The exam-style question
This is a directed writing: letter question, in the style of the First Language English papers. Read it as you would in the exam, then compare your plan with the model.
Using ideas from the notice below, write a formal letter to the council objecting to the closure of the town library and proposing a practical alternative. Keep an appropriate tone throughout. This is our own practice prompt.
Council Notice: Library Review
NOTICE FROM RIVERTON DISTRICT COUNCIL. The Council is reviewing the future of Riverton Central Library. Rising running costs and falling visitor numbers mean the building may close in the spring, with services moved to a mobile van visiting each Tuesday.
Officers note that many residents now borrow e-books and that the site could be sold to help fund road repairs. But the library also hosts a homework club used by over ninety schoolchildren, a weekly group for isolated older residents, and free computer access for those seeking work. Local volunteers have offered to staff a reading room at weekends. The Council invites written responses from residents before a final decision is taken next month.
Letters should be addressed to the Head of Community Services and should set out clearly any objection and any practical alternative the writer wishes the Council to consider.
Model response: Directed writing: letter
A strong letter matches its form and register to the task. It uses the source material to build a reasoned case, not an emotional outburst.
A trial lesson can compare your child's own answer with this model on Directed writing letter.
Common errors we see
- Wrong register: slang or an aggressive tone in a formal letter
- Ignoring the task's second demand (here, proposing an alternative)
- Copying the notice instead of reshaping it into argument
- Missing or mismatched salutation and sign-off
- Ranting emotionally instead of arguing with reasons
How this maps to the mark scheme
Examiners mark against assessment objectives. These are the skills the paper rewards.
For directed writing: letter, the objectives in play are listed below. The wording is summarised for Cambridge IGCSE First Language English (0500) on our qualification page.
- Understand explicit meanings.
- Select and use information for specific purposes.
- Organise and structure ideas and opinions for deliberate effect.
- Use register and style appropriate to purpose and audience.
- Make accurate use of spelling, punctuation and grammar.
Use the passage for ideas, then write them for the named reader. Register and accurate presentation carry as much weight as content.
Other boards word their objectives differently, but the same skills earn the marks. Your board's official syllabus gives the exact weighting.
Where to go next
Learn the method in our guide to directed writing: letter, then try the directed writing: letter practice tasks. You can browse every annotated model response or see how we teach this in our First Language English tuition.
When you have written your own answer, take it to a paid one-hour trial lesson and the teacher who would continue will mark it with you.