A Story on Friendship: Model Answer for Class 9 and 10 with Marking Notes
Quick answer: An original 180-word exam story on friendship, set in a Melbourne school science fair, with notes on why it scores under content, organisation and expression.
A friendship story earns marks when the friendship is tested, not described. Two people who like each other is a situation; two people who quarrel, or who must choose between winning and helping, is a plot. Show one test, show the choice, and let the ending be an action rather than a declaration of friendship. The model below is about 180 words and puts two boys in Melbourne on the night before a science fair.
Students often write friendship as a list of shared activities followed by 'we are still best friends today'. Nothing happens in that. Examiners marking content want something at stake.
The task
Typical wording: 'Write a story in 150 to 200 words on the theme of friendship.' Or the proverb version: 'A friend in need is a friend indeed. Write a story that illustrates this, with a moral.' Or an outline: 'two friends ... a competition ... a quarrel ... a disaster the night before ... a choice.' In every version, the friendship must be tested.
Model answer
The Volcano. Dev and Marcus had built rival volcanoes for the Year 8 science fair in Melbourne, and for two weeks they had not spoken. It had started over a borrowed bottle of vinegar and ended with Marcus moving to a different lunch table. Both of them wanted the blue ribbon more than they wanted to admit.
On the night before the fair, Dev's phone buzzed. Marcus had sent a photograph and no words. His volcano lay on the kitchen floor in three pieces, and a very guilty dog sat beside it.
Dev looked at his own volcano, finished and drying on the table. He looked at the photograph again. Then he put his shoes on, told his mother he would be back by ten, and walked the four streets to Marcus's house with a tube of glue and a box of paints.
They rebuilt it at the kitchen table until the paint was dry. Marcus's volcano took second place the next day. Dev's took third. Neither of them has mentioned the vinegar since.
Why it earns marks
Against content, organisation and expression:
Three other ways to take the same topic
Each tests the friendship rather than describing it.
What writers can take from this
- Test the friendship; do not describe it.
- Open with the friendship already under strain.
- Give the helping friend something to lose.
- End on an action, not on 'we are still friends'.
- One object can carry the whole quarrel: a bottle, a ball, a book.
- Keep the word 'friend' out of the last paragraph.
Try it yourself
Write a 180-word story in which one friend helps another at a real cost to themselves, and the helped friend never finds out how much it cost. Writers of 13 and over can send the result to Writory's monthly short story contest, where every entry receives a score out of 100 and a certificate.
Questions
What is the word limit for a friendship story in the exam?
Follow the paper. CBSE Class 9 sets 100 to 120 words; most school exams 150 to 200; ICSE compositions 300 to 350. Drop the photograph paragraph to bring the model down to 120.
Can a friendship story be in the first person?
Yes. First person lets the narrator feel the pull between winning and helping directly. Keep the narrator from praising their own loyalty; let the action speak.
Do I need a moral for a story on friendship?
Only when the question asks, which the proverb version usually does. 'A friend in need is a friend indeed' or 'Friendship is worth more than a ribbon' would fit the model above. Skip it otherwise.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working writers. Updated September 2026.
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