Expository Writing: Explaining a Complex Idea Clearly — Answers
Answer sheet with model answers and success criteria for the Year 13 writing writing prompt.
Success TutoringWorksheetsAnswer sheetYear 13 · English · WritingExpository Writing: Explaining a Complex Idea Clearly — Answers
Part A: Study the model
Read the model extract, then answer.
Model expository extract: Why Do We Procrastinate? (original, approx. 300 words)
Most people assume that procrastination is a problem of time management: if we only planned better, we would stop putting things off. Psychologists who study the habit increasingly disagree. Procrastination, they argue, is less about managing time than about managing feelings.
Consider what happens when you sit down to begin an essay you are dreading. The task triggers an unpleasant emotion: perhaps anxiety about doing it badly, boredom, or confusion about where to start. Your brain, which is wired to seek relief from discomfort, offers an escape. You check your phone, tidy your desk or decide that you work better at night. The relief is instant, and so the brain learns that avoidance works. The essay, of course, is still waiting, and now the deadline is closer, which makes the feeling worse.
A useful way to picture this is as a loan. Each time we procrastinate, we borrow a little comfort from our future selves, and the interest is paid in stress. Researchers have found that people tend to think about their future selves almost as if they were strangers, which makes it easier to hand them the bill.
This explanation also accounts for something that puzzles many procrastinators: why the habit often strikes hardest on the tasks that matter most. The more important a task feels, the more anxiety it can carry, and the stronger the urge to escape.
If procrastination is emotional, then the most effective strategies are emotional too. Breaking a task into a first step so small it feels almost silly (open the document; write one sentence) lowers the emotional cost of starting. Treating yourself with understanding after a lapse, rather than harsh criticism, turns out to reduce future procrastination, because self-criticism simply adds another unpleasant feeling to escape from.
- Ato entertain with a story
- Bto persuade readers to buy a product
- Cto explain a complex idea clearly
- Dto describe a place
Answer: to explain a complex idea clearly
Expository writing explains how or why something happens.
- Awith a statistic
- Bby stating and then challenging a common misconception
- Cwith a quotation from a famous writer
- Dwith a personal anecdote
Answer: by stating and then challenging a common misconception
"Most people assume ... Psychologists ... increasingly disagree" sets up a misconception and promises a better explanation.
Answer: 1. A dreaded task triggers an unpleasant emotion. 2. The brain seeks relief and offers an escape (phone, tidying). 3. Relief is instant, so the brain learns avoidance works. 4. The task remains and the deadline is closer, so the feeling grows worse.
Answer: Procrastination is compared to a loan: borrowing comfort from our future selves and paying interest in stress. It turns an abstract psychological idea into a familiar financial one, making the hidden cost easy to understand and remember.
Answer: It uses the explanation to account for a puzzling observation (why procrastination is worst on important tasks), which shows that the explanation is powerful and convincing.
Answer: It draws out practical implications: if procrastination is emotional, the strategies should be emotional too (tiny first steps, self-understanding). This shows why the explanation matters.
Part B: Plan your explanation
Complete each step for your own topic. The answers show one possible plan.
Answer: Model: How do habits form, and why are they so hard to break?
Answer: Model: Many people assume habits are a matter of willpower, so breaking one just requires trying harder.
Answer: Model: cue (a trigger such as finishing dinner) → routine (the action, such as scrolling on a phone) → reward (a small feeling of pleasure) → repetition strengthens the link until the routine runs automatically.
Answer: Model: A habit is like a path worn across a lawn: the more often people walk it, the clearer it becomes, until walking anywhere else feels like pushing through long grass.
Answer: Model: If habits run on cues and rewards rather than willpower, the best way to change one is to change the cue or the reward, for example by leaving the phone in another room after dinner.
Part C: Write
Model answer: Model opening paragraph: Every January, millions of people make the same promise: this year, they will finally break the habit. Most of them believe that what they need is more willpower, and when they fail, as most do by February, they conclude that they simply did not try hard enough. Researchers who study habits suggest a kinder and more useful explanation. A habit, they argue, is not a test of character but a loop: a cue, a routine and a reward, repeated until the brain no longer has to think about it. Understanding that loop explains why habits are so hard to break, and also how, with the right approach, they can be changed.
Success criteria:
- Clear expository purpose: explains rather than argues or narrates
- Engaging opening that raises a question or challenges a misconception
- Key terms defined precisely
- Process or mechanism explained logically, step by step
- At least one effective analogy and two relevant examples
- Clear signposting and paragraphing that guide the reader
- Draws out an implication or application in the conclusion
- Precise, fluent expression suited to an intelligent general reader
Marking tips
- Give credit for correct method even when the final answer slips — the working shows where the thinking went right.
- For open-ended tasks, use the success criteria as a checklist rather than looking for one "right" answer.
- Celebrate what went well first, then pick one thing to work on next.