The Task 2 Booklet

Sets the constraints: 250 words minimum, 40 minutes, formal academic style, ideas that come with an explanation and an example. Two pieces of strategic advice worth acting on immediately:

• Task 2 is worth twice Task 1, so do Task 2 first in the exam. You have not sat a paper yet — build this into the first one you sit rather than discovering it there.
• Keep a notebook of ideas by topic. This is the one habit the booklet asks for that this site does not already do for you.

Then it names the five types with an example prompt for each. Those five are exactly the five units already on your plan, so there is nothing new to learn here — just confirmation that the site's spine and the booklet's spine are the same spine.

The most useful lesson in the booklet, and the one your 15 September class was built on. Four stages: analyse the question → generate ideas → plan the structure → plan the vocabulary (a synonym table you fill in before writing, so you are not hunting for a word at minute 31).

The three idea methods, in the order to try them:

1. The six questions — who, what, when, where, why, how, aimed at the topic.
2. The example method — think of one concrete case first, then reverse-engineer the general point it proves.
3. State the obvious — your teacher's study-house move. The idea does not have to be clever. It has to be relevant, explained, and exemplified. Band 8.5 comes from the explanation, not from the originality of the point.

This is the lesson to read most carefully, because it is the only one that tells you how the marks are actually assigned. Four criteria, equal weight: Task Response, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy. Each gets a Do list and a Don't list.

The three rules in it that are most likely to be costing you marks right now, given the band 4.5 on your only marked essay:

• Answer every part of the question, not just the general topic. Most Task Response damage is failing to address a second requirement that was sitting in the rubric.
• The 100% rule for vocabulary: only use a word if you are completely sure of its meaning and how to use it. A forced “academic” word used wrongly scores lower than the common word used right.
• Clarity is king. A simple accurate sentence that lands the idea beats a complex one that confuses the reader. This is the booklet's own tip and it directly contradicts the instinct to show off range.

Your 14 September class was this lesson, taught live. The introduction carries three things folded into two sentences: paraphrase, opinion, outline of your main points. No background statement — the booklet lists that explicitly as a Don't.

Four paraphrasing moves, and you should be able to name which one you used:

• Synonym swap (consume → use, government → the authorities).
• Change the word form (decide → decision).
• Rearrange the clauses of the sentence.
• Swap a general statement for a specific example, or the reverse.

The lesson also carries a per-type table of opening language — one ready phrase for each of the five types, so you never stall on the first sentence.

Your 15 September class. Three parts, always in this order:

The line to underline: you cannot write a strong topic sentence unless you already have the idea clear in your head — which is the booklet's argument for why the 10 minutes of planning is not optional.

Conclusion: a single sentence carrying a summary of your main points and your opinion. A recommendation or prediction is optional — add it only if it flows, and never let it introduce a new idea. Five named mistakes to avoid: a new idea, being entertaining, being vague, repeating an earlier sentence word for word, and the wrong cohesive device.

On that last one the booklet is blunt: drop All in all, In sum, To sum up, Finally and In a nutshell. Use In conclusion or To conclude.

Then the review pass, over nine areas: prepositions, articles, subject–verb agreement, countable and uncountable nouns, tenses, capital letters, collocations, meaning, spelling, word form. It closes with an eight-question final checklist — does the essay answer every part, is the opinion clear in the introduction, does every paragraph have a topic sentence, is every idea explained and exemplified, is there a conclusion, is it over 250 words, is there a mix of complex and simple sentences, is anything confusing.

The advice that saves you time in the exam: do not agonise over which side you “really” believe. Agree with one side, disagree with the other, and stay consistent from the introduction to the conclusion. The mark is for a clear consistent position, not a sincere one.

Two rules: pick one side only — do not sit on the fence — and pick the side you can argue most confidently, which is not necessarily the one you hold in real life. The concession sentence is the band-lifting move: briefly acknowledge the opposing view, then reaffirm your own, and the paragraph reads as balanced thinking rather than weakened position.

The trap is confusing a cause with a problem. The booklet's test: a cause is the reason something is happening; a problem is the negative result. Rising fuel prices are the cause; the increased transport costs they lead to are the problem. Getting this backwards in your plan is named as the most common mistake in the type — so decide which one the question is asking for before you write a word.

On quantity: even when the prompt says “problems” and “solutions”, one well-developed problem and one well-developed solution is enough for a high score. Depth beats a list. This is the same instruction your teacher gave about not listing ideas superficially.

The only lesson where reading the prompt wrongly costs you the whole essay, because the three sub-types need three different plans:

• Type 1 — “…and give your own opinion.” Three jobs: advantages, disadvantages, opinion.
• Type 2 — “Discuss the advantages and disadvantages.” Two jobs only. No opinion required, and adding one is not rewarded.
• Type 3 — “Do you think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?” One job: your opinion on whether they outweigh. Only two possible positions — yes or no.

Type 3 gets its own structure, and it is the one worth memorising because it is counter-intuitive: weaker side first, stronger side second, and the second body paragraph says explicitly why it is stronger than the other. Most people write their best argument first and lose the comparison.

Four named mistakes, and three of them are the same mistake: not answering both questions in the introduction, focusing on only one of the two, treating it as a single-opinion essay, and treating it as a discussion essay. The fix is mechanical — count that your introduction contains two answers and that your two body paragraphs are a similar length.

The lesson closes with a full worked example, planned then written, on the morals-and-punishment prompt — the same topic your 14 September class used. Read the plan stage before the essay stage; the plan is where the marks are decided.