Cambridge IELTS 16 General Writing Practice Test 4

IELTS Cambridge Book 16 General Training Writing Practice Test 4 with Sample Answers and Free PDF Download.

IELTS 16 General Training Writing Practice Test 4, Task 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

Your friend has been offered a place on a course at the university where you studied. He/She would like your advice about finding a place to live.

Write an email to your friend. In your email

• describe where you lived when you were a student at the university
• recommend the best way for him/her to look for accommodation
• warn him/her of mistakes students make when choosing accommodation

Write at least 150 words.

You do NOT need to write any addresses.

Begin your email as follows:

Dear…………………,

Sample Writing Answer:

This is an answer written by a candidate who achieved a Band 5.0 score.

I am so glad to help you to look for accommodation where is near my university. When I was at the university, I had been lived in an apartment for 4 years, which is offered to students or others from my school. It only takes 5 minutes on foot to the main gate of school, and it just takes 10 minutes on foot to the bus stop or train station. There has very convinent transport around my apartment. By the way, if you search apartment online, you should go to double check the information at reception. Because they might not update the information on time. So I advise you go to see the teacher who is in charge of accommodation at first. It will be saving more your time and energy.

What’s more, when you are choosing accomdation, there are two suggestions for you:

First, please check the date that you are going to school. Is it any avilable accomadation for you at that date.

In addition, please make sure how long will you stay there. You are not able to get a refund even if you move out the accomadation earlier. So check how long is available you can stay.

At last, hopefully you can find a suitable accomodation soon and enjoy the life at university.

Friendly,

Examiner’s Comments:

This is an attempt to provide advice on finding a place to live. All bullet points are touched on but not clearly presented, especially the third bullet point; there is no indication that this is a typical mistake students make. The format is appropriate for a letter despite the use of [Friendly) as a closing. The response presents the bullet points in the same order as the question. There is some good use of cohesive devices [which | who], but most are quite basic [Because | So | In addition] and faulty cohesion results in some repetition [on foot | accommodation].

The range of vocabulary is just adequate for the task but there are errors in spelling, even with the same word [accomdation | accomadation | accomodation]. There are some attempts at complex sentence structures [even if], but there are frequent errors in the use of articles and tenses [had been lived | It will be saving more your timel, including the use of present tenses to talk about where they ‘studied’ in the past. These errors do cause some difficulty for the reader.

The Band Score could be improved if spelling and word choice were more accurate and if there was more accuracy in sentence structures.

IELTS 16 General Training Writing Practice Test 4, Task 2

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Some people say that now is the best time in history to be living.

What is your opinion about this?

What other time in history would be interesting to live in?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

Sample Writing Answer:

This is an answer written by a candidate who achieved a Band 7.0 score.

Personally agree with those who claim that the present days are the best period in the history of mankind to be living

Breakthroughs in science and advancements in technology have dramatically improved our standards of living, at least in the Western world, making life actually worth living. Advances in medical treatments and the invention of new drugs all have allowed us to live long and healthy lives. We no longer face the problems of food and water scarcity, thanks to new agricultural techniques that allow farmers to produce larger quantities of food. Everyone, no matter its race and religion, can receive a proper education and make a decent living out of a good job. We should not also undervalue things such as the freedom of speech, which has not always been guaranteed in the past.

However, if I had the chance to choose an other time in our history to live in, I would opt for ancient Rome. I think it would be interesting to try living in a society whose beliefs and values significantly differs from our. In today’s world, the most valuable personal “qualities” are selfishness and greed. We tend to put ourselves before other, whereas, in my opinion, things were different for the ancient civilizations, for wich the society as a whole came first

In the end, I think we could learn some very interesting lessons from our past, without having to sacrifice all our the efforts made to get where we are today.

Examiner’s Comments:

This is a well-developed response which presents a range of evidence to justify the opinion expressed, including improvements in science, technology, medical treatments, agriculture, education, employment opportunities and freedom of speech. There is also a clear rationale for the ‘other’ time in history that would be interesting to live in.

Ideas are arranged logically with one paragraph exploring each part of the question. However, we cannot say that paragraphing is used appropriately.

The first and last paragraphs have only one sentence, and it is not clear if the final sentence is a new paragraph. The overall score of this response would be improved with an appropriate introductory and concluding paragraph. Other aspects of cohesion are good [those who claim that | whose beliefs | to get where we are today] with some slips [its race / their race | our / ours].

The use of vocabulary is precise [Breakthroughs in science and advancements in technology | making life … worth living | freedom of speech | ancient civilizations) despite a few slips [an other / another | wich / which] and the range of grammatical structures is wide with frequent examples of error-free complex sentences. There are a few slips, e.g., third-person agreement [differs / differ] and plural ending (before other / before others], but overall there is good control.