Standard Grade Writing Exam

Criteria states that personal writing should have ‘ insight and self-awareness ’ and you should be able to ‘ express personal feelings and reactions sensitively ’ Some rules:  Include your thoughts and feelings  Use detail and description  Should be true  Write in first person narrative i.e. I, me, my, we  Explain how the events, experiences and people you describe affects you

Achieving Credit  You must reflect on your experience  This demonstrates maturity and insight  It is like looking in the mirror- noticing every blemish that you would like to change and every feature you like  Do the same with your experience- what would you do differently? What has changed you? What have you learnt from the experience?

Before the exam, look at some past papers and consider experience that you have had that you could draw inspiration from. Some ideas:  A difficult choice  An argument with someone  Someone who influenced you  A time you felt frightened/ excited  A success you’ve had/ a time when you felt proud of yourself  A place that is important to you  A time you lost someone or something special

Criteria shows that you need to show ‘ development that is sustained’ and ‘some skill in using the conventions’ Conventions of a short story:  Short period of time or single event  Only one or two main characters  One or two main settings

The order does not have to be a conventional narrative structure- the sections can be reordered with use of flashback for example End Conflict is resolvedLesson is learntTwist in tale Middle Character deals with challenge Beginning SettingContext

Choice of narrative style  First person gives personal opinion and feelings with use of I, me or we. Not your perspective, the character’s view point. Creates sympathy with character.  Third person allows for an overview of events without bias. Realistic dialogue  Make speech believable- use of colloquial language can reinforce setting

Common mistakes  Don’t rewrite a film you’ve seen  Don’t include irrelevant details- it’s a short story: we don’t need to know what they had for breakfast!  Do use dialogue but don’t overuse it or use it without correct punctuation and formatting

Bad endings  ‘It was all a dream’- it’s so clichéd. Boring!  Do not summarise the rest of the character’s life  Sudden, unrealistic happy ending such as a lottery win- you’re not a Disney writer.  Never, never, never finish ‘happily ever after...’ Good endings Cliff-hangers, climax, gory deaths, twist, and more...

 Whichever genre or tasks you choose, your beginning is the most important part of your writing  You must make a good first impression: the marker will estimate if your writing is credit, general or foundation in the first paragraph  You must grab the reader’s attention and intrigue them, motivate them to read on

 No. 1 It was a Wednesday morning. It was sunny. Kyle got up and looked in the wardrobe. He always put on the same jeans and sweatshirt anyway. He got dressed and went downstairs. He started to eat his breakfast. He had toast with strawberry jam and a cup of tea. He didn’t really like tea but his mum always made it. He looked for his jacket. It was where he had thrown it last night when he came in but he couldn’t find his gloves or scarf. He remember he should have done homework for that nippy Miss Lumsden. He suddenly didn’t feel like going to school. He decided to skive. He would regret it later.

 No. 2 As sleep slowly faded from his mind, he glanced around his room. Kyle knew it was going to be another dull and disastrous day at school. A sense of doom hung over him like gathering storm clouds. He decided to skip school. If only he had realised then that his day would be nothing like dull but definitely disastrous and very possibly dangerous.

 Use descriptions and details, feelings and senses  Establish character and setting  Set a question in the reader’s mind: what’s going to happen? What caused this? Who is this character?  Read the introductory paragraphs to books that you have access to: Which one appeals to you? Why? What is their hooks?