SampleCandidateWritingScriptsandExaminerComments

TheGeneralTrainingWritingModuleconsistsof
twotasks,Task1andTask2.Eachtaskis
assessedindependently.Theassessmentof
Task2carriesmoreweightinmarkingthanTask
1.
Detailedperformancedescriptorshavebeen
developedwhichdescribewrittenperformance
atthe9IELTSbands.Thesedescriptorsapply
toboththeAcademicandGeneralTraining
Modules.

Task1scriptsareassessedonthefollowing
criteria:
TaskAchievement
CoherenceandCohesion

referstothevariedandappropriateuseof
cohesivedevices(forexample,logical
connectors,pronounsandconjunctions)to
assistinmakingtheconceptualandreferential
relationshipsbetweenandwithinsentences
clear.
LexicalResource
Thiscriterionreferstotherangeofvocabulary
thecandidatehasusedandtheaccuracyand
appropriacyofthatuseintermsofthespecific
task.
GrammaticalRangeandAccuracy
Thiscriterionreferstotherangeandaccurate
useofthecandidatesgrammaticalresourceas
manifestedinthecandidateswritingatsentence
level.

LexicalResource
GrammaticalRangeandAccuracy

Task2
TaskResponse

Task2scriptsareassessedonthefollowing
criteria:
TaskResponse
CoherenceandCohesion
LexicalResource
GrammaticalRangeandAccuracy

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

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

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.