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Task 2 · Advantages and disadvantages · Media

Streaming instead of schedules and cinemas

A both-sides question on streaming, where the band 9 answer looks past convenience to what disappears when nobody watches anything at the same time.

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.

Streaming platforms have largely replaced scheduled television and, for many people, trips to the cinema. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this change.

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

The 6.5 explains that streaming is convenient; the 7.5 notices what it does to what gets made; the 9 asks what is lost when an audience stops being simultaneous.

The three answers

Band 6.5

261 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 recent years, the streaming platforms have become very popular and many people do not watch the normal television or go to the cinema anymore. This essay will look at the advantages and the disadvantages of this change.

There are several advantages of the streaming. The first advantage is the convenience.3 People can watch what they want, when they want, and they do not need to wait for a special time or day. This is very convenient for the busy people who work late.4 The second advantage is the price. A monthly subscription is much cheaper than the cinema tickets, especially for a family. Furthermore, there is a huge amount of the content available, so people can watch the things from the different countries which they could not watch before.

However, this change has the disadvantages too. Firstly, going to the cinema is a social activity and watching alone at home is not the same. Many cinemas are closing down and this is sad for the community.2 Secondly, people are watching too much because of the streaming, and some of them spend all the weekend on the sofa, which is not healthy. Also, there are too many platforms now and each one need a separate subscription5, so in the end it is not so cheap like before1.

In conclusion, the streaming has changed the way we watch the films and the television. It has the advantages like the convenience and the price, and also the disadvantages like the social problems and the health. People should use it in a balanced way.

What an examiner notices

  1. 1. Task response

    “so in the end it is not so cheap like before”

    This cancels the price advantage claimed one paragraph earlier, and the essay does not notice. Points are being listed, not held in relation to one another.

  2. 2. Task response

    “Many cinemas are closing down and this is sad for the community.”

    A relevant idea that could be strong, but 'sad for the community' is where the thinking stops. Nothing explains what a community actually loses.

  3. 3. Coherence and cohesion

    “There are several advantages of the streaming. The first advantage is the convenience.”

    The paragraph announces itself, then supplies a label, then finally explains it. The organising is being done by numbering rather than by any relation between the points.

  4. 4. Lexical resource

    “This is very convenient for the busy people who work late.”

    'Convenience' and 'convenient' in consecutive sentences, with no alternative available. 'The busy people' generalises with an article English does not use here.

  5. 5. Grammatical range and accuracy

    “each one need a separate subscription”

    Agreement after 'each one', matched a few words later by a comparative built with 'like' instead of 'as'. Both are typical of the band: noticeable, systematic, harmless.

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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