2013 PSLE Situational Writing

In about 2 weeks' time, the PSLE will be upon us. Hence I think it's timely now to go through the Situational Writing task for last year's English PSLE. I suppose most of you have already gone through it in school, but there's no harm in some revision.

Question

Note: The question is extracted from 2009-2013 PSLE Examination Questions - English Language.

Study the pictures below carefully. 

Your Task

Imagine you are Mary, the president of the club.

Write an email to Mrs Choo to request her help.

You are to refer to the given information for your letter.

In your letter, include the following information:

·        which club you belong to

·        the purpose of the club

·        when and where the camp will be held

·        what specific need you need from Mrs Choo

·        when Mrs Choo needs to reply you

You may reorder the points. Write in complete sentences.

[Note 1:  This email is to be sent to Mrs Choo, the school bookshop owner, so it is a formal email. Please use formal language in your email.]

Model Answer

6 content points:

1.       which club you belong to

·        Sunny Club

2.       the purpose of the camp

·        inculcate a love for the outdoors

[Note 2:  Each year, there is a tricky question amongst the 6 content points and this is the one in 2013. The purpose of the camp is not mentioned in the given information but a hint is given: ‘It has to do with our motto,’ Mary said.

And what is the motto? You can find it on the poster: Love the outdoors.

So a possible reason for the camp is to instil a love for the outdoors in the club members.

Any appropriate (must make sense) and relevant (must be related to the motto) purpose would be acceptable.]

3.       when

·        15^th to 16^th November

4.       and where the camp will be held

·        Lagoon Park

5.       what specific help you need from Mrs Choo

·        supply the caps and writing materials needed for the camp at a good price

6.       when Mrs Choo needs to reply to you

·        7^th October

Dear Mrs Choo,

I am Mary Tan, the president of the Sunny Club.

Sunny Club will be holding a camp to inculcate a love of the outdoors in our club members. The camp will be held after the year-end examinations on 15^th and 16^th November at Lagoon Park.

I would like to ask for your help to supply us with the caps and writing material we need for the camp at a good price. I would appreciate it if you could let us know your response by 7^th October so that I could make the necessary arrangements.

Thank you for your kind attention and I look forward to your favourable reply.

Yours sincerely,

Mary Tan

Note 3:  Please use the full name, ‘Mary Tan’ in this case, as it’s a formal letter. Mary’s surname is not given so just make one up. This is not the time to be overly creative so any common surname would suffice. As it is a formal email, it is also good to include Mary’s title: President of the Sunny Club.

Note 4:  This is a grammatical note. When writing the dates of the camp, you have two choices:

1.   from 15^th to 16^th November; or

2.  on 15^th and 16^th November

These small details matter! They will affect your language score.

Note 5: As you know the person you are writing to, use ‘Yours sincerely’ rather than ‘Yours faithfully’. The latter is usually reserved for instances when you do not know the person you are writing to.