Task Response: Band 6 vs Band 7, Same Question, Side by Side
Task Response is the criterion candidates lose most marks on and understand least well, because it has nothing to do with your English. You can write beautiful sentences and still score 6 here.
The fastest way to see the difference is to read two answers to the same question where only Task Response changes. In the examples below, the grammar and vocabulary are deliberately kept at a similar level. What differs is coverage, position and development.
Some people think that private cars should be banned from city centres during working hours, leaving the streets to buses, bicycles and pedestrians. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
The Band 6 version
Traffic in city centres is a serious problem in many countries today. In my opinion, there are both good and bad sides to banning cars.
Firstly, cars cause a lot of pollution. Air quality in big cities is getting worse and this is dangerous for people's health, especially children and old people. Pollution is a major problem in modern cities.
Secondly, city centres are very crowded. There are too many vehicles and not enough space. Pedestrians do not feel safe when there is heavy traffic everywhere, and cyclists also face many dangers on busy roads.
On the other hand, some people need their cars. Disabled people cannot always use public transport, and shop owners need vehicles for deliveries. Public transport in some cities is not good enough.
In conclusion, banning cars has advantages and disadvantages. Governments should think carefully before making this decision.
What a reader sees here: everything is relevant and readable. Nothing is wrong. And yet three things cap it at Band 6.
Problem 1 — the position is never actually stated
The question asks to what extent do you agree or disagree. The introduction says "there are both good and bad sides," the conclusion says "advantages and disadvantages," and at no point does the writer say what they think. Band 7 requires a clear position throughout. Presenting balance is not a position — you can partly agree, but you must say so.
Problem 2 — ideas are stated, then repeated
Look at paragraph two. Sentence one: cars cause pollution. Sentence two: air quality is worsening and this harms health. Sentence three: pollution is a major problem in modern cities — which restates sentence one in new words. The paragraph has one idea and three sentences, none of which develops the idea further.
Problem 3 — the essay answers a different question
This is the subtle one. The prompt asks about a ban on cars in city centres during working hours. The essay discusses pollution and crowding in cities generally. Nothing addresses the specific proposal: what happens during working hours, whether buses and bicycles could absorb the demand, whether a ban is the right instrument. The essay orbits the topic without landing on the question.
The Band 7 version
Many city authorities are now considering whether private vehicles should be excluded from central districts during the working day. I largely agree with this proposal, although I believe it can only succeed where alternative transport is already reliable.
The strongest argument for a daytime ban is that it targets exactly the traffic a city can most easily do without. Most cars entering a centre between nine and five carry a single commuter to an office they could reach by bus or train, and these are precisely the journeys that fill the roads while contributing least to the life of the area. Removing them would free road space for the buses that carry forty passengers rather than one, which in turn makes public transport faster and more attractive — a cycle that reinforces itself. Cities that have pedestrianised their central streets have generally found that footfall in shops rises rather than falls, because people who walk stay longer than people who are looking for a parking space.
There is, however, a serious objection that any ban must answer. Some groups genuinely cannot switch: people with limited mobility, tradespeople carrying equipment, and businesses receiving deliveries. A blanket prohibition would push the cost of the policy onto exactly the people least able to absorb it. This is an argument for designing exemptions carefully — permits for accessible vehicles, restricted delivery windows early in the morning — rather than an argument against the principle of a ban.
In conclusion, I support banning private cars from city centres during working hours, provided that public transport can carry the displaced journeys and that clearly defined exemptions protect those with no alternative. The policy removes the least necessary traffic while leaving the essential kind untouched.
What changed
Same topic. Similar sentence-level English. Three differences in Task Response:
Five rows, one criterion
Only the last row is a count. The other four are about what the writing does with what it covers.
That last row surprises people. The Band 7 essay covers fewer points. Task Response rewards ideas that are extended and supported, not ideas that are numerous. Four listed reasons look thorough to the writer and read as underdeveloped to the examiner.
The three questions to ask your own essay
Before you write, and again after:
What exactly is being proposed? Write the proposal in your own words, with all its conditions — ban, private cars, city centres, working hours. If your body paragraphs don't mention those conditions, you're writing about the topic, not the question.
Can I state my position in one sentence? If it needs "on the one hand… on the other," it's not a position yet. Partly agreeing is fine; being undecided is not.
Does every idea survive three sentences? Claim, mechanism, evidence. If an idea dies after one sentence, either develop it or cut it and give the space to one that lives.
The two essays above were written to illustrate the features described in the public band descriptors. They have not been scored by an official examiner, and are shown to demonstrate the difference between levels rather than to predict a score.
Seeing this difference in someone else's essay is straightforward. Seeing it in your own — where you know what you meant, so it always reads as clear and developed — is the hard part.
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