The writing section of the Selective Test is one of the most nerve racking sections for a lot of students. Unlike other sections, it can be hard to predict what kind of question you’ll be asked in terms of the text type or the subject matter. Despite these challenges, it can be easy to ace the writing section with the correct preparation. This blog post details common text types the Selective Test can ask you to write about, a cheat sheet on structuring and writing Selective Test pieces, and some other Alpha One tips for students.

The Text Types

Selective Test writing questions contain two parts. One of these will determine the subject matter or topic of the writing piece either in writing or image form. The other will dictate what text type to write. For example, in the 2024 Selective Test, the subject was about animals on the loose and the text type students had to write was a newspaper article. In this section, we will detail each of these text types and how to approach them.

Cheat sheet

To help further your writing, we have also listed a few general tips:

• Make sure your tone is consistent throughout a writing piece. Maintain emotions that are consistent with the subject matter, and use the correct modality for the text type.

• If you struggle with ideas, practice writing as many writing scaffolds as possible

• If you struggle with the writing itself, do full practice writing pieces and read them aloud to find errors and help you edit

• Use Alpha One’s Writing Feedback Tool for an instant review on which areas your writing did well in as well as areas you can improve

• Make sure to practise under time pressure

• If your writing seems disorganised in advice sheets, guides, or reviews then try organising your ideas under subheadings

• Try to be creative with your paragraphs and structure in narratives and creatives

• In all linking sentences, you want to link back to the topic and express the significance of the sub-point

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