11 plus essay writing advice
Pupils will however find that developing a full description bank of characters, emotions, action, the natural world and the built environment etc will help them to deliver effective and creative descriptions on the day. Using those description banks within these sample stories will help them to develop their work further and enable them to embed their thoughts so they can deliver properly on the day. Remember if you are going to tackle any of these sample writing topics and tasks you should always plan to revisit your work a few days after you have done it. As part of the process children who often re-write their work to improve it find they make better progress.
11+ Essay Writing
We hope that the advice on this page will help your and your child to break the task down into manageable pieces, and also provide you with some useful shortcuts. The advice given is particularly helpful for longer essays and for more challenging topics and tests. The essay test may be as little as 20 minutes or as long as 50 minutes, and may be factual or fiction. There is usually a choice of titles, but it is important to check the type of topics that have come up in the tests for each school in the past.
Examiners in different areas may have different priorities. In some areas they will mainly be interested in the content of the work, rather than demanding good spelling or punctuation. In other areas accurate grammar, punctuation and spelling may be required as well. If your child does not excel at fiction writing and you know for certain that they will have a choice of factual or fiction topics, you could focus on developing their ability to write a persuasive factual essay rather than battling uphill with creative writing.
The elements that need to be planned are:. In some areas the children are given 5 minutes specifically to plan their essay, but in other areas that time is included in the time allotted for the whole task, and speed is critical. Typical characters might be: a criminal; an old lady; a spooky person; a scary man, a nice friend, etc.
Settings might include: A rocky seashore; a dark wood; an old, empty house, etc. Even after extensive practice a child may still find that they are running out of time.
It is an ending that makes the hearts of teachers and examiners sink to their boots! ElevenPlusExams Go to navigation. Advice What is the 11 Plus? CALL
Who are the characters? Can you describe them? Where is the story set?
This article will focus on the creative writing test, which forms section B of the age 11 English paper. Read on to find out about the following topics:. Double-check whether your child will be tested on this subject! Check which exam is relevant to you and familiarise yourself and your child with how it looks and what it asks for.
Creative writing for 11 plus.
Both types of task will examine your ability to plan, create and then write in a structured manner. Some entrance examinations, for selective schools, will assess the creative writing task only as part of a borderline check in the review process if you have fallen marginally short or only just passed the given pass mark for that entrance exam.
Independent School Essay Writing
M y advice for 11 plus stories in this article applies just as well to 8 plus, 13 plus or GCSE … in fact, although I have written with 11 plus creative writing in mind, my suggestions should be relevant at any level. Please write a comment if you do! The creative writing materials offered by 11 Plus Lifeline teach students to use all the techniques explained on this page. Every writing paper has full example answers, as well as detailed step-by-step discussions, marking guidelines and story-planning advice. Papers are structured to help students develop high-level skills — and just as importantly, to enjoy themselves!
Top tips for the 11+ English writing task
Most senior independent schools require candidate pupils to write an essay as part of their selective entrance exams. Typically the school permits 20 — 30 minutes for the essay, offering up a selection of up to four essay titles. This is actually an amazingly short time to plan and write an essay from scratch, especially one that contains a proper introduction, body and conclusion. The benefits of this are instant. Ask your child to critique these example essays, spot grammatical errors, suggest better vocabulary, spot rambling sentences like many in this piece of work and suggest alternative endings. Once you have critiqued a few essays jointly with your child, he or she will be thinking along the right lines, and their mind will be more fertile and focused. Begin by exploring permutations of typical titles with your child, initially verbally, trying out a host of endings, introducing additional characters both male and female, changing locations, different times of the day etc. Make sure most of the creative thinking is sourced from the child, by seeking inquisitive opinions.
We hope that the advice on this page will help your and your child to break the task down into manageable pieces, and also provide you with some useful shortcuts. The advice given is particularly helpful for longer essays and for more challenging topics and tests.
Understand that examiners from different regions can have differing priorities Examiners within different regions are subject to varying priorities; this may then mean that some papers will be marked with more of a focus upon the content of the exam, whereas others may demand a higher command of spelling and punctuation. However there is one thing that every examiner will focus upon: a well-defined beginning, middle and end.
11 Plus (11+) English Creative Writing Success Guide
UKiset is an online exam used by many British independent schools as part of their entry process for international students. It is made up of three components:. English is not the first language of many candidates so the essay can be the most challenging part. But there are things that you can do and skills that you can practise that will help you to prepare. This guide will show you how. The UKiset essay requires a candidate to produce a handwritten essay on a subject given on the day. It is sent to the school to be marked by a teacher. It is not an online test. The time allowed for the creative writing section is 30 minutes. Students are provided with a timer, so they know how much time they have.
How to prepare for Creative Writing
We pride ourselves on the detailed feedback we give to pupils on their creative writing papers. At school, teachers simply do not have the time to go over a pupil's work with such attention to detail. We receive very positive comments from parents and pupils as to how helpful our creative writing paper is. Our creative writing expert is Karen Francis. She has an English degree, has worked in a school for twelve years, assisting pupils with their writing skills and has won a prize for a short story she has written. Karen has been marking our papers for seven years.
