IELTS Cambridge Book 16 Writing Practice Test 03

Cambridge IELTS Book 16 Academic (AC) Writing Practice Test 03 with Sample Answers and Free PDF Download.

IELTS 16 Academic Writing Practice Test 3, Task 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The plans below show the site of an airport now and how it will look after redevelopment next year.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words.

SOUTHWEST AIRPORT

Sample Academic Writing Answer Task 1:

This is an answer written by a candidate who achieved a Band 6.5 score.

The South West airport had some changes after its redevelopment. The departures area was modified to have a bag drop service, along with a cafe and check-in module that were already there before the redevelopment. However, both the cafe and the check-in module changed places to make room for the bag drop. After going through security passport control, passengers and airport staff will be able to purchase stuff at the new stores before their flight. After doing some shopping, the boarding gates wait ahead. There are now 18 gates, which were 8 before the redevelopment.

For this reason, the walkaway installed between the gates has been replaced for a sky train, which will be able to transport people along the different gates. But if you’re not leaving the South West airport, you’ll be glad to know the arrivals area has also been redeveloped. After going through passport control customs, passengers and airport staff will be able to hire different services. This area was empty before the redevelopment, but now it has an ATM, a cafe and a car hire service that will gladly take you to your destination.

Examiner’s comment:

This response covers the key details required; however, it describes the changes in the past tense instead of using future verb forms for the development ‘next year’. Overall, it could be improved by adding a summary of the main changes.

The response has been organised logically by describing the changes to the journey through the redeveloped airport: firstly departures, then arrivals. There are some good cohesive features [However | After | Buff] and some referencing [which | This area]. Organisation could be improved by breaking the response down into two or three paragraphs.

Vocabulary is a strength, with some effective collocation [changed places | take you to your destination] and flexibility (modified | installed between].

In terms of grammar, this response has a variety of structures, but it describes some of the changes in the past simple [was modified and in the present perfect [has been replaced by] whereas the question asked for a description of the future changes. To improve the score, there should be a wider range of future structures to address the changes ‘next year’.

IELTS 16 Academic Writing Practice Test 3, Task 2

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Many manufactured food and drink products contain high levels of sugar, which causes many health problems. Sugary products should be made more expensive to encourage people to consume less sugar.

Do you agree or disagree?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

Sample Academic Writing Answer Task 2:

This is an answer written by a candidate who achieved a Band 7.0 score.

Today high levels of sugar are contained in many sources of food, especially in manufactured food. And, of course, eating so much sugar is not good for our health: it can cause just a simple cavy, for example, but also worse problems, like the increasing level of sugar in blood. Some people suggest that sugary products should be more expensive, so people would buy less of them.

According to me, I think that this solution is not the best one as sugary products include some types of food that we eat everyday, such as bread or pasta. This foods, particularly the first one, are really important in our diet, so make them more expensive will influence not only our lifestyle, but also some people wouldn’t be able anymore to buy the most important food for them. Just think for example to poor people, who can maybe afford a few loads of bread per day: what would they eat if we increased bread price?

I think that the best solution for this problem would be informing people about what they eat, because sometimes we don’t even know that. They have already done something to inform people about the characteristics of food, of course, and lebels are one of the most important thing, as they tell you all the ingredients of a particular food.

Yet, not many people spend some of their time reading lebels, or, if they do it, they probably don’t know the biggest part of the substances named in the list, as well not everybody knows that there is a specific order of the ingredients in the list. So something we could do is organizing some “talks” to inform people not only about the function of lebels, but especially about the big amount of sugar we eat everyday. I think as well that this talks should be organised also in schools, because also children must be aware of what they eat; besides, children can tell what they have learned by these “conferences” at their parents, so the whole family would eat better.

To sum it up, I think that it is not necessary to increase the prices of sugary food and that all we need is information, that will lead people to eat less sugary food and, as a consequence, live better with less problems.

Examiner’s comment:

This is a good response to the question. It does not agree with the statement and presents a different solution to the problem.

There are four paragraphs, made up of an introduction, a conclusion and two further paragraphs explaining why the candidate disagrees with the statement and then giving an alternative solution. Ideas are logically organised, with a range of linking devices to make the response easier to read [Yet | as well | I think as well that | as a consequence], but there are some errors [This / these | also].

There are 386 words in this response, well over the expected 250 words. In this case, the increased wordcount results in a good range of vocabulary with some flexibility and collocation informing people about what they eat | aware of what they eat] despite some remaining errors [cavy I cavity I lebels / labels].

The response uses a variety of structures [what would they eat if we increased bread price?] despite some errors [by these “conferences” I at these “conferences” | less problems / fewer problems].