Writing Task 2: Opinion (Agree/Disagree) Essay: Question 5
Syllabus W.task2
In many organisations, employees are still judged largely by the number of hours they spend in the office rather than by the quality or quantity of the work they actually produce.
To what extent do you agree or disagree that employees should be judged solely on the quality of their output rather than the hours they spend in the office?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words.
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Worked solution
Examiner notes: why this is a band 9 response
Task Response
This response demonstrates the most sophisticated form of task response: a position that leans clearly one way while candidly acknowledging a genuine limit to that view (“While I do not believe presence should count for nothing, I largely agree that…”), and then argues for exactly that qualified position throughout, rather than drifting into an undecided “it depends” essay. The word “solely” in the prompt is engaged with directly, the essay explains precisely which roles it does and does not apply to, which answers every part of the question rather than a simplified version of it.
Coherence & Cohesion
The essay is structured as thesis, supporting case, principled limitation, then a conclusion that draws a precise line between the two. “That said” signals the concession clearly without abandoning the overall position, and the semicolon in the final sentence joins the general rule to its stated exception as a single, tightly cohesive idea rather than two disconnected sentences.
Lexical Resource
Register and word choice are sophisticated but entirely natural: “a poor proxy for value”, “intrinsic to the value created”, “coordinated hours”. The essay varies its reference to the two working styles (“output-based”, “visible attendance”, “genuine output”) without ever repeating the same phrase mechanically, and idiomatic collocations (“out of step with”, “hold steady”) are used with complete accuracy.
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
A wide range of grammar is used with full control, including a concessive clause opening the introduction, a defining relative clause (“Roles that depend on…”), and an “only… should” inverted-style restriction in the final sentence. Tense choices (present simple for general truths, present perfect for the recent piloting trend) are handled consistently and accurately throughout.
Common pitfalls specific to this task
See commonMistakes above: on this higher-difficulty prompt, the most common band 6 failure is treating “solely” as if it were not in the question at all, producing a generic essay about flexible working that never actually commits to, or qualifies, the specific claim that hours should count for nothing.