Tips on Informal Situational Writing – P5

Situational Writing (SW) is the shortest piece of writing in the writing component and has a weightage of 14 marks. It is also the easier of the two (the other writing piece being Composition) to master, especially informal SW.

At Thinking Factory, our P5 students work on SW twice a month – an informal and formal Situational Writing.

Regular writing practice is an important part of examination preparation, especially for the PSLE year. For a comprehensive understanding of all Paper 2 components and effective strategies to tackle them, we recommend exploring our Primary 5 English Paper 2 exam preparation guide page.

Below are a few tips to help you master your informal SW.

If you would like to have more practice, come join us for our regular P5 classes.

Four Informal Situational Writing tips

1. Read the Task section carefully

• Take note of the Purpose. Audience, Context. The points are clearly found in the Task section of every Situational writing question.
• Highlight all the points needed for your Situational Writing. Don’t miss out on any.

2. Purpose

• The purpose of every Situational Writing is important.
• It should be mentioned at the start and at the end of your Situational Writing

3. Purpose in an Informal SW

• Keep an informal tone in your SW.
• You may start by an informal greeting. How are you? I hope that you are doing fine since we last spoke!
• Instead of saying ‘I am writing to..’, try phrasing the Purpose in a question form ‘Would you like to…?”
• Remember to bring the purpose back with an informal tone at the end of the SW ‘Have I convinced you to join me?’ ‘I really hope that you will…’

4. Sign off

• Regards, Love, or even Cheers (if the school accepts this) are all acceptable ways to sign off for an informal SW.
• Do not use a full name when it is an informal SW. Sign off with a first name found in the Task.