✍️ Writing & Compositions
Format guides · Common mistakes to avoid · Writing practice area
📋 Notice Writing
🏗️ Format Structure
Box / Border Required — Draw it before writing any content.
Name of Organisation / Institution
The Word 'NOTICE' (centred, bold, all-caps)
Date of Issue (top-left or top-right below NOTICE)
Heading / Subject Line (centred, underlined)
Body — Purpose · Details · Call to Action
Name & Designation of Issuing Authority
Format Rules
The entire notice — from organisation name to signature — must sit inside a single rectangular box.
No 'To:' or 'Dear' salutation. Notices are addressed to a category of people, not an individual.
Date format must be formal: '2 June, 2026' or 'June 2, 2026'. Never '02/06/26'.
Heading must be in UPPER CASE and either underlined or bold — never plain sentence case.
Signature block includes full name on one line and designation on the line below. No 'Yours sincerely'.
📊 Marking Rubric
format
2M- Box drawn correctly around the entire notice
- All six elements present in the correct sequence
- Heading in upper case / underlined
- Date correctly formatted
content
2M- All key details covered: What, When, Where, Who (the 4 Ws)
- Clear call to action (registration deadline, contact person, etc.)
- No irrelevant padding or repetition
- Formal, impersonal tone maintained throughout
language
1M- Grammatically accurate sentences
- Formal register — no contractions, no colloquial phrases
- Concise: no sentence exceeds one line unnecessarily
🚨 Common Score Traps
The Box Omission
−1 to −2 Marks instantlyFailing to draw a clean, defined rectangular border around a Notice is the easiest way to lose marks. Examiners check the container first — a missing box signals format ignorance regardless of how well the content is written.
Word Count Inflation
Marks deducted under Relevance metricsNotices must stay within the 50–80 word limit. Writing more than needed weakens your message and loses marks. Every sentence must add useful information — nothing extra.
Salutation Error
−1 Mark (Format)Writing 'Dear Students,' or 'To All Concerned,' at the top is a letter habit incorrectly imported into notice writing. Notices have no salutation. The heading itself acts as the addressee identifier.
Informal Date Format
−0.5 Mark (Format)Writing the date as '2/6/26' or 'today' instead of '2 June, 2026' is penalised. Examiners treat date format as a direct test of formal writing awareness.
Missing Designation
−1 Mark (Format)Signing with only a name ('Rahul Sharma') and omitting the designation ('Secretary, Cultural Club') is a half-credit signature. Notices are institutional documents — authority comes from role, not from the individual's name.
🗣️ Phrase Bank
opening Lines
call To Action Lines
📝 Model Answer
This is to inform all students of Classes IX–XII that an Inter-School Debate Competition will be held on June 15, 2026 in the Main Auditorium at 10:00 AM. The topic is 'AI in Modern Classrooms'. Interested students must submit their names to the undersigned by June 8, 2026.
🎓 Examiner's Insight
“A perfect Notice is read in under 30 seconds. If an examiner needs to search for the date, re-read a sentence for the venue, or hunt for the deadline — marks are already lost. Structure is not decoration; it is the content.”