Writing task
Read the lines from T. S. Eliot’s “The Journey of the Magi” below. Write about a significant journey, making the reader feel as though they are experiencing it. Capture the journey’s difficulties with sensory imagery and varied sentence forms.
“A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The ways deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter.”
Time: 45 minutes (as indicated for this published task).
Marks: 30.
Practise this exact question with personalised feedback on your writing.
Understand the task
A Difficult but Important Journey is a personal narrative task that tests sensory description, reflective voice, pacing. Make the journey physically specific and emotionally important; avoid a diary-like list of places.
- sensory description
- reflective voice
- pacing
- structure
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: 1 (where the source offers alternatives, pupils answer the paper's specified number, not all)
Plan your response
- Make the journey physically specific and emotionally important; avoid a diary-like list of places.
- 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
The last mile to the mountain shelter felt longer than the first ten. Rain slipped under my collar, and my boots made a sucking sound in the mud. Ahead, Mum's red coat appeared and disappeared behind sheets of mist. I wanted to say I could go no further. Then the clouds parted and the valley opened beneath us, blue and immense. We reached the shelter with shaking legs and shared a chocolate bar in silence. I had expected the view to be the reward. Instead, I remembered the moment I had decided to take one more step.
Learn from the example
- The voice connects experience with thoughts or feelings, making the response personal rather than a detached report.
- Develop the link between a particular detail and the narrator's reflection. Keep the requested diary, recount or monologue form in your own answer.