Does your child struggle with writing P6 composition papers? Share these effective exam writing tips to help them write clear and engaging papers!
The P6 composition paper for the PSLE may seem like a daunting challenge. It's more than doable with the right preparation, however.
As a parent, you may be wondering how you can support this preparation. In this guide, we'll explain how to do that with proven tips from our tutors at Aspire Hub. Let's begin by examining the demands of the assessment.
PSLE English Paper 1 is an evaluation of your child's proficiency in English. Paper 1 is the writing component, worth 50 marks or 25% of the final grade.
Paper 1 itself can be further broken down into two parts: situational and continuous writing.
Value: 14 marks or 7% of the final grade
This is where students are provided a context and event to which they have to write a response. This usually requires the student to craft a letter, report, or email.
This is what evaluators check in the writing, aside from the language:
⦁ Does the content show understanding of the context?
⦁ Does the writer understand the target audience?
⦁ Is the purpose of the response met?
6 of the points here are awarded for content based on those queries. The remaining 9 (for 15 in total) are for language, e.g. grammar and spelling.
Value: 36 marks or 18% of the final grade
In this part of the assessment, students are given a topic with associated pictures. They have to write a composition that's usually a narrative and at least 150 words based on those.
The questions evaluators ask here are these:
⦁ Is the story interesting or engaging?
⦁ Does the story develop well?
⦁ Is the story coherent?
Students will be graded both on the content of their written piece as well as their language.
Now that you know what's expected of your child in the assessment, it's time to prepare for it. Here are some PSLE composition tips that our tutors have found to work wonders!
Successful compositions are generally ones that understood the brief. That's why it's so useful to have your child make an easy reference they can use for the goals of the paper.
For example, let's say your child is given the task to write a thank-you letter to their tutor in English. Ask your child to start by writing down the key points to hit in the actual letter.
These may include the name of the teacher, descriptions of the things they're thanking the teacher for, and so on. They can then just refer to the list of notes during and after writing. This will ensure your child covers all key content points required.
Many readers say the intro and conclusion are the most important parts of any text. This stands to reason.
The intro often determines if you keep reading, while the conclusion shapes the impression you come away with after finishing the text. As such, even evaluators tend to pay special attention to them when grading the PSLE papers.
Try providing your child with various prompts to get them used to writing intros and conclusions. Practise different styles for each one.
For instance, you can take your child through intro options like setting description or direct dialogue. Our own tutors do this when preparing children for English Paper 1. We show them examples or offer guidance and ideas for intro possibilities.
You can take them through similar things in conclusions too. Try summaries or statements about what was learned or covered in the preceding text.
Teach your child to settle on a specific tone-of-voice or TOV for the work before writing. This can help keep the language and style consistent throughout the composition.
Of course, this ties right back into the first of our exam writing tips. The TOV has to be based on the requirements, context, or content points provided by the question or task.
In our earlier example, for instance, a child writing a thank-you letter to a tutor would have to be respectful. Warmth is possible for this context too, but not outright informality as with a peer. After all, your child is still addressing a mentor or teacher.
Show your child how to figure out the best TOV based on context. Explain that a report (for the situational writing) would require more formal and objective language, for instance.
A narrative composition (for continuous writing) would often be looser and more creative, by comparison.
Sensory description can be hugely beneficial for elevating a student's continuous writing entry. Most of those are designed to be narratives, which are generally improved by description.
Train your child in this by asking them to describe various things or experiences. It could be something as simple as preparing for school or waiting too long in a queue.
You could even start them off yourself by offering your own descriptions. Talk about things they can relate to, such as the sensation of eating your favourite ice cream or being late for something.
You can even introduce your child to fun metaphors and expressions here. At Aspire Hub, for example, we give children lists of metaphors that they can use based on our examples.
One of our tutors might talk about "feeling a cold sweat" when she saw she was going to be late for work. Or another might talk about a hero as "a lion in the face of danger".
Every composition has to flow logically for it to make sense to the assessor. Teach your child the key parts of compositions and how they relate to each other.
Say the intro establishes the premise, the situation, and the main character or characters. Talk to them about how the body expands on what the intro showed them.
Then discuss the conclusion and how it wraps up the story or answers the main questions. From there, you can ask them to practise structuring their writing along those lines.
Afterwards, don't forget to ask them to review their own work. Ask if they think it proceeds logically. Does the intro lead to the body in a sensible way? Do the things that happen in the body actually lead to the conclusion?
These are the sorts of things assessors will ask. Train your child to ask them of their own work. At Aspire Hub, doing this has yielded some of the best improvements, in our experience.
This is because introducing children to the concept of logic, cause-and-effect, and flow can sharpen their communication skills in any medium and language.
The tips above should already get you started. If you find that you need a little more help to get your child to true readiness for Paper 1, though, talk to us.
Aspire Hub's tutors can prepare your child for Paper 1 in a variety of ways. Our students have actually found massive improvements in their composition after our guidance.
Enquire now to learn more about our PSLE prep and Upper Primary English programmes.
The P6 composition paper for the PSLE may seem like a daunting challenge. It's more than doable with the right preparation, however.
As a parent, you may be wondering how you can support this preparation. In this guide, we'll explain how to do that with proven tips from our tutors at Aspire Hub. Let's begin by examining the demands of the assessment.
PSLE English Paper 1 is an evaluation of your child's proficiency in English. Paper 1 is the writing component, worth 50 marks or 25% of the final grade.
Paper 1 itself can be further broken down into two parts: situational and continuous writing.
Value: 14 marks or 7% of the final grade
This is where students are provided a context and event to which they have to write a response. This usually requires the student to craft a letter, report, or email.
This is what evaluators check in the writing, aside from the language:
⦁ Does the content show understanding of the context?
⦁ Does the writer understand the target audience?
⦁ Is the purpose of the response met?
6 of the points here are awarded for content based on those queries. The remaining 9 (for 15 in total) are for language, e.g. grammar and spelling.
Value: 36 marks or 18% of the final grade
In this part of the assessment, students are given a topic with associated pictures. They have to write a composition that's usually a narrative and at least 150 words based on those.
The questions evaluators ask here are these:
⦁ Is the story interesting or engaging?
⦁ Does the story develop well?
⦁ Is the story coherent?
Students will be graded both on the content of their written piece as well as their language.
Now that you know what's expected of your child in the assessment, it's time to prepare for it. Here are some PSLE composition tips that our tutors have found to work wonders!
Successful compositions are generally ones that understood the brief. That's why it's so useful to have your child make an easy reference they can use for the goals of the paper.
For example, let's say your child is given the task to write a thank-you letter to their tutor in English. Ask your child to start by writing down the key points to hit in the actual letter.
These may include the name of the teacher, descriptions of the things they're thanking the teacher for, and so on. They can then just refer to the list of notes during and after writing. This will ensure your child covers all key content points required.
Many readers say the intro and conclusion are the most important parts of any text. This stands to reason.
The intro often determines if you keep reading, while the conclusion shapes the impression you come away with after finishing the text. As such, even evaluators tend to pay special attention to them when grading the PSLE papers.
Try providing your child with various prompts to get them used to writing intros and conclusions. Practise different styles for each one.
For instance, you can take your child through intro options like setting description or direct dialogue. Our own tutors do this when preparing children for English Paper 1. We show them examples or offer guidance and ideas for intro possibilities.
You can take them through similar things in conclusions too. Try summaries or statements about what was learned or covered in the preceding text.
Teach your child to settle on a specific tone-of-voice or TOV for the work before writing. This can help keep the language and style consistent throughout the composition.
Of course, this ties right back into the first of our exam writing tips. The TOV has to be based on the requirements, context, or content points provided by the question or task.
In our earlier example, for instance, a child writing a thank-you letter to a tutor would have to be respectful. Warmth is possible for this context too, but not outright informality as with a peer. After all, your child is still addressing a mentor or teacher.
Show your child how to figure out the best TOV based on context. Explain that a report (for the situational writing) would require more formal and objective language, for instance.
A narrative composition (for continuous writing) would often be looser and more creative, by comparison.
Sensory description can be hugely beneficial for elevating a student's continuous writing entry. Most of those are designed to be narratives, which are generally improved by description.
Train your child in this by asking them to describe various things or experiences. It could be something as simple as preparing for school or waiting too long in a queue.
You could even start them off yourself by offering your own descriptions. Talk about things they can relate to, such as the sensation of eating your favourite ice cream or being late for something.
You can even introduce your child to fun metaphors and expressions here. At Aspire Hub, for example, we give children lists of metaphors that they can use based on our examples.
One of our tutors might talk about "feeling a cold sweat" when she saw she was going to be late for work. Or another might talk about a hero as "a lion in the face of danger".
Every composition has to flow logically for it to make sense to the assessor. Teach your child the key parts of compositions and how they relate to each other.
Say the intro establishes the premise, the situation, and the main character or characters. Talk to them about how the body expands on what the intro showed them.
Then discuss the conclusion and how it wraps up the story or answers the main questions. From there, you can ask them to practise structuring their writing along those lines.
Afterwards, don't forget to ask them to review their own work. Ask if they think it proceeds logically. Does the intro lead to the body in a sensible way? Do the things that happen in the body actually lead to the conclusion?
These are the sorts of things assessors will ask. Train your child to ask them of their own work. At Aspire Hub, doing this has yielded some of the best improvements, in our experience.
This is because introducing children to the concept of logic, cause-and-effect, and flow can sharpen their communication skills in any medium and language.
The tips above should already get you started. If you find that you need a little more help to get your child to true readiness for Paper 1, though, talk to us.
Aspire Hub's tutors can prepare your child for Paper 1 in a variety of ways. Our students have actually found massive improvements in their composition after our guidance.
Enquire now to learn more about our PSLE prep and Upper Primary English programmes.
