Agree/disagree

Argument essay
 Write Now! You have 20 minutes.
WRITING: WRITE ESSAY

TODAY’S PROMPT
You will have 20 minutes to plan, write and revise an essay about the topic below. Your response will be judged on how well you develop a position, organize your
ideas, present supporting details, and control the elements of standard written English. You should write 200-300 words.

Standardised testing, where all students in an education system are tested and compared, is widely used. Some people
argue that too much testing is taking place and that tests are destroying creativity. Discuss the extent to which you
agree or disagree. Support your point of view with reasons and/or examples from your own experience or
observations.
PROOF-READING – COMMON ERRORS INTRODUCTION
Sentence 1: Neutral background statement about topic
1. subject-verb agreement Sentence 2: Rewrite the question
2. single/plural nouns Sentence 3: Tell reader main idea of Body 1 & 2 and your opinion
3. articles BODY 1
4. verb tenses Sentence 1: Topic sentence
5. prepositions Sentence 2: Support sentence
6. incomplete sentence Sentence 3: Evidence
7. wrong word / tone / vocabulary Sentence 4: Closing sentence
8. word form (eg. analyse / analysis / analytical) BODY 2
9. collocations Sentence 1: Topic sentence
10. missing words Sentence 2: Support sentence
11. too many words Sentence 3: Evidence
12. word order Sentence 4: Closing sentence
13. punctuation CONCLUSION
14. spelling Sentence 1: Tell the reader what you told them
Sentence 2: State your opinion and summarise your argument
 Sample essay
WRITING: WRITE ESSAY
PROMPT
Standardised testing, where all
students in an education system are
tested and compared, is widely used.
Some people argue that too much
testing is taking place and that tests
are destroying creativity. Discuss the
extent to which you agree or
disagree. Support your point of view
with reasons and/or examples from
your own experience or observations.
PLAN
Intro – testing 1000s of years old /
too much testing – creativity being
sacrificed / stan. test. destroying
creativity
Body 1 – helps identify students who
are struggling / improve curric.
Body 2 – teaching to the test / no
creativity
Conc – abandon stand. test. / find
other ways to assess
For thousands of years education systems around the world have tested students to measure
progress and evaluate methods. Many people, including those working on the frontline of
education, believe that too much testing is taking place and that creativity is being sacrificed.
This essay will discuss the advantages of testing, but will argue that standardised testing is
destroying creativity.
Standardised testing of students at different stages during their school years can provide
valuable information. If students are having difficulties with basic skills like reading, writing
and mathematics, early detection can help educators to remediate their skills. It can also help
educators to develop the curricula and teaching methodologies. Additionally, tests can be
viewed as a motivator for students, giving them a clear objective for their studies.
On the other hand, a lot of criticism has been directed towards standardised testing. Since
schools and teachers know the importance of the test results their school obtains, they find
themselves teaching students to pass the test at the expense of other areas of the curriculum.
Subjects that nurture creativity and ‘different thinking’ like art and music can be neglected.
Removing these subjects from school timetables means students have limited opportunities to
express and develop their creativity.
This essay discussed how standardised testing enables the identification of students in need of
extra help and motivates students, but how it also leads to a focus on test results at the cost of
creativity. In my opinion, policy makers should abandon standardised testing and should look
at more holistic ways of assessing students’ progress while nurturing creativity.
(261 words)
 Notice some of the features
WRITING: WRITE ESSAY
Note the highlighted
VOCABULARY.
It helps link ideas together.
The red text shows basic
linking across paragraphs
while the blue text shows
linking across sentences and
ideas.
It is all simple vocabulary, but
it has been used correctly to
show relationships between
ideas. This builds coherence.
For thousands of years education systems around the world have tested students to measure
progress and evaluate methods. Many people, including those working on the frontline of
education, believe that too much testing is taking place and that creativity is being sacrificed. This
essay will discuss the advantages of testing, but will argue that standardised testing is destroying
creativity.
Standardised testing of students at different stages during their school years can provide valuable
information. If students are having difficulties with basic skills like reading, writing and
mathematics, early detection can help educators to remediate their skills. It can also help Two points of
educators to develop the curricula and teaching methodologies. Additionally, tests can be viewed view.
as a motivator for students, giving them a clear objective for their studies.
On the other hand, a lot of criticism has been directed towards standardised testing. Since schools This was
and teachers know the importance of the test results their school obtains, they find themselves signalled in the
teaching students to pass the test at the expense of other areas of the curriculum. Subjects that last sentence of
nurture creativity and ‘different thinking’ like art and music can be neglected. Removing these the intro.
subjects from school timetables means students have limited opportunities to express and
develop their creativity.
This essay discussed how standardised testing enables the identification of students in need of Last sentence of
extra help and motivates students, but how it also leads to a focus on test results at the cost of conclusion
creativity. In my opinion, policy makers should abandon standardised testing and should look at agrees with last
more holistic ways of assessing students’ progress while nurturing creativity. sentence of
intro.
(261 words)