a recycling program.
Weak draft: "Recycling is good. Our school should recycle. It helps the environment. Everyone should recycle."
Revision reasoning: The weak version repeats a claim without support and has no structure. A strong revision states a position, gives a concrete reason, and uses a transition:
"Our school should launch a recycling program because it would cut waste and teach responsibility. Last year, the cafeteria threw out hundreds of juice cartons each week, all of which could have been recycled. A simple bin system would reduce that waste and give students daily practice in a habit they will carry beyond school."
The revision adds a controlling idea, a specific example, and a linking word (because).
Traps that cost marks
- Answering the prompt only loosely - off-topic content earns little regardless of fluency.
- Listing points without developing any of them.
- Abandoning the required form (e.g., writing an essay when a letter format is requested).
- Shifting tense or point of view mid-piece in narrative writing.
- Skipping revision, leaving sentence fragments, run-ons, and unclear pronoun references.