Templates
The shape of a good answer for the four tasks where you compose one: what to say first, what the middle carries, how to close.
Write Essay
20 minutes · 200–300 words. Seven traits: content, form, development and coherence, grammar, general linguistic range, vocabulary range, spelling.
- Open with your position. Two or three sentences: the question in your own words, your answer to it in one clear sentence, then the two reasons you will give, in the order you will give them.
- First reason. Four or five sentences: a topic sentence that names the reason, two that explain it, one concrete example, and one that ties it back to your position.
- Second reason, or the other side. The same shape. If the question asks you to discuss both views, this is where the view you do not hold goes — and why it carries less weight.
- Close. Two sentences: your position again in different words, and what follows from it. No new reasons here.
What the marks reward
- Answer the question that was set. Content is marked on that alone, and an essay that does not address the prompt scores nothing else.
- Stay inside 200–300 words. Between 120 and 199 or 301 and 380 words costs form marks; outside that, the essay scores 0.
- Show the logic with connectives — however, because, as a result, for example — and vary your sentence length. Development and grammar are marked on exactly that.
- Choose the precise word over the long one. Vocabulary range rewards words used correctly, not rare words.
- Leave two minutes to read it back. Spelling is its own trait and it is marked in context, so a real word in the wrong place counts too.
The lessons behind it: Fluency & Coherence: linking ideas and paragraph flow · Grammar Essentials: sentence structure, tense & agreement · Vocabulary Range: precise word choice & collocations
Describe Image
25 seconds to study the image · 40 seconds to speak. Three traits: content, oral fluency, pronunciation.
- Say what it is. One sentence: the kind of image, its subject and what it measures. “This bar chart compares the number of visitors to four museums between 2010 and 2020.”
- The highest and the lowest. One sentence each, naming the category and its value. The highest first, then the lowest.
- The trend, or the odd one out. One sentence: what rises, falls or stays flat — or the one category that breaks the pattern.
- Close on the point. One sentence beginning “Overall”, giving the one thing the image shows.
What the marks reward
- Name the points. Content is marked as a checklist of what the image shows — the highest, the lowest, the trend — so each one you say aloud is a mark, and one you only imply is not.
- Keep moving. Oral fluency is measured from your pauses and false starts: a pause to find a word costs more than a plain word, and going back to correct yourself counts as a false start.
- Use the 25 seconds to choose your four sentences, not to read every label.
- Delivery is what you keep of your content: a fluent answer that says nothing scores below a hesitant one that covers the points.
The lessons behind it: Oral Fluency: pace, pausing and not going back · Vocabulary Range: precise word choice & collocations · Pronunciation: making every sound count
Retell Lecture
The lecture plays once · 10 seconds to think · 40 seconds to speak. Three traits: content, oral fluency, pronunciation.
- While it plays, write the spine. The topic, then three or four content words for each point in the order you hear them — names, numbers, causes, results. Not sentences: you get ten seconds to think, not to write.
- Open with the topic. One sentence: “The lecture was about …”
- Retell the points in the speaker's order. One sentence each: “First, the speaker explained … Then … Finally …” Use the speaker's own key terms — the marks come from the points you carry, not from rephrasing them.
- Close with the speaker's conclusion. The point they stressed most, or what they said follows from the rest.
What the marks reward
- Carry the points. Content is a checklist against the lecture's key points, and your retelling is marked on which of them it contains.
- The speaker's order is for you, not the marker: telling it in that order means you never search for what comes next, and searching is what pauses are made of.
- If you missed a point, do not say so — go to the next one. An apology is words that carry no content.
- As in Describe Image, delivery is what you keep of your content, so a covered point said plainly beats a polished sentence about nothing.
The lessons behind it: Oral Fluency: pace, pausing and not going back · Listening: catching every word in Write from Dictation · Pronunciation: making every sound count
Summarize Spoken Text
The lecture plays once · 10 minutes · 50–70 words. Five traits: content, form, grammar, vocabulary, spelling.
- While it plays, note the spine. The topic, then three or four content words for each point in the order you hear them. You write the summary afterwards; the notes only have to hold the points.
- Sentence one: the topic and the main claim. “The speaker argued that …” — the lecture's subject and the one thing it claimed.
- Sentences two and three: the supporting points. One point each, in the speaker's order, with the speaker's own key terms. If there were more than three, keep the ones the speaker spent longest on.
- Last sentence: the conclusion the speaker drew. Only if it is a point of its own. Then count the words.
What the marks reward
- 50–70 words is full form marks. 40–49 or 71–100 loses the form mark but is otherwise marked on its merits; fewer than 40 or more than 100 scores 0 for the whole summary, before anything else is read.
- Write full sentences in one paragraph. Grammar is a trait here, and a list of fragments gives it nothing to mark.
- Content is a checklist against the lecture's key points, marked from what you wrote: what you heard is measured by what you carried.
- Spelling is a trait, and it is marked in context, so a real word in the wrong place counts. Read it back before you submit.
Practise Summarize Spoken Text →
The lessons behind it: Listening: catching every word in Write from Dictation · Grammar Essentials: sentence structure, tense & agreement · Spelling Drills: commonly misspelled academic words · Vocabulary Range: precise word choice & collocations
There is no lesson for a task, because Win teaches skills, not tasks — the lessons above are the ones that move the marks each scaffold leans on. When one of your own skills drops below the line, Win assigns its lesson from your lessons page.