Task 1
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The graph below shows global sales of three types of passenger vehicle, in millions, between 2014 and 2023.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Petrol/diesel | 68 | 72 | 76 | 79 | 81 | 78 | 63 | 66 | 62 | 58 |
| Hybrid | 1.8 | 2.2 | 2.8 | 3.5 | 4.3 | 5.2 | 5.9 | 7.4 | 8.8 | 9.6 |
| Fully electric | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 1.9 | 2.1 | 3.1 | 6.6 | 10.4 | 14.2 |
Write at least 150 words.
Task 2
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Many people now get most of their news from short video clips on social media rather than from newspapers or television news bulletins.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of this?
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 with the two big stories: conventional vehicles rose to a peak in 2018 and then fell, while both alternative types grew throughout — with electric cars accelerating sharply after 2020 to overtake hybrids.
- Handles the scale difference honestly: petrol/diesel sales remained far larger in absolute terms (58 million in 2023 against 14.2 million electric), so the overview must not imply that electric cars "took over" the market.
- Selects the turning points rather than narrating ten years for three lines: the 2018 peak (81 million), the 2020 drop to 63 million, the 2021 partial recovery, and the 2022 crossover when electric (10.4m) passed hybrid (8.8m).
- Stays purely descriptive — no speculation about pandemics, subsidies or fuel prices.
Coherence & Cohesion
- Organises by trend, not by line: one paragraph on the rise-and-fall of petrol/diesel, one on the two growing categories and the moment they swap places.
- Uses referencing ("the former", "this category", "the two newer technologies") so the three vehicle types are not spelled out in every sentence.
- Linkers mark genuine contrasts and sequence ("by contrast", "thereafter", "from 2021 onwards") rather than decorating every sentence.
Lexical Resource
- Matches verb strength to the data: conventional sales climbed steadily, peaked and then slumped; hybrids grew consistently; electric sales surged / more than doubled between 2020 and 2021.
- Varies the language of quantity and crossover: sales, units sold, figure, volume; overtook, surpassed, drew level with, outsold.
- Uses "million" correctly as a unit ("14.2 million vehicles", not "14.2 millions") and keeps the register neutral and academic.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
- Controls comparative and multiplier structures: "roughly six times as many as in 2018", "nearly fifty times its 2014 level", "almost half as many again".
- Uses participle and time-clause constructions accurately: "Having peaked at 81 million in 2018, sales of petrol and diesel cars…"; "while hybrid sales continued to rise, …".
- Past simple is consistent for the dated period; decimals and units are punctuated correctly; the majority of sentences are error-free.
Task Response
- Presents both advantages and disadvantages with roughly equal weight — the question does not ask which outweighs the other, so an unbalanced essay or one that argues a thesis instead of examining both sides loses Task Response marks.
- Engages with the specific contrast in the prompt — short video clips versus newspapers and bulletins — rather than writing a generic social-media essay.
- Develops each point with a concrete illustration: e.g. a 60-second clip about an election that omits the policy detail; or live footage from a disaster that reaches people faster than any bulletin.
- A brief personal view is acceptable but not required; what matters is that every advantage and disadvantage named is explained, not simply listed.
Coherence & Cohesion
- A four-paragraph structure (introduction, advantages, disadvantages, conclusion) in which each body paragraph has a topic sentence and two or three developed points.
- Ideas inside each paragraph are sequenced logically — for example, speed and accessibility before engagement of younger audiences — with supporting sentences that clearly belong to the point above them.
- Cohesion through referencing and paraphrase ("this format", "such content", "traditional outlets") rather than a mechanical chain of "Firstly… Secondly… Moreover".
Lexical Resource
- Uses topic-specific vocabulary precisely: news literacy, editorial oversight, context, soundbite, algorithm, misinformation, attention span, fact-checking, bulletin.
- Paraphrases the prompt in the introduction instead of copying it ("get most of their news from short video clips" → "rely on brief social-media videos as their primary source of current affairs").
- Uses less common collocations naturally ("stripped of context", "a snapshot rather than the full picture", "hold outlets to account") without forcing rare words in.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
- A range of complex structures under control: concession ("Although a clip can convey the emotion of an event, it rarely…"), relative clauses, and cleft sentences for emphasis.
- Accurate hedging with modals where claims are generalisations ("viewers may never encounter", "is likely to").
- Punctuation supports longer sentences — no comma splices between the advantage and its explanation — 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.
Conventional vehicle sales rose for the first five years, from 68 to 81 million, before falling. An answer that describes only the decline misses half the trend and misreads the 2018 peak, which is the single most important feature of that line.
Electric cars overtook hybrids in 2022, not petrol and diesel cars. Even in 2023, conventional sales (58 million) were four times electric sales (14.2 million). Writing that electric vehicles "dominated the market" is factually wrong.
Petrol/diesel sales dropped from 78 to 63 million in 2020 and then recovered slightly to 66 million before resuming their decline. This is an exception within the overall fall and a Band 8 answer notes it instead of smoothing it into "a steady decrease".
Ten years and three lines give 30 figures. Reporting each one produces a long, mechanical answer with no selection. Choose the start and end values, the 2018 peak, and the 2022 crossover.
The temptation to mention the pandemic, fuel prices or government subsidies is strong, but Task 1 asks only for description and comparison. Reasons are irrelevant and cost words you need for figures.
This is an advantages-and-disadvantages question, not an agree-disagree one. An essay that argues "short videos are bad" for four paragraphs and mentions one advantage in passing has not answered the question set.
Points about cyber-bullying, screen addiction or privacy are about social media in general, not about getting the news from clips. Every point must connect to how people are informed about current events.
Four advantages and four disadvantages in single sentences each score lower than two of each that are fully explained with an example and a consequence. Depth, not breadth, earns Task Response marks.