Duration: 90 minutesModule: General Training WritingFocus: What changes and what doesn't · personal experience as legitimate support · the four question types · the half-answer
Objectives
Explain what differs between GT and Academic Task 2 — and what is identical.
Use personal experience and observation as support instead of invented statistics.
Identify the four question types and state what a full answer to each must contain.
Detect a half-answered prompt before writing, by counting the instructions.
Develop a body paragraph properly: claim, explanation, example, link.
Write a full 250-word essay in 40 minutes.
Every writing box on this page marks itself
Write your answer, then press Get AI Evaluation. You get indicative bands on all four criteria within about twenty seconds, tuned for letters rather than charts. It is practice guidance, not an official score — always submit by email as well so your teacher sees the script.
0:00 – 0:15
What Actually Changes in Task 2
Good news first. Task 2 is the paper where General Training and Academic sit closest together. The word count is the same, the time is the same, and — this matters — the marking criteria are identical. There is no separate General Training essay rubric.
Often abstract: globalisation, technology and society, education policy.
Everyday and concrete: family, work, local community, transport, health, consumer life.
Register
Formal, impersonal.
May be slightly less formal — but still an essay, not a letter.
Support
General knowledge, reasoning, examples.
Your own experience and observation are explicitly acceptable.
The one real advantage you have
The prompt tells you to include "relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience". On GT, take that literally. A concrete example from your own life — your commute, your workplace, your neighbourhood — is stronger support than an invented statistic, and it is far easier to write fluently about.
Candidates who have been taught Academic Task 2 often manufacture fake research: "Studies have shown that 73% of people…". This impresses nobody and frequently reads as false. Write what you have actually seen.
"Slightly less formal" is not an invitation
It means you may use I freely, and you may write in a natural voice. It does not mean contractions, slang, or the tone of your Day 2 letter to a friend. If you are unsure, write formally — nobody has ever lost a mark for it.
0:15 – 0:45
The Four Question Types, and How to Read Them
Task Response is decided in the first thirty seconds, when you decide what the question is actually asking. Get that wrong and no amount of good writing rescues it.
Type
How it's worded
What a full answer must contain
Opinion
To what extent do you agree or disagree? / Do you think this is positive or negative?
A clear position stated in the introduction, held throughout, restated at the end. Partial agreement is allowed — but say so explicitly.
Discussion
Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
Both views, given roughly equal space, and your own opinion. Missing the opinion is the classic half-answer.
Problem–solution
What problems does this cause and how could they be solved?
Problems and solutions, with the solutions actually addressing the problems you named.
Two-part
Why is this happening? What can be done? (two direct questions)
Both questions answered, in separate paragraphs. This is the type most often half-answered.
The half-answer
Every one of those types can be half-answered, and a half-answer caps Task Response at about 5, regardless of how well written it is. Before you plan, underline every question mark and every instruction verb in the prompt, and count them. Two instructions means two things your essay must do.
What is this question asking?
For each, name the type and list what a full answer must contain.
"Some people think children should start school at six; others believe four is better. Discuss both views and give your own opinion."
"In many cities, fewer people are cooking at home. Why is this happening, and is it a positive or negative development?"
"Employers should be required to offer flexible working to all staff. To what extent do you agree?"
Discussion. Three things: the case for six, the case for four, and your own view. Give the two views comparable space — an essay that spends four sentences on one and fourteen on the other is not discussing both.
Two-part. Two things: causes, and an evaluation (positive or negative). Candidates routinely write a beautiful essay on the causes and forget the second half entirely.
Opinion — and note the exact wording. It asks about a requirement, not about whether flexible working is a good thing. An essay listing the benefits of flexible working has answered a question that was not asked.
0:45 – 1:30
Timed Essay — 40 Minutes
The structure that works
Introduction (2–3 sentences): rephrase the situation, state your position or say what the essay will do.
Body 1: one main idea, explained, then supported with an example.
Body 2: a second main idea, same shape.
Body 3 if you have one — optional, not compulsory.
Conclusion (2 sentences): restate the position. Add nothing new.
Two ideas, well developed
Two paragraphs done properly beat four done thinly, every time. A body paragraph should be: claim → explanation → example → link back to the question. If your paragraph is three sentences and one of them is an example, it is not developed yet.
The most common weakness at band 6 is not bad English. It is a list of asserted ideas with nothing underneath them.
Forty minutes: 5 · 32 · 3
Five minutes planning — position, two ideas, one example each. Thirty-two writing. Three checking. Planning feels like lost time and is the difference between a coherent essay and a discovered one.
Task 2 — timed
Some people believe that employers should be required by law to offer flexible or remote working to all staff who ask for it. Others think this should remain the employer's decision.
Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
In your letter:
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
You have 40 minutes.
Your Task 2 essay
Target: 250+ words · 40 min
Words: 0Not saved yet
40:00
Task 2 — 40 min
Language bank
Tap a phrase to reveal how and when to use it.
Introduces a view that is not necessarily yours. Useful in discussion essays.
Formal way to present one side. Higher-band alternative to Some people say.
Explicitly permitted on GT and a genuine strength. Follow it with something concrete.
Signals a turn towards the other side. Cohesion without a mechanical However.
Concedes a limit to your own argument. A mature, high-band move.
Ranks two problems. Shows evaluation, not just listing.
A strong conclusion opener for a discussion essay.
a rule applied to everyone with no exceptions. Precise, useful in policy essays.
Wrap-up
Wrap-Up & Homework
Two things. One: answer the question that was asked, all of it — count the instructions before you plan. Two: two ideas developed properly beat four asserted thinly.
Next session is the mock: letter and essay, one sitting, sixty minutes. Come having slept.