How to Write a Story for B1 Preliminary (PET)

Writing

The B1 Preliminary (PET) exam has suffered some changes that become effective
in January 2020. Among the parts most affected are Speaking and Writing.
However, the B1 Writing part we will be reviewing today hasn’t suffered any
changes, except for now belonging in Part 2 instead of Part 3, as there is no Part 3
in the new exam. So today I will teach you how to write a story at B1 level for
your B1 Preliminary (PET) exam. We already saw how to write an email, so it’s
now time to focus writing a story for PET.

Instructions for Writing B1 Preliminary Part 2: Story

In this part of the test, you are given some instructions to write a story in about
100 words. These instructions may involve the title or the first or last sentence of
the story. Why do they give you this prompt? Well, if they asked you to simply
«write a story», you could memorize a story at home and simply write it out in the
exam, which isn’t really fair.
The good thing about choosing the story over the letter is that you have more
freedom to write. But first, let’s take a look at an example taken from Cambridge
English sample papers:
How to write a story for B1 Preliminary
Now, before seeing a sample task, we will focus on what is a story, so we can
understand this kind of task better and have a more accurate expectation of what is
expected of us in this part of the Writing for PET.

What is a story?
According to the Lexico.com (before Oxford Dictionaries), a story is «an account of
imaginary or real people and events told for entertainment«. For this reason,
precisely, you have plenty more freedom to write, as you can make up most of the
story. But just like it happens with every other type of writing, a story must follow a
particular structure which makes sense to the reader. So let’s move on to the different
parts of a story.

Parts of a Story
A story can roughly be divided into the following parts:
 Title: The title should either summarize the whole story (without spoilers!) or
have something to do with the main theme.
 Exposition: This is the beginning of the story, where the characters and
setting are established. It serves as the introduction to the next part, the
action, and the so-called conflict of our story.
 Action: In this part, the characters deal with conflict and do things to solve it.
  Resolution: This is where the conflict is resolved and the story concludes
with an ending, normally without any loose ends.

Now that we know the different parts of a story, we should see an example.

Sample Story for B1 Writing

Let’s take a look at the following example of a Preliminary (PET) Writing Part 2
task, where we can see an answer to the sample task we saw above:
In the example above you can see the different parts of a story very well defined.
Just like with emails or letters, your story should be visually appealing. For this
reason, I recommend the following:
 Write your title in capital letters.
 Leave a clear space between paragraphs.

Expressions to use in your story

In this section, we are going to focus on different expressions you can use in the
different parts of a story. While the vocabulary used in the story will vary
completely, depending on the topic, there is a set of expressions which you can
make use of quite frequently if you memorize them beforehand. Let’s take a look:

How to begin a story

When you start a story, if the first sentence isn’t given to you, you can use
phrases like these:
 It all began…
 When I first…
 At the beginning…
 It was a hot/cold summer/winter day. 

Just to be clear, these are only some simple examples which you can use, as
there is no right or wrong way to start a story. That’s the beauty of it! 

Time phrases
One of the great differences between writing a letter, essay, article and so on, and
writing a story is the need to pay careful attention to the time over which the
story develops. In order to define the order of the events in the story, we must
use time expressions or time phrases. So let’s see a few:
 Then
 After that
 Not long aftewards
 As soon as
 While
  Meanwhile
 As
 Some time later
 A little later
 ____ minutes later
 a moment later
 Later (that morning/afternoon/day/night…)
 Just then

It is essential to use these expressions properly. Otherwise, it won’t be clear exactly

how the story develops.

Creating suspense
When writing a story, the aim is not to inform or to convey information; the real
purpose is to entertain the reader, just like when you read a novel you expect to be
entertained. For this reason, a story, even a story for Preliminary (PET) Writing
Part 3 should aim to do so: entertain. And a cool way to entertain is to create
suspense, which we can do by using some of the following expressions:
 Suddenly
 All of a sudden
 Without warning
 Just at that moment
 Unexpectedly 
 Out of the blue
 Out of nowhere
 Right away
 Straight away

Direct speech
In every story there are characters and they usually interact with each other, so it
is always good if you know how to use direct speech, that is, reproduce the words
the characters actually say or think. The tricky bit about this is the punctuation
and the verbs to choose, because it’s good to use some verbs other than «say».
Let’s take a look at some examples:
  «I’m coming with you,» she said.
 She said, «I’m coming with you.»
 «Do you like it?» he asked. 
 «Don’t do it!» he screamed. 

Pay close attention at where the comma (,) or other punctuation marks go (?, !).

Also, don’t forget to use inverted commas («…») to enclose the direct speech. In
British English we normally use single inverted commas (‘…’), but it’s not important
so choose the one that suits you best.

Finishing your story

This paragraph, the resolution, should be separated from the rest, and it’s a good
idea to start it with one of the following expressions:
 In the end
 Finally
 When it was all over
 Eventually 
 After everything that happened
 Luckily
Again, these are just a few examples. There’s no right or wrong way to conclude
a story, as long as it makes sense with the rest of the piece of writing.

Verb tenses
One of the reasons why stories are particularly challenging for B1 students is
that they tend to take place in the past, which makes it necessary to use a range
of past tenses appropriately. The main three past tenses you should really try to
use are the following:
 Past simple (-ed/irregular form)
 Past continuous
 Past perfect
If you take a look at the example of Writing Part 3 above, you’ll see how I used
these tenses in combination, when possible:

 Past simple and continuous: 

It was midnight and I was trying to sleep. 
  Past perfect and simple: 
I had completely forgotten it was my birthday.
 Past simple: 
This time I picked up the phone quickly and shouted, «Hello?!».
So that’s how you should try to tell your story. Please avoid a simple succession of
past simple tenses alone, like:

I woke up and got out of bed. Then I went to the kitchen and made some coffee.
It’s not wrong, but it’s just not good enough for a story

Top 5 Tips for Writing a Story for PET Writing

1. Learn, memorize and use some of these expressions. Make sure you

already know a set of expressions to use in your next story. This will not only
avoid you making mistakes, but also it will make your story so much better! It
will give you points to use those expressions.
2. Write a well-structured and visually-appealing story. One of the things
Cambridge English examiners pay attention to is the organization of your
piece writing, so make sure not to write an incoherent story. Also, remember
that punctuation matters, so be sure to separate your sentences with stops
and commas and don’t write sentences which are too long.
3. Brainstorm before you write. Before starting to write your story, brainstorm
a couple of things and write down some ideas. This can include vocabulary
related to the topic, connectors, time phrases, etc. Also, decide before writing
how the story is going to end.
4. Revise, edit and improve. Don’t write all at once and then move on. Once
you have finished your story go over it. Look for possible mistakes. Look for
ways to improve it, maybe adding adjectives here and there. You can save
many points by simply reviewing what you’ve written.
5. Experiment at home, be conservative in the exam. Homework is the best
chance to be creative and experiment with stories. So make sure you try your
hardest to keep improving when you write at home. On the other hand, when
you’re doing an exam, don’t risk trying out new words or expressions, as you
may be making a terrible mistake. So be safe in your exam and stick to what
you already know works.