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Assessment process
To decide the score for Task Response, the examiner considers how fully and appropriately the candidate has answered the essay question. In particular, the examiner considers: How clear and conclusive the candidates overall position is. For example, the essay question might ask the test taker to say whether the sale of cigarettes should be made illegal or not. The candidate might simply conclude the essay with the statement that there are advantages and disadvantages to making the sale of cigarettes illegal. A low score would be given for Task Response as the candidate has not given a clear conclusion as to whether cigarette sales should be prohibited. How well the candidate has developed and supported the ideas given in the essay. Candidates need to make sure they have enough ideas to support their overall position. Those ideas
Scoring losses
Lets consider now the scoring penalties an IELTS essay can get. Theres a range of penalties, and they depend on the type of error that is involved. Here are some penalties Ive selected from the public version of the essay-scoring scheme: Band 5 (for Task Response): the essay only partially addresses the task. For example, the question might ask the candidate to not only say whether cigarettes should be banned, but also suggest some other ways to reduce the problems caused by smoking. An essay would be penalised if it answers the first part of the question (i.e., should the sale of cigarettes be banned) but doesnt offer any other solutions. Band 5 (for Coherence and Cohesion): the essay doesnt use paragraphs, or paragraphing is inadequate.
This means that the answer isnt written in the style of an essay, with an introduction, two or three body paragraphs, and a closing paragraph. Band 4 (for Task Response): the answer is tangential. Here, the word tangential means of little relevance. This means that the answer presents an argument thats only slightly related to the essay question. As an example, a candidate might start writing about the problems caused by smoking cigarettes, but then go on to write about the problems caused by alcohol and illegal drugs. Band 3 (for Task Response): the essay has few ideas, or the ideas are largely undeveloped or irrelevant. To illustrate, the answer might give very few, or very weak, reasons for banning cigarettes, such as it will reduce air pollution in cities. (Urban air pollution is caused by the emissions from vehicles and factories, but not cigarette smoking.) Band 1 (for Task Response): the answer is totally unrelated to the essay question. This score might be given if the candidate writes about the need to increase the salaries of doctors and nurses at government hospitals, rather than about the banning of cigarettes.
Other factors
Other factors can affect the final score. For example: Candidates are assessed on how well their ideas are organised as well as the accuracy of the language (i.e., their grammar and vocabulary) they use. Candidates are expected to write at least 250 words, and shorter answers are penalised. Although essays arent penalised if theyre longer, candidates who write a very long answer may not have enough time left to check their writing. As well, because they need to write faster, they may make careless errors, or some ideas may not be relevant to the question. Test takers should not copy phrasing given in the question paper as copied phrasing is not assessed. Candidates should paraphrase the question paper wording to avoid a penalty for being underlength. Clearly, to achieve a good score, test takers need to understand the scoring scheme. Thats why I encourage test takers to do IELTS preparation courses before taking the exam. Courses run by teachers who are experts in the IELTS exam are obviously the best choice. Visit http://tinyurl.com/4uddkz to see the public version of the essay scoring scheme.
David Park designs & teaches IELTS courses for individuals & groups. He was contracted by the British Council to provide this article. IELTS is owned by the British Council (known in China as the Cultural and Education Section of the British Embassy/Consulates-General), Cambridge ESOL & IDP: IELTS Australia. To register for IELTS in China, contact http://IELTS.etest.net.cn/