Section B: Composition

• Section B = choice of Question 2/3 (descriptive) OR Question 4/5 (narrative). 350–450 words, 1 hour, 40 marks.
• Marks split: 16 for content/structure + 24 for style/accuracy — accuracy and vocabulary are worth MORE than plot.
• Timing: 15 min planning + 45 min writing (last 5 min = checking).
• Descriptive writing = a camera, not a story: no plot, no dialogue, no characters interacting.
• Use the six-step "Panoramic → Zoom → Single line → Shift → Shift → Panoramic" structure to plan description.
• Narrative writing follows Freytag's Pyramid: Exposition → Rising Action → Climax → Falling Action → Resolution.
• Best characterisation is indirect ("showing") — through movement, speech and thought — not direct ("telling").
• Learn the toolbox of linguistic devices (imagery, personification, pathetic fallacy, power verbs...) and use them with purpose, not just to tick boxes.

You get a choice of two titles (Question 2 or 3) — things like "Describe trying to sleep before an important day" or "Write a description with the title 'The nest'". Notice none of these say "write a story about..." — that's the giveaway. Descriptive writing wants you to capture a moment, not move a plot forward.

This is the single most useful tool in this whole chapter. Think of your paragraph plan as a camera lens zooming in and out over a scene:

Notice it starts and ends wide (panoramic) — this gives your piece a satisfying "bookend" shape without needing a plot. The two "shift" steps in the middle are where you can introduce contrast: something moving next to something still, a sound next to a silence, light next to dark.

contrast