CSSE Continuous Writing Ideas - Essex

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sjroshan
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Aug 10, 2017 12:33 pm

CSSE Continuous Writing Ideas - Essex

Post by sjroshan »

Hi All,
My DS is preparing for CEM style exam for our catchment boys school, but will also be sitting for CSSE exam (Essex) as a backup plan but as an outside catchment student which makes it tougher.

I have been preparing him on the CSSE style papers (for KEGS & WestCliff Boys) and compared to CEM there is the Creative writing element which was introduced 2 years back.

Can someone help me with possible topics or sources to inspire his writing?

We have been looking at past papers for topics..but additional ideas would be greatly help...
MrsB
Posts: 174
Joined: Wed Dec 21, 2011 11:02 pm

Re: CSSE Continuous Writing Ideas - Essex

Post by MrsB »

We found this quite tricky to practice but just invented some things for our DC to write about eg a summer's day, a day at the beach etc.

Once they had written something, we worked through it and asked them to think of extra ways to spice up what they had written with more interesting/powerful words ie more adjectives/adverbs or different verbs. For example if they wrote"ran", we asked them to think of all the different ways to say the same thing eg dashed, rushed, hurried, scrambled etc.

We didn't spend masses of time on this, however compared to the other sections of the exam, as they did a lot of creative writing at primary school - so our focus was more on making sure they were alive to what the question was after. For example I believe one of the past papers asked them to write instructions on how to do something, and another asked them to write a description. The point is your DC needs to note if they are being asked to write a clear list of instructions on how to do something (clean teeth, make toast, put on shoes) or are they looking for a description of something (favourite animal, a pet, best friend, bedroom, classroom), or for an exciting account of an adventure.

We assumed that the examiner was also looking for accuracy of spelling and punctuation so reminded them to check for silly mistakes.

You may want to try posting in the Essex section to get more ideas.
sjroshan
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu Aug 10, 2017 12:33 pm

Re: CSSE Continuous Writing Ideas - Essex

Post by sjroshan »

Thanks MrsB for your detailed response. I'm currently working with my DS on the approach you explained.
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