How to avoid losing marks in composition and letter writing

   In this post, I would teach you on how to avoid losing marks in composition and letter writing  

   This article is going to help you avoid losing marks in composition and letter writing in O' level exams. There are some things that you should do, in order to avoid losing marks in composition and letter writing in O' level exams. They include : 

 (1). Omit ideas or arguments you cannot express clearly in correct English and do not use words you do not know how to spell. This is often a big deal, when you have a great idea that could fetch you good marks, but you don't know how to express the idea in correct English, in a way that the examiners can easily understand what you are trying to pass through. This could consequently lead to an F9 in English, which is not good, and cannot be used to process admission into any university, monotechnic, polytechnic, etcetera. 

 (2). Make sure you write about the exact topic required by the examiners. For example, if you are asked to write about the effects of the migration of young people from rural areas to the towns, only write about the effects; do not even mention the possible causes of the migration. In this way, you will avoid losing marks for irrelevance and have more time to answer the rest of the paper. 

 (3). Paragraphing :

 •Each paragraph deals with with a different topic: begin a new paragraph when you begin a new topic. 

 •The key phrase or sentence need not always come at the beginning of the paragraph. 

  •The first word of each paragraph begins two or three centimetres away from the left-hand margin.

 (4).Making your composition or letter the right length : 

The last year of the senior secondary syllabus requires compositions of 'more than 400 words' and letters of about '350-400' words.

 •Begin by counting the number of words in the rough drafts of the compositions or letter you write. 

 •If  necessary, shorten or lengthen what you have written .

 •Make a note of the number of lines of your handwriting that equals about 400 or about 350 words. 

 •Now you need to count only lines, not words. 

 •Soon you will find that it has become a habit to make your compositions and letters the right length. 

 (5).Mechanical Accuracy : 

  Many marks are lost in composition and letter writing – unnecessarily – through carelessness in spelling, punctuation and common errors (like forgetting to put an -s at the end of the third person singular of the present form of a verb). So check your answers very carefully. 

    Interesting ideas, well paragraphed and expressed in good English are of little value in a composition or letter that is full of common errors, misspelt words and incorrect punctuation. 

(6).Finally, always plan to leave yourself time to reread your answers calmly and carefully one last time before you submit your paper.

 It could mean the difference between a lower or higher grade – or even between passing and failing. 

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