Creative Writing: SQA Advanced Higher English writing portfolio quiz quiz

15 marks

20 marks

30 marks

40 marks

One piece of any genre

Two pieces in different genres

Three short pieces

Four pieces, one per genre

Exactly 1,000 words

No fixed count; length suits the purpose and genre

At least 3,000 words

Between 2,500 and 3,500 words

Length, neatness, title and presentation

Content and ideas, genre control, style and structure, technical accuracy

Spelling, grammar, vocabulary and handwriting

Plot, character, setting and theme

The word count

Purpose and audience

The marking deadline

The number of paragraphs

Font and layout

Narrative voice and structure

Title and length

Number of characters

Explaining the moral at the end

Conveying feeling through detail, image and action rather than stating it

Writing in the present tense

Using as many adjectives as possible

Its length

Deliberate control of form, sound and a controlling image to carry the meaning

A regular rhyme scheme

Stating its feeling clearly

They are identical

Persuasion drives a single position; argument weighs a question more even-handedly

Argument is always shorter

Persuasion never uses evidence

Asserting the opinion loudly

Controlled structure, a credible persona, managed tone and a fairly handled counter-argument

Avoiding any counter-argument

Using the longest possible sentences

A full narration of the event

The meaning drawn from the experience, not the events themselves

A persuasive call to action

A description of the setting

Because longer pieces score higher

Because the upper bands reward the control that revision produces, not a single draft

Because the deadline is far away

Because redrafting adds words

Accuracy first, then structure

From large scale to small: ideas and structure, then style, then technical accuracy

Only the opening paragraph

Randomly, changing words throughout

There is none

Redrafting targets a specific weakness each pass; tinkering changes words at random while leaving real problems untouched

Tinkering takes longer

Redrafting only fixes spelling