This article focuses on the 2019 National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement (NMSSA) assessment of student ability in writing. It begins with an overview of the study and its results, then turns to students' use of planning strategies to support their writing. Drawing on research on the association between planning and achievement in writing, the article suggests that planning is best thought of as a multistage process covering identification of goals, generation and selection of ideas and content, and organisation. The final section of the article analyses the 2019 student writing in the light of this process, considers what can be done to support students' understanding of each stage, and suggests how this approach to planning might help to lift confidence and achievement in writing.