You don't need hours a day to make real progress on the Selective writing task. This plan takes about 20 minutes a day, four or five days a week. Adjust it to fit your family.

Before you start: get a baseline

Do two quick measurements and write them down:

  1. A one-minute online typing test (words per minute and accuracy).
  2. One full practice piece on a free prompt. Note the word count and words per minute.

You'll repeat these at the end to see the progress.

Week 1: Typing foundations

  • Most days: 10–15 minutes of touch-typing practice (home row, no looking at the keys). See how to improve typing speed.
  • Twice this week: read one prompt and talk through what it's asking for: the form, the audience and the key words.
  • Goal: comfortable home-row typing and accuracy above 90%.

Week 2: Planning and text types

  • Most days: 10 minutes of typing practice.
  • Three times this week: a 5-minute planning drill. Plan a prompt using hook, three beats and ending, without writing the piece. See how to plan in 5 minutes.
  • Once this week: write a full piece in a text type your child finds hard. See text types explained.
  • Goal: a solid plan in 5 minutes for any prompt.

Week 3: Full pieces

  • Most days: 10 minutes of typing, now including typing real sentences, not just drills.
  • Twice this week: a full piece: plan, write and check.
  • After each piece: pick one or two things to improve from the 10 common mistakes. Add misspelled words to a personal spelling list.
  • Goal: finished pieces with a clear beginning, middle and end.

Week 4: Test conditions

  • Two or three times this week: a full piece in exam mode. One prompt, no changing it, no spell-check, no pasting. Aim for the 5 / 22 / 3 split: plan, write, check.
  • End of the week: repeat the baseline measurements and compare.
  • Goal: calm, confident pieces under test-like conditions.

How parents can help

  • Be specific and brief. "Your opening sentence really grabbed me. Next time, try starting a new paragraph when the setting changes." One strength and one fix is plenty.
  • Keep the pieces. Looking back at week 1 in week 4 is very motivating.
  • Celebrate the numbers. Higher typing speed and word counts are easy wins to notice.

Remember the bigger picture

Writing is 25% of the Selective test. Reading, Mathematical Reasoning and Thinking Skills make up the other 75%, so make sure those get regular practice too.