Writing
Scoring

In this section:

How writing tasks are marked on the C1 Advanced Exam

Examiners look at four aspects of your writing: Content, Communicative Achievement, Organisation and Language. 

This section will cover these details.

If you've spent all of your time discussing one facility and why it should receive money, but run out of time to talk about another, you cannot receive full marks.

If you decide to write about facilities not mentioned on the card, while ignoring the ones present, you cannot receive full marks.

Also, you cannot receive full marks if you do not explain which facility is more important. People often forget this part, so don't let it happen to you!

To make sure you do everything you need to do, read the task carefully and do exactly what it says. Plan you essay before writing it.

Communicative Achievement

This mark focuses on the tone of your writing and examiners will be judging if the style of your writing is appropriate to the task or not. For example, a formal letter will use different language than an article, so you will be judged on this. Because of this, it is always extremely important to identify your audience when planning your work.

• • • For an essay or report, you should use a neutral or slightly formal style. 

    • Depending on the audience, an article can be more informal. If you're writing for an online magazine or blog, for example, you may want to use a casual tone.

    • A letter to a friend should be informal and light. However, a letter to a boss or someone you do not know should be formal and professional. For details about how to write formal and informal letters, look here:

      • Types of Letters and Emails

      • Language in Letters and Emails

This score also evaluates how easy and enjoyable your work is to read. If you've made a lot of spelling errors or significant grammatical errors which create confusion with the reader, then you would get a lower score here, so be careful. 

Organization

Organization refers to how you present your ideas. You will need to make sure you use paragraphs and organize and present your ideas in a logical fashion.

You can easily increase your score by making it very clear what each paragraph is about. Then, logically organize each sentence within that paragraph.

The easiest way to organize a paragraph is by using a format like this:

• Introduce a point.

• Give a reason and supporting details.

• Give an example.

Here, you'll also be evaluated on your use of linking words or cohesive devices. For example, you might use words like 'whereas' and 'however' to join sentences, or use sequencing language like 'firstly' and 'secondly' to join paragraphs. More examples include: first of all, furthermore, in addition to this, on the other hand. Read more about Linking Words here. There are other techniques we can use, too, to make our writing sound more cohesive, and this mark will judge you on how well you use them.

Lastly, you will also be marked on your use of punctuation here.

Language

The examiners will be judging the quality of the English that you use. Are you writing with basic terms, or are you able to specify using more topic-specific words, and use higher-level vocabulary with precision? Are you writing with basic, simple phrases, or can you create complex sentences and communicated complicated ideas? How is your spelling? Is it correct? Is your writing clear, or is it hard to understand because there are too many mistakes?

In this part, you can make spelling mistakes. While it's expected that you might make some mistakes, they should not impact on the message and there should be very little of them. If your writing is unclear and the meaning of your phrase is lost, you will lose marks. Your writing should be clear at this level. You should have no problem communicating straightforward ideas at this level. A high-level student will be able to write even complex ideas with ease and flexibility.

To get a higher score, very your language to make your writing more interesting. Also use changes in tone and style to create dynamic writing that holds the reader's attention. 

Things you can do:

• Use topic-specific or "high-level" vocabulary when you know it.

• Use appropriate phrasal verbs, collocations and idiomatic language.

• Try not to repeat the same word too many times. 

• Try to use a variety of “complex” and simple sentences.

• Check your writing for errors at the end.

Tip: Get feedback on your writing 

Errors will lower your score, especially if they prevent the reader from understanding what you have written. Get feedback on your writing to understand your common errors and how to fix them.

Tip: Learn the different types of sentences in English 

Complex sentences are actually NOT complicated. They don’t need to be long, complicated or even difficult to write. Read the section on sentence building here.