HAST Year 10 Written Expression free practice questions with answers

Plan first, then write your response on the lined pages. Your plan is not marked. STIMULUS “The greatest risk is never taking one.” YOUR TASK Write a response to the statement, arguing for or against it. Type of writing: Persuasive. Reader: a general reader. Planning space Use this box for a quick plan. It is not marked. TASK 1 OF 2 Persuasive

A MODEL RESPONSE AND GUIDANCE FOR THAT TASK Step 1: Decode the task

• Type of writing: Persuasive. The marker expects the conventions of this form.

• Reader: a general reader. Choose tone and vocabulary to suit them.

• Underline the verbs in the task. They tell you what the text must do: ‘Write a persuasive response’ means: take a side and convince the reader with reasons. Step 2: Plan before you write

• Position: agree: avoiding risk is the greater risk.

• Reason 1: personal growth requires risk.

• Reason 2: societies advance through risk-takers.

• Counter-argument: some risks are reckless; reply.

• Close. Step 3: An annotated model response (about 265 words)

A ship in a harbour is safe, the saying goes, but that is not what ships are built for. (1) I agree that the greatest risk is never taking one, because a life arranged only to avoid failure is a life arranged to avoid living. The first reason is personal. Every skill we value, from riding a bike to speaking another language, began with the risk of looking foolish or failing, and the people who refuse that risk remain exactly as they are. (2) Regret, too, is lopsided: studies of older people find that they regret what they did not try far more often than what they tried and lost. The second reason is social. The vaccines, flights and technology that shape our world were created by people willing to risk ridicule, money and their reputations on ideas that others dismissed. (3) A society that punishes every failure will soon have no one willing to attempt anything difficult. Of course, some risks are reckless, and no one should gamble their health or their savings for a thrill. But the risk worth taking is a calculated one, which weighs the cost of failing against the cost of standing still. (4) The distinction is not between daring and safety, but between informed courage and blind chance. Safety, in the end, is a kind of illusion: the years pass whether we act or not, and the only question is what we have done with them. (5) The greatest risk is arriving at the end of a long life, having kept all our options and used none. What the numbers show

(1) An image that reverses the idea of safety. The ship in the harbour makes the abstract claim visual.