HAST Year 8 Written Expression free practice questions with answers

Plan first, then write your response on the lined pages. Your plan is not marked. STIMULUS “Every ending is a new beginning.” YOUR TASK Use the statement as the inspiration for a story. Give your story a title. Type of writing: Creative: narrative. Reader: a general reader. Planning space Use this box for a quick plan. It is not marked. TASK 1 OF 2 Creative: narrative

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

• Type of writing: Creative: narrative. 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: ‘Use the statement as inspiration’ means: build a story that shows the idea, not just repeats it. Step 2: Plan before you write

• Decide what ending and what beginning your story shows.

• Choose one character and one place.

• Plan the event that closes one chapter of their life.

• Show the new beginning in the last paragraph.

• Pick a title that connects to the statement. Step 3: An annotated model response (about 275 words) The Last Day of the Old House (1) On the morning of the move, Eli walked through every room one last time, touching the doorframes as though saying goodbye to old friends. The house had already begun to look like a stranger: bare walls, pale rectangles where pictures had hung, boxes stacked in the hall like a crooked wall. In the kitchen, he found the growth chart pencilled on the doorframe, a staircase of his own heights from age three to thirteen. (2) He ran his thumb over the highest line, still warm from the sun through the window. “We can't take it with us,” Mum said gently from behind him. “But you can.” Eli nodded, though his throat was tight. He remembered the night the power went out and the whole family had eaten cold pizza by candlelight, and the summer his dog, Biscuit, had dug a hole under the fence and escaped to the neighbour's pool. (3) Every corner of the house carried a story that he was not ready to leave. Outside, the removalist honked. Eli took a photograph of the growth chart with Mum's phone, and then, on impulse, he picked up a pencil and added one more line, just a little above the last. (4) “For next time,” he said. The new house smelled of paint and cardboard. His room was empty, and the window looked out on a tree he had never seen. He pressed his forehead against the glass and noticed, in the branches, a small nest. (5) Somewhere in a new street, a new life was waiting to be measured, and Eli, quietly, was ready to begin. What the numbers show