Writing
Writing assesses how clearly and accurately you can express ideas in English. Placement tasks may ask for a short paragraph, an email, or a response to a prompt, and raters look at task completion, organization, sentence variety, grammar accuracy, vocabulary range, and mechanics. A simple, correct paragraph scores better than an ambitious one with broken sentences.
Build a clear paragraph
Start with a topic sentence that answers the prompt directly. Support it with two or three specific details or examples, then close with a sentence that draws the point together. Keep one main idea per paragraph; do not add a second unrelated argument halfway through.
Control sentence boundaries
A sentence needs a subject and a finite verb. Avoid comma splices (“The results were clear, they surprised us”) and fragments (“Because the sample was small.”). Join clauses with a conjunction, a semicolon, or a full stop. Use cohesive devices accurately: however signals contrast; therefore signals result; for example introduces an illustration.
Worked example
Draft: “The survey was conducted by researchers who they wanted to know whether students preferred online classes.” Reasoning: “Who they wanted” repeats the subject. The relative clause should be “who wanted to know.” Corrected: “The survey was conducted by researchers who wanted to know whether students preferred online classes.” If the focus is the researchers’ action, an active version is also possible: “Researchers conducted a survey to find out whether students preferred online classes.”
Traps that cost marks
- Ignoring part of the prompt, such as a reason or an example that was explicitly required.
- Using memorized phrases that do not answer the question.
- Writing long, uncontrolled sentences to sound academic.
- Mixing informal chat and formal register in the same response.
- Forgetting basic mechanics: capitalization, apostrophes, and comma use after introductory phrases.