Weak at PSLE Situational Writing? Use These 5 Tips Today

Situational writing is a component of the PSLE English Paper 1 that is often overlooked due to its straightforward nature and lower mark weightage. However, when done well, situational writing practically gives marks away to students. Ignoring your weaknesses in the situational writing component may place you at a distinct disadvantage and cause you to lose these easy points.

Primary School students most often experience difficulty with formatting their writing, do not understand the difference between formal and informal writing, or fail to take note of necessary content points in the question. In this article, we'll be giving you tips on how to solve these issues, so you can pass your situational writing with flying colours.

1. Familiarise Yourself With The Format

There are two different format for PSLE situational writing: Letter/email format, and report writing. From there, students need to determine whether the response requires a formal or informal tone. Unlike compositions, situational writing is not a test of creative writing. The main point of situational writing is to test task fulfilment and the student's ability to follow the format, so it's important to analyse the question and answer according to the prompt.

Email or letter format

Report format

2. Formal vs Informal Writing

Be conscious of the tone required by the given scenario. Pay close attention to the task's instructions. Informal letters are usually addressed to a family member, classmate, or friend. However, if you're asked to write to the school principal or a leader of an external organisation, this may require formal writing.

For a formal writing task, write with a clear and polite tone. Avoid contractions and exclamation marks. If the task does not give you the recipient's name, sign off with "Yours faithfully". If the task provides you with the recipient's name, sign off with "Yours sincerely". This is an important difference to note.

For an informal writing task, write with a warmer, friendlier tone. This may involve a greeting such as "How are you?" or "How have you been?" In terms of language use, you are allowed to use contractions (eg. it's, don't, can't, won't). The usual sign-off for informal writing is "Best regards".

Make sure your tone is appropriate and consistent throughout the response. Think of how you would write a formal letter to someone like your principal as opposed to how you would write an informal letter to a friend. That being said, an informal tone does not mean neglecting proper grammar and spelling. Even your informal writing should be written in complete sentences with words spelled out fully.

3. Address all Content Points

The situational writing prompt will include some points that must be addressed in your writing. This is where you attain your 6 content points. Most of the information you need to address the points will be in the image provided with the prompt.

Let's say you have been asked to write an email to your classmate asking her to join your team for a dance competition. The situational writing prompt may ask you to include the competition date, the competition venue, what prizes can be won, two reasons she should join your team, and when the competition sign-up closes. In total, this will be 6 different points for you to cover (with the two reasons to join your team being worth one content point each).

Check back against the situational writing prompt to ensure you've identified these bullet points being asked for. These are easy marks to attain, so don't let them go to waste! Avoid including unnecessary details. As mentioned earlier, the situational writing section aims to ensure students have a clear understanding of how to communicate effectively and that they can meet all task requirements. It's not necessary to try to get creative in situational writing, or create a narrative flow.

4. Grammar, Spelling, and Punctuation (GSP)

Out of the 15 possible marks for the situational writing component, 6 marks are for content and 9 marks are for language and organisation. This means that using the right format is important, but using correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation (GSP) is even more crucial. GSP is critical for all English topics, and students should do their best to master them. Punctuation mistakes and grammatical errors may cost you marks you don't want to lose.

While practicing your situational writing and continuous writing at home, check any spelling you're unsure of. If there are words spelled in the provided prompt or image that you are not familiar with, refer back to them when spelling them in your response to ensure you spell them accurately.

It can also help to read your work aloud, sentence by sentence. This helps you gauge whether your sentences are grammatically sound. A general rule of thumb is to place a comma wherever there is a natural pause in a long sentence, especially when separating two different ideas in a sentence.

5. Time Management

As you will have to manage both situational writing and continuous writing in PSLE English Paper 1, make sure to allocate the given time wisely. You will have 1 hour 10 minutes to write both sections. We advise spending a maximum of 20 minutes on situational writing, so you will have 50 minutes to work on continuous writing. Within these 20 minutes, spend 5 minutes reading the task carefully and planning what you're going to write, 10 minutes writing, and another 5 minutes checking and editing your work.

To get yourself used to the amount of time you can spend on situational writing, do timed practices at home in exam conditions. Having proper practice sessions will ensure you can get your situational writing done in a timely manner. 

Ace Situational Writing with Help from Keynote Learning

At Keynote Learning, we teach our students to effectively tackle the situational writing section by familiarising them with the format and teaching them essential writing skills. We believe in making learning English fun, interesting, and purposeful for all students, and we update our learning materials each year based on the latest PSLE exams. Learn more about our English tuition classes and get ready to enjoy your learning at Keynote Learning.