随着高考英语的改革，英语作文的命题更具有开放性。开放式作文不同于书面表达，书面表达往往给出较为详细的提示，考生只需把提示要点转译成英语，加上一些适当的连接词连接上下文就行了，所以作文地带认为书面表达常有参考范文。而开放式作文只给出主题或两三点提示，由考生去发挥、构思，考生的思路是不同的，写出来的文章当然不会是一样的，所以开放式作文没有参考范文。
来自著名英语学习网站“作文地带”编辑刘志宏说：开放式作文的答题思路与汉语作文非常相像。首先大家要明确主题，然后根据主题搭建文章的主体结构，即写作提纲，接着进行文章血肉的填充。在拟写作提纲时，要突出主题，有层次，先写什么，后写什么，要层次分明。
下面我们结合例题，对开放式作文答题思路作一说明，以飨考生。
[例1]根据下面的提示，用英语写一篇120词左右的短文。
吉姆毕业后想去找工作，他的第一次就业面试失败了，但他学到了许多东西。(用记叙文体裁)
思路分析：本篇作文的要求要写成记叙文。吉姆毕业后想找工作，在写作时，写什么工作都行。他的第一次就业面试失败，应是记叙的主要部分。面试一定要回答有关问题，吉姆肯定要准备一些问题。由面试失败，问题主要出在回答问题上，可能是答非所问，也可能是太紧张，回答得不得体，或没有回答上来。所学到的教训可以是人际交往方面的问题，如微笑、举手投足、态度、机智，也可以是心理素质方面的问题。
例文：
After graduation Jim wanted to be a teacher. But he failed in his interview with the school principal. It was in the early morning that Jim went for the interview. Before he went there, Jim had been well prepared. He had worked out a list of questions that might be put to him. And then, he had carefully prepared the answers. Besides, he practised answering for quite some time. But when he was faced with the principal, he forgot all about the answers. He found the questions easy; however, all he was doing was stuttering and stammering. Later Jim said it wasn't the questions that failed him but the looks on the principal's face. He didn't smile at all. So Jim learned something from his failure.
建议：英语作文