To get a high mark in the context piece, do you have to be very creative?

[Water]

I think using the word "creative" is very deceptive. On the surface, you can be 'creative' by implementing a story about chicken talking to a fly who was actually 10 feet tall and had human arms.

I don't think this is the form of creativity, the examiners actually want. What I think the examiners actually want the concept of 'show, not tell.' What do I mean by this? It means to drop little hints throughout the narrative. Rather than say, She was crying - her tears oscillated between melding against her skin and dripping onto her black shoes.

You could say, She asked, "Ken, do you want a tissue?" He stood, his arms stiff, his back hunched. "Ken, are you okay?"

Inevitably, what you want is not creativity specifically, but the way you draw a simple/complex idea and communicate it in a way that is not cliche. It needs to be original in the sense that you are delivering it to the reader for them to discover, and explore with you the character, setting and themes.
 

Everyone has their particular style to it. It'd defeat the purpose of creative writing, if it was mechanical. "Show, not tell" need not be in a serious format, it can be funny, comical, serious, deep, simple. But for the writing itself, it needs to draw in a lot of elements in which you are asked to explore.

[MonsieurHulot]

I don't think this is the form of creativity, the examiners actually want. What I think the examiners actually want the concept of 'show, not tell.' What do I mean by this? It means to drop little hints throughout the narrative. Rather than say, She was crying - her tears oscillated between melding against her skin and dripping onto her black shoes.

You could say, She asked, "Ken, do you want a tissue?" He stood, his arms stiff, his back hunched. "Ken, are you okay?"

Inevitably, what you want is not creativity specifically, but the way you draw a simple/complex idea and communicate it in a way that is not cliche. It needs to be original in the sense that you are delivering it to the reader for them to discover, and explore with you the character, setting and themes.

I'm so glad you said that, from reading a lot of people's essays I'd been starting to think that the former example was what the examiners are looking for; i.e. big words used awkwardly.