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Handwriting quiz
Level A

1. Your name written in your usual handwriting is called your:

A) guarantee
B) signature
C) handwriting

2. Penmanship is

A) the use of different pens for writing

B) learning to write with a pen
C) the techniques of writing with the hand using a writing instrument

3. Cursive writing is the same as:

A) a writing course
B) writing legibly so your writing can be read easily
C) any style of handwriting in which the letters in a word are connected

4. What happens when we write by hand is:

A) the arm moves the hand across the page

B) the fingers make the shapes of the letters
C) Both - the arm moves the hand across the page and the fingers make the shapes of the
letters

5. True or false? When you write in cursive or joined-up writing, you need to join all letters in a
word together.

A) True
B) False

6. True or false? Trying different kinds of pens and pencils can help handwriting.

A) True
B) False

7. True or false? If it is difficult to remember the shapes of letters or numbers, learning to join
letters may help in remembering letter shapes.

A) True
B) False

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Handwriting quiz
8. True or false? It does not matter how you sit or stand when you are handwriting.

A) True
B) False

9. If you join letters together when writing you are more likely to:

A) write more slowly

B) write the correct sequence of letters
C) worry about spellings

10. If you join letters together you are less likely to:

A) spell words correctly

B) write longer pieces of writing
C) insert capital letters in the wrong place

© BBC 2011
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Handwriting quiz
Level B

1. Handwriting helps us to remember the most common letter combinations.

A) True
B) False

2. What is the most important stroke in handwriting?

A) upward stroke
B) downward stroke
C) drawing a horizontal line across the page
D) making a diagonal stroke

3. What spelling strategy can you use with handwriting?

A) Look, Cover, Write, Check

B) Finding out about the origin of words
C) Practising letter sounds

4. True or false? When practising spellings using the Look, Cover, Write, Check method, write
out words you want to learn and correct spelling as you write.

A) True
B) False

5. True or false? It is useful to analyse your own handwriting to see how you can improve it.

A) True
B) False

6. True or false? It is important to check the direction of your pen when forming letters.

A) True
B) False

7. How many letters are in the English alphabet?

A) 24
B) 26
C) 28

© BBC 2011
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Handwriting quiz
8. The modern English alphabet is based on letters from:

A) Latin
B) Greek
C) Arabic

9. Which letters have a tall or ascending stroke when writing by hand?

A) h
B) p
C) m
D) r

10. What is the letter most frequently used in English?

A) r
B) a
C) e
D) s

© BBC 2011
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Handwriting quiz
Level C

1. What letter is used least frequently in English?

A) v
B) q
C) x
D) z

2. How many vowels are in the English language?

A) 4
B) 6
C) 5
D) 7

3. How many consonants are in the English alphabet?

A) 22
B) 21
C) 23
D) 24

4. Which letters need a diagonal join?

A) a and b
B) v and a
C) r and t

5. Which letters need a horizontal join?

A) l and k
B) g and o
C) w and a

6. Which letter has a tail, or part of the letter that goes below other letters?

A) v
B) s
C) h
D) g

© BBC 2011
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Handwriting quiz
7. True or false? What most improves your handwriting is writing as much and as often as you
can.

A) True
B) False

8. True or false? Trying different kinds of pens and pencils can help handwriting.

A) True
B) False

9. True or false? When handwriting, all small letters start at the bottom of the word.

A) True
B) False

10. Which letter is formed by moving the pen in an anti-clockwise direction?

A) a
B) b
C) i

© BBC 2011
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Handwriting quiz
Answers

Level A

1. Your name written in your usual handwriting is called your:

The correct answer is: B. Your signature is how you write your name. Your signature may be
required on official documents.

2. Penmanship is:

The correct answer is: C. Penmanship is the technique of writing with the hand, using a pen
or other writing tool.

3. Cursive writing is the same as:

The correct answer is: C. Cursive writing is the same as joined-up writing. It is handwriting in
which the letters of each word are joined together.

4. What happens when we write by hand is:

The correct answer is: C. When we write, our arm moves our hand across the page, but our
fingers also move to form letters.

5. True or false? When you write in cursive or joined-up writing, you need to join all letters in a
word together.

The correct answer is: B. Joining letters should be as natural as possible. You do not need to
join all letters. Some letters may be awkward to join and it may be best not to try to join them.

6. True or false? Trying different kinds of pens and pencils can help handwriting.

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Handwriting quiz
The correct answer is: A. In order to make your writing flow as easily as possible, it is useful
to experiment with different kinds of pens and pencils to see what suits you best.

7. True or false? If it is difficult to remember the shapes of letters or numbers, learning to join
letters may help in remembering letter shapes.

The correct answer is: A. True. Practising joining letters helps the writer to remember to move
the pen in the right direction and this helps the writer to write words automatically

8. True or false? It does not matter how you sit or stand when you are handwriting.

The correct answer is: B. False. Different seating positions can make a difference to writing.
It is good to experiment with different positions and find the most comfortable.

9. If you join letters together when writing you are more likely to:

The correct answer is: B. Joining letters together helps us remember the order of the letters
as we remember the flow of the writing.

10. If you join letters together you are less likely to:

The correct answer is: C. Insert capital letters in the wrong place. Concentrating on joining
letters helps you to remember how to make letters and when capital letters should be used.

© BBC 2011
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Handwriting quiz
Level B

1. Handwriting helps us to remember the most common letter combinations.

The correct answer is: A. True. Our hands get used to writing regular letter strings, for
example '- ed' or '-ck' at the end of a word. We know other letter combinations are likely to be
wrong, for example '-jk'.

2. What is the most important stroke in handwriting?

The correct answer is: B. The downward stroke is the most important stroke in handwriting. All
the down strokes are parallel.

3. What spelling strategy can you use with handwriting?

The correct answer is: A. The Look, Cover, Write, Check method links handwriting with
spelling practice.

4. True or false? When practising spellings using the Look, Cover, Write, Check method, write
out words you want to learn and correct spelling as you write.

The correct answer is: B. True. When using the Look, Cover, Write, Check method, you
should write words that you want to spell using joined-up writing. Do not correct words as you
write. You need to write the whole word and then check if it is correct. If not, you need to
write the word again.

5. True or false? It is useful to analyse your own handwriting to see how you can improve it.

The correct answer is: A. True. The important thing about your handwriting is how easily other
people can read it. You can analyse your handwriting and practise making changes.

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Handwriting quiz

6. True or false? It is important to check the direction of your pen when forming letters.

The correct answer is: A. True. The direction of your pen when you are forming letters is
important, especially when you are joining letters.

7. How many letters are in the English alphabet?

The correct answer is: B. There are 26 letters in the English alphabet.

8. The modern English alphabet is based on letters from:

The correct answer is: A. The English alphabet comes from Latin. It uses letters from the
original Roman Latin alphabet.

9. Which letters have a tall or ascending stroke when writing by hand?

The correct answer is: A. The word 'ascending' means to go up. Ascenders are tall letters
that go above letters the height of 'x'. Ascenders are b,d,f,h,k,l.

10. What is the letter most frequently used in English?

The correct answer is: C. The letter 'e' is written most often in English words.

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Handwriting quiz
Level C

1. What letter is used least frequently in English?

The correct answer is: D. The letter 'z' is written least often in English words.

2. How many vowels are in the English language?

The correct answer is: B. 6. The vowels are 'a e i o u' and 'y', which is often used as a vowel
e.g. as in the word 'cry'.

3. How many consonants are in the English alphabet?

The correct answer is: B. There are 21 consonants in the English alphabet. ‘Y’ is also used as
a consonant e.g. as in the word ‘yellow’.

4. Which letters need a diagonal join?

The correct answer is: A. You need a diagonal join when linking the letters ‘a’ and ‘b’ - ab

5. Which letters need a horizontal join?

The correct answer is: C. The letters ‘w’ and ‘a’ join from the top of the letter ‘w’ to the top of
the letter ‘a’ - wa

6. Which letter has a tail, or part of the letter that goes below other letters?

The correct answer is: D. The letter 'g' has a 'tail' and is known as a 'descender', as it 'goes
down', e.g. the letters 'f', 'j','p','q' and 'y'.

© BBC 2011
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Handwriting quiz

7. True or false? What most improves your handwriting is writing as much and as often as you
can.

The correct answer is: A. True. Regular practice such as 10 minutes a day is the best way to
improve your handwriting.

8. True or false? Trying different kinds of pens and pencils can help handwriting.

The correct answer is: A. True. When handwriting, you need to experiment to see what kinds
of pens or pencils suit you best.

9. True or false? When handwriting, all small letters start at the bottom of the word.

The correct answer is: B. False. You generally start all small letters at the top of the word, e.g.
a,c,r,s

10. Which letter is formed by moving the pen in an anti-clockwise direction?

The correct answer is: A. When forming the letter 'a', you start making the letter by moving
your pen backwards in an anti-clockwise direction.

© BBC 2011