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Task 2 · Two-part question · Government

Why people no longer trust politicians

A causes-and-remedies essay in which only the band 9 answer explains why an honest candidate cannot survive the incentive.

The question

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Write about the following topic. Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words.

In many countries, public confidence in politicians has fallen sharply in recent decades. What has caused this loss of trust? How might it be rebuilt?

A 250-word discursive essay — the half of the paper that carries two thirds of the marks. This prompt is original, written in the standard format for teaching purposes — it is not taken from any past paper.

What separates the three answers

All three blame broken promises and visible scandal, but only the band 9 explains why an honest politician would lose to a dishonest one, which is what turns its proposals into policy rather than a wish for better behaviour.

The three answers

Band 6.5

256 words (the task asks for at least 250)

The answer works. It addresses the task, the reader follows it, and the meaning survives — but ideas stay general, linking is mechanical, wording repeats, and small errors are visible throughout.

The answer

In these days, many people in different countries do not believe their politicians any more. In my opinion there are several reasons for this situation, and I will also give some ideas how the trust can come back.

The first and the biggest reason is the corruption.3 We can see in the news almost every week that some minister take money from a big company4 or give a job to his relative. When ordinary people who work hard and pay the tax see this, of course they lose the trust2. Corruption is not a new thing, but now because of the internet everybody know about it immediately. Also, the politicians live in the big houses and they do not know the problems of the normal families.

Another reason is that politicians do not keep their promises. Before the election they promise many things, for example they will build new hospitals, they will reduce the price of the electricity and they will create the jobs. But after they win, most of these promises are forgotten and nothing is changed. In my country, for example, a party promised free transport for the students and after two years it did not happen. People feel that they were cheated, so next time they do not believe anything.

For rebuilding the trust, the politicians should be more honest and the government should punish the corruption strongly.1

To conclude, the loss of the trust is mainly caused by corruption and false promises, and only honesty can solve this problem in the future.

What an examiner notices

  1. 1. Task response

    “For rebuilding the trust, the politicians should be more honest and the government should punish the corruption strongly.”

    One sentence for the second half of the question, and it asks the people accused of dishonesty to be honest. There is no mechanism, so there is no proposal.

  2. 2. Lexical resource

    “of course they lose the trust”

    'Trust' is used five times in the essay with no alternative reached for, and the definite article before it is wrong each time.

  3. 3. Coherence and cohesion

    “The first and the biggest reason is the corruption.”

    A slot marker rather than a topic sentence. It tells the reader where they are in the essay but nothing about the idea.

  4. 4. Grammatical range and accuracy

    “some minister take money from a big company”

    Singular subject, uninflected verb — repeated four sentences later in 'everybody know about it immediately'.

One honest caveat

Band labels here describe what each piece of writing demonstrates against the four published assessment areas, paraphrased in plain language. They are teaching illustrations produced for this site, not official material, and no sample has been marked by a test provider. Real scripts are marked whole; two answers with the same label can still look quite different from each other, and nothing on this page can promise anyone a particular result.

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