Writing
Writing tests your ability to produce coherent Mandarin for a defined audience and purpose: a message, note, email, or short essay. Marks come from task completion, organization, grammar and vocabulary range, and character accuracy; one missing content point can cost more than a small grammar slip.
Plan for the task
- Identify audience and register: 你 for friends; 您 or 尊敬的 for formal contexts.
- Underline every required point, then allocate one sentence or clause to each.
- Use a three-part frame: greeting or opening, body with connectors, closing.
Sentence-level control
- Connectors: 首先, 其次, 另外, 因此, 不过, 总之.
- Use aspect correctly: 了 for completion, 过 for experience, 在/正在 for progressive.
- Keep characters simple and correct; if unsure of a character, choose a synonym you can write.
- Chinese punctuation: 。，、：？“” rather than English periods and commas.
Worked example
Task: write a short note to a friend canceling tonight's dinner because of overtime and proposing Saturday. Model: “小明，真对不起，我今晚要加班，不能跟你吃饭了。我们周六晚上再去，好吗？到时候我请你。” Reasoning: 真对不起 gives the apology; 要加班 gives the reason; 不能…了 marks the changed plan; 周六…再去 offers an alternative; 好吗 invites agreement; 我请你 repairs the situation. The note covers every required point in four short sentences.
Traps
- Copying the prompt instead of composing a response.
- Missing a bullet: for example, giving a reason but no new time.
- Mixing 的/得/地 and misusing 了.
- Translating English word order directly.
- Ignoring the stated length or writing only one paragraph.