Skip to main content
Zippy
Start free

PSLE Composition Practice: Model Essays with Examiner Notes (2026)

How to use this page: try each writing task first, then reveal the model and read the examiner notes to see where each mark is won.

Free, teacher-written model compositions for the PSLE English Continuous Writing section, each one annotated the way an examiner actually marks: not "this is a good essay", but where the Content marks are won and where the Language marks are won, line by line.

That marking lens is the point. A child who can see why one paragraph scores and another doesn't learns faster than one who just reads a "good" essay and hopes some of it rubs off.

Verify the format

Format details below reflect public 2026 sources. Confirm against the official SEAB PSLE English syllabus before relying on any specific figure.

What Continuous Writing tests (2026)​

You're given one topic and three pictures. You use at least one of them to guide a narrative composition of at least 150 words. It's marked out of 36, split evenly:

  • Content (18 marks): ideas, plot, relevance to the topic and pictures, and how well the story holds together.
  • Language (18 marks): vocabulary, sentence variety, grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

Two halves, equal weight. A gripping plot in broken English caps out; so does flawless language wrapped around a story that goes nowhere. The model essays below are built to show both halves working at once.

Warm up: plan before you peek​

Pick any theme below and spend two minutes planning a story before you open a model. Jot your one-line plot here.

✍️ Your turn

Choose one theme (kindness, a difficult decision, trying something new, or a celebration). In one or two sentences, plan a single small incident you could tell: who is in it, what happens, and what the character learns.

Model essays​

Each essay comes with a short plan, a writing task, the full composition behind a reveal, and examiner notes flagging where a specific mark is earned.

How to use these with your child​

Don't read the essay to them. Instead:

  1. Show your child the topic and pictures first and let them plan their own story for two minutes.
  2. Then reveal the model together and compare. Where did the model add detail they left out?
  3. Read the examiner notes last. That's where the learning is: seeing why a sentence scores turns a nice story into a repeatable skill.

Writing for Paper 1 too? The Situational Writing guide covers the other half of the paper.

For teachers and tutors

Zippy marks a full class of compositions against the PSLE rubric in minutes, with specific Content and Language feedback per child. These free model essays are a small sample of the Zippy approach. Try the live grader →