HOW TO EARN 19-20 MARKS IN A KCSE IMAGINATIVE COMPOSITION

Media Team @Educationnewshub.co.ke October 11, 2024

7 minutes read

HOW TO EARN 19-20 MARKS IN A KCSE IMAGINATIVE COMPOSITION

WRITING THE BEST IMAGINATIVE ESSAYS

KCSE ENGLISH IMAGINATIVE COMPOSITION

Have you ever read or written a composition that has the following expressions?

“In two shakes of a lamb’s tail, I dashed to the frog’s kingdom to accuse the dirt …”

“His face was a supermarket/network of pimples” “Two gigantic men kidnapped me …”

“One chilly morning when the birds were chirping and the frogs were croaking…”

Well, as much as some of these expressions may not be grammatically wrong per se, they are clichés that show lack of imagination/creativity and thus will hinder you from scoring a quality mark in KCSE English 101/3 imaginative composition.

This question simply tests your ability to communicate.

Creative writing

According to Wikipedia Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary tropes or with various traditions of poetry and poetics.

The question tests the candidates’ creativity, originality and ability to communicate in writing.

Objectives

You should ensure that these objectives are met by the end of the course before your learners attempt English 101/3 tests.

By the end of the course, the learner should be able to:

writelegiblyandneatly;
aplyspelingrulesandspelwordscorectly;
usepunctuationmarkscorectly;
writeclearandcorectsentences,andorganizeideasinalogical sequence;
communicateeffectivelyinwriting,usingavarietyofsentence structures;
developparagraphsusingdifferentdevices;
usefigurativelanguagecorectlyandapropriately;
usecohesivedevicesindevelopingparagraphs;
usepunctuationmarksapropriately,competentlyandcreatively;
demonstratecompetenceinwritingdifferentypesofesays;
presentinformationinavarietyofways;
demonstratecompetenceinusingawiderangeofsentencestructures andvocabularytocreatethedesiredeffect.

Therefore, apart from teaching creative writing (imaginative compositions) which is taught in form 3, teachers should ensure the learners acquire other writing skills as well. These include;

Handwriting-legibilityandtidines

Commonlymispeltwords— spelingandspelingrules

c) Sentencebuildingskillsandparagraphing

i. Writingclearandcorectsentences
Structureoftheparagraph:topicsentences,suportingsentences, clinchersentences,sequencingofideas,unityinparagraphs.

Sentencevariety;usingsimple,compoundandcomplexsentences Devicesofdevelopingparagraphs:givingreasons/examples, comparing

andcontrasting,usingidiomaticexpresions,using facts/statisticsand usingrhetoricalquestions.

Cohesioninparagraphs UsingtransitionalwordsandphrasesChoiceofwordsrecurentwords (differentwordsthatrefertothesameideaintheparagraph)tocreate emphasisParaphrasing.
Punctuation:Capitalization,final/terminalpunctuationmarks, commas,quotationmarks,apostrophe,hyphen,colon,Semi-colon,dash, parenthesis,devicesforpresentingtitlesofpublications,quotationsand headings.
StudyWriting:Descriptiveesays,Argumentativeesays,Expository writing,

To help your learners perform well in KCSE imaginative composition, you should teach different types of writing and provide them with ample practice. You should also impress upon them that expository composition is concerned with linguistic ability as it is not concerned with the points.

WRITING A+ KCSE IMAGINATIVE COMPOSITIONS

The best KCSE imaginative compositions score between 19-20 marks. Your composition must possess the following in order to fall under this category.

Intelligibility-able to be understood (comprehensible)
Correctness
Accuracy (devoid of errors)
Fluency (communicates easily/very well/smoothly)
Pleasantness
Originality (new and different in a good and appealing way)

NOTE: Linguistic competence carries the most marks in imaginative compositions.

CATEGORIES OF KCSE IMAGINATIVE COMPOSITIONS

The category your essay falls under depends on the degree of communication. Other factors discussed below will determine the specific numerical mark you earn.

D CLASS: (1-5 MARKS) Guesswork-No communication at all
C CLASS: (6-10 MARKS) Flat-Weak communication because of strain (lacks fluency)
B CLASS: (11-15MARKS) Fluent-Ease of communication due to greater fluency
A CLASS: (16-20MARKS) Pleasant-Captivating, creative, has command of language

HOW TO WRITE AN A-CLASS IMAGINATIVE COMPOSITION

We all want to write pleasant compositions that fall in A CLASS in order to score high marks.

To achieve that, we MUST write compositions that possess the following qualities.

A-CLASS KCSE IMAGINATIVE COMPOSITIONS

Write fluently and attractively
Must have originality (new and different)/efficiency
Make us feel your deep feelings (senses), emotions (strong feelings g. love, fear, anger, bitterness, relief, joy etc), and enthusiasm (strong interest, desires, excitement)
Should be attractive (pleasant/appealing/interesting)

This falls in the general category of a pleasant composition that score between 16- 20 marks.

HOW TO EARN 19-20 MARKS IN A KCSE IMAGINATIVE COMPOSITION

This article, however, is meant to help you write a KCSE imaginative composition that will earn between 19-20 marks

In order to achieve this, you must;

Express yourself freely
Exhibit no visible constraint
Exhibit maturity(avoid obscene, suggestive, steamy or graphic description of sexual innuendos or other forms of immorality), good planning, humour (comical/funny)
Have many items of merit ( correct vocabulary (or jargon-informal language does not score), phrasal verbs, idioms, proverbs, aspects of literary techniques g.

irony, suspense, imagery etc, correct, appealing felicity of expression in whole sentences or paragraphs)

Show clever arrangement (e.g. flashbacks creating suspense)
Have felicity of expression (well chosen features in writing/communication)

⚠ ERRORS ERRORS

Avoid the following errors;

Faulty paragraphing
Repetition/redundancies (using a word phrase etc that repeats something else and is therefore unnecessary-e.g. bow down, reverse back, colleague teachers, repeat again)
Illegibility (impossible or hard to read or decipher because of poor handwriting)
Vagueness (thoughts that are not stated or expressed clearly; in a general and not specific way) Obscurity (unclear, difficult to understand)
Wrong word order/illogical (lacking sense or clear sound reasoning)or contradictory (inconsistent) statements
Broken English (e.g. his business has caught down instead of his business is thriving, hunger is biting me, etc)

Contracted forms (e.g. didn’t instead of did not; NB they may be used in direct speech)

GROSS ERRORS contribute to a lower score and learners whose compositions have the following errors more often than not fail to score over 15 marks in their compositions. Gross errors include;

Errors of subject-verb agreement
Serious tense error
Errors of elementary vocabulary, misuse of vocabulary, wrong spellings of vocabularies (avoid clichés e.g. I ran as fast as my feeble legs could carry me, I took my breakfast in a blink of an eye)
Punctuation errors e.g. missing punctuation marks (missing final punctuation marks g. full stop is penalized heavily)

Errors of sentence construction
Ridiculous use of idioms thus affecting communication
Misuse of common prepositions
Misuse of capital letters

TYPES OF KCSE IMAGINATIVE ESSAYS

English 101/3 tests three types of essays;

Narrative essays: Simply tell a
Descriptive essays: Paint a picture with
Expository essays: Just give the facts as per the

Examples of PAST KCSE IMAGINATIVE COMPOSITIONS

KCSE ENGLISH 101/3 IMAGINATIVE COMPOSITION 2018

For composition 1(a) you should write a narrative; 1(b) write a descriptive essay.

KCSE IMAGINATIVE COMPOSITION 2018

KCSE ENGLISH 101/3 IMAGINATIVE COMPOSITION 2017

For composition 1(a) you should write a narrative; 1(b) write an expository essay.

KCSE IMAGINATIVE COMPOSITION 2017

KCSE ENGLISH 101/3 IMAGINATIVE COMPOSITION 2016

KCSE IMAGINATIVE COMPOSITION 2016

KCSE ENGLISH 101/3 IMAGINATIVE COMPOSITION 2015

For composition:

1(a) you should write a narrative; compose a story to illustrate the saying;

1(b) write an expository essay. Simply give facts about what you think should be done to reduce indiscipline in schools (Do not write a story)

KCSE IMAGINATIVE COMPOSITION 2015

KCSE ENGLISH 101/3 IMAGINATIVE COMPOSITION 2014

LENGTH

Your essay should not exceed 450 words (about 3 pages of your KCSE answer booklet). Otherwise you risk losing 2 marks.

However, the quality of an essay depends solely on how effectively it communicates.

AMERICAN SPELLING

American spelling e.g. color, labor, center, meter etc is not penalised. It’s only penalised if there is lack of consistency.

OTHER HELPFUL TIPS

Narrative essays

Understand the setting of the composition in line with the rubric. If the composition is about a crime scene that informs you about the physical setting of

your story. You do not have to start your story on a chilly morning with chirping birds or taking breakfast. Take us to the scene and give us the events that happen before and possibly after the crime.

Have a simple, clear storyline with an introduction, climax and
Have a clear, consistent point of
Be a character in the Use the first person pronoun “I”
Use direct speech to give your story ‘life’.
Develop your characters fully (describe them and make it easy for readers to infer their character traits). Have relateable, realistic
Evoke emotions in the Create an air of poignancy-painfully affecting the feelings (evoke feelings of sadness, joy, sympathy, anger, bitterness, nostalgia etc). Share your deep feelings.
Uphold morals and avoid praising
Tell an original story-new and interesting
It helps to start your story with direct speech, a poem, a song etc if (only if you have not been instructed to begin with certain words)

Titles are not necessary since they do not add any value to your However, they may make you lose marks if they contain any errors.
Build suspense
Avoid oral narratives (Once upon a time … or fantasies with ogres in the forest- unless you have ever encountered one or know someone who has). Your essay

SHOULD be creative but realistic.

Must be a If not you risk losing 4 marks! You DO NOT want to lose four hard earned marks, do you?
Begin or end with the words provided or else you will lose 2 valuable
Avoid any errors
Write legibly and clearly

In brief, simply write a story. Tell a story the way you would when talking to your grandma or your buddies.

There is no fixed format so do not copy story lines from books (e.g. the Bible) and movies- this may expose your lack of creativity. Express yourself freely.

Do not cram a composition and cross your fingers hoping that you get a similar one in KCSE.

Expository essays

For expository compositions, we are not concerned with the points, only the linguistic ability.

Introduce your essay on the first paragraph, write at least four points in at least four separate paragraphs, and conclude or sum up your essay in the last
Develop cohesive paragraphs for a smooth flowing Use transitional words to link your paragraphs and sentences.
A paragraph must introduce the main idea in the topic sentence (the first sentence of each paragraph). The next two or three sentences should add information to support this main Sum up the paragraph with a clincher-a statement which

summarises the paragraph before you introduce a new point.

Write
Avoid any

Descriptive essays

Thedescriptiveessayisagenreofessaythatasksthestudento describesomething—objectperson,place,experience,emotion, situation,etc.Thegoalofwhichistopaintanimagethatisvivid andmovinginthemindofthereader.Thereadershouldclearly formanimpressionofthethingyouaredescribing.

TIPS

Brainstorm on the features of the person or thing and write them
Use simple, clear language
Use vivid language g. ox instead of cow, tempestuous instead of violent , stallion not horse, bungalow not house
Appeal to the senses of touch, smell, sight, hearing and Explain how something looks, tastes, smells etc
Create a clear impression in the reader’s Describe someone or something until I see it.
Be organised
Write neatly/legibly
Avoid errors