Writing task
Describe a communal experience in no more than 200 words.
Time: 30 minutes (as indicated for this published task).
Marks: 10.
Practise this exact question with personalised feedback on your writing.
Understand the task
A Shared Moment in a Crowd is a concise description task that tests precise observation, compression, atmosphere. Show a group through distinctive individual details, not vague statements about togetherness.
- precise observation
- compression
- atmosphere
- grammar
Requirements to keep in mind
Recommended writing time: approximately 30 minutes (as indicated in the paper/section); Writing marks: 10 (subject to separately awarded SPaG marks); Published task/option: B1 (where the source offers alternatives, pupils answer the paper's specified number, not all); Maximum length: 200 words
Plan your response
- Show a group through distinctive individual details, not vague statements about togetherness.
- 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
When the final whistle blew, the whole stadium seemed to inhale. For an instant nobody moved. Then strangers were cheering, hugging, knocking over paper cups and waving scarves above their heads. A little girl in front of me stood on her seat, trying to see the pitch, while an elderly man beside her wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. I had come with my father and planned to watch the match carefully. Instead, I remembered the sound: thousands of voices becoming, briefly, one.
Learn from the example
- Concrete details build an impression of the subject. Notice how those choices work together rather than reading as a list of general adjectives.
- The viewpoint controls what the reader notices. Choose details and an order that sustain the task's requested perspective and atmosphere.