Writing
What is tested
The writing tasks are format-and-purpose tasks: formal and informal letters, notices, diary entries, speeches, conversations, news reports, paragraphs and story completion. Each carries marks for format, content points and language, so a good idea in the wrong layout still loses marks.
Core rules
- Formal letter: sender's address, date, receiver's address, salutation, subject line, body in two or three paragraphs, and "Yours faithfully/sincerely" with your name. Informal letters drop the subject and the receiver's address and close with "Yours lovingly".
- Notice: inside a box, the word NOTICE, the date, a short heading, three or four lines answering what/when/where/who, then name and designation. No "I", no salutation, no subscription.
- Diary entry: date and time at the top, first person, past tense for events and present or reflective tense for feelings, addressed to no one.
- Speech: salutation ("Respected Principal, teachers and friends"), a clear statement of the topic, three or four signposted points, and a closing thank-you.
- Conversation: one turn per speaker in sequence, matching the register of the speakers named in the prompt.
Worked example
Prompt: "The Eco Club is planting 100 saplings on 5 June. Write a notice." Reasoning: this is a notice, not a letter, so no "I" and no salutation. Convert the notes into a heading (SAPLING PLANTING DRIVE), then what (planting drive), when (5 June, 9 a.m.), where (school ground), who (Eco Club; volunteers report to the secretary). Close with name and designation. Every content point is already in the prompt; nothing should be invented.
Traps
Using a letter layout for a notice; omitting the subject line in a formal letter; adding filler like "I am fine here"; slipping tenses in a diary entry; ignoring one of the content points supplied; overshooting or badly undershooting the word limit.