Task 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The diagram below shows how used plastic bottles are collected and processed into fibre that is used to make clothing.
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.
In many countries, more people than ever before are moving from rural areas to live in cities.
What are the main reasons for this? Is it better for governments to support this movement or to invest in rural areas instead?
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 how many stages there are, where the process begins and ends (collected bottles → finished clothing), and that it is linear rather than cyclical — before any stage is described.
- Covers every stage in the correct order without omitting any, while giving more space to the transformations that matter (flake → molten plastic → strand → yarn) than to storage or transport.
- Includes the detail the diagram supplies (optical sorting of clear from coloured PET; caps removed by flotation; melting at around 270 °C) rather than a generic summary of "recycling".
- Stays purely descriptive: no opinions about whether recycled polyester is environmentally sound, and no invented steps.
Coherence & Cohesion
- Organises the nine stages into two or three logical groups — typically preparation (collection to washing), conversion (melting to spinning), and end use — rather than one sentence per stage with no paragraphing.
- Uses sequencing language with variety ("once", "after which", "at the next stage", "the resulting flakes") instead of "Then… Then… Then…".
- Referencing tracks the material as it changes form: bottles → bales → flakes → molten plastic → strands → yarn → fabric, so the reader always knows what "it" refers to.
Lexical Resource
- Uses the precise nouns and verbs the process demands: sorted, baled, shredded into flakes, extruded through a plate, crimped, spun into yarn, woven or knitted.
- Paraphrases the diagram's labels where natural ("collected" → "gathered"; "cut" → "shredded") but keeps technical terms such as PET and polyester, which have no good synonym.
- Keeps register neutral and academic; avoids informal or vague wording such as "the plastic stuff gets melted down".
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
- Controls the present simple passive throughout ("the bottles are crushed into bales", "the strands are stretched and crimped") and switches to the active only where an agent is named.
- Uses participle and relative clauses to compress steps ("Having been washed and dried, the flakes are heated…"; "a plate pierced with many tiny holes, through which…").
- Punctuation supports longer sentences — commas around subordinate clauses, no run-ons — and errors are rare and never impede meaning.
Task Response
- Answers both questions fully and in proportion — at least one developed paragraph on reasons and at least one on which policy is better — rather than giving the second question a single sentence.
- Gives a clear answer to the second question (support the movement, invest in rural areas, or a reasoned combination with priorities stated) and sustains it; "both are important" without a judgement is not a position.
- Develops reasons with specific, relevant illustration (e.g. the gap between farm and factory wages; secondary schools and hospitals being located only in towns; mechanisation reducing farm jobs) instead of vague references to "better opportunities".
- Engages with the policy trade-off: money spent on rural clinics is money not spent on urban housing, and a Band 8+ answer acknowledges this rather than pretending both can be fully funded.
Coherence & Cohesion
- A clear four- or five-paragraph structure in which the reader can see exactly where question one ends and question two begins.
- Ideas progress: the reasons identified in the first half are used to justify the policy recommendation in the second (if people leave for services, invest in rural services).
- 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: urbanisation, migration, push and pull factors, infrastructure, livelihoods, agricultural mechanisation, informal settlements, depopulation, regional development.
- Paraphrases the prompt in the introduction instead of copying it ("moving from rural areas to live in cities" → "leaving the countryside for urban centres").
- Uses less common collocations naturally ("a vicious circle", "strain on services", "stem the flow") without forcing in rare words for their own sake.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
- A mix of complex structures under control: cause-and-effect constructions ("Because mechanisation has cut the number of farm jobs, …"), conditionals ("If governments were to channel funds into…"), and relative clauses.
- Accurate use of modals for recommendation and prediction ("should", "would", "is likely to"), with the present perfect handled correctly for recent trends ("has accelerated").
- Punctuation supports complex sentences — commas around subordinate clauses, no comma splices — 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.
Candidates often assume only graphs need an overview. A process report still needs one: how many stages, what goes in, what comes out, and whether it is linear or cyclical. Omitting it caps Task Achievement at Band 5.
The bottles become bales, then flakes, then molten plastic, then strands, then yarn, then fabric. Calling everything "the bottles" or "the plastic" from start to finish is inaccurate and makes referencing unclear.
The separation of clear from coloured PET and the removal of caps by flotation are the specific features that show you have read the diagram. A generic "the bottles are cleaned" misses them.
"Workers then melt the plastic" adds an agent the diagram does not show. The present simple passive ("the flakes are melted") is the natural choice for almost every stage.
Adding that recycled polyester is good for the planet, or that microfibres pollute the sea, is opinion and is irrelevant to Task 1. Describe the process only.
Two-part questions are marked on both parts. Three paragraphs on why people migrate and one line saying "governments should help" leaves the second question undeveloped and caps Task Response at Band 6.
The second question asks which is better. You may argue for a combination, but you must say which should take priority and why. Refusing to choose is not a position.
Question one asks for reasons. Paragraphs about overcrowded cities, slums and traffic describe consequences; they only belong in the essay if used to support the policy argument in part two.