Choosing between two writing tasks with unverifiable facts
Anita reaches the 10-mark composition section with 25 minutes left in the paper and one 5-mark prose question still unanswered. She must choose one of two tasks: (a) a letter to the Headmaster asking for three days' leave for a family function, or (b) an application to the Block Education Officer about the shortage of Odia library books in her school. She writes about 11 Odia words a minute, and the expected length is 150 words. Marks are split four for format, four for content and two for language. She knows the formal letter layout well but has never addressed a Block Education Officer. Her notes for (b) contain two figures she half-remembers, 'ଆଠଶହ ପୁସ୍ତକ' and 'ଦୁଇ ବର୍ଷ', which she cannot verify. Her Odia spelling is strong; her weakness is long, emotional sentences that bury the request. The instruction says the answer must be in Odia.
1. Which option should Anita take, and what is the reasoning against the other?
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Take (a), the leave letter.
Reason from the mark split, not from interest. Four marks are format, and both tasks need the same formal skeleton, so that portion is identical either way. The decision therefore turns on the four content marks and on risk.
Option (a) has four content slots she can fill with certainty: who is writing, the exact three days, the reason, and the request for permission with an undertaking to cover missed work. Nothing must be invented.
Option (b) looks more impressive but requires facts she does not have. The two half-remembered figures are the problem: 'ଆଠଶହ ପୁସ୍ତକ' and 'ଦୁଇ ବର୍ଷ' are checkable, and if either is wrong the examiner reads the content as fabricated. She has also never addressed a Block Education Officer, so the subject line and form of address add format risk on top of content risk.
When (b) would win. Only if she could write it without any number - describing the shortage qualitatively - and if her official-application format were secure. Neither is established here.
2. Set out the full 25-minute plan for the paper, including the unanswered prose question, and the writing budget within it.
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Whole-paper split. 25 minutes and 15 marks outstanding: a 5-mark prose answer and the 10-mark composition. Pro-rata would give 8 and 17, but the composition carries a fixed format overhead, so: prose 7 minutes, composition 17 minutes, 1 minute to check both.
Composition, 17 minutes.
- 0–2: skeleton only - sender's address, date, 'ଶ୍ରୀଯୁକ୍ତ ପ୍ରଧାନାଚାର୍ଯ୍ୟ', school name, subject line ('ବିଷୟ: ତିନି ଦିନର ଛୁଟି ପାଇଁ ଅନୁରୋଧ'), salutation, closing, signature. These are the four format marks and the cheapest on the page.
- 2–14: body, about 130 words at 11 words a minute. Three short paragraphs: the request, the reason, the undertaking.
- 14–16: language check - spelling, verb agreement, no repeated opening words.
- 16–17: confirm the body sits between the skeleton lines and nothing overflows the margin.
Prose, 7 minutes. One first-line claim, two evidence sentences, one closing link, about 60 words. A short complete answer beats a long partial one.
Order. Write the composition first while the format template is fresh; the prose answer degrades less under time pressure.
3. What should she do with the two unverifiable figures, and how do format marks change the whole answer?
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The figures. Leave them out. Replace 'ଆଠଶହ ପୁସ୍ତକ ଆବଶ୍ୟକ' with a statement true without a count: 'ପାଠାଗାରରେ ଓଡ଼ିଆ ପୁସ୍ତକର ଅଭାବ ରହିଛି ଏବଂ ଛାତ୍ରଛାତ୍ରୀ ପାଠ୍ୟପୁସ୍ତକ ବ୍ୟତୀତ ଅନ୍ୟ ପୁସ୍ତକ ପାଇପାରୁନାହାନ୍ତି।' A wrong number is a content error and is visible; an unquantified true statement is not an error, and no rubric line demands a figure unless the question asks for one.
How format dominates. Four of the ten marks are format, so a well-argued letter missing the date, the subject line or the signature is capped near six however good the prose is. The reverse also holds: a thin body inside a complete skeleton still collects most of the four format marks plus partial content.
Practical consequence. Spend the first two minutes on the skeleton, keep the body plain, and shorten rather than decorate. Her long emotional sentences bury the request; the examiner needs the ask in the first body sentence, not the fourth.