Both parts of the real Writing paper, in the real order and with the real clock. Write the task first, with nothing open. Then press Check: the model answer appears, you mark your own draft against the four things the examiner actually looks at, and if it did not go well you open the support and write it again with the plan in front of you. Keep both drafts — the difference between them is the lesson.
Read the email from your English friend Tom and the four notes you have made beside it. Then write your email to Tom, using all four notes. Write about 100 words. A note answered in six words still counts; a note you never answer cannot be repaired by writing more about the others.
From: Tom · Subject: I'm coming to your town!
Guess what — my school has chosen me for the exchange trip to your town in April! I'll be there for five days and I'm staying with a family I've never met, so I'm a bit nervous, to be honest.
I've got a few questions for you. What's the weather like there in April — do I really need a coat? And we've got one free afternoon on the Thursday; what do you think we should do with it? Oh, and my teacher says we should take a small present for the host family. Any ideas?
See you soon,
Tom
Question 1 compulsory
Write your email to Tom, using all four notes. Write about 100 words.
Your answer 0 words
Mark your own against the real criteria:
Hi Tom,
That's brilliant news — I couldn't believe it when I read your email. Don't worry about the family; everyone here is used to the exchange and they will look after you.
April is strange here. The afternoons are warm but the mornings are cold, so bring a light coat and definitely an umbrella. It rains without warning.
On Thursday we should walk up to the old castle above the river, because it only takes an hour and you can see the whole town from the top. It's the thing I'd show anyone.
For the family, take something small from your town — a box of English tea always works.
See you in April!
[your name]
103 words. Notice how little of it is information: line one is pure reaction, and every note is answered in one or two sentences and then left alone. Notice also the because in the third paragraph — that single word is the whole of note 3's second half.
The plan.
Every content point must appear.
An opening you can borrow. Hi Tom, — and then a reaction, not information: That's brilliant news — I couldn't believe it when I read your email. Getting the feeling out of the way in line one clears the rest of the email for his three questions, and it is the line that makes it sound like a person rather than an answer sheet.
Answer one of these two questions. Write about 100 words. Both are marked out of the same 20, so a story is not worth more than an article: choose the one you can finish, and choose it in thirty seconds.
Question 2 or Question 3 choose one
Write your article or your story in about 100 words. Write the number of the question you chose at the top of your answer.
Your answer 0 words
Mark your own against the real criteria:
Question 2 — the article
One hour in my town? Take them to the market.
If a friend arrives with only an hour, I never take them to the museum. I take them to the covered market behind the station.
It is loud, it smells of bread and wet fish, and the same families have had the same stalls for forty years. You can eat something hot for two euros while you walk around.
Why does it matter to me? Because my grandmother sold vegetables there, and because it is the one place where my town is completely itself.
Go early, though. By two o'clock it is all over.
101 words. The first line works by refusing the obvious answer. The last line is an instruction to the reader — a cheap, reliable way to end an article on purpose.
Question 3 — the story
Nila had walked past the old blue door a hundred times, but that morning it was open. Inside there was a narrow staircase, and someone was playing a piano badly at the top of it.
She stood on the bottom step for a minute, deciding. “You're the fifth person today,” a voice called down. “Come up. Everybody does.”
The room upstairs was full of instruments and dust. An old man was teaching a boy to play, and he did not stop when she came in.
Nila stayed for an hour. On Saturday she went back, and she took her sister.
99 words. Three tenses in the first two lines (had walked, was open, was playing) and one line of direct speech do most of the language marks. The ending is four ordinary words that say something changed.
The plan.
Every content point must appear.
An opening you can borrow. Article: If a friend arrives with only an hour, I never take them to the museum. — reject the obvious answer first and the reader stays with you.
Story: copy the sentence, then walk straight in: Inside there was a narrow staircase, and someone was playing a piano badly at the top of it. One sound is enough to make a place; save the rest of your words for what happens.
A writing part counts as done when your draft is the right length and you can honestly tick all four criteria. The model is there to compare against, not to copy.
If you opened the support on a part, the second draft is the one to keep and re-read on Sunday. Rewriting one task twice teaches more than writing two tasks once.