Eduqas GCSE English Language core writing skills overview quiz quiz

AO5 and AO6

AO1 and AO2

AO3 and AO4

AO7 and AO8

It is not really worth doing, as planning simply uses up time you could spend writing more words

It secures the AO5 organisation marks by giving the piece a clear shape and preventing drift and an abrupt ending

It adds extra words to the piece, and a longer answer will always score more marks than a shorter answer would do in the end

It replaces the need to write a full answer at all, since a detailed plan can simply be handed in on its own

Making every single sentence as long as you possibly can

Placing a semicolon in every line of the writing

The deliberate short sentence for impact

Repeating the same sentence again and again for effect

It does not need to be matched at all, since the markers only ever look at how varied and ambitious your sentence structures are

Because punctuation is entirely optional in the writing tasks and is never actually counted towards the marks at all

Because long, complicated sentences are always the best choice and short sentences should be avoided completely

Because AO6 rewards range and correctness together, so structures you cannot punctuate introduce errors that lower the band

Precise, well-chosen words that say exactly what you mean and create an effect

Using the longest and rarest words you can think of, whether or not they fit the meaning

Picking words straight from a thesaurus and dropping them in more or less at random

Using only technical terms and specialist jargon throughout the whole piece of writing

It never does, because a complex word always scores more than a simple one even if misspelled

Because AO6 rewards accurate spelling, so a misspelled ambitious word lowers the band

Because simple words always score more marks than complex ones, whatever the context

Because complex and difficult words are completely banned in the writing tasks

It is not actually important where the most engaging writing comes in the piece

Because markers only ever read the very first line and then stop reading the rest

Because AO5 rewards engaging the reader, and the first line is where that begins

Because the first line must always be the longest single sentence in the whole piece

Endings do not matter at all to the AO5 mark, as long as the opening of the piece is strong

Because the ending of the piece is marked completely separately from the rest of it under its own dedicated objective

Because the ending must always repeat the opening of the piece word for word to show control

Because a deliberate ending signals control, while a piece that stops because time ran out caps the mark

At a shift in time, place, focus or topic, or when a new speaker begins

Exactly every five lines, whatever is happening in the writing at that point

Never, because a strong piece of writing should be one single unbroken paragraph

Only right at the very end of the piece, just before the final closing sentence

It cannot really be used for effect and only ever looks like a careless mistake

It isolates a key moment for emphasis, breaking the rhythm so it stands out

It saves space only, and is used purely to make the piece look shorter on the page

It is always an error and should be corrected into a full paragraph whenever it appears

They are wasted time that would be far better spent adding even more new content to the answer

Because markers completely ignore accuracy and only ever look at the ideas and the content of the piece you have written

Because AO6 accuracy marks are large and the errors are already on the page, so catching them recovers marks

Because proofreading is mainly a chance to add lots of new content and extend the piece further

Only the first task, leaving the second one unchecked

Neither task, since there is never any time left to check

Only the longer of the two tasks, ignoring the shorter one

Both tasks, because both carry AO6 accuracy marks