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14 exam-style questions with model answers, plus 12 quick multi-choice questions — every question on the site for this standard, grouped by the 4 pages of notes they come from.
Write a full answer before you reveal the model one — that comparison is where the marks come from. Every block links back to the notes that teach it.
Explain the difference between crafted and controlled, and describe how you would organise your drafting so that both are demonstrated.
Discuss why cutting improves writing more reliably than adding does, and evaluate the limits of that principle.
Explain what syntax controls that vocabulary cannot, using at least two versions of the same sentence.
Explain why varying sentence length matters more than any individual sentence being good, and why a piece with a lot of figurative language often scores lower than a plainer one.
Discuss why over-writing is more damaging than plain writing, and evaluate what makes a stylistic feature earn its place.
Discuss the claim that plain vocabulary is always better than elaborate vocabulary in this standard.
Explain the difference between a minor and a serious convention error, and describe a proofreading method that would find both.
Explain why a spellchecker is not a proofread, and explain how a writer should decide whether an unconventional choice will read as deliberate.
The conventions requirement is a threshold rather than a sliding scale. Discuss why that is defensible, and what follows from it for how a student should spend their time.
Discuss whether it is fair that accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar operate as a threshold for this standard.
Explain what convincingly adds to crafted and controlled, and identify the two commonest ways a piece fails to reach it.
Explain why over-writing produces a lower grade than plainer writing, and explain why the usual advice to write authentically does not help.
Excellence names three things: inventive or articulate language, a distinctive personal voice, and dimensions or viewpoints. Discuss why the third is the one most often missing, and what it demands of a writer.
Discuss the extent to which a student can reach Excellence in this standard by technique alone.