Writing task
Write a story about someone on the run. Do not write in the first person and do not include violence. Make the story as suspenseful as possible; concentrate on quality of content more than plot complexity.
Time: 45 minutes (as indicated for this published task).
Marks: 30.
Practise this exact question with personalised feedback on your writing.
Understand the task
This suspenseful third-person narrative prompt chiefly tests originality, appropriate structure and precise vocabulary. Use tension without violence and retain third-person narration from beginning to end.
- originality
- appropriate structure
- precise vocabulary
- spelling and punctuation
Requirements to keep in mind
Writing time: 45 minutes; Marks available: 30; First person forbidden; No violence permitted; Answer one option only
Plan your response
- Use tension without violence and retain third-person narration from beginning to end.
- Plan the response around the task’s specific instructions.
- Use deliberate paragraphing, sentence variety and concrete detail.
- Reserve time for spelling and punctuation checks.
- Compare with the official paper for any accompanying text or picture.
Check your response against the task requirements. Leave time to review sentence clarity, punctuation and spelling.
Original atoply example response
Written by atoply, not an official school answer or mark scheme. Other successful responses are possible.
Reveal example and teaching notes
At the end of the platform, Theo looked down at the folded timetable for the fourth time. The last train would leave in three minutes. Across the station, a woman in a red coat had stopped beside the clock. She was studying the passengers one by one.
Theo pulled his hat lower and moved towards the ticket machine. He had done nothing wrong, but he knew the sealed envelope in his pocket belonged to someone important. A recorded announcement crackled overhead, obscuring the sound of approaching footsteps.
When the train doors opened, he stepped inside and chose the seat furthest from the window. The woman in red raised her head. She had seen him. Yet instead of following, she held up a second envelope bearing his name.
Learn from the example
- The example focuses on one situation, keeping the action easy to follow. Notice how a detail, action or decision moves that situation forward.
- Use the task's requirements to plan the development and ending of your own response; an opening alone does not demonstrate a complete story arc.