What’s persuasive or discussion writing?

Persuasive writing is a piece of writing where the purpose is to persuade a reader to adopt a particular side of an issue.

Discussion writing is a piece of writing where the purpose is to discuss both sides of an issue equally, and where required, to provide an opinion. And, the opinion is not there to persuade.

How to ACE Written Expression

What’s expected of you (the basics):

• Vocabulary
• Grammar- tenses and spelling
• Sentence structure

But that’s not going to help you ACE the test. What’s going to help you ACE the test?

• Selection of arguments or discussion points – are they thoughtful, intelligent, well-considered or unique?
• How well arguments or discussion points have been developed – is there a logical flow? Are arguments convincing? Are discussion points relevant?

To differentiate students, thoughtfulness is key.

The Exam Piece, Not the Masterpiece

Strategy is your friend here. After doing this course, you should go into your exam knowing every step you’re going to take from:

• What to do first
• How much to write
• What paragraphs you’ll be writing

Students often follow this 3-step process:

• Plan
• Write
• Review

The only thing you have to do in an exam is come up with the arguments or discussion points for the prompt quickly – and we’ll show you how to do that too.

But you have to know the 3 rules that examiners will use to judge your writing:

• Order – does your writing follow a logical order? Is there a logical step that people can follow from the beginning all the way to the end?
• Arguments/discussion points – have you chosen your arguments or points well and have you supported them?
• Style – the writing sounds authoritative and the arguments well written and clear. The strength of the writing will be in the rigour of the arguments or points.

These are the four quality checks for argumentative/discussion writing:
1. Have you addressed the question correctly?
2. Are the arguments solid and carefully explained in relation to the question?
3. Does it have a sense of order? E.g. counter arguments addressed?
4. Is the overall tone of your argumentative piece reasonable?

The course will go through each of these in detail so that you can do it (and save time!)

The time limit

Many people panic about the time limit. It is restrictive whether you have 20, 30 or 40 minutes. But doing your essay in that time period doesn’t mean you’ll get a high score.

It’s quality that matters. For example, we had a student who didn’t finish her essay (but it was high quality) and she got an offer!

Writing a high-quality piece is hard. But once you master that, doing it within the time limit just means doing things quickly and cutting out ‘time wasting’ practices. Little decisions in planning and the process to take can really help you with your time limit.

So, now that you’re preparing, focus on producing a high-quality piece without a time limit. Some of the questions do request a time limit, and you should try without a time limit and then with a time limit.

Common mistakes

Here are common mistakes that cost students high scores in exams and likely reasons why they happen:

• Using ‘big’ words incorrectly for the context (or spelled incorrectly).
• Including too much information
• Poor selection of arguments or discussion points
• Repetition but using different words
• Poorly developed arguments
• Using exaggerated language
• Writing too little
• Writing too much
• Not writing a piece that addresses the prompt (big one)
• No arguments or discussion points, but rather, information

In this course, we’ll go through the process of writing from planning all the way to editing so that you’re not going to be making these mistakes because the process eliminates them!

Resources to support you

Special resources are available to you to help you with your writing improvement. They are:

• Prompt library – many of these are past exam prompts.
• Sample essays – see essays that score 8 and above (competitive). Students who have written essays that consistently score 6 – high 7 have also been offered scholarships / selective school spots. Students who have previously scored 4, can quickly go up to 7 by implementing the feedback.

You can access these at any time while you have course access.

Key Rules to remember

• Have you addressed the question correctly?
• Are the arguments solid and carefully explained in relation to the question?
• Does it have a sense of order? E.g. counter arguments addressed?
• Is the overall tone of your piece reasonable?

Practice time!

Now, it's your turn to practice.

The questions in this checkpoint are provided to give you an introduction. Don't worry too much as you'll continue to build your skills throughout the course.

To do your practice questions, click on the below to download your question paper. You can print it out or work from the electronic version. We do recommend that you write your answers by hand in a notebook or on paper.

PDW-CP1-Questions.pdf

Once you have completed your questions, review the suggested solutions. You can download (and print if you wish) the PDF suggested solutions and/or watch the suggested solutions video (all below).

Once you're done with reviewing the practice question suggested solutions, move on to the next checkpoint.

PDW-CP1-Answers.pdf

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