So, I read the examiner’s report for the 2022 exams, to find out what they want you to do in 2023. This is what they said about question 5 of Paper 1.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary is a big weakness: students try to impress by using words they don’t understand.
Or they try to impress using vocabulary they have learned, but which a real writer would never use, as it is unnecessarily complicated.
The examiners like vocabulary which creates a convincing atmosphere. This means thinking about how words link together, rather than showing off individual words.
Students had learned a range of words to use no matter what, like ‘myriad’ or ‘opaque’ or ‘brouhaha’, and couldn’t make them fit the writing. Instead these words just felt out of place.
There was also plagiarism – students taking sentences or phrases from other sources which the examiners recognised. This leads to lower marks. They didn’t name my videos or guides, but is not a good idea to copy sentences from them! Limit yourself to phrases which are 2-3 words long if you have to steal.
Plot
Avoid having too many events in a story.
Weak answers list events which don’t link together.
Not slowing down time is a mistake. Don’t rush the events. It is much better to describe just a few moments in detail, than lots of events. This is why the 6 camera method works for description.
How to Use the Picture
Most students usually do the description question. This year the examiners chose a picture which would be totally unfamiliar to most students (or adults). It was the interior of a house, from a country most of them wouldn’t have been to, in a shape most of them will never have seen.
This is the first year I can remember where most students therefore chose to write a story, rather than a description.
The examiners don’t seem to have planned this, or at least don’t confess to realising that their description question is rubbish. But, maybe they have been listening to me after all!
The best answers used contrast, especially between inside and outside, present and future, or the different seasons. This again suggests that students who dislike writing can simply write their own descriptions in advance, as contrasts, knowing that they will be easy to adapt to the question.
Other students used the image only as a prompt – which is correct – and wrote about other places or settings, not the one in the picture. This ‘breaking the vase’ tactic always works.
The examiners prefer it when students don’t describe the image, as the student is then using their imagination. This makes the examiner feel as though their exam question is doing some good instead of harm.
Students who just described the image did particularly badly, because they did not really know what they were looking at.
So, a conclusion we can take from the examiner’s report is that you are better off planning for a narrative question, as it leads to better writing, and because the picture may be something that is really difficult to write about.
Look out for my weekly videos - where I give you a new story every week. I am planning twenty of these. You will be able to steal any of these that you like, and use it in the exam. This will NOT BE PLAGIARISM, as you will still have to write the story yourself.
I’m also planning a book with the 20 plots written down - look out for that if you are interested. Again, you will still have to write the story, as you will only have the plot. So, this too will not be plagiarism.