IGCSE English 0500: Directed Writing. A Passage into Poster Text

Read the following passage, then complete the task below.

Every autumn, the Year 9 form groups take turns running a bake sale in the school foyer, and this year's proceeds are going to Willowbrook Animal Shelter, which is currently caring for over thirty rescued cats and dogs. The sale takes place this Friday from 3:15pm, straight after the final bell, and will run for just half an hour in the foyer outside the main hall. Most items are homemade by students and their families, and prices start from as little as £1 for a single cookie. There will also be a small gluten-free table, run separately so that anyone with allergies can browse safely.

You are a Year 9 student helping to advertise the bake sale. Using ideas from the passage, write the text for a POSTER to be displayed around school, including a heading and short, eye-catching information. Write about 40–60 words. [5]

Assessment focus

This question tests, at foundation level, whether a candidate can select only the most essential practical details from a passage and reshape them into the very specific, compressed register of a poster: short lines, a catchy heading, and no unnecessary description, the opposite of the connected, developed prose typically needed in a report or article.

Mark scheme (5 marks)

Heading (1 mark): short and attention-grabbing, not a plain label.
Key details (2 marks): accurately selects the practical information a passer-by needs (the day/time (Friday, 3:15pm) and the cause (Willowbrook Animal Shelter)) over less essential description (e.g. the exact number of animals).
Register (1 mark): brief, direct phrasing suited to a poster (fragments, imperatives) rather than full sentences copied from the passage.
Length and layout (1 mark): close to the 40–60 word guideline, set out as short, scannable lines rather than one dense paragraph.

Model poster (48 words)

Cakes for a Cause!

Friday · 3:15pm · School Foyer

Homemade cakes and cookies, from just £1. Gluten-free table available.

Every penny goes to Willowbrook Animal Shelter, help us support their rescued cats and dogs!

Just 30 minutes only, don’t miss it!

Why this works

The heading is short and playful rather than descriptive; the essential details (day, time, location, price, cause) are picked out and laid out as scannable short lines rather than embedded in a paragraph; the gluten-free table is kept as a brief practical note rather than explained at length; and the closing line adds urgency (“don’t miss it!”), a technique suited to a poster’s persuasive, glance-and-go purpose.

Common pitfalls specific to this task

“Every autumn, the Year 9 form groups take turns running a bake sale, and this year’s proceeds are going to Willowbrook Animal Shelter…”, accurate but copied almost word-for-word from the passage as a full sentence, which reads as a summary, not a poster.
Including the detail that the shelter cares for “over thirty” animals but leaving out the day or time. An appealing fact, but not the detail a reader actually needs to act on the poster.