Exam Tip: Tick off each criteria in the exam question

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. 👩‍🎓

One issue that crops up is that it's common for children to forget to include all the points required from the writing exam question.

Here is a writing exam question. The children will first have to read a fiction text. Then, their job is to continue the story.

Exam question

Continue the story from Polly’s point of view. Consider Polly’s personality and behaviour. How did her family react to the situation? What problems then occurred? Include details from the text but in your own words.

So…

This exam question has lots of requirements that must be included. They seem almost hidden as they are not bullet-pointed. They are easy to miss in the heat of an exam.

If they were in a list form, they could be quickly ticked off like this...

• Continue the story from Polly’s point of view. ✅
• Consider Polly’s personality and behaviour. ✅
• How did her family react to the situation? ✅
• What problems then occurred? ✅
• Include details from the text but in your own words. ✅

If the requirements are not in a list form, they still should be ticked off as you write.

So, the top tip this week is, ‘If the exam question asks you to consider something in your writing, it MUST be included! Include the items in your plan, and then tick off each criterion as you include it.’