11+ Creative Writing Exam Tips

Whilst schools are closed we at Eleven Plus Exams are continuing to look for ways to help children make the most of their time indoors and keep their minds engaged.

Regardless of whether or not your child will be expected to write an extended essay as part of their 11+, they are likely to benefit from creative writing practice all the same. As discussed during Children’s Mental Health Week, creative pursuits are incredibly valuable for helping children to express themselves. Creative self-expression, especially through writing, can allow children to articulate their own feelings and anxieties, and understand their own thoughts and feelings in a productive manner.

This is why we have compiled a number of creative writing prompts and tips in this blog, to encourage children to write imaginative and expressive stories, and to shed some more insight into what exactly it is that a creative writing examiner is looking for.

Creative Writing in the 11+

Most independent schools require prospective pupils to write an essay as part of their selective entrance exams. This can be in the form of a non-fiction essay or a creative writing assignment. Typically, students are given between 20 to 30 minutes for this essay and can select what to write from a number of up to four essay titles. 

This is an incredibly short amount of time to invent, plan and write an entire story from scratch, especially one that meets all of the assessment criteria of an exam! The key to success in this part of the 11+ is, as always, preparation, and knowing exactly what it is that your child will be tested on when asked to write a creative essay.

What is the examiner looking for?

The creative writing exam is a test of how well a student can comprehend a given task, how well they can express themselves, and how original and creative their ideas are. Examiners, therefore, are typically looking for four things:

Structure

How well has your child understood the task? How accurate is the form of their writing to what they have been asked to do? How appropriate and focussed is their answer?

In order to succeed the student must:

• Be confident in writing in several different forms of writing (including short stories, letters, speeches, persuasive and argumentative essays).

• Demonstrate a clear progression of ideas and plan their story before writing.

Use of Language

How well has your child engaged their reader? How sophisticated and extensive is their grasp of English?

In order to succeed the student must:

• Demonstrate an extensive vocabulary, with all words used correctly.

• Vary their sentence structure and use of punctuation to add flair, tension and excitement to their writing.

Creativity

How original and engaging are your child’s ideas? Have they interpreted the prompt in an exciting and unique way?

In order to succeed the student must:

• Engage their reader: write a story that surprises, entertains or amuses the examiner!

• Convey their ideas clearly (and avoid writing a plot that is overly complicated or confusing!)

Accuracy

How precise and accurate are your child’s written abilities?

This is the part of the exam where it is easiest to both gain and lose marks.

In order to succeed the student must:

• Have sophisticated and accurate spelling, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure and handwriting.

• Be practiced in proofreading their work.

How to practise creative writing at home?

Tip 1: Keep a Vocabulary Book and Writing Journal

If you don’t have one already, a ‘good vocabulary’ book where you note down new, unusual and potentially helpful vocabulary is essential for your child to develop their writing abilities.

This journal can be used by children to make a note of any good ideas or imagery they come across in their reading. They can then use this to inspire their own ideas, or translate these images into their own stories.

E.g. They may enjoy the way a writer describes a tense situation, using short sentences or onomatopoeia to make the reader’s hair stand on end: they should copy out this passage and make a note of why they enjoyed it so much!

A writing journal can also be used to make a log of “stock” characters, settings and story ideas. Once written and perfected, they can be reused and repurposed for different stories. This way you do not have to create something entirely new every time you write a new piece!

Tip 2: Get Organised!

Use a writing diary to make notes on how to organise different types of writing, e.g. a letter, a newspaper article, a descriptive piece etc.

Consider how a text itself is put together. A child should have a good grasp of beginnings, middles and endings within a story.

Tip 3: Vary sentence types and include literary devices.

This is how to take creative writing to the next level and stand out to an examiner! Children should practise using a variety of sentence types in order to capture their reader’s attention and should make a log of descriptive literary devices.

Notice how the same sentence can be changed and made more exciting with different word types:

• adverbs (Slowly, Antony opened the door), 
• verbs in the  –ing form (Opening the door, Antony …)
• prepositions (Behind the door, Antony found …)

Children can have a go themselves at rewriting their sentences and rearranging their words to create more tension and excitement!

Tip 4: Accuracy and proofreading.

Don’t forget that the creative writing section of your exam tests how well you can express your ideas. Therefore, accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar is essential to scoring a top mark.

Getting into the habit of reading back through a story once it is complete, with the intention of spotting grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, can help a student hone their accuracy.

Children can practise proofreading for punctuation and grammar by reading their writing out aloud. This will help to spot grammar mistakes and errors in sentence structure. Keeping a writing journal can be useful for spelling errors: a student can keep a note of words they commonly misspell in order to look out for them in particular when they finish a piece of writing.

Tip 5: Practice makes perfect!

Children should write on a daily basis. This does not have to be a full essay every time, but a sentence or two in their vocabulary journals can really help to inspire more ideas and help boost their confidence in their own creativity.

The brain, like most other parts of the body, needs to be exercised in order to grow stronger. Creativity and inspiration are no exceptions to this. The more a child dedicates their effort to creating and exploring new ideas, the easier this will start to come to them. And in the time pressure of exam, this kind of skill can be invaluable!

Resources

Prompt generators

These are great for getting the writing ball rolling and sparking ideas. This is especially great exam practice, as a child will often be assigned a prompt, title or idea on which to base their story, so must be prepared to shape their ideas around a given stimulus.

Check out this list of 300 writing prompts for kids and Scholastic’s interactive Story Starters.

11+ Essentials – Creative Writing Examples Book 1 (First Past the Post®)

For more focussed practice, we have written our own series of Creative Writing preparation books. 

This book is divided into distinct sections dedicated to different styles of writing, with a number of example pieces in each chapter written by students who have sat the 11+. Examining these extracts and completing the accompanying activities will give your child a better understanding of what is required of them in the exam and a great insight into the type of writing they are able to produce themselves, based on the work of children their own age.

Buy this book here.