IMPORTANT NOTE ON WRITING A NARRATIVE ESSAY

1.Give a title to your essay (refer to the example essay given above; it has a title) . The title itself
must be relevant to the plot. So, does the title 'Stranded' relevant to the plot? Yes it is because
the plot is about a person was trapped in an island after a tragedy on a cruise ship. The title of
an essay can be anything as long as it fits the story.

1.Must write more than 350 words. But, the essay must not too long. Remember this; the
longer you write, the more mistakes you write. An ideal essay should be around 350 to 400
words.

2.Use only one hour to write the essay and the same for Directed Writing; only use 45 minutes.
Be fair when writing the essay;

3.Include wide range of sentence structures, vocabulary and must have at least one dialogue
(MUST HAVE - one of the characteristics of excellent essay). Why you should have dialogue in
your essay? When you include a dialogue in your essay, it shows that you have the knowledge
in punctuation. This is what is special about narrative essay because there is no dialogue in
factual essay, right?

4.At least include a word that plays a specific sound. In the example essay I include the word
'RIIIINNNNGGGG!!!!!!'. In english, it does not mean a thing, but it gives the reader a feel to the
story you wrote.

5.Include a wide range of vocabulary to your essay to keep the interests of the readers.

6.Check for any grammatical error after finishing the essay. Make sure it is grammatically
correct in order to get high marks.

WHAT TO AVOID?

1. AVOID WRITING SOMETHING THAT YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND

My teacher used to tell me that narrative essay is relatively a little bit easier that the other
types of essays; but it depends on the question itself! If your do not understand a word or a
phrase for a particular questions; DO NOT even try to write about it! For example you are given
this question:

Write about your most propitious moment.

See the underlined word? Most of us do not understand the word "propitious", some may
guessed that it means sad, surprise and so on where the real meaning is happy. Avoid to write
something that you do not sure.

2. AVOID MEMORISING THE ESSAY WORD BY WORD

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Continuous Writing is very related to Directed Writing in terms of language. The quality of
language you portray in Directed Writing reflects the grammar knowledge that you have
because in Directed Writing the is no specific question to be asked. It can be anything of any
format. Unlike Continuous Writing, students tend to memorising an essay.

How do the examiner even know that a student was memorising an essay or not? It depends on
the language on Directed Writing. Let say R got 6 marks for language in Directed Writing but in
the Continuous Writing R's language band stands for A. By that time the examiner know that R
was memorising an essay. Thus, R's Continuous Writing essay will fall to the lower band.
Directed Writing does play a major role here.

Therefore, it is crucial for you to have a strong knowledge on basic grammar.

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