The B2 First report is a Part 2 option written for someone in authority: a manager, a college principal, a course director. It presents information you have gathered and then recommends what to do about it. Headings and a neutral, impersonal style are what make it a report rather than an essay.
‘The aim of this report is to assess the college sports facilities and to suggest improvements.’ One line, and the reader knows what they are holding.
If the task asks about facilities and opening hours, those are two headings. A third heading, Recommendations, closes the report.
Current facilities. Opening hours. Recommendations. Long headings read as sentences and waste part of a tight word count.
Findings first, opinions after. Mixing the two in every paragraph is what makes a report read like an essay.
‘Most students felt that ...’ or ‘It was widely reported that ...’ rather than ‘I think’. The information should look gathered, not invented on the spot.
The majority, roughly half, a small number. Numbers make findings credible and give you useful B2 language at the same time.
‘I would recommend extending the opening hours, since most students are in lectures until six.’ A recommendation with no reason looks like a preference.
No contractions, no exclamation marks, no direct address to the reader. This is the most formal of the Part 2 options.
Run through the prompt line by line against your headings before you finish. Content is the easiest scale to lose marks on here.
Reports are full of plural subjects and passive forms, so the errors cluster there: the majority of students were, the facilities are, it was decided.
Not thisHi there! I am going to tell you about the sports centre.
ThisThe aim of this report is to assess the sports centre and to recommend improvements.
The report is written for someone in authority. A friendly opening is the wrong register for the reader the task names.
Not thisI think the canteen is rubbish and the queues are mad.
ThisThe majority of students described the queues at lunchtime as excessive.
Findings should be reported, not asserted. Impersonal reporting language is the genre marker for this task.
Not thisThe majority of students was dissatisfied.
ThisThe majority of students were dissatisfied.
With ‘the majority of’ plus a plural noun, the verb is plural. This subject-verb pattern appears in nearly every report.
Not thisWriting one continuous block of text with no headings.
ThisUsing two or three short headings to separate findings from recommendations.
Headings are what distinguish the report from the essay. Leaving them out costs organisation marks even if the content is complete.
Not thisI would recommend to extend the opening hours.
ThisI would recommend extending the opening hours.
Recommend takes an -ing form or a that-clause, not a to-infinitive.
Not thisFinishing with ‘Thanks for reading!’
ThisFinishing with a short recommendation paragraph.
The final section of a report is its recommendations. A chatty sign-off breaks the register at the point the reader remembers best.
40 original questions. The first 10 are open to everyone. Answers are checked in your browser and never sent to us, so you can share this page with a class as it is.
1Complete with one noun.
3Complete with one verb form.
4Complete with one noun.
7Complete with one past participle.
9Complete with one word.
10Write the first two sentences of a report on your college’s study spaces for the principal.
One good answer
The aim of this report is to describe the study spaces currently available at the college and to recommend improvements. The information below is based on conversations with around forty students during the spring term.
11Complete with one noun.
13Complete with one noun.
15Complete with one noun.
17Complete with one word.
19Complete with one -ing form.
21Complete with one noun meaning ‘disadvantage’.
23Complete with one word.
25Complete with one adjective meaning ‘acceptable but not excellent’.
27Complete with one past participle.
29Complete with one linking word introducing contrast. It begins with ‘a’.
31Complete with one verb.
33Complete with one plural noun.
35Complete with one verb.
38Write a recommendations section of two sentences for a report about a college canteen.
One good answer
I would recommend opening a second serving point between twelve and two, since the majority of students have only forty minutes for lunch. It would also be worth extending the vegetarian menu, which roughly half of those asked described as too limited.
39Rewrite this in report register: ‘Loads of people told me the gym is way too small and it drives them mad.’
One good answer
A large number of students reported that the gym is too small for the current membership, and several described this as a source of frustration.
40Explain in two sentences how a report differs from an essay.
One good answer
An essay argues a case for a teacher and links its paragraphs into a continuous argument ending in an opinion. A report presents gathered information for someone in authority, separates that information under headings, keeps the tone impersonal, and ends with recommendations rather than a personal conclusion.
Note
Pick Two Activity is an independent tool. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Cambridge University Press & Assessment, the British Council, IDP, ETS, Duolingo or any other exam board. Exam names are trademarks of their owners and are used here only to describe the exam you are preparing for. Every question on this page is original practice written by us: we do not provide, copy or reproduce official exam papers.
Yes, so keep them to two or three words. Current facilities, Opening hours, Recommendations is all the structure the task needs.
Yes, and you should. Plausible numbers such as ‘roughly half of the forty students asked’ make the findings section far easier to write.
Sparingly, and mainly in the recommendations: ‘I would recommend ...’. The findings read better with impersonal structures.
It is the most predictable, because the structure is fixed. That makes it a safe choice if you have practised the headings and the impersonal language.
No. A short recommendations section is the conclusion. Adding both usually means repeating yourself inside a tight word count.
Address the report to that reader in your opening line and keep the level of formality they would expect. It is also a quick way to show you have read the task properly.