General Advice & Information About the Writing Assessment

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These are the types of text that you will need to be familiar with:

  • Article/leaflet (use the same format for both.)
  • Review. Reviews are set out in a similar way to articles/leaflets and give information and opinions about media (including TV shows, concerts, films, books, games and plays), events, holiday resorts or accommodation. The writer says whether or not s/he would recommend these.
  • Formal/business letter
  • Email
  • Information report (again, these are set out in a similar way to articles, but have an impersonal, business-like style and tend to only include the main facts.
  • Forum post/internet comments (they are often used to express opinions and/or to argue a point.)
  • Blogs (these are a kind of ‘diary, but written for others to read. They often describe experiences and/or views/thoughts.)

Here are the purposes of writing that you will need to cover:

  • Writing to give various types of information.
  • Writing a formal information report.
  • Writing to complain.
  • Writing to  apply.
  • Writing to make suggestions.
  • Writing to  review.
  • Writing to  give your views.
  • Writing to  persuade/convince.
  • Writing to  argue a point of view. This is similar to writing to persuade, but you will also need to address arguments that you are disagreeing with.)

Extra Information/Tips

  1. Check how many writing tasks you have been given. Some exam papers will advise you on how much time to spend on each.
  2. Think about the purpose you are writing for, the type of reader you are writing for, and the type of text you are writing.
  3. Make some kind of plan. This will help you to keep track of your thoughts and ideas. Your plan doesn’t have to be very detailed or take much time. It can even be a few key words on your exam paper and, if English isn’t your best language, you can plan in your main language.
  4. Make sure you cover all the points that the exam paper asks you to include (these frequently appear as a bullet list.) It may help you to tick them off on your exam paper as you go.
  5. Check your spelling, grammar and punctuation. Common errors include using the wrong there/they’re/their, you’re/your, ‘comma splices‘, ‘run-on sentences, missing apostrophes/misplaced, missing words, apostrophes and words beginning with the wrong letter case.

If you are taking the Level 1 or Level 2 Writing, you can find examples of written tasks on FSE Writing: Example Answers

Note that L1 students don’t need to write as much as L2 students. The exam papers offer guidance on how much you should aim to write on each task for your level. Even if you write slightly under or over the suggested number of words, it’s still possible to pass.

If you are taking your Functional English exams with the Pearson Edexcel exam board, click on the link below for more information:

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