What does an IELTS Band 9 Task 2 look like?
We thought that we would share an example of a Band 9 Task 2 essay along with the rationale as to what it is high scoring. It was written by one of the IELTS examiners that works with us.
In red, you can see why it is getting high Task Achievement scores. The range of grammar and vocabulary is very wide and accuracy is very high. Coherence is so smooth that it is not noticed. Have a read……
Now, of course, for many people this level of accuracy is not achievable but it is a good idea to look at the body paragraphs. All the examiner has done is introduce 1 idea, extend it, then add a real-life example to support it.
Some people say “But the question says advantages and disadvantages, so you have to write more than one idea for each”. This is not true. How do we know?
Well, every 2 years, IELTS examiners get together to retrain and make sure they are marking correctly. Most IELTS examiners are also teachers and have questions to ask the senior trainer and the most common question is “Do candidates need to write more than one advantage/disadvantage?” and the answer is always, “No”.
If you want to try a Task 2 or a full writing test and have it marked, corrected by an IELTS examiner who will show you how to get higher marks, then you can buy them here. If you have any questions, then send them to us.
Comments (2)
Sorry guys, I disagree. As an ielts examiner, we had the same conversation and determined the answer was yes.
That said, I agree with everything else you publish. Our center though, along with our senior examiners, took the plurals quite literally
That is interesting Ellen. Our IELTS examiners have been trained in the UK, Spain, Japan and China with the British Council and it was something that they have all asked their IELTS trainer in recertification sessions at some point. The answer they have always received is 1 is sufficient as it is all about idea development. People that have gone through us and done IELTS have got into Band 8.0+ for writing with just one advantage or disadvantage in each paragraph. Maybe this is something that IELTS need to be more concrete about here.