The 11 Plus Creative Writing exam is a crucial component of the overall assessment process for students aiming to secure a place in prestigious Grammar Schools. This exam evaluates students’ ability to express their thoughts, ideas, and emotions effectively through the power of the written word. It assesses critical skills such as creativity, imagination, structure, grammar, and vocabulary.
How to prepare for a creative writing exam? The 11 Plus creative writing exam tests your child’s imagination and creativity on various topics. Typically, they will be given a choice of three or four topics. The topics can range from a picture prompt to a sentence starter, a question, or an extract from a book. This article will provide essential information and tips to help you prepare for the creative writing exam.
What Exactly is 11 Plus Creative Writing?
As part of the 11 Plus test, candidates may be required to perform creative writing work. The 11 Plus practice writing task might be creating an original short tale or continuing a report based on supplied material.
11 Plus Creative writing topics are not included in the top 11 Plus exam boards’ assessments (GL, CEM, and ISEB). The institution usually determines if a creative writing component is included in a Grammar School admission test. Most Grammar Schools will only evaluate the creative writing work in ‘borderline instances’ (for example, when selecting between two applicants who scored the same on the primary test papers).
Most independent senior schools will ask students to prepare an essay or creative writing work for admission tests. The 11 Plus creative writing projects must be done promptly. Students must draft, write, and revise their work in under an hour (depending on the structure of the school’s test).
What Do Children Learn In 11 Plus Creative Writing?
Writing stories, folk tales, and poetry allows your child to exercise creativity and originality. 11 Plus creative writing helps them apply their talents to more enjoyable types of writing. They will grasp that the objective of fiction and poetry is to amuse and challenge the reader.
Your child will begin to plan stories in more depth. They will build comprehensive settings, carefully considering how the environment will affect the tale’s course and if it corresponds to the narrative’s topic.
For example, a space setting would be inappropriate if they create an old Viking story; thus, they must construct ones appropriate for ancient mythology. At this point, your child will develop a more intricate personality, complete with a backstory, detailed physical appearance, emotions, motives, strengths, and weaknesses.
Your child has probably studied some rudimentary poetry, such as acrostics and shape poems. However, as students go through upper key stage 2, they will discover and investigate increasingly complicated types of poetry, such as free verse and narrative poems. They will also look at specific genres of poetry, such as kennings and haikus.
1. Character Portraits
In fourth grade, your child will begin to plan tales and narratives in more depth. They will think more seriously about locations, characters, and plots. These plans will be documented in various methods, including character and scenario descriptions, mind maps, and photographs. They will grasp that tales have a storyline and that events at the beginning of stories typically influence what occurs at the conclusion.
2. The Paragraphs
When your child is ready to write lengthier tales, they should divide the divisions and events into paragraphs. They will learn when to change paragraphs and what to add inside a paragraph to keep the reader entertained and interested. However, this is the concept that a new section should be created whenever something changes.
3. Poetry Genres
As your child progresses through (and beyond), they will be exposed to a broader range of poetry, ranging from free verse poems (in which your child is free to create whatever they want) to poems with stricter rules, such as haikus (a three-line poem in which the initial and final lines have five syllables and the middle line has seven). Your child can try out words and pictures as they write a fun verse that tells a story.
4. Editing and Improving Writing
Your child’s writing will focus on correcting, enhancing, and “levelling up.” They will begin to evaluate their writing, identifying characteristics they enjoy and believe are successful, and make ideas to strengthen it. They will be able to identify the verb tenses they have employed (past, present, or future tense) and discover any inconsistencies, correcting them as they go.
7 Ways to Improve Creative Writing Skills
Students should practise writing in English as much as possible and be taught developmentally-appropriate tactics to enhance their abilities. Several tips can be helpful when preparing for the 11 Plus creative writing examination. Here are a few tips:
1. Perform Writing Activities
Practice is essential if you want your child’s writing abilities to improve. There are numerous 11 Plus practice writing task activities available that your child can use to enhance their creative writing skills. Your child can also take advantage of 11 Plus creative writing tutors or creative writing courses designed to improve their exam performance.
2. Do Not Forget The Basics
Ensure your child does not forget the fundamentals of writing, such as correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar. This should be your last concern. However, these fundamental ideas are necessary for completing any kind of writing assignment, not simply the 11 Plus exams.
3. Promote Reading
There is a reason why good writers tend to be voracious readers. As children read more, they’ll acquire new terms in context and “flex their vocabulary muscles” in writing, which pleases parents and educators. Reading teaches children alternative word choices and sentence constructions they might use while writing.
4. Encourage Them to Begin
Blank pages scare even seasoned writers. Children generally perform well after a few words. Ask a thought-provoking question, create a list or mind map of writing-related ideas, or assist them in structuring an outline they may turn into a sketch. Create the ideal statement without guilt. The text is constantly changing. Start with free writing.
5. Examine the Drafting Process
11 Plus creative writing involves brainstorming, checking for mistakes, and rewriting. Children must realise that a flawless sentence takes time to create, examine, and modify. It saves erasing and lets children write several times until they discover the right words.
6. Support Journal Keeping
Get your child a diary and encourage them to write a brief note every day about their day. Ask them questions to get them thinking, and talk to them about what they like doing. Don’t worry too much about spelling. Respect their need for privacy and give them the impression that they may express themselves freely without fear of being judged.
7. Give Writing Prompts
Creative writing may be difficult, but giving your child a subject or theme to write about might be beneficial. You may make basic suggestions and let your child fill in the blanks. For example, ‘If I could be any animal, I would be…’ or ‘The bravest thing I have ever done was….’ Reading Eggs includes an interactive story-writing tutorial with proper word, phrase, and artwork ideas.
Conclusion
The creative writing component of the tests is an essential aspect of the exam that assesses the child’s writing abilities. Preparing for this component might be difficult, but your child can succeed with practice, reading, and help from 11 Plus creative writing tutors or courses. Encourage your child to write regularly, read more, and participate in 11 Plus creative writing classes. With adequate preparation, your child may thrive at creative writing assignments.