Model Task 2 essays are everywhere. Almost none of them open the official band descriptors next to the essay and read one against the other. This page does exactly that — one full opinion essay, then all four criteria by name, in the May-2023 wording, pointed at the essay's own lines.
The failure
The mistake is treating a sample as a shape to copy rather than as evidence of what the criteria reward. An essay is marked on four named scales, not on its skeleton, and the descriptors' own header warns how strictly:
"A script must fully fit the positive features of the descriptor at a particular level."
The task, officially
Per ielts.org's Academic Writing format page: "In Task 2, you are given a point of view, argument or problem which you need to discuss," and "You need to write at least 250 words in about 40 minutes." The same page states "Task 2 contributes twice as much as Task 1 to the Writing score." The scoring page adds, of the four criteria below: "The criteria are weighted equally and the score on the task is the average."
The prompt
Original AlmiPrep practice prompt — not a past exam question:
Some people believe that cities should charge private cars a daily fee to enter the city centre. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
The essay (about 280 words)
Grayfield is fictional — a named, concrete example beats "many cities around the world".
Charging drivers to enter a city centre sounds like a tax on ordinary life, and when Grayfield proposed a £6 daily fee, the reaction was predictably hostile: the local paper called it a toll on going to work. I nevertheless agree with such charges — on one strict condition: the money must visibly return to the streets it clears.
The strongest argument is simple arithmetic. A bus carrying forty passengers occupies roughly the road space of three cars, which typically carry four people between them. When Grayfield's two bridges jam each morning, it is not commerce that suffers first but the services everyone depends on — the 07:40 hospital transfer, the school bus that now leaves twenty minutes early just to arrive on time. A charge that removes even a fifth of private cars — Grayfield's planners predict a quarter — hands that road space back to the vehicles using it efficiently.
The common objection is fairness: £6 is trivial for a lawyer and painful for a care worker on a dawn shift. This is true, but it is an argument about a scheme's design, not its principle. Grayfield's version exempts night-shift workers, carers and disabled drivers, and every pound collected goes towards doubling bus frequency on the six worst routes — so the care worker who once drove because the 05:30 bus did not exist now has one that does, and it costs her less than the fee she no longer pays.
In short, I support entry charges for cars, but only as half of a bargain. A fee that merely punishes driving deserves its unpopularity; a fee that buys the alternative it demands is, in my view, the fairest tool a crowded city has.
Task Response
The current Band 7 line reads:
"The main parts of the prompt are appropriately addressed. A clear and developed position is presented."
Note the current wording — "the main parts of the prompt", not the pre-2023 "all parts of the task". The prompt asks to what extent you agree. "I nevertheless agree with such charges — on one strict condition" builds the extent into the position, and the final paragraph restates it, not a new one. Band 6, by contrast, warns that "the conclusions drawn may be unclear, unjustified or repetitive".
Coherence and Cohesion
Band 7:
"A range of cohesive devices including reference and substitution is used flexibly but with some inaccuracies or some over/under use."
The descriptors name reference and substitution — not "linking words". "This is true, but…" refers back to the whole fairness objection, and "now has one that does" substitutes for "a 05:30 bus". Neither is a bolt-on "Moreover". Each paragraph also does one job — position, argument, objection answered, bargain restated — the "clear progression throughout the response" the same descriptor asks for.
Lexical Resource
The May-2023 PDF is most quotable here at the low end — Band 4 names what drags a script down:
"There may be inappropriate use of lexical chunks (e.g. memorised phrases…)"
Read the essay against that: "a tax on ordinary life", "an argument about a scheme's design, not its principle", "half of a bargain" are choices made for this prompt — none could move to an essay about school uniforms. The test for your own drafts: if a phrase would survive a change of topic, it is doing no lexical work.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Band 7:
"A variety of complex structures is used with some flexibility and accuracy. Grammar and punctuation are generally well controlled, and error-free sentences are frequent."
"Variety" is the operative word. The essay mixes a cleft ("it is not commerce that suffers first but…"), a relative clause carrying real content ("the care worker who once drove because the 05:30 bus did not exist"), and short simple sentences where force is wanted ("This is true"). Punctuation is in the criterion by name — the dashes and colons are assessed too.
The sentences that only work here
This essay is deliberately unreusable. "When Grayfield's two bridges jam each morning" only exists for this prompt — so do the £6 fee, the 07:40 hospital transfer, the care worker's 05:30 bus, and "a fee that buys the alternative it demands". Strip those out and no essay remains, which is the point. The descriptors make memorisation an official failure condition — Band 0:
"Should only be used where a candidate did not attend or attempt the question in any way, used a language other than English throughout, or where there is proof that a candidate's answer has been totally memorised."
Why no band
No band is claimed here — deliberately. A band comes from a trained examiner checking that a script "must fully fit the positive features of the descriptor at a particular level" across all four scales — and there is no examiner in the room. A band a webpage sticks on its own sample is marketing, not marking.
What actually costs you
- Under 250 words — you "will be penalised if your answer is too short".
- Going off topic — "You will be penalised if what you write does not relate to the topic."
- Notes or bullet points — penalised if the answer "is not written as a whole piece of connected text".
- Memorised openings and linkers — see Band 0 above. Generic examples fit this prompt badly.
Try one
[Write a marked Task 2 →] — one full task, marked, no card required.