Lesson 3, The 5-Minute Plan
Four minutes of planning removes every structural decision from the twenty minutes of writing. Skip it and you make those decisions mid-sentence, which is where paragraphs collapse and bullets get missed.
The routine, four steps, four minutes
1. Decode: what does each bullet actually ask? (60 sec) 2. Decide: register, and email type or your chosen option (30 sec) 3. Populate: two points per bullet / per body (120 sec) 4. Bookend: note your opening and closing lines (30 sec)
Step 1, Decode the bullets
Read each bullet and underline the verb.
| Bullet says | Your paragraph must |
|---|---|
| ask · find out · enquire | Contain a question mark |
| explain · describe | Give detail and reasons |
| suggest · recommend | Propose something specific |
| complain about | State the problem factually |
| request | Make a direct, polite ask |
| apologize for | Actually apologize, at length |
This step alone prevents the most expensive error on the test. Sixty seconds, every time.
Step 2, Decide register and type
Task 1: who’s the recipient? → formal or informal (Lesson 6 swap table) → which email type dominates (Lessons 7–12).
Task 2: which option can you argue best? Decide in under 60 seconds and never revisit it.
Step 3, Populate: two points each
This is the step that determines your score.
- Task 1: two points per bullet → three bodies × two points
- Task 2: two points per body → Body 1 supporting, Body 2 against
A “point” is a keyword pair, not a sentence:
radiators, no heat reported 3× - no reply below 15° - bought 2 heaters bills up, hard to work
That’s a complete plan for two body paragraphs. Ninety seconds of work.
Why two and not three or four: three bullets × two points ≈ 120 words of body content, which lands you at 180 total with the opening and closing. Four points per bullet overruns; one leaves paragraphs thin.
Step 4, Bookend
Note your opening line and your closing line before you start. This does two things: it removes the hardest sentence (the first) from the writing phase, and it guarantees you don’t trail off when the timer approaches.
Write keywords, not sentences
Don’t draft prose in your plan. You can’t write fast enough, and prose you’ve already composed tends to get copied stiffly rather than written naturally.
❌ “First I will explain that the heating has not been working since October and that I have contacted the manager three times without any response.” ✅ heating dead since Oct, contacted mgr 3× - no reply
Six words versus twenty-eight. Same information.
The time budget
| Phase | Task 1 (27 min) | Task 2 (26 min) |
|---|---|---|
| Plan | 4 min | 4 min |
| Write | 20 min | 19 min |
| Proofread | 3 min | 3 min |
Protect the proofreading time. It’s the first thing candidates sacrifice and the most valuable three minutes available, see Lesson 16.
Content doesn’t have to be true
There is no marking criterion for whether your content is factual.
Invent the apartment, the colleague, the dates, the amounts. If a made-up detail is easier to write well than a real one, use it.
This matters most for over-thinkers, who lose half their planning time deciding what really happened or what they genuinely believe. Pick whatever produces the best English and move.
One limit: don’t invent precise statistics or named studies (“a 2019 report found 73%”). Those read as fabricated. Invented personal details are fine; invented research is not.
The brainstorming drill
The highest-value practice for planning, and it needs no writing.
The drill: take a question. In two minutes, produce two points for every bullet. Then move to the next question. Don’t write the response.
Do ten questions in twenty minutes. Repeat weekly.
The goal is to make idea-generation automatic, so that on test day your four minutes goes into quality of points rather than panic about having any.
Ten questions for the drill
- Complain to an airline about a delayed flight and lost luggage.
- Apologize to a colleague for missing their presentation.
- Ask a college about evening courses and enrolment.
- Invite a friend to a weekend away and explain the arrangements.
- Suggest improvements to your building’s recycling system.
- Tell your manager you need to change your shift pattern.
- Complain to a neighbor about a shared fence in poor repair.
- Thank a colleague who covered your work while you were ill.
- Ask your landlord for permission to keep a pet.
- Apologize for canceling a booking at short notice.
Worked plan, start to finish
Question: Your online order arrived late and in the wrong color. Write to customer service. • Explain what happened • Describe the inconvenience • Say what you would like them to do
| Step | Output |
|---|---|
| Decode | 1 = explain · 2 = describe effect · 3 = request |
| Decide | Formal · Complaint (Lesson 7), with bullet 3 borrowing Request language (Lesson 9) |
| Body 1 | ordered 2 Oct, promised 5 days, arrived 14th · ordered charcoal, arrived cream |
| Body 2 | bought as a birthday gift, missed the date · had to buy a replacement locally, £60 |
| Body 3 | request: exchange + refund of postage · fallback: full refund and I return it |
| Bookend | Open: “I am writing to raise a concern about order #48812…” · Close: “I look forward to your response.” |
Four minutes. The writing is now transcription.
Grade your own plan
- I identified the task verb in every bullet
- Any find out / ask bullet will contain a question mark
- Register decided and justified
- Email type identified (Task 1) or option chosen in under 60 sec (Task 2)
- Two points for every bullet or body
- My points are keywords, not sentences
- Opening and closing lines noted
- Whole plan under 5 minutes
All 8 = the writing phase will be straightforward.
Your practice
Open one set on Celpora and put today’s lesson to work.
Practice Writing. Spend the first two minutes planning on paper before you type a word.
