Written production (composition and structured writing)
Written production asks for two pieces: a longer composition on a discursive or narrative title, and a shorter functional task such as an email, letter or notice. Marks come from task achievement (all prompts covered, correct length), range (tenses, structures, vocabulary), accuracy (agreement, prepositions, verb forms) and organization (paragraphs, connectors).
Planning and register
- Spend five minutes on a plan: opening, two or three body points, conclusion. Each paragraph = one idea plus an example.
- Decide register before writing: tu with a friend or peer; Lei with an adult, office or host family. Never mix them.
- Functional frames: Ciao Marco, come stai? Ti scrivo perché... / Gentile Signora, Le scrivo in merito a...; close with A presto or Cordiali saluti.
- Build range with connectors: innanzitutto, inoltre, d'altra parte, tuttavia, quindi, infine.
Worked example
Prompt: invite a friend to visit and suggest a plan. Draft: «Spero che tu puoi venire.» Reasoning: sperare che requires the congiuntivo presente, so puoi becomes possa. Better: «Spero che tu possa venire; che ne dici di arrivare venerdì? Potremmo visitare il centro e poi mangiare una pizza.» The conditional potremmo softens the suggestion, and che ne dici di + infinitive is idiomatic. All three invited elements - invitation, suggestion, arrangement - are covered.
Traps
- Under-length answers lose content marks; over-long ones eat checking time.
- Translating English syntax: Ho 17 anni, not Sono 17 anni; mi piace, not io piaccio.
- Forgetting agreement of adjectives and past participles.
- Anglicisms: realizzare = to achieve, not to realize; attualmente = currently.
- Leaving the functional task without a greeting or sign-off.