Opinion — Agree or Disagree

Sitting on the fenceTask Response capped at 5–6

Writing "there are advantages and disadvantages" and never deciding turns an opinion essay into a discussion essay. The examiner is instructed to mark down a response that does not present a clear position throughout.

Fix: Decide before you write. State the position in the introduction in your own words, then open each body paragraph with a reason that serves that position.

Switching sides in body 2Task Response and Coherence both drop

Many candidates argue their view in body 1 and then argue the opposite in body 2 out of habit. The position is no longer "clear throughout" and the essay reads as two unrelated halves.

Fix: If you want to acknowledge the other side, do it in ONE concession clause inside your own argument — "Although critics argue X, …" — then return to your view immediately.

Partial agreement with no boundaryTask Response 6

Partial agreement is a legitimate Band 8 position, but only if you define exactly where you agree and where you do not. "I partly agree" without a boundary reads as indecision.

Fix: Name the boundary: "This is true of primary education, but not of universities, where …" Then give each side of the boundary one body paragraph.

Reasons that are really the same reasonTask Response 6 · Coherence 6

Two paragraphs about "it saves money" and "it is cheaper" give the essay one idea, not two. Development is judged on distinct, extended ideas.

Fix: Test your two reasons: could one exist without the other? Pick reasons from different domains — economic, social, environmental, personal.

Memorised openersLexical Resource capped at 6

"Nowadays, in this modern era, it is a controversial issue that…" is recognised as learned language and is discounted — it contributes nothing to your word count or your band.

Fix: Open by paraphrasing the actual question. Change the nouns and the grammar, keep the meaning.

Only simple sentences, accurately writtenGrammatical Range & Accuracy capped at 6

Range is assessed alongside accuracy, so an essay with no errors and no subordination cannot reach Band 7 on this criterion. It is the most demoralising cap in the paper because the writing looks clean — and it is invisible to a learner who only ever checks for mistakes.

Fix: Put one complex structure in every paragraph deliberately: a cause clause in body 1, a concessive in body 2, a relative clause somewhere in each. Range is a choice you make before you write, not something you notice afterwards.

Comma splices joining full sentencesGrammatical Range & Accuracy 6.5

Two independent clauses joined by a comma — "fees are high, students cannot afford them" — is the commonest punctuation error in Task 2, and because it usually happens at exactly the point an idea is being developed, it recurs throughout the essay rather than once.

Fix: Join with a conjunction, a semicolon or a full stop — or, better, subordinate one clause, which fixes the punctuation and adds range in the same edit.

Ambitious words used inaccuratelyLexical Resource capped at 6.5

The descriptors are explicit that an ambitious word used wrongly scores lower than a simple word used correctly. "Detrimental impact for the society", "make a benefit", "in the nutshell" all signal vocabulary learned as a list rather than in use, and they cost more than the plain words they replaced would have.

Fix: Use a word only if you know the grammar that goes with it: what preposition it takes, what part of speech it is, what it collocates with. If you are unsure, the precise simple word wins.

Collocation errors inside good sentencesLexical Resource capped at 7

This is the clearest single thing separating Band 7 from Band 8, and it is almost never drilled. "Make a research", "do a mistake", "solve an issue", "a big impact for society" are all grammatically correct and all wrong, and because they appear inside otherwise ambitious sentences they tell the examiner the vocabulary was learned from a list rather than from use. The descriptors put precision and natural word partnership at the top of this criterion — not rarity.

Fix: Learn words in partnerships, never alone. The make/do split covers most of it: MAKE an effort, a mistake, progress, a decision; DO research, work, damage. Then the Task 2 core: conduct research, implement a policy, address an issue, play a role in, pose a threat to, have an impact ON.

Memorised phrases and mechanical linkersLexical Resource 6 · Coherence 6

"Nowadays, in this modern era, it is a controversial topic" and a stack of "Firstly / Moreover / Furthermore / Last but not least" are both flagged by examiners as memorised. They cost twice: Lexical Resource for the phrasing, Coherence for cohesion used mechanically rather than meaningfully.

Fix: Delete every opener that would fit any essay on any topic, and replace stacked connectors with reference cohesion — "this pressure", "such a system", "that assumption".

Articles and agreement, everywhere and alwaysGrammatical Range & Accuracy 6.5

Article and subject–verb agreement errors are individually trivial and collectively decisive. Appearing in almost every paragraph, they read as a systematic failure of control rather than as slips, and that is the difference between a 7 and a 6.5 on this criterion.

Fix: Learn the three rules that cover most cases: generic plurals take no article; a singular countable always takes one; the verb agrees with the head of the subject, not the nearest noun. Then spend your last two minutes checking only for these.

Can I partly agree in an agree/disagree essay?

Yes, and it can score Band 9 — but only if you define the boundary precisely. Say what you agree with, what you do not, and give each side its own body paragraph. "I partly agree" with no boundary reads as having no position and is marked as such.

Should I discuss the opposing view at all?

Only briefly, and only inside your own argument. One concession clause ("Although critics argue…") followed by a rebuttal shows maturity. A full paragraph arguing the other side turns your opinion essay into a discussion essay and caps Task Response.

How many words should an agree/disagree essay be?

Aim for 260–290. The minimum is 250 and going under it is penalised, but very long essays are usually padded and lose accuracy. A tight 270-word essay outscores a rambling 350-word one.

Do I need real facts and statistics?

No. Examiners do not verify your examples, and invented statistics look weaker than reasoned consequences. A specific, plausible situation explained properly is what earns the mark.