Linguaskill Writing practice: write an email or an essay and get feedback
The two parts of Linguaskill Writing, the email and the essay, with 5 and 5 prompts to write on an exam screen, with a word counter and a clock. Press Check and you get a mark for each criterion, what is good, what to improve and your corrected sentences.
Independent preparation. We are not a test centre and have no link with Cambridge.
- 2
- exam parts
- 10
- prompts to write
- 0 to 5
- mark per criterion
Write and get feedback
Each part is practised on an exam screen, like the real one: one question per screen, with a clock, and nothing marked until the end of the part. You do not choose a level: the questions go from lowest to highest, B1 to C2, because the real exam adapts to you.
Part 1. Email
You reply to a message with an email of at least 50 words, covering all three points.
- 1 question
- ≈ 12 min
Part 2. Essay
You write an essay of at least 250 words, with your arguments and your opinion.
- 1 question
- ≈ 38 min
The whole Writing, in one go
The 2 parts one after the other, in exam order, with 55 minutes as a reference. After each one you see your feedback and move on to the next.
What Linguaskill Writing is like
Linguaskill General Writing has two parts: an email of at least 50 words, worth 25% of the mark, and an essay of at least 250 words, worth 75%. You have 55 minutes for both. Here you have five prompts for each.
A sensible split of those minutes is 12 for the email, 38 for the essay and 5 for checking. It is our own suggestion, proportional to the weight of each part, not a Cambridge figure.
How your text is marked
- Four criteria, from 0 to 5. Content (whether you cover all the points), Communicative Achievement (whether tone and register fit), Organisation (paragraphs and linking words) and Language (vocabulary and grammar).
- An estimate from 140 to 210, always approximate. It comes from a single task and an automatic marker. It is not an official score or a Cambridge level: it helps you see where you are heading.
- What is good and what to improve. Two short lists with what to repeat and what to change in your next attempt.
- Your sentences corrected one by one, with an explanation of each change, so you see the mistake and not just the good version.
- If automatic feedback is not switched on yet, you can score yourself using the same criteria and the list of what has to appear in that task.
Tips for the email and the essay
- Cover every point in the task. It is what weighs most in Content: if one or two are missing, your score drops even if your English is good.
- Get the register right. You write differently to a friend and to a director; mixing “Hi” with “Yours faithfully” loses marks in Communicative Achievement.
- Reach the minimum word count. A text that is clearly short cannot develop the points. The counter warns you.
- Use paragraphs and a variety of linking words, not just “and”, “but” and “because”. It is the difference between a 3 and a 5 in Organisation.
- Save a few minutes to check. Agreement, verb tenses and capital letters are mistakes you spot when you read it again.
Frequently asked questions about Writing practice
- Is what I write saved? The draft is saved only in your browser, on your device. When you ask for feedback, the text is sent to the marker and this site does not keep it.
- How long does the feedback take? A few seconds. If there are a lot of requests at once, the site will ask you to wait a minute.
- Is the estimate reliable? It guides, it does not certify. A single task is not enough to predict a result, and the marker is automatic.
Practise the other Linguaskill modules too: Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking
Take the free practice test