WRITING TASK 2: Band Descriptors (public version)
July 1,2025
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| Band | Task response | Coherence and cohesion | Lexical resource | Grammatical range and accuracy |
| 9 | fully addresses all parts of the taskpresents a fully developed position in answer to the question with relevant, fully extended and well supported ideas | uses cohesion in such a way that it attracts no attentionskilfully manages paragraphing | uses a wide range of vocabulary with very natural and sophisticated control of lexical features; rare minor errors occur only as ‘slips’ | uses a wide range of structures with full flexibility and accuracy; rare minor errors occur only as ‘slips’ |
| 8 | sufficiently addresses all parts of the taskpresents a well-developed response to the question with relevant, extended and supported ideas | sequences information and ideas logicallymanages all aspects of cohesion welluses paragraphing sufficiently and appropriately | uses a wide range of vocabulary fluently and flexibly to convey precise meaningsskilfully uses uncommon lexical items but there may be occasional inaccuracies in word choice and collocationproduces rare errors in spelling and/or word formation | uses a wide range of structuresthe majority of sentences are error-freemakes only very occasional errors or inappropriacies |
| 7 | addresses all parts of the taskpresents a clear position throughout the responsepresents, extends and supports main ideas, but there may be a tendency to over-generalise and/or supporting ideas may lack focus | logically organises information and ideas; there is clear progression throughoutuses a range of cohesive devices appropriately although there may be some under-/over-usepresents a clear central topic within each paragraph | uses a sufficient range of vocabulary to allow some flexibility and precisionuses less common lexical items with some awareness of style and collocationmay produce occasional errors in word choice, spelling and/or word formation | uses a variety of complex structuresproduces frequent error-free sentenceshas good control of grammar and punctuation but may make a few errors |
| 6 | addresses all parts of the task although some parts may be • arranges information and ideas coherently and there is a more fully covered than others clear overall progressionpresents a relevant position although the conclusions may • uses cohesive devices effectively, but cohesion within become unclear or repetitive and/or between sentences may be faulty or mechanicalpresents relevant main ideas but some may be • may not always use referencing clearly or appropriately inadequately developed/unclear • uses paragraphing, but not always logically | uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the taskattempts to use less common vocabulary but with some inaccuracymakes some errors in spelling and/or word formation, but they do not impede communication | uses a mix of simple and complex sentence formsmakes some errors in grammar and punctuation but they rarely reduce communication | |
| 5 | addresses the task only partially; the format may be inappropriate in placesexpresses a position but the development is not always clear and there may be no conclusions drawnpresents some main ideas but these are limited and not sufficiently developed; there may be irrelevant detail | presents information with some organisation but there may be a lack of overall progressionmakes inadequate, inaccurate or over-use of cohesive devicesmay be repetitive because of lack of referencing and substitutionmay not write in paragraphs, or paragraphing may be inadequate | uses a limited range of vocabulary, but this is minimally adequate for the taskmay make noticeable errors in spelling and/or word formation that may cause some difficulty for the reader | uses only a limited range of structuresattempts complex sentences but these tend to be less accurate than simple sentencesmay make frequent grammatical errors and punctuation may be faulty; errors can cause some difficulty for the reader |
| 4 | responds to the task only in a minimal way or the answer is • presents information and ideas but these are not arranged tangential; the format may be inappropriate coherently and there is no clear progression in thepresents a position but this is unclear responsepresents some main ideas but these are difficult to identify • uses some basic cohesive devices but these may be and may be repetitive, irrelevant or not well supported inaccurate or repetitivemay not write in paragraphs or their use may be confusing | uses only basic vocabulary which may be used repetitively or which may be inappropriate for the taskhas limited control of word formation and/or spelling; errors may cause strain for the reader | uses only a very limited range of structures with only rare use of subordinate clausessome structures are accurate but errors predominate, and punctuation is often faulty | |
| 3 | does not adequately address any part of the taskdoes not express a clear positionpresents few ideas, which are largely undeveloped or irrelevant | does not organise ideas logicallymay use a very limited range of cohesive devices, and those used may not indicate a logical relationship between ideas | uses only a very limited range of words and expressions with very limited control of word formation and/or spellingerrors may severely distort the message | attempts sentence forms but errors in grammar and punctuation predominate and distort the meaning |
| 2 | barely responds to the taskdoes not express a positionmay attempt to present one or two ideas but there is no development | has very little control of organisational features | uses an extremely limited range of vocabulary; essentially no control of word formation and/or spelling | cannot use sentence forms except in memorised phrases |
| 1 | answer is completely unrelated to the task | fails to communicate any message | can only use a few isolated words | cannot use sentence forms at all |
| 0 | does not attenddoes not attempt the task in any waywrites a totally memorised response |
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