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SUFAS Practice Centre

Writing Practice

Choose Task 1, or follow a clear path from paragraph skills to complete essays.

Prepare for Writing

Start here, then choose a practice below. Open each section for focused advice.

Skills to develop
  • Analyse the task, select relevant ideas and organise them into clear paragraphs.
  • Develop points with explanation and relevant examples; use accurate grammar and vocabulary.
  • For Academic Task 1, identify key features, trends or stages and make accurate comparisons.
  • Review your work for clarity, task coverage and language errors.
A practical approach
  • Plan briefly before writing. Allow roughly 20 minutes for Task 1 and 40 minutes for Task 2; Task 2 contributes twice as much to the Writing score.
  • Write at least 150 words for Task 1 and 250 for Task 2. Leave time to check your work.
  • Writing is assessed on task achievement or response, coherence and cohesion, lexical resource, and grammatical range and accuracy.
Task and question types: how to tackle them
  • Academic Task 1 graphs, charts and tables: introduce the visual, provide an overview of main features, then select and compare important figures.
  • Maps and processes: summarise the main changes or stages, then describe them in a clear sequence.
  • General Training Task 1 letters: address all bullet points, choose the appropriate tone and use a suitable opening and closing.
  • Task 2 opinion, discussion, advantages/disadvantages, problem/solution and two-part questions: identify every requirement, give your position when asked, and develop relevant answers with reasons and examples.
Common mistakes that lower the score
  • Leaving out an overview in Academic Task 1 or failing to address a required part of either task.
  • Listing every figure without selecting key features, or adding unsupported explanations to a visual report.
  • Using memorised or off-topic material, unclear paragraphs, repeated ideas or examples that do not support the point.
  • Overusing linking phrases or sophisticated words inaccurately; leaving no time to check grammar and spelling.

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Task 1: Visual reportsTask 2: Essay learning pathExtra practice

Task 1 · Academic reports

Describe visual information

Task 2 · Essay learning path

Follow the six steps in order
  1. Start hereUnderstand Writing Task 2Learn the task, essay structure and what each sentence contributes.
  2. Workshop · 10 writing tasksWrite a focused topic sentenceTurn a question into a clear body-paragraph claim.
  3. Workshop · 10 writing tasksDevelop support and examplesExplain your claim and add an example that directly supports it.
  4. Workshop · 10 writing tasksWrite a clear thesis statementAnswer the essay question and state your position.
  5. Workshop · 10 writing tasksWrite introductions and conclusionsBring your position and main ideas together in an opening and ending.
  6. Practice bank · 20 essaysPractise complete essaysPlan your response before revealing the model essay and rationale.
Extra lessons and quick checks 3 resources

Use these to review a skill or revisit a classroom lesson.