EXTENDED WRITING

Comprehension Paper 80 marks

Q 1 Text A and B 15+15 = 30
Q 2 Short Answers and Language Question (d) 10+ 15= 25
Q 3 Extended Response 25 Marks
Text C = Narrative Text- Biggest Text
Spare plenty of time for it
Don’t start with it because of level of difficulty
Spare 35 to 40 minutes for it

d
ve
Three Areas of Focus ( 3 Bullet Points) that you need to identify and develop

Ja
If you successfully identify and develop these points, you’ll get your Reading Marks
15 marks for Reading in Total
a
zm
10 marks for Writing in Total
Write as a character from the story or as an outside character -like a journalist or employee
U

based on the events.

ith

You need to sound like that character.

W

Need to write fluently and arrange your ideas well!

h

You’ll have read Text C 3 different times by the time you get to your Extended Writing
is

Question because it covers your vocabulary and writer’s response as well.

gl

Be very very strict with your timings.

En

Word limit 250-350 words

You are asked three questions only
Adopt the role of the character assigned- in this case it is Benson.
Base your interview on what you have read in Text C
Use your own words
Address each of the bullet points
Always address them equally.
They will tell you what type of text you’re going to write- for example here it is Interview
3rd Bullet Point is a bit more implicit
It won’t directly say in the text; it’s up to you to make inferences and logical guesses but the
answer wouldn’t be written down directly.
It is very important to use own words; don’t copy directly from the text.
Use synonyms and all paraphrasing skills.
Ignore the word count; don’t count it as CAMBRIDGE don’t count up.
Students say we had time -we could write more but we didn’t as we’d fulfilled 350 word limit.
Don’t do this foolishness.
You can write as much as you need to for this. Two sides of the page are enough. Students

d
with big and speedy handwriting can write 3 sides as well.

ve
Don’t waste time counting up your words.

Ja
Now
a
zm
Coming to the Task
U

Benson
ith

What’s his personality like?

W

Pay attention to how he thinks/ speaks/acts/what type of language does he often use
You are trying to sound like him so do pay close attention to that…
h
is

Aim to find at least 5 different answers for each of the Bullet Points
gl

Five things that Benson likes about Tough Mudder 1st Bullet Point
En

Five challenges that people might experience when competing in Tough Mudder 2nd BP
You need to have at least 3 plus answers per B.P to get a good mark for reading.
You don’t know the Marking Scheme so if you write 5 for each BP , then that gives you a little
bit of safety net, because you might not get all the answers right.
Bullet Point no 3 – Implicit Meaning
It is based on your own logical inferences – so don’t panic if there’s nothing to directly
highlight in the text.
Use 3 different coloured highlighters to highlight each Bullet Point in the Insert Booklet. (
You’re definitely allowed to use highlighters for planning).
Anything you can highlight directly is Explicit Detail. It’s clearly stated. These are your details
and you want to include those in your answer.
After finding your details, think about how you could summarise those points as a broader
idea in your own words. This is your content point, your answer to the Question that will be
in the Marking Scheme.
For example:
THINGS you disliked about the trip and you were able to highlight the explicit details of the
food which was bad because the food was garlic bread and ice cream and shrimp and you
don’t like any of those things and you could highlight shrimp garlic bread pizza.
The content point will be FOOD because that’s how you’ve summarized it and maybe the text
didn’t say food. Then it’s your Content Point. Sometimes, the content point might be

d
mentioned directly in the text. But must think that what do these explicit details represent.

ve
Think what can I summarise them as?

Ja
Then think about what these ideas show about why or how something happened or how a
character felt about it. This will be your development.
a
zm
For example: Tanya bustled ( hurried/ rushed by) by, maybe Tanya feels very very busy, very
stressed.
U

Over here, it might say, boomed ( roared/ expanded) Mr Dreyfus as he spoke. It means that
ith

he spoke loudly, making a strong impression.

W

Maybe the main character might feel like he’s quite annoying and that the main character
wanted to go for a peaceful meal and they’re stuck with this really really loud character.
h
is

These are examples of development .

gl

This is basically what you get your marks for.

En

You get marks for Details, Content Points and Development. This is how Cambridge award
Reading marks.
15 Reading marks are based on :
1. Explicit and Implicit meaning of Events in the text.
2. Range of ideas – or just a part of it. For example, have you picked out ideas from the start
of text and completely ignored the ending?
3. Did you develop ideas in the text? ( How/ why /Feelings)
4. Did you address all bullet points equally? ( This is really important because in the lower
area of the marking scheme, it says there is uneven focus on the bullet points. )
5. Do you sound like the character you have been asked to write as? Because if you
understand the characterization of a particular person within the text, it shows you have
understood the text.
If you have a character who never speaks in slang in the text, then you’re not using slang in
your answer and saying gonna wanna OMG. If that character never says Omg, you’re
suggesting to the examiner that you haven’t really understood what the character is like.
And that shows you haven’t read it very well. This depth will help you achieve 15 marks.
Bullet Point 1:
One of the things that Benson might like about Tough Mudder is winning/achievement .
How did we know that: in the text Explicit detail highlighted was “ he can get a gold medal,

d
his name in the newspaper, and that Sammy came second seven times. These were the points

ve
regarding winning/ achievement that it mentions.

Ja
How am I getting to develop that?
It never says in the text that Benson won those 7 years when Sammy lost, but based on their
a
rivalry that would be a reasonable development, a reasonable inference that he feels pride
zm
and that he enjoys showing off. So it never says winning or achievement in the text- that’s my
Content Point summarized in my Own Words. The explicit detail must be summed up in your
U

own words. The detailed things directly highlighted in the text.

ith

Explicit Information : What Who Where and When

W

Implicit Information you need to infer-This could be how, why, feelings or your reaction.
h

Point 1: Excitement/ He likes the excitement

is

Detail: Adrenaline, face paint, fun event, party held after the race.
gl
En

Development: Many couldn’t enjoy it fully as they were nervous about outcome of race. // It
seems like both Sammy and Benson were more focused on their rivalry than actually having
fun.
Point 2: Motivation
Detail: Unspoken challenge, intensive training.
Development: It makes you work harder than without a competition or that the training can
be tiring.
Point 3: He likes mixing with other athletic people
Detail: Marie or everyone warms up together
Development: could be that it is good to be with like-minded people who care about sport
Point 4: Something else that Benson might enjoy is the crowd support
Detail: Crowd roared, and there was rapturous applause.
Development: It’s encouraging or perhaps distracting, or maybe some resentment that the
crowd actually didn’t step in when he needed help. ( when Benson falls it’s only Sammy who
helps him)
Point 5: It is a chance to show off. (These points are about Sammy but Sammy and Benson are
quite similar)
Detail: Precision of a seasoned pro ( experienced) , graceful dancer, sword through the mind,
steps, light and nimble, pirouetted. (whirled/ spin around typically on one foot quickly in a

d
circular motion while keeping one’s balance and poise.)

ve
Development: It’s what you’ve been preparing for all year and it can be satisfying when it

Ja
comes together.
POINTS AND DETAILS AND DEVELOPMENT ALL SHOULD BE WOVEN TOGETHER PLUS OWN
a
WORDS. SOME WORDS YOU CAN’T paraphrase LIKE IN SUMMARY.
zm
Fine to have a few words that are same but overall, you want to make sure not to re-use big
U

phrases or sentences from the text.

ith

WRITING MARKS 10 Marks

W

You could be asked to write

Letter Newspaper Magazine Article Journal Speech
h
is

How accurate is your register?

gl

Register means your tone of language, how formal or informal you are being.
En

Not only you sound like the character you’ve been asked to write but also sound like the text
type you write.
If you have got Benson writing his Journal, he will be much more informal than Benson giving
a speech to other athletes for example.
So need to think about your formality, and generally that will only ever be semi-
formal/formal.
Cambridge don’t give too informal topics because of teenagers. They want to see how much
control you can show on your language.
Never go too slangy.
Don’t be too informal.
Don’t use slangs, idioms, gonna, wanna, OMG.
How confidently you can express yourself in writing? Have you control over your language?
More marks are there on the flow of language rather than exactly the accuracy of your
language.
Can you vary your vocabulary, punctuation, sentence structure?
Don’t repeat the same words again and again.
They are looking for VARIETY- not always the same basic short sentence structure!
Can you paraphrase and sequence your ideas effectively?

d
Do you remember paragraphing?

ve
VARPF

Ja
Voice- Benson- a little bit cocky (arrogant/boastful), overly confident, but don’t forget, he’s
had his fall. He’s keen, quite embarrassed- now humbled.
a
zm
Audience: listeners of a podcast. Young people-teenagers.
U

Purpose: to discuss or reflect about what has happened.

ith

Register: semi formal, lively, chatty but it’s a reflective topic- so he’s not going to be using too
much slang.
W

But because its going to be spoken interview on the podcast, we should see some features of
h

spoken language/ conversational language. There might be contractions like it’s instead of it
is

is. Or exclamation marks, or dot dot dot… to show what tone of voice he’s writing. Some
gl

stage directions can be used like [ laughs] to give us an idea of how he is speaking.
En

Format: he is giving a spoken interview on the podcast.

STRUCTURE
INTRODUCTION (No Introduction for Interview and Formal Report)
BULLET 1
BULLET 2
BULLET 3
CONCLUSION (NO for Interview and Formal Report)
ONE paragraph per bullet point.
No introduction or conclusion needed for Interview or Formal Report but can be written for
Journal and magazine.
Most important thing is to write about each of the bullet point equally. That way you can
keep your points separate, you can see how long your paragraph is and you can make sure
that you’re being equal.
Write two and a half sides for this question.
Copy the three questions of the interview without changing them.
Don’t add in new questions because you might lose focus on the task. If you changed the
question, you might not find the answer.

d
So please copy directly.

ve
Interview should be like a script.

Ja
If you don’t know the character’s name, you can name them.

a
zm
VOICE: what kind of voice should we adopt: as we are writing like Benson and the way he
U

usually speaks, we need to examine the evidence from the text what his personality is like.
ith

He can be a little bit casual as he is using contractions, but he is not using any slang. Not too
informal. He is speaking grammatically accurately with no slang.
W

His eyebrow is cocked(raised) meaning he’s raising one eyebrow.

h
is

His eyes are glittering with glee, like a little evil giant. So we’ve got this over confidence.
gl

Use some filler words like- Ah, well, Sure!

En

Mark Your Work

Tick your Content Points
Write det for detail
Write dev for development
Underline words that sound like Benson
Circle your favourite sentence
Did you see three paragraphs?
Most common mistake: 3rd Bullet Point is shorter, under developed and really limit your
score.
KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Answer the three bullet Points equally

• Content points- mean information from the text summarised in your own words
• Details- mean explicit Information from the text ( who, what, where and when)
• Development- inferred information ( how, why and character’s feelings)
• Bullet point 3 is often Implicit
• Identify VARPF of your question
• Aim to write at least 5 different things for each bullet point
• One paragraph per bullet point
• You must sound like the character / voice you have been asked to assume

d
•

ve
Don’t copy from the text- should be your own words
• If it’s an interview, only write the three questions given- don’t add on

Ja
• Don’t make anything random up

a
zm
Writing Marks 10
U

Is your register correct for the text type?

ith

Do you consistently sound like your character?

W

Do you have interesting language, such as precise vocabulary and different sentence types?
Do you paragraph correctly?
h
is

Is your spelling, punctuation and grammar correct? SPG

gl

Reading - 15 marks
En

Do you understand the explicit and implicit events in the text?

Do you develop ideas, using your own sensible imagination?
Do you have ideas from the full text or just parts of it?
Do you have lots of details from the text?
Does your writing have a clear sense of purpose?
Do you cover all three bullet points equally?
Do you sound like the character you have been asked to write?
En
gl
is
h
W
ith
U
zm
a
Ja
ve
d