Most 6.5 candidates have grammar and vocabulary that are already at 7.0. What caps them at 6.5 is Task Response — specifically, the underdevelopment of their second body paragraph and the absence of a clear position throughout the essay. Task Response is the hardest criterion to fake under timed conditions, but it is also the criterion with the highest ROI to fix. This guide shows you how.

What Task Response Measures

The official Task Response descriptor at Band 7.0 says: "addresses all parts of the task; presents a clear position throughout the response; presents, extends and supports main ideas but may over-generalise or lack focus in places; presents a clear conclusion."

Four things to notice. First, "all parts of the task" — for two-part questions, both parts must be answered. Second, "clear position throughout" — your view must be visible in the introduction, developed in the body paragraphs, and reasserted in the conclusion. Third, "extends and supports" — the body paragraphs must develop the main idea with specific support, not just mention it. Fourth, "conclusion" — a conclusion that restates the position without adding insight scores 6.5 at best.

The 6.0 → 7.0 jump is mostly about "extends and supports". The 7.0 → 8.0 jump is mostly about focus. The 8.0 → 9.0 jump is about the conclusion: a 9.0 conclusion adds an implication or a forward-looking claim, not just a restatement.

The 5 Essay Types and Their Task Response Trap

Each Task 2 essay type has one specific Task Response mistake that is most common. The 7.0+ candidate knows the trap and avoids it. The 6.5 candidate falls into it.

Opinion essays: presenting both sides equally

"To what extent do you agree or disagree?" — most 6.5 candidates write "On the one hand, this view has merit. On the other hand, it has drawbacks. In conclusion, both sides have valid points." This is a 6.0 essay because the prompt asks for an opinion, and the candidate did not give one. The 7.0+ opinion essay commits clearly: "While this view has merit, the evidence suggests the opposite is true, and I will argue three reasons why."

The mistake is so common that some 8.0+ opinion essays add an explicit concession to the opposing view in Body 1, specifically to signal "I considered the other side but rejected it". A concession early in the essay is one of the strongest Task Response signals at 8.0+.

Discussion essays: vague or missing personal opinion

"Discuss both views and give your own opinion" — the 6.5 candidate discusses both views at length but buries their own opinion in the conclusion in a sentence like "Overall, I think both views have something to offer." The 7.0+ candidate gives a clear ranking opinion: "View A is more compelling because [reason], and the strongest evidence for this is [example]." Place the opinion in the conclusion, but make it sharp and specific, not vague.

Advantages and disadvantages: not answering the outweigh question

"Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?" — the 6.5 candidate lists 3 advantages and 3 disadvantages, then concludes with "In conclusion, there are both pros and cons." The 7.0+ candidate answers the outweigh question explicitly: "The advantages outweigh, and the decisive reason is the long-term cost of inaction, which exceeds the short-term inconvenience by a factor of three." If you do not answer the outweigh question, you have not addressed the task.

Problem-solution essays: list of problems and solutions

"What are the causes of X and what can be done?" — the 6.5 candidate lists 3 causes and 3 solutions in two body paragraphs. The 7.0+ candidate picks 1-2 causes and 1-2 solutions and develops them with specific real-world examples. Depth beats coverage. The 7.0+ essay knows that a list of 6 bullet points is not development; it is a catalogue.

Two-part questions: missing or under-developed second part

"Why is this happening? Is this a positive or negative development?" — the 6.5 candidate answers the first question in detail and the second in one sentence. The 7.0+ candidate gives each question its own body paragraph, with the second question (which is often the harder one) given at least as much development as the first. Two-part questions fail at 6.5 because the second part is short, not because the first part is long.

The 8 Task Response Moves That Push 6.5 → 7.0

Commit to a position in the introduction. Use a phrase like "I believe that..." or "I would argue that..." in the first 30 words. Most 6.5 candidates hide their position in passive language or wait until the conclusion.
Give each body paragraph one main idea. A body paragraph with two ideas is read as under-developed. The 7.0+ candidate picks one reason per paragraph and develops it fully.
Develop the idea with a specific example. "Studies show" is a 6.0 example. "The 2007-2015 expansion of mobile banking in Kenya, which reached 70% of adult users, illustrates..." is a 7.0+ example. The example can be plausible-but-unspecified ("Consider a city that...") but it must be specific enough to be checkable.
Link the example back to the position. After the example, add a sentence that says "This pattern supports my view that..." or "The implications of this example for [the prompt] are..." The link-back is the move that turns a list of examples into a developed argument.
Add a concession in Body 1 or 2. "While this view has merit, the evidence suggests..." A concession in the body — not the conclusion — is the strongest Task Response signal at 8.0+.
Use a stronger topic sentence in Body 2 than in Body 1. The examiner reads Body 2 last, and the last body paragraph leaves the strongest impression. The 6.5 candidate puts the weaker reason in Body 2; the 7.0+ candidate puts the stronger one.
Make the conclusion add an implication. "In conclusion, I believe [position]" is a 6.5 conclusion. "In conclusion, I believe [position]. If this trend continues, [implication]" is a 7.0+ conclusion. The implication is the move.
Address all parts of the prompt. For two-part questions, both parts. For "outweigh" questions, the answer to "outweigh" or "do not outweigh". For "to what extent" questions, the extent (fully, partially, not at all). Missing a part of the prompt is the most common reason a 6.5 essay gets 5.5 in Task Response.

Task Achievement vs Task Response (Task 1 vs Task 2)

Task 1 is scored on Task Achievement (TA) rather than Task Response (TR), but the underlying principle is the same: you have answered the task. For Task 1, the task is to summarise the most important information in a visual. The Task Achievement descriptor at Band 7.0 says: "covers the requirements of the task; presents a clear overview; key features are presented and adequately supported with relevant data."

The two most common Task Achievement mistakes are: (1) missing the overview sentence (which caps TA at 5.0), and (2) describing every data point instead of selecting key features (which caps TA at 6.0). The 7.0+ Task 1 essay has a clear overview in the second paragraph and selects 5-8 of the most important data points across the two body paragraphs.

The 6.5 → 7.0 Diagnostic Checklist

Take your last three Task 2 essays and run them through this checklist. Most 6.5 candidates fail 4-5 of these 8 checks. The fix is to focus on the 1-2 checks that fail most often.

Is the position clear in the introduction, not just the conclusion?
Does each body paragraph have one main idea, or two?
Does each body paragraph have a specific example (not "studies show")?
Does each body paragraph have a sentence that links the example back to the position?
Is there a concession to the opposing view in the body, not the conclusion?
Is the strongest reason in Body 2 (the last body paragraph)?
Does the conclusion add an implication or forward-looking claim, not just restate?
Are all parts of the prompt addressed?

If you fail 5+ of these, your Task Response is the bottleneck. If you fail 1-2, your grammar or vocabulary is the bottleneck. This single diagnostic is the difference between candidates who improve steadily and candidates who stay at 6.5 for months.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Task Response the most important criterion?

All four criteria are equally weighted at 25% each. Task Response is not "more important" than the others, but it is the most common ceiling for 6.0-7.0 candidates, because idea development is the hardest thing to fake under timed conditions. If your grammar and vocabulary are at 7.0 but your essay is at 6.5, Task Response is the bottleneck.

How do I know if my position is "clear enough"?

Read the introduction aloud. If you can remove the position phrase and the introduction still makes sense grammatically, your position is not clear enough. The 7.0+ introduction is grammatically incomplete without the position: "While [concession], I believe [position], and this essay will argue [two reasons]."

Do I lose marks for over-generalising?

Yes — the Band 7.0 descriptor says "may over-generalise or lack focus in places". The 8.0+ essay does not over-generalise. A claim like "All countries face this problem" is over-general; "Many developed economies have begun to face this problem since 2010" is appropriately scoped. The fix: replace "all", "every", "always" with "many", "most", "often", or specific qualifiers.

What if I cannot think of a real-world example?

Use a plausible-but-unspecified example. "Studies in three OECD countries have shown..." is acceptable as long as the example is specific enough to be checkable but not so specific that the examiner suspects invention. The 7.0+ candidate uses ranges ("roughly tripled over a decade"), not specific numbers, when the example is hypothetical.

Is the conclusion really that important?

Yes. The 6.5 essay has a 1-sentence conclusion that restates the introduction. The 7.0+ essay has a 2-3 sentence conclusion that restates the position, summarises the main points, and adds a forward-looking implication. The implication is the move that takes the conclusion from "this is acceptable" to "this is a 7+ conclusion".

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Task Response in IELTS Writing Task 2: The Complete Guide