Writing

Writing is 60 minutes and two tasks. Each is marked against four criteria, each worth a band from 0 to 9, and the four are averaged into the task's band. Task 2 counts twice as much as Task 1 in the Writing score.

• Two thirds of the Writing band comes from Task 2, so give it 40 of the 60 minutes. Running out of time on Task 1 costs a third as much as running out on Task 2.
• Under the minimum length — 150 words for Task 1, 250 for Task 2 — is penalised mechanically on criterion 1. Count if you are unsure; the count costs 20 seconds and the penalty is a band.
• You must write in full connected prose. Notes and bullet points score as an unfinished answer.

Task 1 asks you to describe a graph, table, chart, diagram or map in your own words.

• There is no opinion in Task 1. No I think, no this is because, no recommendation. A sentence of opinion or an invented cause caps Task achievement at band 5.
• The overview 概述 is one or two sentences saying what the data does overall — the biggest movement, the largest category, the crossing point, the thing that did not change. Without an overview, Task achievement cannot exceed band 5, however accurate the detail is.
• Structure that always works: rewrite the question in your own words (1 sentence) → overview (1–2 sentences) → two body paragraphs of grouped detail.
• Group, do not narrate. Two paragraphs — one for what rose, one for what fell; or one for the two large categories, one for the three small ones. A year-by-year account of every line is the commonest band-5 answer.
• Quote figures selectively. Enough to support each statement, not every number on the chart.
• A process diagram needs no data at all: say how many stages there are and whether it is a loop or a straight line, then run through it in the passive.

• Verbs: rise, increase, climb, soar, peak, level off, plateau, fall, decline, drop, plummet, fluctuate, remain stable.
• A trend 趋势 is the direction over the whole period; a fluctuation 波动 is movement without one.
• Nouns from the same verbs: a rise in, a sharp fall in, a steady increase in.
• ⚠ The prepositions are where marks are lost. Rise by 20 is the size of the change; rise to 20 is the end point; rise from 10 to 30 gives both. Chinese candidates overwhelmingly write increased of or increased to 20% when they mean by.
• ⚠ Percentage and percentage point are different. From 20% to 24% is a rise of 4 percentage points, or of 20%. Writing "a rise of 4%" there is a factual error.
• Approximation: just over, just under, roughly, around, nearly, approximately.
• A proportion 比例 is a share of a whole; an amount 数量 is not, and a pie chart shows only the first.
• Comparison: twice as many as, three times the figure for, by far the largest, the same as, slightly higher than.
• A pie chart shows shares, not amounts. "Households spent more on housing" is wrong unless you also know the total; "a larger share went on housing" is right.

Read the question twice and decide which of the five forms it is, because each one has its own way of going wrong.

• Answer every part. A partly-answered question cannot exceed band 5, however well written.
• Hold one position. If your introduction disagrees and your conclusion says "both sides have merit", Task response cannot exceed band 6.
• A counter-argument 反驳 answered properly is what separates a position from a preference.
• Support, do not assert. Every main idea needs a reason, an example, or a consequence traced one step further. Pollution is bad for health is an assertion; particles from traffic aggravate asthma, which is why clinics near main roads report more attendances is support.
• A useful shape: introduction (rewrite + position) → body 1 (first reason, developed) → body 2 (second reason, developed) → conclusion (restate position, no new material).
• A concession 让步 names what the other side gets right.
• Concessions raise the band. Naming the strongest objection and answering it shows you have a position rather than a preference.

Chinese candidates are often taught openers and "high-level" phrases to memorise. Examiners are trained to discount memorised language 背诵句式, so a template-heavy essay reads as a lower Lexical resource band, not a higher one.

• The problem is not that these are wrong English. It is that they carry no information, and the examiner has seen them a thousand times.
• The same applies to a rare word used out of collocation. Ameliorate the problem is not better than improve the situation; it is worse, because ameliorate does not collocate with problem. A common word used precisely beats a rare word used wrongly.
• Mechanical linkers hurt too. Firstly, Moreover, Furthermore, Last but not least at the start of every sentence lowers Coherence and cohesion. Real cohesion comes from pronouns, repeated noun phrases and the order of ideas.

These are systematic, so hunt for the pattern, not the one instance.

• Articles 冠词 — Mandarin has none. The government should build more school → schools; in the society → in society.
• Plurals — an unmarked plural is the single most frequent error. Many student → many students; informations, advices, equipments are uncountable and have no plural at all.
• Tense not carried through — a paragraph that starts in the past drifts into the present.
• Subject–verb agreement — the number of students have risen → has risen.
• Although … but … and Because … so … — English uses one connector, not two. Although it is expensive, but it is useful → drop but.
• Comma splices — two full sentences joined by a comma. Use a full stop or a conjunction.
• Missing preposition after a verb — discuss about, emphasise on, affect to are all wrong; those verbs take a direct object.
• Fixing two of these consistently is usually worth half a band on criterion 4, and it is faster than learning new vocabulary.

• Spend 5 minutes planning Task 2. An essay with a plan is a different band from the same ideas written as they arrive.
• Do Task 2 first if you tend to run out of time. It is worth double.
• Count your words once, at the end. Learn how many words your own handwriting puts on a line and count lines instead.
• Leave 3 minutes to reread for articles, plurals and tense. Those three account for most of what a reread can fix.
• Sources, checked on 19 September 2026: Writing format, scoring in detail.