Part 2 review: genre drift into report
A CPE candidate chooses the Part 2 option: write a review of a newly opened co-working space for a local business magazine. The task says the review should be 280-320 words and should help readers decide whether to use the space. The candidate's draft opens This report aims to evaluate the facilities and contains three headed sections: Facilities, Pricing, Conclusion. It is 390 words, includes a bullet list of ten amenities, and evaluates almost nothing beyond good and bad. The candidate has previously written reports for a different exam and believes headings make the writing clearer. The teacher must decide whether the genre choice is the main problem or whether the length and evaluation are, and must give feedback that improves the draft without rewriting it.
1. Diagnose the draft against the genre requirements of a review. Which problem would you address first, and why?
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Genre is the first problem, because it determines what the other choices should be. A review for a magazine must evaluate an experience for a readership, with a clear judgement and a voice; a report presents findings impersonally, often with headings and recommendations. The opening This report aims signals the wrong genre, and the headed sections reinforce it. Length and weak evaluation are symptoms: once the candidate commits to a review, the bullet list of ten amenities becomes evidence to select from, not to inventory, and the 390-word draft can be cut by deleting items that do not support a judgement. Address genre first, then selection, then length. If you fix only length, the candidate will produce a shorter report.
2. Give a concrete opening and a principle for cutting 390 words to 300 without losing content.
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Opening: The new co-working space on Mill Street gets the coffee and the Wi-Fi right, but its pricing model asks freelancers to subsidise empty meeting rooms. This establishes evaluative stance and audience. Principle: one judgement per section, two or three pieces of evidence, no inventory. Keep amenities that support the judgement, such as reliable Wi-Fi for solo work and expensive meeting-room credits for small teams; cut the other eight. Convert bullets to prose because the review needs connected evaluation. A workable cut is 50 words for the introduction, 90 for facilities, 90 for pricing and 70 for the verdict, giving 300. The verdict must tell the reader who should use the space and who should not, which is the task's decision-making purpose. Headings are optional but should be evaluative, not bureaucratic.