List of 2023 Preliminary Composition themes & model on ‘kicking a bad habit’

Without the P6 SA1, my P6 students this year had one less list to discuss about possible composition themes. Nevertheless, this week and next, we are working on planning the preliminary composition themes on the compiled list, courtesy of TF’s P6 students. Just like last year, we discussed different ways, we can approach each theme, keeping in mind their different school teachers’ comments.

I also compiled the Preliminary compositions of my students who scored 35 and above, just like I did last year. This gave the P6 students at TF an opportunity to analyse the areas in which they could score better in their own compositions.

Personally, I find that planning different composition themes and looking at (but not memorising) different models can be a good form of revision for all P6 students in the last 2 weeks of their PSLE revision.

Below is the compiled list of our students’ 2023 Preliminary compositions.

1. List of 2023 Preliminary Composition Themes

Theme: Developing a good habit

Pic 1: A boy playing his video games (homework on the table)

Pic 2: A girl jogging in the park

Pic 3: A note with ‘reminders’ on it

Theme: An opportunity

Pic 1: A failed test

Pic 2: A watch

Pic 3: Two hands, one giving a walking stick to the other

Theme: A big change

Pic 1: A neat bedroom

Pic 2: An envelope

Pic 3: Two friends holding hands

Theme: A regret

Pic 1: Doing a stunt on a bicycle

Pic 2: Holding a sign saying ‘I’m sorry’ to a girl

Pic 3: F in an exam

Theme: A good friend

Pic 1: A girl getting bullied

Pic 2: A wallet

Pic 3: A phone

Theme: A misunderstanding

Pic 1: Wallet

Pic 2: Two person fighting

Pic 3: 3 people talking secretly

Theme: A big event

Pic 1: A birthday cake

Pic 2: Sports Day

Pic 3: Graduation Day

Theme: Kicking a bad habit

Pic 1: Clock

Pic 2: A boy playing computer games

Pic 3: Junk food

Theme: A new experience

Pic 1: An invitation card “You are invited!”

Pic 2: A race (running)

Pic 3: (Student doesn’t remember it)

Theme: A False Alarm

Pic 1: Covid-19 test

Pic 2: Fire glass

Pic 3: A bag under a chair

Theme: An important person

Pic 1: A dog

Pic 2: An orientation booklet

Pic 3: A medical certificate

Theme: An unexpected friendship

Pic 1: A boy crying

Pic 2: A basket with fruits

Pic 3: A garden

Theme: Kicking a bad habit

Pic 1: Clock

Pic 2: Gaming

Pic 3: A plate of sweets, chocolates (candy)

Theme: An unexpected experience

Pic 1: (Student doesn’t remember it)

Pic 2: Girl passing the finish line

Pic 3: A mic

Theme: A big change

Pic 1: A tidy room

Pic 2: Envelope

Pic 3: Two boys standing side by side

Theme: An encouragement

Pic 1: A boy swimming

Pic 2: Crying

Pic 3: “You can do it!” Post-it note

Theme: A piece of good news

Pic 1: Graduation

Pic 2: Running competition

Pic 3: A girl with a phone in her hand

Theme: An opportunity

Pic 1: A plane

Pic 2: A piggy bank

Pic 3: A trophy

Theme: A regret

Pic 1: A boy on a three-wheel bike

Pic 2: A pencil and a piece of paper

Pic 3: Two children arguing (a boy being bullied)

Theme: Something forgotten

Pic 1: Someone using a phone

Pic 2: One person whispering into someone’s ear

Pic 3: A stack of money

Theme: A difficult task

Pic 1: A boy on a phone

Pic 2: A microphone

Pic 3: A girl with a broken arm feeling sad

Theme: An opportunity

Pic 1: Failing an exam

Pic 2: An apology

Pic 3: A watch

Theme: A change

Pic 1: A moving track

Pic 2: Teacher

Pic 3: School

Theme: An unexpected guest

Pic 1: A cat

Pic 2: A stage

Pic 3: (Student doesn’t remember it)

Theme: A good friend

Pic 1: A girl pointing at her classmate while covering her mouth and laughing

Pic 2: A wallet

Pic 3: A bus stop

Theme: An unexpected gift

Pic 1: An envelope

Pic 2: A calendar

Pic 3: A girl who is looking at her phone excitedly

Theme: A difficult task

Pic 1: People carrying a sofa

Pic 2: A girl lying on a table with papers crushed

Pic 3: (Student doesn’t remember it)

I felt that this year, the composition themes were straightforward and none of my students were totally out of point. Some may have spent too long writing about one aspect of the composition and not enough time developing the most important part of the theme. However, I am sure that after they lost their marks because of this in their preliminary composition, they will not be making the same mistake in their PSLE!

Below is a Prelim composition model of a student who scored 35 and above. He did well developing the theme of ‘kicking a bad habit’.

Congratulations V on doing a great job in your English prelims!

In such themes, students need to :

1. Write about why the protagonist wants to kick the bad habit.
2. How did the protagonist change in order to kick the bad habit.
3. Introduce a challenge while trying to kick the bad habit.

We wish students all the best for the PSLE Paper 1 2023!

2. P6 Prelim composition model on the theme of ‘Kicking a bad habit’

I had a very bad habit. I loved snacking on different types of sweet treats! Swiss Chocolate, lollipops, and raspberry cookies would always pop up in my mind as soon as I thought of food. That was my type of food. At first, I thought to myself that there was nothing wrong with snacking a bit. With this mentality, unbeknownst to me, I soon developed a bad habit. I felt that there was no going back. However, one day, I finally managed to kick this bad habit…

            “Class, today, we will have a health checkup before the school holidays begin tomorrow,” my teacher announced. I groaned in misery. I had always hated health checkups. My class lined up in straight lines, each waiting for their turn patiently. One by one, each student went onto the measuring stand and it soon became my turn.

            I huffed and puffed as I slowly shuffled my feet to the dreadful stand. The stand seemed to bend a little under my humongous self. To make matters worse, I could hear all my other classmates snickering behind my back as if trying to hold back their laughter. My teacher even gave me a shocked look as if she had never seen it before!

            The numbers on the screen kept going up slowly till it reached sixty kilograms. An astounding hundred and fifty centimetres clearly did not match my high weight. The screen flashed and only appeared one word.

            ‘Over-weight.’

            My classmates could not hold it back anymore. They bawled in laughter. Some of them smirked while others laughed like ‘a scary clown’.

            I could only look down, avoiding their terrible gaze. I wished that the ground would swallow me up and hide me from them. The rest of the day definitely did not make up for that incident. It was sorely miserable.

            “What could I do?”

            I trudged my way back home and as soon as I opened the class ‘WhatsApp’ group chat on my phone, I saw something terrible. Hateful and mean comments were directed at me.

            “Tom is such a fattie! It almost looked like he broke the scale!” one read.

            “I know right? If anyone is also thinking he looks like a pig, you are also not the only one! With his face so fat, covering his chin and short with those stubby legs, I wonder how he can even walk! I bet he can only talk, Oink! Oink!” Another read.

Not long after, others joined in and messages popped up on my phone. Some even contained harsh vulgarities at me. It seemed never-ending. I truly wished they would stop. In a fit of rage, I smashed the chocolate chip cookie that I was holding onto the ground. Seeing the scattered bits on the floor, a tear came to my eye.

            Why was I like this?

            The floodgates opened and tears continuously dripped down. I looked extremely woeful. My eyes were red and puffy and my cheeks were stained wet with tears. I was lost. The only feeling in my heart was regret. Regret that I had not stopped and kicked this bad habit earlier. Regret that I had thought it was normal. True regret.

            However, not long after, a new sense of hope enveloped me.

            Maybe there was a way to kick this bad habit.

            I had ample time during the school holidays. I finally decided to turn over a new leaf and kick this bad habit that was affecting me once and for all. I picked myself up and feeling fresh, decided to change for the better. I restricted myself to only eating healthy foods, such as vegetables and salads as a quick snack instead of needing so much sugar. Even though at first, I had to force myself to slowly eat greens without puking, I finally developed this good habit. I would avoid walking near my favourite ice cream shop just so that I would not smell the sweet scents. I preoccupied myself with watching exercise tutorials instead of munching on cookies to my heart’s content while watching movies. Days flew by and I measured my weight every day.

            ‘Sixty kilograms’

            ‘Fifty-eight kilograms’

            The numbers kept going down every day. My bad habit was kicked! It was replaced by a good habit instead! My hard work paid off. Now, I looked much skinnier, weighing only “Fifty kilograms.”

            The dreadful day came. Thinking I might still be ridiculed by my classmates, I walked into the classroom with much uncertainty. My classmates did not even recognise me anymore. When they finally realised that I was actually the previous ‘fattie’ their eyes widened like saucers. The look on their faces certainly paid off the hard work I had put in.

            “Tom, would you like this piece of candy?” one of my classmates offered.

To their surprise, I shook my head, and answered confidently, “No, I would much prefer a salad!”

            Hearing this, they realised that I had actually kicked my bad habit of snacking! I told them that even if they were to offer me a platter of sweets, cookies, cheesecake, or lollipops I would gladly decline it. For the whole day, a megawatt smile was plastered on my face. I was truly joyful that I had kicked this bad habit.