Half of the marks for Paper 1 are offered in just one question - Question 5: Creative Writing...
This question is worth 40 marks and 45 minutes (plus extra time if you have it).
Lots of students say that they find this question hard because they have no imagination or they find creative writing such a distant talent. The main advice to offer here is that you don't need to be have a wildly vivid imagination to achieve in Question 5. There are 2 key things you can do to help yourself with this question:
1) Use the insert as a foundation for your own story. Clearly you can't copy it - that should be obvious. However, you can absolutely use the story and the outline of the characters as inspiration for your own ideas. You have already found interesting language and structural features in Questions 2 and 3. You can use these yourself in your own story if you wish to do so. If AQA didn't want you to be inspired by the insert, the Creative Writing questions wouldn't be so closely linked to it.
2) Don't waste time inventing a main character, use yourself. Make the story personal and it will be more mature and deeper because you already know how you will act in specific situations and scenarios. Whether you write in first person ('I') or third person ( 'he, she, it, they, them, names) is a personal choice. It's up to you. One isn't worth more marks than the other.
There's lots of debate about whether to do this question first. Personally, I'm always going to go with a big no. The paper is designed to be tackled in this order for a reason - it builds up. Use the insert and all of the questions from the Reading section to help you build a simple story you can tell with skill over 2-3 sides of writing. Be concise and specific in your writing. Remember, it is always quality over length. Plan your writing first. It's essential to hit all aspects of the mark scheme.
The mark scheme is divided into 3 parts for 40 marks: 24 marks for story (story, plot and characterisation - Question 4) and structure (ordering of events - Question 3) while 16 marks are awarded for SPaG (language features - Question 2).
When planning your story and structure, you can, as stated earlier, use the insert to help you and make it personal. Don't write something that is too complicated or exaggerated. Don't include more than 2-3 characters and don't base it on films or computer games. Write it maturely and honestly. It's always obvious when someone's gong into the exam with a story they've learnt to tell in class or when a candidate's ticking off a list from a teacher. Try to make it your own voice and tell it with knowledge of the mark scheme.
Don't worry if you choose either the picture or the narrative question, make sure that you are writing a story. A literal description of the picture isn't what you have been requested to do. Write a story that includes a few characters with a mature plot that fulfils the requirements of the question and includes language and structural features. Don't overuse the senses in a false way. It can be very important to discuss what characters can touch, smell, hear, see or feel, but not as the opening sentence of each paragraph. Again, use what you have learnt in classes and your revision, not just a rehearsed piece of writing that is adapted to the question if it is not appropriate. There are clearly benefits to developing characters who can be adapted to any situation the exam offers, but a mature story well told is key.
It's important to say that you don't have to finish your story. You are always marked on quality so rushing an ending isn't going to help you gain marks. You won't be thinking about the mark scheme and rushing is always the enemy. Take your time by breaking down the question, using the insert, make it personal, include a range of relevant structural features and work on your spelling, grammar and punctuation. Give yourself 5 minutes at the end for proofreading if possible too.
When you are writing and using SPaG, try to use accurate spelling and complex vocabulary where appropriate. Again, you can take complex vocabulary from the insert if it's appropriate. Vary your punctuation: colons, dashes, semi-colons, brackets – as well as the usual full stops, commas, question mark, exclamation mark, apostrophes, speech marks, etc.
Vary your sentence length. Writing should have a rhythm to it. Use paragraphs throughout.
It's important to get this right, so revise. Read a lot of stories to see how they work. Learn language features. Learn structural features. Practise writing timed pieces of writing. Read about creative writing. Learn the mark scheme.
You may not feel creative writing comes naturally to you, but there are always things that you can do to increase your skills and confidence with this question before the exam paper is dropped in front of you.
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