115004 general training writing sample scripts

SampleCandidateWritingScriptsand ExaminerComments
TheGeneralTrainingWritingModuleconsistsof
twotasks,Task1andTask2.Eac htaskis
assessedindependently.Theassessmentof
Task2carriesmoreweig htinmarkingthanTask
1.
Detailedperformancedescriptorshavebeen
developedwhich describewrittenperformance
atthe9IELTSbands.Thesedescriptorsapply
toboththeAcademicandGeneralTraining
Modules.
Task1scriptsareassessedonthefollowing
criteria:
•TaskAchievement
•Cohere nceandCohesion
•LexicalResource
•GrammaticalRangeandAccuracy
Task2scriptsareassessedonthefollowing
criteria:
•TaskResponse
•Cohere nceandCohesion
•LexicalResource
•GrammaticalRangeandAccuracy
Cand idatesshouldnotethatscriptswil lbe
penalisediftheyarea)undertheminimumword
leng th,b)partlyorwhollyplagiarise d,c)not
writtenasfull,connec tedtext(e.g.usingbullet
pointsinanypartofthere sponse,ornoteform,
isnotappropria te,etc.).
Task1
TaskAchievement

Thiscriterionassesseshowappropria tely,
accuratelyandrelevantlytheresponsefulfil sthe
requiremen tssetoutinthetask,us ingthe
minimumof150words.
Task1isalsoawritingtaskwithalargely
predictableoutputinthateachtasksetsoutthe
contextandpurposeoftheletterandthe
functionsthecandidateshouldcoverinorderto
achievethispurpose.
CoherenceandCohesion
Thiscriterionisconcernedwiththeoverallclarity
andfluencyofthemessage:howtheresponse
organisesandlinksinformation,ide asa nd
language.Coherencereferstothelinkingof
idea sthroughlogicalsequencing.Cohesion
referstothevariedandappr opriateuseof
cohesivedevices(forexample,logical
connectors,pronounsandconjunctions)to
assistinmakingtheconceptualandr eferential
relationshipsbetweenandwithinsentences
clear.
Lexica lResource
Thiscriterionreferstotherangeofvocabulary
thecandidatehasusedandtheaccuracyand
appropriacyofthatuseintermsofthespecific
task.
GrammaticalRangeand Accuracy
Thiscriterionreferstotherangeandac curate
useofthecandidate’sgramma ticalresourceas
manifestedinthecandidate’swritingatsentence

level.
Task2
TaskResponse
Task2requiresthecandidatestoformulateand
developapositioninrelationto agivenprompt
intheformofaquestionorstatement.Ideas
shouldbesupportedbyevidence,andexamples
maybedrawnfromthecandidates’own
experience.Responsesmustbeatleast250
wordsinlength.
Writingscriptsaremarkedbytrainedand
certificatedIELTSexaminers.Scoresmaybe
reportedaswhole bandsorhalfbands.
Onthenext6pagesyouwillfindcandidates’
answe rstotwosampleWritingtests.Thereare
twoanswersforeachWritingtask.Eachanswer
hasbeenawardedabandscoreandis
accompaniedbyanexaminercommentonthe
candidate’sperformanceforthattask .
Theexaminers’guidelinesformarkingthe
Writingscriptsareverydetailed.Thereare
manydifferentwaysacandidatemay
achieveapartic ularbandscore.The
candidates’answersthatfollow shouldnot
beregardedasdefinitiveexamplesofany
particularbandscore.
Pleaserefertothe publicbanddescriptors
forWriting.
GeneralTrainingWritingSampleTask1
SampleScriptA

Ex aminercomment
Band5
The answer is below the word limit and there is some repetition of the task rubric. (Length i s a common problem in
General Trainingscripts.) Answers that areshort losemarks because of inadequate content and may also lose marks
because thereisinsufficientmaterial in the answerfortheexaminertogivecreditforaccuracy andcoherence.Despite
these problems, the introduction to the letter i s appropriate and the purpose of the writer is clear. The points are not
alwayslinkedtogetherwellandpunctuationissometimesfaulty.Thesentencesarekeptquitesimpleandmistakesoccur
assoonasmorecomplexstructuresareattempted.
GeneralTrainingWritingSampleTask1
SampleScriptB
Ex aminercomment
Band7
Thisanswerisalsoshort.Althoughideasareoftenprovidedinthetaskrubric,candidatesareatlibertytoincludesomeof
their own ideas intheir answers. In this case, the candidat e has attempted to incorporate some original material. The
answer reads quite fluently, is well organised and there is good use  of conjunction s to link poi nts. There are some
grammatical errors but these do not affect the reader greatly and there is evidence of some more complex sent ence
structures.
GeneralTrainingWritingSampleTask2
SampleScriptA
Ex aminercomment
Band5
There are quite a lot of relevant ideas in th e answer but they are not always well supported and sometimesthey are
unclear . Therearesome areasinthe answerwhere the organisation becomesweak an dthereaderfindsthe message
difficulttofollow.Nevertheless,thewriter’sviewisapparentandthereisalogicalflow toth epointsgiven.Therearealot
of mistakes in the answer and some parts, such as the conclusion, are very hard to follow because of these errors.
Althoughthereissomeappropriate vocabulary, sentence controlis veryweak. These problemsaremadeworse bythe
poor correc tingwhichsometimesmakeswordsunreadable.
GeneralTrainingWritingSampleTask2
SampleScriptB
Ex aminercomment

Band8
Thisisaverywellorganisedscriptwhichcontain salotofwell supportedarguments andanalysesthetopicfromdifferent
angles. The ideas follow each other well and thereis averyhonestconclusion.The answeris easy toread.Thereare
some areaswherethe expression is clumsy butth is makes little difference tothe overall flow of the answer.There are
minorerrorsinspellingandstructure.