The five Task 2 question types

Each type obliges you to deliver specific things. Most lost Task Response marks are not weak arguments — they are a delivery the prompt asked for and did not get.

The types, and what each one owes

Discussion is the one people fail

"Discuss both views and give your own opinion" asks for three things, and essays routinely arrive with two: both views and no opinion, or one view and an opinion attached.

An opinion in the conclusion only is thin. If your position appears for the first time in the last three lines, a reader cannot tell whether it grew out of the discussion or was bolted on, and Task Response is judged on whether the whole response answers the question.

The fix is mechanical. Before writing, write the number 3 at the top of your plan. Then check the finished essay contains three things.

Opinion questions want a position, not a survey

"To what extent do you agree?" is not an invitation to present both sides neutrally. It asks how far you agree, so a fully balanced essay that never lands is failing to answer — it has answered a discussion prompt instead.

You may agree partially. "Largely, though not in every case" is a position, and a strong one if you then say which cases. What is not a position is describing two views and stopping.

One exception worth knowing, because it contradicts advice you will have heard: a response that presents several positions and concludes thoughtfully without crowning a winner can still score well when the prompt does not demand a single verdict. It is "agree or disagree" specifically that obliges you to pick.

Advantages and disadvantages: read the last line

Two versions circulate and they are not the same task. "What are the advantages and disadvantages?" wants both, evenly. "Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?" wants both and a judgement about which is heavier.

Answering the first when asked the second is a missing deliverable. It costs the same as any other missing deliverable.

Problem and solution: make them match

The failure here is subtler. Candidates list three problems, then three solutions, and the solutions do not address the problems they named.

Pair them. Problem one, its solution. Problem two, its solution. Two well-matched pairs beat four unconnected items, and the pairing is itself the coherence the criterion rewards.

Two-part questions hide the second part

These arrive as two sentences ending in question marks, often with the second doing the harder work. Under time pressure the first gets three paragraphs and the second gets a line.

Give each a roughly equal share. If you cannot, cut the first rather than shrink the second.

The thirty seconds that pay best

Before writing, count the deliverables and write the number down. Afterwards, check you delivered that many. It is the cheapest Task Response insurance available, and it is where most band 7 attempts fail.