Don't hide your best exam skills

Are you ready for another 11 plus exam writing tip? ✍️

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been sharing my observations from children’s 11 plus exam writing. 👩‍🎓

Even the best 11 plus exam writers occasionally forget and leave some of their best skills to the final paragraph in a piece of writing.

This isn’t necessarily an incorrect approach (as who wants to read a first sentence packed to the brim with every technique in the book?), but it will pay dividends to show off some high-level skills immediately.

For example, some children are masters at constructing complex sentences, but their exam pieces only show this in the final paragraph.

We must remember that an examiner has a GIGANTIC pile of writing to read, digest, analyse and then allocate marks to. They are only human. They may miss your fantastic use of a semi-colon buried in the last few sentences of the story (they probably won’t, but they might). So, try to make an excellent first impression.

Quick 5-minute task 🧠

Take a recent writing piece (story, description, recount etc.). 👀 

List all the things you know make a good piece of 11 plus / KS2 writing.

For example, using a variety of higher-level punctuation can guide your reader in how to read your writing – so including this is important.

Is this shown in your writing?

Is your semi-colon there? Have you used brackets? Is there a dash?

Good luck with the task!

Anna