In persuasive writing, students need to present a clear position and support it with logical arguments and relevant evidence or examples. Strong writing usually demonstrates effective organisation, appropriate vocabulary, sentence control and an awareness of the intended audience.

Narrative writing, by contrast, focuses on creating a coherent and engaging story. Students need to develop characters, events, setting and tension while maintaining a clear structure.

In both forms, markers are looking beyond spelling alone. Important qualities can include ideas, organisation, vocabulary, cohesion, sentence structure and control of language, depending on the assessment and marking criteria.

A common mistake is assuming that sophisticated words automatically produce a high-quality response. Forced vocabulary can actually make writing less natural and less clear.

Instead, students should learn to choose language deliberately.

For persuasive writing:

• Establish a clear contention.

• Develop connected arguments.

• Use examples effectively.

• Anticipate the audience.

• Finish with a strong conclusion.

For narrative writing:

• Create purposeful characters.

• Establish a setting.

• Develop a meaningful problem or conflict.

• Vary sentence structures.

• Maintain logical progression.

The most effective preparation is regular writing followed by specific feedback against the relevant marking criteria. Students should understand not only what they did wrong, but exactly how to improve it in their next response.