IGCSE English as a Second Language: Listening, Writing, and Speaking
Preparing for your IGCSE English as a Second Language (ESL) exam can feel daunting. You are not just learning grammar
Learn how to write step-by-step answers, and score A* in your exam!
Announcement: Cambridge IGCSE, O Level and AS & A Level June 2025 past papers are now available.
You may be asked to write an informal letter to a friend or family member. Often, the question will require you to describe or explain something, or it may ask you to say what you think about a suggestion or a plan. The exam question will give you some ideas, and will tell you what you should include in your letter.
Remember: It is important to show that you can write in an informal style.
Write a short introduction for this post:
Make sure that you follow all instructions very carefully and write the required number of words. Aim for 15 words plus or minus from the maximum word limit guideline.
For English First Language Extended syllabus, aim for 435 words or so; or in the range of 435－465 words.
For English as a Second Language Extended syllabus, aim for 145 words or so.
Though there is no penalty in writing more than the suggested limit, it would be self-penalising to wrote more as you leave no time for other questions.
When you write, use your imagination as much as possible, but remember that your answer must always be relevant to the question.
One way to improve your writing is by using more adjectives and adverbs.
Example:
We had food and the music was good.
The above sentence could be made better by applying some adjectives like the below sentence.
We ate delicious food and the music was fantastic!
For example: Up to nine marks are awarded for content, and up to nine marks for language.
“Content” refers to the relevance and development of ideas; “language” refers to style and accuracy.
Below are some important points about writing a formal letter in your IGCSE exam:
You may be asked to write an article or a narrative, describe something or to write something persuasive. It is important that you read the question very carefully and that you express yourself effectively. You should also show that you can vary the style of your writing, depending on the topic.
In all the English subjects papers, you’ll be required to summarise a text. Below are some important points to help you score maximum marks for this section:
You may be asked to write your opinion about something in the form of a newspaper article, or perhaps for your school newsletter or magazine.
For English First Language, be sure to cover all the bullet points given.
For English as a Second Language, usually you will be given help in the form of a list of ideas or other people’s opinions, but you do not have to use them in your answer. You are free to use your own ideas, just be sure to keep to the topic.
You must show the examiner that you can use the English language for a specific purpose and that you can organise your ideas in a logical way.
Although you don’t have much time for planning, you should underline the key word(s) in the question to ensure you do exactly what is asked.
Write very brief notes, putting your ideas into a logical order. Also, check for repetition. When you have finished your writing, check your spelling, grammar and punctuation.
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616 responses
Hi IGCSE Team,
What can I do to achieve A* in English Second Language and Hindi Second Language, especially scoring in extended answers. Furthermore, I will give my exams in Feb March 2019. So where can I find some resources to practice papers with same pattern as specimen papers for 2019(English and Hindi) for free.
Hello Naman,
In order to improve your writing skills for both Languages (English and Hindi), the most important things you need to do are: read a lot and write a lot. Try to read articles on various topics which will likely come up to the exams. For example: Health, Tourism, Science and Technology etc. We can?t stress enough of ?read a lot?. By reading, you will gain tremendous knowledge on how to phrase your sentences, types of vocabulary, style, etc?
Besides reading, you ought to practise writing as well. You have to put to use what you have learnt. Practice with past exam papers. Start with the latest paper as they have the newest syllabus format and continue with the older one date back from 5 to 10 years. You can download past papers as well as the specimen paper here: https://www.skolatis.com/cambridge-igcse-past-exam-papers/
English Writing Tips:
There are a number of ideas and skills you can use to improve the quality of description in your writing. Using interesting words can help to stop writing becoming dull and flat. The first words that occur are not always the most interesting that could be used, for example ?nice? and ?really?. It can help to think about what specific verbs and adjectives apply to the situation. For example, ?We had a really nice dinner,? could become, ?We enjoyed a tasty meal?. Variety makes writing interesting but remember adjectives are only one way of improving descriptions. Careful choice of verbs can help too.
Kindly read this article to help you with your writing: https://www.skolatis.com/9-powerful-tips-to-score-in-writing/
Hindi Writing Tips:
Learn two or three idiomatic phrases or sayings and memorise them. Go for sayings that could be used to talk about any topic or topic-specific ones that you know you?ll be able to use in the exam. Compile a list of topic-specific vocab that?s likely to come up. Build your vocabulary by searching for synonyms every time.
How to get A* in English as second language?
Hi Sadhana,
Please follow the instruction in the mark scheme. Mark scheme consists of everything you need to know on what is needed in order to score the highest band. You may download it here: https://www.skolatis.com/cambridge-igcse-past-exam-papers/
Furthermore, you might be interested in our online revision course. These courses are being crafted to help you to achieve A*. Please kindly find out the details here: https://www.skolatis.com/cambridge-igcse-revision-courses/ Or you can also purchase our exam model answers. Many students scored A* by copying the style of the answers. Please check them out here: https://www.skolatis.com/igcse-exam-resources/
Hi, do you have any tips on how to score high marks for content purpose and audience in the essay section? I don’t have any problem with the others except for content purpose and audience. I’m a Year 9 student and I am having Checkpoint exams starting tomorrow. Please reply as soon as possible. Thank you 🙂
Hi Lucas,
Unfortunately, we do not have resources for Year 9. You must get them from your school/exam centre.
Hi … do you have resource notes for igcse writers effect
Hello there,
For Writer?s Effect segment, you must build your ability to spot the required phrases or words. Besides that, you must also practise on how to elaborate those phrases and words that you have chosen.
Can you please tell me how to score good in narrative because I tend to exceed my word limit so I land up getting less marks
Hi Lemon,
Here are some tips when writing narrative plots:
? Decide on a tense and then stick to it; do not jump between present and past. The normal narrative tense is past and those who try to write in the present usually forget to do so after a while, so it is safer to start off in the past.
? Know what your last sentence is going to be before you write your first. A narrative has to build up to a climax and lead towards a conclusion which is planned before it starts or it will end lamely or incomprehensibly, or the pace will be too slow or too fast.
? Don?t try to do too much; you can?t cover many events and many years in one short composition. Select key moments and skip over the rest, changing the pace according to the intensity of the moment.
Hi there i’m not really sure about we are supposed to be writing the newspaper article. could someone pls help me
Hello Loga,
There should always be a headline needed and it would be given in the question. Please follow the headline needed in the question. You should not simply copy the same headline from the reading passage ? you would lose marks if you do so.
With regards to the format, it is not necessary to draw columns or pictures to depict a real newspaper report. Your paragraphs must contain all the bullet points that are requested in the question.