Task 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The diagram below shows how a hydroelectric power station generates electricity and supplies it to homes.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
Task 2
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Some people believe that the most effective way to reduce crime is to invest in education and social programmes, rather than in policing and prisons.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
Write at least 250 words.
What a Band 8–9 response must demonstrate
Measured against the four official assessment criteria — specific to this test's two tasks.
Task Achievement
- Gives a clear overview that states the number of stages and the two big transformations: stored water is turned into electricity at the powerhouse, and that electricity is then moved to homes by changing its voltage twice — up for transmission and down again for delivery.
- Covers every stage in order, including the two that candidates most often drop: the intake gate that controls the flow, and the used water returning to the river downstream.
- Makes the stages relate to one another (the penstock feeds the turbine; the turbine drives the generator via a shaft) rather than listing eight disconnected labels.
- Stays purely descriptive: no evaluation of hydropower's benefits, no comparison with fossil fuels, and nothing added that is not in the diagram.
Coherence & Cohesion
- Organises the description into logical groups — generation (stages 1–5) and distribution (stages 6–8) — rather than one sentence per stage with no paragraphing.
- Sequencing language is varied and accurate ("once", "at this point", "from here", "having been") and is not limited to "first, next, then, finally".
- Uses referencing ("this rotation", "the resulting current", "the same water") so the description flows without repeating "the water" and "the electricity" in every clause.
Lexical Resource
- Uses the diagram's technical labels correctly and adds accurate process verbs: held back, released, channelled, drives, converts, steps up, transmits, steps down.
- Paraphrases where possible without distorting meaning ("penstock" can be glossed as "a steep pipe"; "generator" should not be replaced with "engine").
- Keeps register neutral and technical; avoids informal phrasing such as "the water goes down the pipe and spins the thing".
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
- Uses the present simple passive accurately and frequently ("water is released", "the voltage is increased"), alternating with the active where the agent matters ("the turbine drives the generator").
- Controls complex sentences that link stages: "As the water descends, it gains pressure, which…"; "Once the voltage has been raised, the electricity is carried…".
- Handles articles and prepositions for technical nouns correctly ("through the penstock", "across the grid", "at a substation"); most sentences are error-free.
Task Response
- Takes a clear position on the comparative claim — that education and social programmes are more effective than policing and prisons — and states it explicitly in the introduction and conclusion.
- Engages with the word "most effective": a strong answer distinguishes between preventing crime in the long term and responding to it in the short term, rather than treating the two sides as simply good versus bad.
- Develops the argument with specific, plausible examples (e.g. early-years programmes, youth employment schemes, reoffending rates, community policing) instead of vague assertions that "education makes people better".
- If the position is partial ("largely agree"), the essay says precisely where the limit lies — for instance, that violent or organised crime still requires enforcement — and that qualification is consistent from start to finish.
Coherence & Cohesion
- A clear four- or five-paragraph structure in which each body paragraph advances one controlling idea (e.g. prevention versus deterrence; cost-effectiveness; the role of prisons in reoffending) signposted by a topic sentence.
- The argument progresses toward the thesis rather than presenting a balanced list of points and then announcing a view at the end.
- Cohesion is achieved through referencing and logical sequencing, not a linker at the start of every sentence ("Firstly… Secondly… Moreover… Furthermore…").
Lexical Resource
- Uses precise, topic-appropriate vocabulary: deterrence, rehabilitation, recidivism/reoffending, root causes, social deprivation, early intervention, enforcement, incarceration.
- Paraphrases the prompt instead of copying it ("invest in education and social programmes" → "direct public money toward schooling and community support").
- Uses collocations naturally ("tackle the root causes", "a revolving door", "act as a deterrent") without inserting rare vocabulary for its own sake.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
- A mix of complex structures under control: conditionals ("If funding were redirected…"), concession ("Although prisons remove dangerous offenders…"), and cleft or emphatic structures to assert the thesis.
- Accurate hedging with modals and adverbs ("is likely to", "can only partly", "arguably") so claims about causation are measured rather than absolute.
- Punctuation supports complex sentences — no comma splices or fragments — and errors are rare and never impede meaning.
Common traps for this specific test
The mistakes most likely to cost marks on these two questions.
The final stage notes that the used water leaves the powerhouse and rejoins the river downstream. Most candidates stop at the generator or the homes and never mention this, which leaves the process incomplete and costs Task Achievement marks.
The voltage is stepped up at the power station for transmission and stepped down at the substation for homes. Writing "a transformer changes the voltage" once, without saying which way, misreports the diagram.
A process still needs an overview: how many stages there are, where it starts and ends, and that it is linear rather than cyclic. Launching straight into "First, a dam…" loses the mark for this feature.
A process diagram describes what happens in general, so it needs the present simple — mostly passive ("water is released"). Past tense ("the water was released") or instructions ("you open the gate") are grammatical range errors.
Explaining that hydropower is renewable, comparing it with coal, or describing fish ladders is irrelevant. Task 1 rewards accurate reporting of what is shown, not background knowledge.
The statement is comparative: education and social programmes are more effective than policing and prisons. Arguing merely that "education is important" does not answer it; the essay must say whether it is more effective than enforcement, and why.
"Both are important" with no stated extent of agreement is not a position. An agree/disagree essay needs a clear view — fully or partly agreeing — announced in the introduction and sustained to the conclusion.
Asserting that "better schools would end crime" with no mechanism or example reads as opinion without argument. Explain how — reduced youth unemployment, lower reoffending after education in prison — and the Task Response score rises accordingly.