Eduqas GCSE English Language transactional writing overview quiz quiz

Two compulsory transactional or persuasive writing tasks

One single creative prose task where you write an imaginative story

A spoken presentation delivered live to your teacher and the class

A reading comprehension based on a single unseen non-fiction text

A short imaginative story written purely to entertain a general reader for pleasure

Real-world, purposeful non-fiction in a recognisable form for a specific audience and purpose

A poem that uses imagery and rhythm to explore a personal feeling or experience

A private personal diary written only for yourself, with no particular audience in mind at all

AO1 and AO2

AO3 and AO4

AO5 and AO6

AO7 and AO8

Title, length and date

Spelling, grammar and handwriting

Opening, middle and end only

Form, purpose and audience

Because register follows the audience and purpose

Register never changes, and stays exactly the same in every piece of writing

Because leaflets have no register at all, so anything goes when you write one

Because letters are always informal, no matter who they are actually written to

Writing your answer in exactly three paragraphs

A group of three for rhythm and emphasis

Asking the reader three rhetorical questions in a row

Using three different fonts to make the writing stand out

In every single sentence, to give the writing the maximum possible effect

Never at all, because rhetorical devices are banned in the writing tasks

Deliberately and sparingly, at the moments that matter

Only at the very end, saved up for the final line of the whole piece

It does not weaken it at all, and in fact strengthens every point that is made

Because rhetorical questions are simply not allowed anywhere in transactional writing

Because it shortens the piece too much and leaves you well under the expected length

It loses impact, reads as mechanical, and crowds out the argument and evidence

Devices should reinforce a real case made with reasoned points and evidence, not stand in for it

Use only persuasive devices and skip the argument, because the devices do all the work for you

Never use any rhetoric at all, and rely entirely on plain reasoned points and evidence instead

Arguments are completely unnecessary, just so long as the writing is full of persuasive techniques

They do not both need completing, because a strong first task can carry the marks on its own

Because the two tasks carry equal marks awarded per task, so an unfinished task forfeits roughly half the writing marks

Because only the first task is marked, and the second is simply there for extra practice

Because the second task is entirely optional, and only the very strongest students are ever expected to attempt it at all

Spending far too long planning both of the tasks before you start writing

Checking your spelling and punctuation for accuracy at the end of each task

Over-running on the first task and leaving the second thin or unfinished

Organising the writing into clear, well-structured paragraphs throughout

Almost all of it on the first task, leaving only a few minutes for the second

Almost all of it on the second task, rushing through the first one as fast as you can

Randomly, spending however long each task happens to take as you go along

Roughly equally, with a few minutes for planning and checking each