1.9 The Written Half - Email and Grammar Items

What is tested. A workplace situation appears on screen and you type a formal email to a manager, client or HR contact. A minority of candidates also report short grammar-fix sentences and fill-in-the-blank items. The email is judged on structure, grammar and tone: a clear subject line, a proper greeting, purpose stated first, facts next, an explicit request, and a polite close.

How it is scored. Rubric-based: task achievement (did you do what the situation asked), structure (can a reader find everything in the right place), language accuracy (grammar, spelling, punctuation) and register (is the tone consistently professional). The fastest wins come from structure, because structure is fully templateable in the hour you have left - Part 3 exists for exactly that reason.

How to spend the time. Assume roughly twenty minutes for the email and the rest for the grammar items. Plan for three minutes by listing the recipient, the purpose and the single clear ask; write for twelve to fourteen; proofread for three, reading once for grammar and once for tone. Never skip the plan: most failing emails are well-written answers to the wrong question.

Part 3 contains the full rubric, the seven-part frame, a phrase bank and 12 situations with model emails. Part 4 drills the grammar patterns that dominate the fix-it and fill-in items.