Lesson 18, Full Mock & Final Re-Test
53 minutes, both tasks, no interruptions. Then measure how far you’ve come.
Part 1, The full mock
Do this properly or it tells you nothing.
Conditions
- 53 minutes total, timed, both tasks back to back
- No spellcheck, no dictionary, no notes, no lesson tabs open
- No pausing: if you overrun Task 1, that time comes out of Task 2, exactly as it will on the day
- Type into the Celpora writing practice or a plain text box
The mock
Task 1 (~27 minutes · 150–200 words)
You signed up for a six-week evening course at a local college. After three weeks, the course has been moved to a different location much further away, and the class times have changed. Write an email to the course administrator. • Explain the difficulty this has caused you • Ask what options are available to you • Say what you would like them to do
Task 2 (~26 minutes · 150–200 words)
Your employer has funding to improve staff wellbeing and is considering two options. Option A: a subsidised gym and fitness program. Option B: four additional paid days of leave per year. Choose the option you prefer and explain your reasons.
Note the trap in Task 1, bullet 2: “Ask what options are available” - that paragraph must contain a question mark. If it doesn’t, you’ve made the most expensive error on the test, and now is a much better time to discover that than on test day.
Part 2, Score your mock
Mark each dimension honestly, out of 12.
Content / Coherence
- All three bullets developed with two points each
- Paragraphs roughly balanced
- Every claim has a consequence or example
- (Task 2) Position stated and restated; the loop closes
Vocabulary
- Three or more upgraded words
- Two or three “-ly” adverbs
- No content word repeated more than twice
- Register-matched throughout
Readability
- Two or more complex sentences
- Sentence openings varied
- Two or fewer grammar errors
- Punctuation and spelling clean
Task Fulfillment
- Every bullet answered with the right task verb
- A question mark where a bullet asked me to find out
- Register correct for the recipient
- 150–200 words on both tasks
- Tone appropriate
Your weakest dimension is your revision priority. Go back to that lesson: Content → 3 & 13 · Vocabulary → 5 · Readability → 4 · Task Fulfillment → 6 & 16.
Part 3, The final re-test
Now rewrite your Lesson 1 diagnostic: the same question, under the same conditions.
You recently bought a household appliance online. It arrived a week later than promised and was the wrong color. Write an email to the company’s customer service department. • Explain what happened • Describe how this has inconvenienced you • Say what you would like them to do
Compare them side by side
| Lesson 1 | Now | |
|---|---|---|
| Word count | ||
| All three bullets covered? | ||
| Task verbs answered correctly? | ||
| Complex sentences | ||
| ”-ly” adverbs | ||
| Register consistent? | ||
| Grammar errors | ||
| Did I proofread? |
Most students are surprised here. The improvement is usually larger than it feels from the inside, because you’ve been living inside incremental changes and the two drafts show you the whole distance at once.
Part 4, Your final week
| Day | Focus |
|---|---|
| 7 | Full mock (above). Identify your weakest dimension. |
| 6 | Revisit that dimension’s lesson. Two responses targeting only it. |
| 5 | Two Task 1 responses across two different email types. |
| 4 | Two Task 2 responses, one Template A, one Template B. |
| 3 | Second full mock. Compare against Day 7. |
| 2 | Light only, re-read your templates and personal error list. No new material. |
| 1 | Rest. Nothing new. |
Don’t cram the day before. Writing quality drops with fatigue, and nothing learnable in 24 hours outweighs being rested.
Part 5, Test-day checklist
Before you start
- I know my time split: 4 plan / 20 write / 3 proofread
- My target is 180 words on both tasks
- I know my two personal errors
Task 1
- Underline every bullet’s task verb before writing
- Decide register from the recipient
- Identify the dominant email type
- Two points per bullet, planned before writing
- One bullet = one paragraph
- Question mark if a bullet said find out
Task 2
- Choose the arguable option within 60 seconds
- Two points supporting, two against
- One genuine concession
- Position stated in sentence one, restated at the end
- Conclusion picks up Body 2
Both tasks
- Stop writing at the 24-minute mark
- Run all four proofreading passes
- Check word count last
The five things that matter most
If you remember nothing else:
- Answer the task verb. Telling when asked to find out costs more than any grammar error.
- Stay inside 150–200. Free marks otherwise thrown away.
- Two complex sentences minimum. Simple correct writing stops at 8.
- Match the register. Business English to a friend is a task failure.
- Proofread for three minutes. It’s the only skill where you get to fix your mistakes, use it.
Before you go
- I’ve completed a full 53-minute mock
- I’ve scored it across all four dimensions
- I know my weakest dimension and have revisited that lesson
- I’ve rewritten my Lesson 1 diagnostic and compared them
- I have my personal error list written down
- I have a final-week plan that ends with rest
You’re ready. On the day: read the bullets twice, plan for four minutes, write straight through, and stop at 24 minutes to check. That routine is worth more than anything you could learn in the last hour.
