Writing task
“Can humans ever truly be selfless?” Write a speech explaining your opinion. Explore the opposing argument, even if you disagree with it, and use rhetorical strategies to persuade.
Time: 45 minutes (as indicated for this published task).
Marks: 30.
Practise this exact question with personalised feedback on your writing.
Understand the task
Can People Ever Be Truly Selfless? is a discursive speech task that tests balanced reasoning, audience engagement, clear structure. Define selflessness, test possible motives and make room for a persuasive counterargument.
- balanced reasoning
- audience engagement
- clear structure
- accurate expression
Requirements to keep in mind
Recommended writing time: approximately 45 minutes (as indicated in the paper/section); Writing marks: 30 (subject to separately awarded SPaG marks); Published task/option: 2 (where the source offers alternatives, pupils answer the paper's specified number, not all)
Plan your response
- Define selflessness, test possible motives and make room for a persuasive counterargument.
- Plan a clear beginning, development and ending within the time available.
- Use precise vocabulary and vary sentence lengths where appropriate.
- Proofread spelling, punctuation and paragraphing before finishing.
Check your response against the task requirements. Leave time to review sentence clarity, punctuation and spelling.
Short atoply teaching example
Written by atoply, not an official school answer or mark scheme. This short illustration shows selected techniques. It does not set a target length or expected mark for the timed task.
Reveal example and teaching notes
A stranger dives into a river to save a child. Did they act selflessly, or did they hope to avoid the guilt of standing still? The question matters because motives are not always simple. We enjoy the feeling of doing good, but that pleasure does not make kindness false. Sometimes courage happens before the mind has time to calculate a reward. I believe genuine selflessness is possible, although we cannot prove it by looking inside another person's thoughts. What matters most is that someone in danger receives help, not that the helper passes an impossible test of purity.
Learn from the example
- The response presents a position for an audience, giving the speech a purpose. Notice how reasons or examples support that appeal.
- Read a draft aloud to check that the argument is clear to a listener. A full speech needs developed supporting points as well as an effective opening.