Format:

T define what you interpret quote

PI - personal illustration

PR - personal reflection

SA - social cultural application

  1. The requirements are: the essay must be a PERSONAL and REFLECTIVE essay.

  2. This means that you will write it from a first person point of view and it will contain your thoughts and ideas on personal topics (which is what the Task B comments are often about).

  3. You are required to include a personal illustration. A personal illustration is a story of an event that happened to you or to someone very close to you.

  4. You are also required to include a personal realisation. A personal realisation is often an emotional journey (from sadness to happiness, from fear to enlightenment, from confusion to understanding, from struggle to acceptance, etc.). This is the part where you will review your thoughts and emotions while undergoing that event you narrated and explain the how and why. This is also the part where you try to squeeze life lessons from the hurtful or poignant event or episode of your life that you shared.

  5. Lastly, you are supposed to take what you have learned from your personal experiences and apply it to a socio-cultural issue. A socio-cultural issue is a problem that is prevalent in society. For instance, if you write about solitude or loneliness, you can apply your personal realisations to persons suffering from depression, social isolation because of bullying, or stigma because of some disability.

  6. The Task B is a test of reasoning that measures the student's capacity for self-evaluation, self-assessment, self-critique and introspection. If you are able to show where you think you went wrong and you are able to say how you can prevent yourself from making the same mistake, then that reflection works.