Appendix 3 Extended response and directed writing

questions: exam focus

Extended response questions appear in Question 2 of Paper 1 (Core) and Question 1
of Paper 2 (Extended), and directed writing appears in Section 1 of Paper 3 (Core
and Extended).
Extended response/directed writing questions test your reading ability – that you can:
• demonstrate understanding of explicit meanings
• demonstrate understanding of implicit meanings and attitudes
• analyse, evaluate and develop facts, ideas and opinions.
These questions also test your writing ability – that you can:
• articulate experience and express what is thought, felt and imagined
• sequence facts, ideas and opinions
• use a range of appropriate vocabulary
• use register appropriate to audience and context
• make accurate use of spelling, punctuation and grammar (Paper 3 only).

Core: Paper 1, Question 2, extended response (15 marks)

You read Passage A on the question paper and respond to it as directed with a piece
of extended writing (200–300 words). You will have about 25 minutes for this. You will
be marked out of 5 for your writing skills and out of 10 for your reading skills.

Extended: Paper 2, Question 1, extended response (20 marks)

This question refers to Passage A. You are asked to use and develop the information
there in another form as a piece of extended writing (250–350 words), e.g. a letter, an
article, a report, a speech or a dialogue. You will have about 40 minutes for this. You
will be marked out of 15 for your reading skills and out of 5 for your writing skills.

Paper 3, Section 1, directed writing (25 marks)

You read one or more texts on the question paper. You are then directed to use and
develop the given information in another form, e.g. a discursive or argumentative letter
or article of 250–350 words. You will have about 60 minutes for this. You will be
marked out of 15 for your writing skills and out of 10 for your reading skills.

Checklist for success
Decode the question:
 Make sure you are clear what
the question is asking you to do.
For example:
– what role/voice you need to
take on to write the text
– why you are writing (main
purpose)
– the type or form of writing you
must do, if provided
– who it is for (the audience)
– what to include (information
from the texts provided and
your own ideas).
Match your content to what the question asks:
For example:
 Make your ‘voice’ convincing – if the role/voice is of a
young reporter, for example, make sure your style matches
how he or she would write.
 Maintain your focus on the purpose; if it is to persuade
someone rather than analyse a situation, use appropriate
persuasive language.
 If the form is an article, do not write in the form of a letter!
This may seem obvious, but these things can be easily
missed.
 Get the content right. If the question asks you to give the
reasons or evidence, make sure you do just that.
 Use the information you have been given, but make sure
you add your own ideas as long as they are linked back to
what is in the text.
 Organise your answer carefully. Points from the text
should be reused in an order that suits the task.

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