Make four planning notes before the first sentence.
The official student guide says the task gives a topic and instructions. Before drafting, make four brief notes: the topic, the purpose, the audience and the change you want the reader to experience. Then choose a structure that can deliver that change.
- Topic: What must the response stay about?
- Purpose: Is the response trying to entertain, inform, persuade or create another effect?
- Audience: What would help this reader understand and care?
- Shape: What beginning, key development and ending will make the purpose clear?
Planning is not a script. It is a small decision tool that makes it easier to remove an interesting detail if it no longer serves the response.
Original worked example
Practice prompt: Write about a missing library book. A student chooses to entertain a reader who enjoys a mystery. Their plan is: opening—an empty space on the shelf; development—a clue tucked into a returned book; ending—the “missing” book was being used by a child to teach a younger sibling to read. Each detail can now be tested: does it help build the mystery or resolve it?
Revise the connection before correcting every detail.
Read the instructions again after drafting. Check that the response remains on the topic and that the ending answers the direction set up at the beginning. Then revise sentences that are unclear, repetitive or inconsistent with the chosen voice. Leave time to check spelling, punctuation and grammar, but do not let surface corrections hide a response that has drifted away from its purpose.
Common error
Producing a polished piece that does not answer the task. The official student guide specifically cautions that writing away from the topic can receive lower marks.
Self-check
Can the student complete this sentence: “My reader should finish this response feeling or understanding … because I used …”?