Writing Tips: From the mouths of examiners!

Examiners are actually quite friendly creatures who, a bit like sharks, have an undeservedly bad reputation. OK, some of them bite, but most of them will just do what they have to do without tearing you limb from limb! 
As I work at a registered Trinity exam centre, after each set of exams we receive feedback from the examiners on the speaking and listening elements. I've also been fortunate enough to get some insight from a Trinity and Cambridge marker for the writing elements. Below is the general advice they give for exam preparation and performance.

Writing

• The examiners like it when they see a plan for the written pieces (I think I may have mentioned this before!). The plan shows that you are giving your work some serious consideration, and they confirm what I've said previously, planned work generally gets a higher grade. Why is that, you ask? Because planned work is usually better organised with a smooth, flowing structure.
• ANSWER THE QUESTION! This sounds rather obvious but you'd be surprised how often people don't do this. Naturally, having a plan helps with this aspect and stops you wandering off in a different direction.

         Underline the different elements of the question, then use them in your plan. 

You do not have enough time to write the essay, article, or whatever in full and then write it again neatly. Using a plan means that your writing is going to be on-point and neater with the one attempt you have. Which leads nicely onto...

• Presentation. This may seem harsh as you are writing under pressure both from yourself and the clock; however, presentation does matter. Studies have shown that when presented with identical content, the neater version in most cases gets a higher grade. Plan, plan, plan and DO NOT underline grammar you've used in the text. The examiners recognise a conditional or relative clause when they see one!
• Write for your level. If you are taking a B2 level exam (FCE or ISE II, for example), then you cannot write using only the Past Simple and Present Simple. You have to demonstrate your knowledge; Perfect and continuous tenses, the passive form, etc. should be in evidence and your sentences should have a more complex structure than simply Subject, Verb and Object.
• Vocabulary, similarly, should be relevant and appropriate to your level. Make sure that you have a few synonyms up your sleeve to avoid repetition.
• Structure or Form is important in so many ways. Each genre has a specific format that should be used; use the wrong format and you will lose marks. Paragraphing, connecting words and phrases, and appropriate openings and endings for correspondence gain you marks.

Reading into Writing

Reading into Writing requires further skills; all the above still matter but, in addition, candidates are expected to be able to:

1. Identify a common theme across texts.
2. Identify writers' points of view across texts.
3. Evaluate ideas, deciding which are relevant and useful for the writing task they have to do.
4. Summarise information and opinions across a range of texts.
5. Paraphrase information from texts, using very little of the original text.

The examiner gave little information with regard to these issues, but from a writing perspective (points 1 & 2 are more about comprehension) I can imagine that points 3, 4 & 5 all throw up some issues. I'll dedicate more posts to these areas in the coming weeks.

In summary, a number of the issues the examiners come across can be minimised with careful planning of your work and making sure that you go into the exam prepared. 

NOT YOUR USUAL EXAMINER!