Composition: Restructuring a Letter Instead of Padding It
The composition section offers a choice: (A) a letter to the headmaster asking permission to hold an Arabic book fair in the school hall, 100–120 words; (B) an essay on «القراءةُ وأثرُها في حياةِ الطالبِ». A candidate chooses (A) and produces 76 words. It opens «أريد أن أعمل معرضاً للكتاب» and closes «أرجو الموافقة». It gives the date (12 January) and the hall, but no reason for the fair, no programme, no address to the headmaster, no subject line, no signature and no class. The scheme allots 4 marks for format, 4 for content and 4 for language, and word count outside 100–120 loses 1 mark. Twenty minutes remain, and the candidate asks whether to pad the letter out to the limit, restructure it, or switch to option (B).
1. Decide between padding, restructuring, and switching. Rank the options by marks per minute.
Read the worked answer
Restructure first; do not pad; do not switch.
- Format (4 marks): almost entirely formulaic and therefore fast. Address, subject line, salutation, closing formula, name, class and date can be added in a handful of lines. This is the cheapest 3–4 marks on the page.
- Content (4 marks): currently thin - date and hall only. It needs two or three points: why the fair (promoting reading, exchanging books), what will happen (display, short talk, opening), and the explicit request for permission.
- Padding: repeating «أرجو الموافقة» in different words earns nothing under content, adds no format marks, and multiplies opportunities for language errors, which is where the 4 language marks are lost.
- Switching to (B): discards 76 usable words and demands a fresh structure plus a wider vocabulary range, all inside twenty minutes. High risk, no guaranteed gain, since the letter's deficit is formulaic, not intellectual.
The −1 for word count is smaller than the format marks at stake; fix format and content, and the word count will correct itself.
2. Write the missing format elements in Arabic, with correct case endings.
Read the worked answer
Address and subject line:
حضرةَ المديرِ المحترمِ، الموضوع: طلبُ الإذنِ بإقامةِ معرضٍ للكتابِ
Salutation:
السلامُ عليكم ورحمةُ اللهِ وبركاته، وبعد:
Closing:
وتفضلوا بقبولِ فائقِ الاحترامِ، الطالب: ................ الصف: الثاني عشر - التاريخ: 5 يناير
Notes on the endings:
- «حضرةَ» is منصوب in this fixed opening formula; «المحترمِ» follows with kasra as a نعت.
- After «الموضوع:» the phrase is a title, so «طلبُ» is مرفوع as مبتدأ (or read as a heading); «بإقامةِ» is مجرور by the ب, and «معرضٍ» is مجرور as مضاف إليه.
- «بقبولِ فائقِ الاحترامِ» - «فائق» is a نعت of «قبول» and therefore مجرور; a candidate who writes «فائقَ» loses a language mark for a single vowel.
- The name, class and date are not decoration: their absence is a format error under the scheme.
3. Supply two content sentences adding a reason and a programme without breaking the 120-word cap.
Read the worked answer
Reason (9 words):
يهدفُ المعرضُ إلى تشجيعِ القراءةِ وتبادلِ الكتبِ بين الطلابِ.
Programme (about 20 words):
وسيتضمنُ المعرضُ عرضَ كتبٍ من مكتبةِ المدرسةِ، ومحاضرةً قصيرةً عن القراءةِ، ويُفتتحُ في الثاني عشر من يناير في قاعةِ المدرسةِ.
Budget check: 76 existing + roughly 15 words of format + 29 words here ≈ 120. To stay inside the cap, delete «أريد أن أعمل معرضاً للكتاب» - it is now redundant with the subject line and the request - and replace the closing «أرجو الموافقة» with «أرجو التكرمَ بالموافقة».
Grammar points the candidate should keep:
- «إلى تشجيعِ القراءةِ وتبادلِ الكتبِ» - two مجرور nouns coordinated, both with kasra.
- «عرضَ كتبٍ» and «محاضرةً قصيرةً» - both مفعول به منصوب, coordinated correctly.
- «ويُفتتحُ» - passive, agreeing with the masculine «المعرض»; a candidate who writes «تُفتتح» loses the language mark he just saved.