Composition: Essay / Letter / Report / Notice Writing
This section tests format discipline more than inspiration. Four formats recur - નિબંધ, પત્ર, અહેવાલ and સૂચના - and each has a shape the examiner checks before reading your content.
નિબંધ (essay)
Three to four paragraphs: an opening that defines or contextualises the topic, two body paragraphs each carrying one example, statistic or quotation, and a closing that looks forward. Aim for the stated word limit; a 250–300 word essay with concrete examples outscores a padded 400-word one.
પત્ર (letter)
Formal: sender's address, date, receiver's designation and address, સંબોધન such as “આદરણીય મહોદય”, body in two or three paragraphs, then “આપનો વિશ્વાસુ” with your name. Informal: “પ્રિય” and a warmer close. Register must match the recipient throughout.
અહેવાલ (report)
Headline first, then place and date, then a lead sentence answering the five Ws and how, then supporting detail in descending importance, and finally the reporter's name.
સૂચના (notice)
Heading “સૂચના”, institution name, date, body stating what, when, where, who may participate and whom to contact, then signature with designation, inside a box. Keep it under about fifty words; a notice is not a letter.
Worked example
Task: notice for an inter-house elocution competition. Reasoning: the five Ws must all appear - what (elocution competition), when (date and time), where (assembly hall), who (Classes IX–X, one entry per house), contact (the undersigned). Add the topic and the submission deadline, sign as Secretary, and stop. Each missing W is a lost mark; one extra paragraph of persuasion is not a mark gained.
Traps
- Omitting the date in a letter or notice.
- Using “પ્રિય” in a formal application.
- Putting personal opinion into a report, which must stay factual.
- Writing a notice as continuous prose without a heading or signature.
- An essay with no single concrete example.