The 212-Word Proposal: Content Versus Register
Your C1 candidate submits a Part 2 proposal to the college principal. The task requires: state the current problem, outline a proposal for peer mentoring, explain expected benefits. Word limit: 220–260. The draft is 212 words. It opens with a clear problem statement (first-year dropout rose from 8% to 14% in two years) and ends with two plausible benefits. The proposal itself is one sentence: 'We should set up a peer mentoring scheme.' Register slips include 'we’ll', 'don’t', 'kids', and the closing line 'Why not give it a go?'. There are no grammar errors that impede meaning. In your centre’s mock marking, content is 4/5, organisation 4/5, language 3/5. The candidate has one 45-minute lesson before the exam and asks whether to memorise a longer template.
1. Rank the three weaknesses (under-length, register, underdeveloped proposal) by impact on the C1 mark, and justify the ranking.
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Ranking by impact: 1) underdeveloped proposal, 2) register, 3) under-length.
- Task fulfilment is the first thing that caps a C1 score. The proposal is the core communicative purpose; one sentence cannot demonstrate the ability to outline, justify and anticipate objections. Content 4/5 is generous.
- Register is a language feature but also audience awareness. Contractions and 'kids' in a proposal to a principal are not just informal; they misread the relationship. This is a C1 criterion, not cosmetic.
- 212 words is only 8 words short of 220. Many raters treat a minor shortfall as neutral if the task is fully covered; here the shortfall is a symptom of the thin proposal, not an independent problem.
Spending the lesson on length would treat the symptom.
2. Rewrite the proposal sentence and the closing line for register without adding more than 12 words total.
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Original: 'We should set up a peer mentoring scheme.' Rewrite: 'I propose that the college establish a peer-mentoring scheme for first-year students.' (+4 words)
Original: 'Why not give it a go?' Rewrite: 'I would welcome the opportunity to discuss this proposal.' (+3 words)
Both rewrites remove the contraction, the rhetorical question and the vague 'go'. The remaining register slip, 'kids', becomes 'students' in the body at no net cost if the candidate replaces rather than adds. Total added: 7 words. The key move is not inflation but nominalisation and a formal addressee relationship.
3. What would you tell the candidate about memorised templates? Give a three-point rationale.
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Tell them not to memorise a longer template. Three reasons:
- The 212-word draft is not failing because it is short; it is failing because the proposal section is thin. A template would add generic sentences, not justification, and raters recognise padding.
- C1 tasks reward audience calibration. A template cannot adapt to 'the principal' versus 'the student newspaper'; the register slips are precisely an adaptation failure.
- Templates raise the risk of memorised chunks that do not answer the prompt - a task-fulfilment penalty.
Better use of 45 minutes: write one 40-word proposal paragraph with a because-clause and one expected objection, then edit for register.