IGCSE English directed writing (0500 Paper 2): how to score in Section A

How directed writing is marked

Cambridge revised the paper for first examination in 2027. Students sitting in November 2026 take the 2024 to 2026 version; everyone sitting from June 2027 takes the new one.

Paper 2 is 50% of the IGCSE. Schools can enter students for the Coursework Portfolio (Component 3) instead of Paper 2; Paper 1 Reading is compulsory for everyone.

What the task is really asking

Directed writing is a reading question disguised as a writing question. You are given one or two texts on a shared topic, often presenting different views, and asked to write in a named role to a named audience: a letter to your head teacher, a speech to your year group, an article for a local magazine. The examiner wants to see that you understood the ideas, including what is implied, and that you can weigh them up rather than simply repeat them.

The reading marks go to evaluation. A middle-band answer lists the points from the texts in the order they appear. A top-band answer groups them, tests them against each other, notices weak evidence or bias, and draws its own conclusion. Words such as 'however', 'this assumes', 'the writer overlooks' and 'more convincing is' are signs of evaluation, but only if a real judgement follows them.

The writing marks go to control and voice. A speech should sound spoken: direct address, signposting, a memorable close. A letter needs an appropriate opening and sign-off and a register that suits the recipient. An article needs a headline and a reader who must be drawn in. Accuracy matters across all of them, and so does using your own words: lifting whole phrases from the texts lowers both the reading and the writing marks.

In the 2027 version, Question 1(a) comes first and asks a short structured question about the texts, for example how one writer tries to persuade the reader, or which argument is more convincing and why. Treat it as a warm-up that sharpens your evaluation before 1(b): the thinking you do for 5 marks feeds the 35 that follow.

A model structure for Question 1(b)

1. Read the task first, then the texts. Underline role, audience, form and the two or three bullet points you must cover.
2. Annotate the texts in two colours: points for one side and points for the other. Circle any figure, claim or example you can question.
3. Plan five or six short paragraphs in ten minutes. Decide your overall view before you write, because evaluation needs a position.
4. Opening: establish the voice and purpose in two or three sentences, matched to the form (greeting for a letter, hook for an article, address to the audience for a speech).
5. Body paragraphs: one idea per paragraph, each taking a point from the texts, developing it in your own words and judging it. Cover every bullet in the task.
6. Counter-argument: give the strongest opposing point fairly, then explain why your view still holds or how the two can be reconciled.
7. Close: a clear recommendation or call to action that follows from your evaluation, in the same voice you opened with.
8. Leave five minutes to check spelling, punctuation and that you have not copied phrases from the insert.

Worked example: one evaluative paragraph

Imagine two short texts about whether schools should replace printed textbooks with tablets. Text 1, by a technology company, says tablets are lighter, cheaper over five years and always up to date. Text 2, by a teacher, says students read more slowly and remember less from screens, and that families without home internet are left behind. The task: write a letter to your head teacher giving your views.

A paragraph that scores in the top band might read: 'The strongest argument for tablets is cost, since the company claims a single device replaces dozens of books over five years. That figure deserves caution, however: it comes from the people who sell the devices, and it does not include repairs, chargers or the insurance a school would need. The teacher's point about memory is harder to dismiss, because it concerns what every lesson is for. If students remember less from a screen, saving money on books is a false economy. I would therefore ask the school to trial tablets in one year group and test what students recall before buying them for everyone.'

Why it works: it selects a point (R5), reads the implied bias in the source (R2), judges one argument against another (R3), and ends with a proposal that follows from the judgement. The vocabulary is precise without being showy ('false economy', 'deserves caution'), sentence lengths vary, and the register suits a letter to a head teacher.

Common mistakes that cost marks

• Summarising the texts in order instead of evaluating them. Repetition of content earns reading marks only in the lower bands.
• Copying phrases from the insert. Use your own words; examiners notice lifted sentences and credit them neither as reading nor as writing.
• Ignoring one of the task bullets. Each bullet is a part of the reading mark; missing one caps the answer.
• Forgetting the form: a speech with no sense of an audience, a letter with no sign-off, an article with no headline or hook.
• Writing far too much. The guide is 250 to 350 words; 600 words usually means less control and no time for Section B.
• Agreeing with everything. Without a view, there is nothing to evaluate from.
• Spending more than about an hour here and rushing the composition, which carries the other 40 marks.

How one-to-one lessons help with directed writing

A tutor works through the task the way an examiner reads it. In early lessons the student annotates a pair of short texts on the shared whiteboard while the tutor asks the questions that turn summary into judgement: who wrote this, what do they gain, what is missing, which point would persuade this audience. The student then writes one paragraph at a time and the tutor rewrites a sentence or two with them live, showing exactly what moves it up a band.

Later lessons are timed. The student plans in ten minutes, writes in forty, and keeps a short personal checklist of their own repeated slips, such as comma splices or a register that drifts from formal to chatty. Because the 2027 papers changed the structure, a tutor who teaches the course also makes sure practice uses the right version: older past papers are still useful for 1(b), but 1(a) needs specimen-style questions.

Self-check before you hand in

• Did I write in the role and to the audience the task named?
• Does every task bullet have its own paragraph or clear section?
• Have I judged at least two ideas from the texts, not just reported them?
• Is there a counter-argument, answered fairly?
• Is my conclusion a clear view or recommendation that follows from my paragraphs?
• Have I kept roughly to 250 to 350 words and used my own words throughout?
• Have I checked sentence boundaries, apostrophes and spelling of words copied from the question?