PSLE Model Composition: A Difficult Decision (with examiner notes)
How to use this page: read the plan and write your own attempt first, then reveal the model and read the examiner notes to see where each mark is won.
Theme: A Difficult Decision. Pictures (typical): a test paper, two friends, a worried face.
The one-line plan
During an important test, a girl sees her best friend cheating and must decide whether to stay silent or do the right thing, and lives with the cost of her choice.
A dilemma needs two bad options. If the "right" choice is obvious and free, there was no real decision, and Content suffers.
Your turn: set up the dilemma
Establish the situation and the two options, both of which cost your character something.
✍️ Your turn
Write the opening of 'A Difficult Decision': set the scene and reveal the problem your character faces. Make it clear that both choices come at a price. Aim for 4-6 sentences.
Your turn: the moment of choosing
Slow the deciding moment down. Show the tug-of-war before your character acts.
✍️ Your turn
Write the paragraph where your character actually decides. Show the internal conflict in the body (trembling hands, a dry throat, a racing heart) and dramatise the choice rather than summarising it.
Your turn: an honest ending
Resist the fake-happy ending. Show the cost, and what the character makes peace with.
✍️ Your turn
Write your closing paragraph. Show the consequence of the decision, including what it cost, and end on what the character came to understand about doing the right thing.
The model composition
Reveal the model composition
The examination hall was silent except for the scratching of pens and the ticking of the clock on the wall. I chewed the end of my pencil, working through the final section, when a small movement caught my eye. Beside me, my best friend Mei was slipping a folded scrap of paper out from under her sleeve.
My heart lurched. On the paper, in tiny handwriting, were the answers. Mei had been struggling all term, and I knew how terrified she was of disappointing her parents. Part of me wanted to look away and pretend I had seen nothing. She was my closest friend, after all. But another part of me knew that staying silent was its own kind of choice.
For the rest of the paper, I could barely concentrate. My conscience tugged at me from both directions. If I told the teacher, I might lose my best friend forever. If I said nothing, I would be helping a lie win. When the bell rang, my hands were trembling as I walked, slowly, towards the teacher's desk.
"Mrs Tan," I whispered, "I think I need to tell you something." The words felt like stones in my throat. Later, Mei would not look at me, and for weeks the space beside me felt painfully empty. It was the hardest thing I had ever done, and I cried more than once. Yet deep down, I knew I had chosen honesty over comfort, and slowly, I began to make peace with the fact that doing the right thing does not always feel good, but it is still right.
Where the marks are (examiner notes)
Content (18)
- A genuine dilemma with two costly options. Both choices hurt: betray a friend, or help a lie win. That tension is the whole essay. Examiners reward a decision that costs the character something.
- The decision is dramatised, not summarised. The walk to the teacher's desk, the "stones in my throat": the moment of choosing is shown in slow motion, which is where the emotional marks live.
- An honest, un-tidy ending. The friendship doesn't magically heal; the narrator "cried more than once". Refusing a fake-happy ending reads as mature and earns Content marks for a realistic resolution.
Language (18)
- Internal conflict shown through the body. "My heart lurched", "hands were trembling", "words felt like stones": emotion is rendered physically, not stated as "I felt worried".
- Deliberate sentence pacing. The short line "My heart lurched." lands hard because it follows a long, calm opening sentence. Contrast like this is a Language marker.
- Controlled, precise vocabulary. "Conscience tugged", "chose honesty over comfort": the words are strong but natural to a P6 voice, never forced.
- A thematic closing reflection. "Doing the right thing does not always feel good, but it is still right" is a clean, quotable line that ties language and meaning together.
Check your own draft
- Plan a different difficult decision where both options cost something (owning up to a broken item, choosing between two teams, keeping or sharing a secret).
- Make sure your character clearly doesn't want either option. That's the test of a real dilemma.
- Check your draft: is the moment of deciding slowed down and shown, or rushed in one line?
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