WRITING TASK 1

Model response:

The line chart presented gives us past data and assumed future purchasing figures of
popular musical equipment in the United Kingdom.

Overall, it is clear that sales of guitars has always been largest since 2008 and this is
expected to remain the case in the future up until 2020, while pianos seem less popular with
British citizens.

Looking in closer detail at guitars and percussion instruments it is clear that their sales
varied greatly. In 2008, approximately 16% of total sales were for guitars, however drums
were lower at a maximum figure of 13%. In the following two years both instruments sales
declined before recovering and seeing modest growth in sales to 14% for drums and 16% for
guitars by 2015. After this period, sales of guitars grew and are expected to rapidly rise in
the future whereas drums and percussion predictions are of a levelling off until 2020.

Trumpets and pianos have data that shows a more similar trend. While trumpets were as
popular as drums in 2008, after this period they were far lower and fluctuated between 10
and 3% until present and should recover to about 5% by 2020. Sales of pianos on the other
hand, fell slowly and do not look like increasing above 3%.

[209 words]

Task Commentary:
Overall band 7

Examiner Comments:

The answer includes a clear overview identifying the main trends in the graph presented.
Information is well selected and main points are covered with the support of figures. The
candidate organises the information in a logical way with a clear progression of points and
there are some good linkers used. There are not a lot of spelling mistakes and a range of
vocabulary is used while complex grammatical structures are used accurately and with only
few noticeable errors.

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WRITING TASK 2

Model response:

In the past few years social media websites and apps such as Facebook and Twitter have
become hugely popular with the youth. While using these sites has many benefits such as
being efficient and enjoyable, they also have a few drawbacks which overall makes this
development a bad one.

Using apps like Facebook and Twitter are a convenient and fun way to talk with friends and
family members. Instead of phoning someone and hoping they aren’t busy, sending
messages through these apps can be a better option as the person can receive the
notification when they are free and respond in a timely manner. Also, most people are very
busy these days so often can’t answer their phone or meet friends for a coffee or face to
face chat. By using Twitter and similar sites, we can still keep in touch with our friends often
even if they are far away. These sites are often enjoyable to use as well. In addition to
chatting, we can send pictures, videos and funny messages to our friend, which strengthen
friendship bonds and thus lead to better relationships.

However, there are negative aspects of using social sites as the main way to communicate
and I believe these far outweigh the benefits mentioned above. First, if we only chat using
these sites we can lose our ability to interact well with others face to face. This can cause
people to feel depressed, lonely and have mental issues as human are inherently social
creatures who need more interaction than social media sites provide. Furthermore, the type
of interaction is not intimate. When we meet face-to-face, we can really feel the emotions of
others and can connect strongly resulting in far stronger relationships. However, via social
media the interaction is far colder and can result in artificial relationships. For instance, many
people have 500 plus Facebook friends but they don’t actually know these people well or
ever meet them for a coffee or meal. Thus, these types of friends and interactions are not
sufficient and surely not a adequate replacement for face to face meetings.

To close, while there are some benefits of social sites such as being convenient and fun to
use, we should not ignore the drawback discussed above. I recommend that people make
sure to communicate with their loved ones via the phone and in person not only via social
media sites like Facebook.

[401 words]

Task Commentary:
Overall band 7

Examiner Comments:

The writer states a clear position from the start and it is maintained until the end where the
arguments are summed up and the position is restated. There is clear progression in the
essay with some good use of cohesive devices and paragraphing is also well handled which
helps the reader. The ideas are logically organised and are supported with examples or
further information. The range of vocabulary includes some less frequent items and the
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meaning is always clear. Spelling errors are not common and there is a good range of
grammar structures used.

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© British Council. All rights reserved.