What types of prompts should Swiss students expect during the test?

The Proctored Writing Sample prompts are broad and designed to measure how students think, reason, and communicate under pressure. While no official prompt list exists, they usually fall into four categories: personal experience, ethical dilemmas, current events, and creative storytelling. Your child might be asked to reflect on a time they faced a challenge, respond to a moral dilemma, share their thoughts on a global issue, or finish a short story with a creative twist.

For Swiss students coming from structured academic systems like the Matura or IB, this open-ended, fast-paced writing style might feel unfamiliar at first. That’s why practicing with different types of prompts is key. At Cardinal Education, we work with Swiss students using realistic prompts modeled after past Proctored Writing Samples. We teach them how to brainstorm quickly, outline on the fly, and write with clarity and purpose—all within 30 minutes. It’s not about perfection—it’s about composure, coherence, and demonstrating how they think on paper.