IGCSE English article writing examples show you what top marks look like on the page. This guide gives you five samples in the Save My Exams format: task, plan, model answer and commentary. Use them to plan, write and check your own article.
Table of Contents
- Why examples help you score higher
- Example 1: Homework
- Example 2: Phones in school
- Example 3: Food waste in the canteen
- Example 4: The Save My Exams model answer
- Example 5: The ESL Kings sample
- Case Study 1: From 16 ideas to 5 paragraphs
- Case Study 2: A one-hour plan
- Mistakes that cost marks
- Your article checklist
- How to practise in four steps
- Final thoughts
- References
Many students lose marks on the article question for one simple reason. They have never seen a strong answer. They read the task, guess the format, and hope for the best.
That is why IGCSE English article writing examples matter. A good example shows you the tone, the structure, and the length that examiners want. It turns a guess into a plan.
In this post, you will find three IGCSE English article writing examples. Each number comes from a published source, and each source is linked. Ready? Let’s go!
Example 1: Homework
Here is the first of our IGCSE English article writing examples.
Task: Write an article for your school magazine about homework. In your article, you should:
- evaluate what Text A and Text B say about homework
- give your own views on how homework should change.
Ideas from the texts (in my own words):
- Text A: homework builds habits, gives extra practice and teaches students to work alone.
- Text B: homework is tiring, cuts into family time and sleep, and is harder for students without a quiet home.
Plan:
- Voice: honest and friendly.
- View: keep homework, but change how it is set.
- Order: hook, Text A, Text B, counter-argument, my fix, ending with a question.
Model answer (written for this guide, about 300 words):
Homework: Habit or Hurdle?
Raise your hand if you did homework last night. Now raise it if you enjoyed it. Not many hands in the air, I suspect. Yet before we ban it, we should ask a harder question: what is homework actually for?
Supporters have a fair point. Homework builds habits. Sitting down each evening to revise, plan and finish a task teaches us to work alone, and we will need that skill at university and in any job. It also gives us a second chance to practise what we half-understood in class. Last term, a maths problem that beat me at ten in the morning finally made sense at seven in the evening, at my kitchen table.
But the other side deserves a hearing too. Many of us get home exhausted after a long day, and homework piles on top. Family time shrinks. Sleep shrinks. And not every home has a quiet desk, a fast internet connection or a parent free to help. For some students, homework does not build habits. It builds stress.
So the real problem is not homework itself. It is how much we get, and how well it is set. Both sides are right, which is why the answer is change, not removal.
Here is my proposal. Set one clear task, not five. Aim for twenty focused minutes, not two tired hours. Offer a quiet room at school for students who cannot work at home. And give feedback within a week, so effort never feels wasted.
Quality beats quantity every time. If teachers set less and we do it well, we keep the habit and still keep our evenings. Isn’t that a deal everyone can accept?
Commentary:
- The heading uses alliteration to catch the reader’s eye.
- The opening questions speak straight to the audience.
- Ideas from both texts appear in the writer’s own words.
- A short personal story fits the article form.
- The counter-argument is fair, and the writer returns to a clear view.
- The last two paragraphs cover the second bullet point in full.
Use IGCSE English article writing examples like this one as a model, not a script. Copy the moves, not the words.
Example 2: Phones in school
Our second set of IGCSE English article writing examples covers a topic every student knows.
Task: Write an article for your school newsletter about phones in class. In your article, you should:
- explain what Text A and Text B suggest about phones in school
- give your own view on the rules your school should have.
Ideas from the texts (in my own words):
- Text A: phones help with safety, quick research, and learning apps.
- Text B: phones distract students, add social pressure, and cut face-to-face talk.
Plan:
- Voice: calm and fair.
- View: neither a ban nor a free-for-all.
- Order: sound hook, benefits, costs, answer to “ban it”, my rules, a challenge.
Model answer (written for this guide, about 300 words):
Phones: Tool or Trap?
Buzz. Every student knows that sound, and so does every teacher. Phones now sit in our pockets, our bags and, too often, on our desks. The question is no longer whether they are in school. It is whether they are helping us.
Start with the good. A phone is a safety line. If a bus is late or plans change, one quick call settles everyone’s nerves. It is also a library in your pocket: a date, a definition or a map is one search away. Used well, it can turn a dull task into a lively one with a quiz app or a shared note.
Now count the cost. One message can steal ten minutes of a lesson, and a lost lesson is hard to win back. Notifications pull our eyes from the board, from the teacher and from each other. At lunch I have watched whole tables of friends sit in silence, each lost in a screen. We are together, yet we are not together.
Some say a full ban is the only fix. I disagree. A ban treats every student as a problem, and it ignores the real benefits. But a free-for-all does not work either.
My view is simple: phones in bags, on silent, unless the teacher asks for them. At break, phones stay away so we talk to each other. If there is an emergency, the school office calls home, and any student may ask to step out to make a call.
Rules like these protect our focus and our safety at the same time. So here is my challenge. Try it for one week. Put the phone away, look up, and see what you have been missing.
Commentary:
- The one-word opening grabs attention.
- Both texts are used before the writer gives a view.
- The balance is clear: benefits, costs, then a fair answer to the ban.
- The ending sets the reader a task, which suits an article.
- Strong IGCSE English article writing examples balance both texts, then take a clear side.
Example 3: Food waste in the canteen
The third of our IGCSE English article writing examples uses an issue every school faces.
Task: Write an article for your school newsletter about food waste in the canteen. In your article, you should:
- sum up what Text A and Text B say about food waste
- say what you think the school should do.
Ideas from the texts (in my own words):
- Text A: bins fill with bread, fruit, and rice because portions are large.
- Text B: another school cut waste with small changes, such as shared tables and student input.
Plan:
- Voice: concerned but hopeful.
- View: small steps can fix a big problem.
- Order: personal hook, the texts, answer to “it’s only a bit of rice”, three fixes, closing question.
Model answer (written for this guide, about 290 words):
Binning the Bread: Time to Stop Wasting Food
Have you ever looked in the canteen bin? I did last Tuesday, and I wish I had not. Slices of bread, whole apples and plates of rice, barely touched, lay in a heap. It was food, money and effort, all thrown away.
The two reports we have read tell a clear story. The first describes bins that fill up every day because portions are too big and many of us take more than we can eat. The second shows another school with the same problem. It cut waste by changing small things, not big ones. That should give us hope.
Some people shrug and say, “It’s only a bit of rice.” But a bit, every day, from every student, adds up fast. And behind each plate stand a farmer, a driver, a cook and a family who paid for it. Wasting food wastes all of their work.
So what should we do? First, serve smaller portions and let anyone ask for more. Nobody goes hungry, and fewer plates end up in the bin. Second, set up a share table by the door, where students can leave fruit and packaged snacks they will not eat. Someone else will be glad of them. Third, give us a voice. Let students help plan the menu, because we are far more likely to finish a meal we chose.
These steps cost very little. They need only a small effort from all of us, and that is something every student can give.
Next time you leave your tray, stop for a second. Look at what is left. Then ask yourself: could someone else have eaten that?
Commentary:
- The heading plays with words, which suits the topic.
- The ideas from both texts are in the writer’s own words.
- The triple of “a farmer, a driver, a cook” adds emotional weight.
- The answer is clear and goes in order: first, second, third.
- The closing question ties back to the opening image.
This is the second language paper, not First Language. The ideas carry over, but the word count and marks differ. Our guide to IGCSE English first language vs second language shows which paper you sit. Study these IGCSE English article writing examples for structure and tone, then write your own.
Why IGCSE English article writing examples help you score higher
Start with the numbers. According to Save My Exams, Paper 2 lasts 2 hours and is worth 80 marks. Of those, 65 are for writing and 15 are for reading. So writing makes up about 81% of the paper (65 ÷ 80).
According to Cambridge’s June 2025 mark scheme for paper 0500/22, the writing part of question 1 is worth 25 marks. That is about 31% of the whole paper (25 ÷ 80). One article can move your grade a lot.
There is a reading side too. According to Save My Exams, up to 15 marks in this task reward how well you handle the ideas, opinions and attitudes in one or two texts. So you must read well, then write well.
The exam is also changing. According to Tutopiya, the Section A texts get shorter from 2027, going from 650–750 words to 550–650 words, and a new question 1(a) is added. If you sit the exam in 2027 or later, ask your teacher which syllabus you follow.
So how do IGCSE English article writing examples help? They show you the full process: read, plan, write, check. According to Save My Exams, you should note who you write for and why, highlight ideas in the texts, put them in your own words and plan for about five minutes. You should write one main idea per paragraph, cover each bullet point in order, and develop the ideas rather than summarise them. These basics sit behind every one of the IGCSE English article writing examples below.
From 16 ideas to 5 paragraphs
This case study shows how IGCSE English article writing examples turn reading into writing. It uses the published Save My Exams task.
The two texts give a lot to work with. According to Save My Exams, the sample ideas include 10 points from Text A and 6 from Text B. That is 16 ideas in total.
The model answer does not use all 16. It picks the ones that back one clear view and builds five paragraphs around them: an introduction, three developing paragraphs and a conclusion. It also keeps to the word guide. According to the same page, the guide for this task is 250 to 350 words. You are not penalised for going under or over, but too little can leave your answer thin, and too much can make you lose focus.
The lesson: Do not use every idea. Choose the best ones, build one paragraph around each, and stay near the word guide. Use your IGCSE English article writing examples to practise choosing ideas.
Turning 25 writing marks into a one-hour plan
This case study uses published numbers, not a student record. It shows how IGCSE English article writing examples fit into a timed plan.
According to Save My Exams, Paper 2 lasts 2 hours and carries 80 marks. That gives you 1.5 minutes per mark (120 ÷ 80). Question 1 on older papers was worth 40 marks (25 for writing and 15 for reading), so it earns about 60 minutes. Here is a plan built on those numbers:
- 10 minutes: read both texts and highlight ideas.
- 5 minutes: plan your voice, view, paragraphs and ending.
- 38 minutes: write the article.
- 7 minutes: check spelling, punctuation and tone.
You spend most of your time writing, where most of the marks sit. Practise this timing with one of the IGCSE English article writing examples above until it feels natural.
Mistakes that cost marks
Learn from IGCSE English article writing examples, but also learn what to avoid.
- Wrong tone. According to Tutopiya, examiner reports note register and purpose errors as a repeated issue.
- Wrong form. Tutopiya’s command word guide lists writing the wrong form, such as a letter when an article is asked for, as a common mistake.
- Copying the texts. Put every idea in your own words.
- Retelling, not developing. Do not summarise the texts. Add your own view.
- No plan or no check. Five minutes at the start and seven at the end save marks.
Your article checklist
After you read IGCSE English article writing examples, test your own work against this list. rint it and keep it beside your IGCSE English article writing examples.
- I know who I am writing for and why.
- My heading and first line catch attention.
- My view is clear and stays the same.
- Each paragraph has one main idea.
- I used ideas from both texts, in my own words.
- I covered every bullet point in order.
- My ending leaves a clear last thought.
- I checked spelling and punctuation.
How to practise in four steps
- Learn the rules. Read our English directed writing tips.
- Study the samples. Read two IGCSE English article writing examples each week. Mark the hook, the main points, and the ending.
- Write your own. Write your own version of each of the IGCSE English article writing examples in this post, on a new topic.
- Build exam habits. Our top O Level exam English tips cover timing and checking.
Not sure how the boards differ? Read Cambridge vs IGCSE. And remember that the IGCSE English article writing examples from ESL Kings are for the second language paper.
Final thoughts
IGCSE English article writing examples give you a map. They show you the hook, the plan and the shape of a strong answer. Add a timed plan and a clear checklist, and you are ready to practise like a top scorer.
Start small. Pick one example from this post today. Read it, then write your own on a new topic. Keep this list of IGCSE English article writing examples close, and add a new one each week.
Want a teacher to mark your articles and guide your practice with IGCSE English article writing examples? Explore our best online tuition for O Level students or visit Nisar Academy to enrol. We teach Cambridge and IGCSE English online, and we would love to help you reach your A*.