SampleCandidateWritingScriptsandExaminerComments

TheGeneralTrainingWritingModuleconsistsof twotasks,Task1andTask2.Eachtaskis assessedindependently.Theassessmentof Task2carriesmoreweightinmarkingthanTask 1. Detailedperformancedescriptorshavebeen developedwhichdescribewrittenperformance atthe9IELTSbands.Thesedescriptorsapply toboththeAcademicandGeneralTraining Modules. referstothevariedandappropriateuseof cohesivedevices(forexample,logical connectors,pronounsandconjunctions)to assistinmakingtheconceptualandreferential relationshipsbetweenandwithinsentences clear. LexicalResource Thiscriterionreferstotherangeofvocabulary thecandidatehasusedandtheaccuracyand appropriacyofthatuseintermsofthespecific task. GrammaticalRangeandAccuracy Thiscriterionreferstotherangeandaccurate useofthecandidatesgrammaticalresourceas manifestedinthecandidateswritingatsentence level.

Task1scriptsareassessedonthefollowing criteria: TaskAchievement CoherenceandCohesion LexicalResource GrammaticalRangeandAccuracy

Task2 TaskResponse

Task2scriptsareassessedonthefollowing criteria: TaskResponse CoherenceandCohesion LexicalResource GrammaticalRangeandAccuracy

Task2requiresthecandidatestoformulateand developapositioninrelationtoagivenprompt intheformofaquestionorstatement.Ideas shouldbesupportedbyevidence,andexamples maybedrawnfromthecandidatesown experience.Responsesmustbeatleast250 wordsinlength. Writingscriptsaremarkedbytrainedand certificatedIELTSexaminers.Scoresmaybe reportedaswholebandsorhalfbands. Onthenext6pagesyouwillfindcandidates answerstotwosampleWritingtests.Thereare twoanswersforeachWritingtask.Eachanswer hasbeenawardedabandscoreandis accompaniedbyanexaminercommentonthe candidatesperformanceforthattask.

Candidatesshouldnotethatscriptswillbe penalisediftheyarea)undertheminimumword length,b)partlyorwhollyplagiarised,c)not writtenasfull,connectedtext(e.g.usingbullet pointsinanypartoftheresponse,ornoteform, isnotappropriate,etc.).

Task1 TaskAchievement Thiscriterionassesseshowappropriately, accuratelyandrelevantlytheresponsefulfilsthe requirementssetoutinthetask,usingthe minimumof150words. Task1isalsoawritingtaskwithalargely predictableoutputinthateachtasksetsoutthe contextandpurposeoftheletterandthe functionsthecandidateshouldcoverinorderto achievethispurpose. CoherenceandCohesion Thiscriterionisconcernedwiththeoverallclarity andfluencyofthemessage:howtheresponse organisesandlinksinformation,ideasand language.Coherencereferstothelinkingof ideasthroughlogicalsequencing.Cohesion Theexaminersguidelinesformarkingthe Writingscriptsareverydetailed.Thereare manydifferentwaysacandidatemay achieveaparticularbandscore.The candidatesanswersthatfollowshouldnot beregardedasdefinitiveexamplesofany particularbandscore. Pleaserefertothepublicbanddescriptors forWriting.

GeneralTrainingWritingSampleTask1
SampleScriptA

Examinercomment
Band5 The answer is below the word limit and there is some repetition of the task rubric. (Length is a common problem in General Training scripts.) Answers that are short lose marks because of inadequate content and may also lose marks because there isinsufficientmaterial in the answerfortheexaminertogivecreditforaccuracy and coherence.Despite these problems, the introduction to the letter is appropriate and the purpose of the writer is clear. The points are not alwayslinkedtogetherwellandpunctuationissometimesfaulty.Thesentencesarekeptquitesimpleandmistakesoccur assoonasmorecomplexstructuresareattempted.

GeneralTrainingWritingSampleTask1
SampleScriptB

Examinercomment
Band7 Thisanswerisalsoshort.Althoughideasareoftenprovidedinthetaskrubric,candidatesareatlibertytoincludesomeof their own ideas in their answers. In this case, the candidate has attempted to incorporate some original material. The answer reads quite fluently, is well organised and there is good use of conjunctions to link points. There are some grammatical errors but these do not affect the reader greatly and there is evidence of some more complex sentence structures.

GeneralTrainingWritingSampleTask2
SampleScriptA

Examinercomment
Band5 There are quite a lot of relevant ideas in the answer but they are not always well supported and sometimes they are unclear. There aresome areasinthe answerwhere the organisation becomesweak andthereaderfindsthemessage difficulttofollow.Nevertheless,thewritersviewisapparentandthereisalogicalflowtothepointsgiven.Therearealot of mistakes in the answer and some parts, such as the conclusion, are very hard to follow because of these errors. Althoughthereis some appropriate vocabulary, sentence control is veryweak. These problemsaremade worse bythe poorcorrectingwhichsometimesmakeswordsunreadable.

GeneralTrainingWritingSampleTask2
SampleScriptB

Examinercomment
Band8 Thisisaverywellorganisedscriptwhichcontainsalotofwellsupportedargumentsandanalysesthetopicfromdifferent angles. The ideas follow each otherwell and thereis a very honestconclusion. The answer is easy toread. There are some areas wherethe expression is clumsy butthis makes little difference to the overall flow of the answer. There are minorerrorsinspellingandstructure.