Writing task
Write about a time when severe weather conditions affected your day. Your account may be real or imaginary.
Time: 30 minutes (as indicated for this published task).
Marks: 20.
Practise this exact question with personalised feedback on your writing.
Understand the task
Write about a real or imaginary occasion when extreme weather had a dramatic effect on your day.
- accurate expression
- imaginative control
- structure
- audience awareness
Requirements to keep in mind
Choose ONE option in the writing section; option b; 20 marks; 30 minutes advised.
Plan your response
- Follow the exact instruction, form and viewpoint in the source PDF.
- Plan a clear beginning and a focused development.
- Use distinctive details rather than general adjectives.
- Allow a few minutes to check accuracy before finishing.
Check your response against the task requirements. Leave time to review sentence clarity, punctuation and spelling.
Original atoply example opening
Written by atoply, not an official school answer or mark scheme. This is an opening only; develop the rest of the response to meet the task requirements.
Reveal example and teaching notes
We woke to a street that had disappeared under snow. The school gates were locked, the buses were still and even the birds seemed confused. I was celebrating our unexpected holiday when a neighbour knocked: her electricity had failed and she needed help. By lunchtime, the whole road was working together with shovels and hot drinks.
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.