IGCSE English Article Writing: Examples, Format and Top Exam Tips

In Cambridge IGCSE First Language English (0500), article is one of the text types you may be asked to write in Paper 1's extended response question or Paper 2's directed writing section — not a separate paper of its own, and not guaranteed to come up in every series. This guide covers exactly where it can appear, what examiners are marking against, and works through a full model article so you can see the format in practice rather than just a description of it.

Everything below is checked against Cambridge's own 0500 syllabus for 2024, 2025 and 2026 (see the sources at the end). If your school enters you for a different English syllabus or a different board, the assessment objectives and paper structure below will not match yours exactly — check your own syllabus with your teacher before you use this as your revision plan.

Where article writing appears in the 0500 exam

Article is offered as one option among several, in two different places in the exam, and the choice of which text types are on offer changes with the question:

The two tasks are not identical. Paper 1 Question 3 is reading-led — you are responding to a text you have just analysed in Questions 1 and 2, and marks split 15 for reading skill (understanding, evaluating and using the text) and 10 for writing. Paper 2 Section A is writing-led — 25 of its 40 marks are for writing quality (W1–W5) against only 15 for using the source material, and it specifically asks for a discursive, argumentative or persuasive piece, so a neutral, purely informative article would not fit the task even if the format looked right.

What examiners actually want from an IGCSE article

Cambridge's writing assessment objectives (AO2, W1–W5) do not name a headline or byline as a mark-earning feature — the marks reward articulating ideas clearly (W1), organising them for effect (W2), a range of vocabulary and sentence structure (W3), register appropriate to context (W4), and accuracy (W5). But a piece that reads as a newspaper or magazine article, rather than a letter with a different label stuck on top, earns those marks more easily. In practice, that means:

• A short, punchy headline that signals the angle, not just the topic — "Don't Let Our Library Close" earns more than "About the Library".
• An opening that hooks a reader in the first sentence or two: a vivid scene, a direct question, or a striking claim — not a restatement of the task.
• Direct address to the reader ("you", "we", rhetorical questions) — articles are written to persuade or engage a specific audience, not to inform in a vacuum.
• Clear paragraphing, each with its own point, rather than one continuous block of argument.
• Register matched to the stated publication and audience — a school magazine article and a national newspaper opinion piece are not written in the same voice.
• A conclusion that returns to the opening idea or issues a clear call to action, rather than simply trailing off.

A model article, marked against the assessment objectives

Task: "Your local council is proposing to close the community sports centre that many students use after school. Write an article for your school newsletter giving your views." (Directed Writing style, discursive/persuasive, about 250–350 words.)

DON'T LET OUR SPORTS CENTRE BECOME A CAR PARK

Picture Riverside Sports Centre on a Tuesday evening: forty students queuing for five-a-side, a badminton court booked solid until nine, and a line of parents outside waiting to collect them. Now picture the site as the council would prefer it — flat, tarmacked, and empty except for parked cars. That is the choice being quietly made for us, and we should not let it happen without a fight.

The council's argument is that the centre "no longer pays for itself." Perhaps not, on a spreadsheet. But ask any of the four hundred students who use it weekly whether it pays for itself in other ways — in fitness, in friendships, in the simple fact of having somewhere to go that is not a screen. A council that measures a sports centre only in pounds and pence is measuring the wrong thing.

I am not blind to the budget problem. Local services are stretched everywhere, and nobody is asking the council to simply find more money. But closure is not the only option on the table. Other towns facing the same shortfall have handed community facilities to local trusts, introduced modest membership fees, or opened unused hours to paying adult classes. Riverside could try any of these — if anyone in the council chamber were willing to.

So here is what needs to happen. Students, parents and local clubs need to attend the council's consultation meeting on the 14th and say, loudly, that this centre is worth saving. Write to your councillor. Sign the petition by the leisure centre doors. A decision made in an empty room is easy to make; a decision made in front of four hundred determined teenagers is much harder.

We built this place because we needed it. We still do.

Why this scores well: the headline states a position, not just a topic (W2). The opening paragraph contrasts two concrete images rather than announcing the topic in the abstract (W1, W3). Paragraph two directly quotes and then rebuts the council's own justification — engaging with the "text" the task is built around, which is what earns the reading marks in a Paper 1 Question 3 answer, or the source-use marks in a Paper 2 Section A answer. Paragraph three anticipates the obvious counter-argument (money) rather than ignoring it, which examiners consistently reward over a one-sided rant. The closing paragraph gives concrete actions rather than a vague "something must be done", and the final line returns to the "we needed it" idea from the opening — a deliberate structural echo (W2). Register throughout is direct and personal, appropriate for a school newsletter addressing fellow students (W4), and the piece stays inside the 250–350 word range.

Common mistakes examiners penalise

• Writing a letter or speech with "Article" written at the top — no headline, no direct-address opening, no paragraph structure built for a reading audience rather than a named recipient.
• Ignoring the stated publication and audience, so the register does not match a school magazine, local paper or national broadsheet as instructed.
• Lifting phrases directly from the source material in a Directed Writing task — Cambridge's reading assessment objectives reward using and evaluating the text in your own words, not copying it.
• Running well over or under the 250–350 word guidance, which usually means either the argument is underdeveloped or it has drifted off the task.
• Leaving accuracy checking (W5: spelling, punctuation, grammar) for a final "read-through" that never happens because time ran out — errors compound quickly in the closing paragraph of a timed answer.
• A one-sided argument that never acknowledges an opposing view, which reads as less convincing than one that answers the obvious objection.

Before you submit: a 60-second checklist

• Does it have a headline that states an angle, not just a topic?
• Does the opening hook a reader in the first sentence or two?
• Is the register matched to the stated publication and audience?
• Does every paragraph make one clear point, in your own words rather than the source's?
• Does the conclusion do more than just stop — a call to action, or a return to the opening idea?
• Is it roughly 250–350 words, and have you left two minutes to check spelling, punctuation and grammar?

Reading advice is useful, but the fastest way to improve at this specific skill is to write full articles under timed conditions and have someone mark them against these exact assessment objectives rather than a general "does it sound good" reaction — which is exactly the kind of structured, syllabus-aware feedback a TutorWick English tutor gives on practice papers.

Do I have to write a headline?

Cambridge's mark scheme does not list a headline as a separate mark-earning feature, but a clear, angled headline is standard convention for the format and supports the organisation marks (W2) examiners are looking for. Leaving it off is not an automatic penalty, but it is a missed easy signal that you understand the text type.

How long should an IGCSE article be?

Both the Paper 1 Question 3 extended response and the Paper 2 Section A directed writing task ask for about 250–350 words. Writing far outside that range usually signals an underdeveloped or over-padded answer rather than earning extra credit for length.