Writing: the new component

Updated: 1 Jun 2026

Reading time: 5–6 minutes

Key facts (TL;DR)

Writing is the only selective component with no OC equivalent — it requires specific preparation
Students must produce an original written response to a given prompt under timed conditions
There are four text types: Narrative, Persuasive, Informational, and Personal
Writing improvement is slow — it responds to months of regular practice, not a late push
Starting in Year 5 Term 1 is the right time; starting in Year 6 is too late for most students

What the writing task involves

In the selective test, students are given a prompt and must produce an original written response within a set time. There are no multiple-choice options, no answer to select, and no way to compensate with guessing. The quality of the writing is the result.

The prompt will indicate a text type. Students may be asked to write a narrative (a story or scene), a persuasive text (an argument or opinion piece), an informational text (an explanation or report), or a personal response (a reflection or personal account). The specific text type isn't always announced in advance, so students need to be comfortable across all four.

The writing component is marked on a Band scale from 1 to 6, assessing the overall quality of the response as a piece of writing — not just grammar and spelling. A Band 5 or 6 response demonstrates genuine control of ideas, structure, language, and voice. A Band 3 response might be technically adequate but lack the development and sophistication that higher bands require.

What examiners are looking for

Examiners assess writing holistically — they read a response as a whole and place it in the band that best describes its quality, rather than adding up marks for individual features. The qualities that distinguish higher-band writing from middle-band writing are consistent across text types.

Ideas and content

Strong writing has something to say. The ideas are specific, developed, and relevant to the prompt. Higher-band narratives have a sense of character and place; higher-band persuasive pieces make a clear argument with real reasoning behind it. Generic responses that could apply to any prompt — regardless of how fluently they're written — tend to land in the middle bands.

Structure and organisation

The response has a clear shape. There's a beginning that establishes something, a middle that develops it, and an end that resolves or concludes. Paragraphs do distinct work. The reader doesn't get lost. At Band 5–6, the structure feels purposeful rather than formulaic — the writer is making choices about how to sequence ideas, not just following a template.

Language and expression

Word choice is deliberate. Sentences vary in length and structure. The writing has a consistent tone appropriate to the text type. Higher-band responses use language that is precise and controlled — not necessarily elaborate, but chosen rather than defaulted to. Simple, clear language used well is more effective than complex language used clumsily.

Technical control

Spelling, punctuation, and grammar are handled with confidence. Errors are occasional rather than frequent, and they don't disrupt the reading experience. Technical control is a necessary condition for higher bands — consistent errors prevent a response from reaching Band 5 or 6 regardless of its other qualities — but it's not sufficient on its own.

The four text types

Narrative

A story or scene. The prompt might provide a starting point, an image, or a theme. Strong narratives have a clear situation, developed character or setting, a sense of tension or movement, and a satisfying ending. Students often find narrative the most natural text type but also the most variable in quality — it's easy to produce a workable narrative, but harder to produce a genuinely engaging one.

Persuasive

An argument or opinion piece. The student takes a position on a given topic and supports it with reasoning and evidence. Structure matters here — a persuasive response without a clear argument thread tends to read as a list of loosely related points rather than a coherent case. Students who struggle with persuasive writing often have the right ideas but haven't learned to sequence them effectively.

Informational

An explanation, report, or description. The student organises factual or explanatory content around a topic in a clear, structured way. The tone is neutral and objective. Strong informational writing is well-organised, accurate, and appropriately detailed. Students who read widely tend to find this text type more manageable because they've absorbed the conventions of explanatory writing from the texts they've encountered.

Personal

A reflection or personal account. The student draws on their own experience or perspective in response to a prompt. Voice and authenticity matter here — a personal response that feels genuine and specific tends to do better than one that feels written to a formula. This is the text type where students who are naturally reflective and expressive often outperform technically stronger writers.

Why writing needs an early start

Writing is the component that families most consistently start too late. The reason is understandable: compared to maths practice sets or thinking skills questions, writing progress is hard to measure week-to-week. It's also harder to practise independently — it benefits from feedback, and feedback takes time to act on.

The result is that many families treat writing as something to address "when we get to it" — and they don't get to it until Year 6 Term 1, with the test in May. By that point, there is simply not enough time to develop the genuine fluency and control that higher-band writing requires. Technical fixes can be made quickly. The capacity to produce a well- structured, well-developed response with real ideas under time pressure cannot be drilled in a few weeks.

Starting writing in Year 5 Term 1 — even in small pieces — puts your child in a fundamentally different position by Year 6 than starting in Year 6 Term 1. The difference isn't just in how much practice they've had. It's in how natural the process has become.

How to build writing skills over time

The approach that works is simple in principle and requires consistency in practice:

Start with planning, not full responses. Before students can produce a good full response, they need to learn how to plan one. Five minutes of planning practice — what's the main idea, how is it structured, what's the ending — is a useful foundation that can happen well before timed responses feel realistic.
Move to timed paragraphs. A single strong opening paragraph, written in ten minutes, practises most of the skills that matter: having an idea quickly, committing to it, expressing it clearly. It's less daunting than a full response and builds the same muscles.
Build to full timed responses gradually. By Year 5 Term 2, students should be attempting full timed responses regularly — not every week necessarily, but consistently. The time pressure is part of what the test assesses, so eventually it needs to be part of practice.
Get feedback and act on it. Writing improves when students understand why something didn't work and try a different approach the next time. Generic feedback ("good ideas, work on structure") doesn't help as much as specific feedback ("your argument in paragraph 2 needed a reason, not just a statement"). Wherever possible, seek feedback that identifies one specific thing to improve and gives the student a concrete way to address it.
Practise all four text types. Students naturally gravitate toward the type they find easiest. The test may present any of the four. The time to discover which text types are hardest — and to work on them — is well before Year 6.

A note on reading and writing: The single most effective long-term preparation for the writing component is wide, regular reading. Students who read extensively absorb vocabulary, sentence structures, and the conventions of different text types in a way that transfers directly to their own writing. There's no substitute for reading — including fiction, non-fiction, and material that's slightly above your child's comfortable reading level.

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