Written expression and composition
The production task - normally 200–250 words, worth two to three points - asks for an article d'opinió, a carta al director, a short essay or a text argumentatiu on a topic linked to the reading or to a current Balearic issue (tourism, language use, housing, water). Orthographic and grammatical errors are deducted, commonly 0.1 per error up to two points, so correctness can outweigh rhetorical brilliance.
What is rewarded
- Register: standard Catalan, no colloquialisms (una mica, mazo), no Castilianisms (dar, haber-hi, tener, actualment used for ara).
- Architecture: a frame that situates the topic, an explicit thesis, two or three arguments with examples, and a conclusion that opens rather than repeats.
- Connectors: d'entrada, en primer lloc, d'altra banda, així mateix, no obstant això, en definitiva, per tant.
- Cohesion: pronominalisation with hi, en, ho; lexical repetition replaced by synonyms; ellipsis.
- Genre fit: an article carries a title; a letter to the editor opens with Sr. director and closes with a signature.
Five minutes of planning
Underline the key word of the prompt. Choose a position - a balanced one is acceptable but must be stated. Jot three arguments: one logical, one concrete local example, one concession followed by a refutation (és cert que…; ara bé,…). Draft the first sentence; never open with En aquest text parlaré de…, a school formula penalised as not adjusted to the genre.
Worked example
Prompt: write an opinion article on the use of Catalan among young people. Opening: Que el català retrocedeixi entre els adolescents no és una fatalitat demogràfica: és el resultat de decisions quotidianes que es poden invertir. First argument: the digital environment shapes habits, so interfaces and subtitles in Catalan matter. Second: school alone cannot compensate for a leisure market that offers nothing in Catalan. Concession: No es tracta de culpabilitzar ningú… Conclusion with one concrete demand. The reasoning behind the opening is that it converts a description into a defensible claim, which is what the genre requires.
Traps
Exceeding or falling more than about ten per cent below the word count; mixing registers; starting every paragraph with the same connector; forgetting the title in an article or adding one to a letter; accent errors in the past simple (cantà, donà), per/per a, sinó/si no, hi ha/ha - the classic deduction points.