Writing Part 2: the story he prefers, against the article he scores in
In Part 2 of B1 Preliminary Writing, candidates choose one task - an article or a story - of about 100 words, from a prompt. The whole paper is 45 minutes, and Tomasz normally finishes Part 1 in about 20. His teacher's notes across six pieces read as follows. Articles: clear opinions, good topic vocabulary (music, phones, sport), but repetitive sentence openings. Stories: past simple mostly accurate, only four irregular past forms used correctly, and linking is 'then... then... then...'. His last article scored 13/20 and his last story 9/20. In class he says he prefers stories 'because you can invent things'. The exam is in six weeks and there is time to teach only one option properly.
1. Which option should Tomasz plan to choose, and how do you answer his objection?
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Plan for the article. The reasoning is not preference, it is evidence:
- 13/20 versus 9/20 is a four-mark gap on a task worth half the Writing paper, so the wrong choice costs more than any single language fix available in six weeks.
- The article plays to what he already does: he has opinions and topic vocabulary. Its weaknesses - repetitive sentence openings - are surface features that respond quickly to a short list of alternative openings (For me, / What I like most is / The best thing about...).
- The story depends on control of past forms, and he has four irregular past forms working. That is a months-long project.
Answer the objection directly: 'Inventing things does not earn marks; the examiner marks the language you use to tell it. With stories you are being marked on exactly the grammar you are least secure with.' Give him one practice story as a fallback, no more.
2. What does the four-mark gap actually consist of, and what would you teach if he insisted on stories?
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The gap is not mysterious - it is the machinery of each task type:
- Article: present tenses, opinion language, addressing the reader, a title. Tomasz is already 80% equipped.
- Story: narrative tenses, irregular past forms, time and sequence linkers, and often direct speech. He is roughly half equipped, and his 'then... then... then' shows he has no alternatives to sequence with.
If he insisted, the minimum package would be: eight to ten high-frequency irregular past forms (went, saw, took, found, told, bought, thought, left), four narrative linkers (while, as soon as, in the end, suddenly), and one line of direct speech. That is achievable - but it is a six-week project that starts him four marks behind, and it only pays off if the article he abandons was going to score lower, which the evidence says it was not.
3. He chooses the article. Show how the 45 minutes should be spent.
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The budget follows his real habit - Part 1 takes 20 minutes - so Part 2 gets the same and no more.
- 0-20 min, Part 1 email, using his existing routine, ending with a two-minute check of the four notes and the word count.
- 20-23 min, plan the article. Choose the prompt that matches a topic he already has vocabulary for. Write a title, then three lines: one question or hook for the reader, one clear opinion with a reason, one example or personal detail, plus a closing question.
- 23-39 min, write about 100-110 words in two or three short paragraphs, using two of the alternative sentence openings from the lesson so he does not repeat 'I think... I think...'.
- 39-45 min, check: title present, opinion stated explicitly, reader addressed, past/present forms consistent, spelling of common words.
Tell him the one non-negotiable: the opinion must be findable in the first two lines, because that is what the task rewards.