Picture stimulus
Open the original picture in the source paper before planning your response. It opens in a separate tab so you can keep this task alongside it.
View the original picture (PDF page 2)Writing task
Imagine you are in a forest like the one in the accompanying image. Write a first-person account of your emotions and observations. You may feel frightened, enchanted, excited, or a mixture of emotions.
Use the accompanying image stimulus for this task.
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 first-person nature description prompt chiefly tests sensory observation, atmosphere and imagery and controlled structure. Show thoughts and emotions through precise observation, and keep first-person perspective.
- sensory observation
- atmosphere and imagery
- controlled structure
- accurate language
Requirements to keep in mind
Writing time: 45 minutes; Marks available: 30; Must be first person; Use the original rainforest image in the school PDF
Plan your response
- Show thoughts and emotions through precise observation, and keep first-person perspective.
- 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
Water reached my knees as I stepped carefully along the riverbed. On either side, enormous ferns leaned across the current, and the trees formed a roof so thick that only scattered patches of daylight reached the water.
I heard insects humming in the leaves and a distant bird calling three sharp notes. The air smelled of wet earth. At first I kept looking behind me, unsettled by the way every branch seemed to hide something. Then a bright blue butterfly crossed the stream and rested on a leaf beside my hand. I stood completely still, watching its wings open and close. The forest no longer seemed empty or threatening. It was crowded with lives I had not yet learned to notice.
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.