The Writing part also has two tasks:
Task 3 — Reading into writing
How many texts do I read? You use the four texts from task 2.
What do I write? A descriptive essay, a discursive essay, an argumentative essay, an article (magazine or online), an informal email or letter, a formal email or letter, a review, or a report.
How many words do I write? 150–180 words. You can only use information from the texts in task 2 in your answer. Your answer must be in your own words and not copied from the texts.
Task 4 — Extended writing
What do I write? A descriptive essay, a discursive essay, an argumentative essay, an article (magazine or online), an informal email or letter, a formal email or letter, a review, or a report.
How many words do I write? 150–180 words
Below are some tips for preparing for the Writing exam:
Do
Look at the question carefully (How many different ideas are there in the question?
How many ideas do you have to write in your answer?).
Practise writing in a three-stage process:
– plan what you want to write
– write your answer
– check what you have written.
Check your work to see if it is:
– organised (Have you used paragraphs? Does it have a conclusion? Are your ideas clearly organised and logical?)
– appropriate (Have you answered the question? Have you thought about the intended audience?)
– accurate (Is your spelling correct? Have you used capital letters and full stops?)
– legible (Is it easy to read?).
Practise doing sample exams from the Trinity website trinitycollege.com/ISEII.
Practise writing in English outside study time — for example, write a journal of your ideas and plans, write your opinions on news items and current affairs, write reviews of films you have seen or books you have read, take part in discussions on the internet in English, and write emails or messages to friends in English.
REMEMBER TO USE SPECIFIC GRAMMAR.
◗ ◗ Second and third conditionals
◗ ◗ Discourse connectors, eg because of, due to
◗ ◗ Simple passive
◗ ◗ Present perfect continuous tense
◗ ◗ Used to
◗ ◗ Past perfect tense
◗ ◗ Relative clauses
◗ ◗ Reported speech
◗ ◗ Modals and phrases used to give advice and make suggestions, eg should/ought to, could, you’d better
◗ ◗ Linking expressions, eg even though, in spite of, although
◗ ◗ Modals and phrases used to express possibility and uncertainty, eg may, might, I’m not sure
LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS
◗ ◗ Initiating and maintaining the conversation
◗ ◗ Expressing and expanding ideas and opinions
◗ ◗ Highlighting advantages and disadvantages
◗ ◗ Speculating
◗ ◗ Giving advice
◗ ◗ Expressing agreement and disagreement
◗ ◗ Eliciting further information
◗ ◗ Establishing common ground