The document provides guidance on choosing a paper 1 exam question. It recommends reading all questions carefully and deciding the appropriate text type for each based on audience and purpose. Students should then consider which subject matter they are most interested in and knowledgeable about. The best choice combines a student's strongest text type with their preferred subject area. Planning involves brainstorming ideas and ordering them before writing. Students should proofread their work for clarity of expression and common grammatical errors.

1. Dealing with Paper 1
How to decide what to do

2. The basic process
1. Read all three questions carefully
2. Decide the ‘appropriate’ text type for each
3. Decide which subject matter you can handle (best)
4. Then choose your question
5. Plan… & check

3. Deciding the appropriate text type
1. Eliminate the obviously inappropriate
… if you have to communicate with lots of people,
you’re not going to choose a diary entry, are you?

4. Deciding the appropriate text type
1. Eliminate the obviously inappropriate
… if you have to communicate with lots of people,
you’re not going to choose a diary entry, are you?
2. Decide on the MOST appropriate for each task/purpose
… exactly what kind of audience is required,
and how effectively does each text type reach that audience ?

5. Deciding the appropriate text type
1. Eliminate the obviously inappropriate
… if you have to communicate with lots of people,
you’re not going to choose a diary entry, are you?
2. Decide on the MOST appropriate for each task/purpose
… exactly what kind of audience is required,
and how effectively does each text type reach that audience ?
3. Decide which ‘appropriate’ text type you can handle best
… be honest – which can you do really well ?

6. Deciding which subject matter is best
1. Which subject(s) interests you ?
… even if you weren’t writing an exam about it

7. Deciding which subject matter is best
1. Which subject(s) interests you ?
… even if you weren’t writing an exam about it
2. About which subject(s) do you have an opinion ?
… in other words, have you already thought about the subject?

8. Deciding which subject matter is best
1. Which subject(s) interests you ?
… even if you weren’t writing an exam about it
2. About which subject(s) do you have an opinion ?
… in other words, have you already thought about the subject?
3. Which subject(s) do you know something about ?
… any factual knowledge / experience to support your writing?

9. Then choose your question…
There can be no fixed rules about choosing – it just
depends on what the questions are, and papers are
always different – but here are a couple of simple
guidelines…
1. Ideally, you want a question which has your best text
type + your best subject matter
2. …but if you can’t find this, it might be better to
choose the one with your best text type

10. Plan …
1. Think about what you could say…
2. …and as you think, note down useful ideas
(just words and phrases, to remember)
3. Decide the order of ideas – add numbers
… & check
When you’ve finished writing, read through –
 To make sure everything is clearly expressed
 To look for grammar that you often get wrong
(better untidy corrections than tidy errors)