C2 Proficiency report writing practice and structure

• Organising information under informative headings rather than generic labels.
• Separating findings from recommendations and keeping the two apart.
• Neutral, impersonal register sustained across the whole answer.
• Passive and nominalised structures used to foreground the information, not the writer.
• Recommendations that are specific, actionable and tied to a finding.
• Reporting quantities and proportions accurately and without exaggeration.
• Addressing every element of the brief, including the named readership.
• Concise summarising: saying in one sentence what a weak answer says in four.
• Hedged evaluation where the evidence is partial.
• Consistency of tense between what was found and what is proposed.

1. Step 1: 1

   Identify the commissioner and the decision

   Ask who asked for this report and what they have to decide. Everything in the report exists to support that decision; anything that does not is padding, however well written.

2. Step 2: 2

   Choose informative headings

   Current provision, Cost implications and Recommendations tell the reader something. Introduction, Main body and Conclusion tell them nothing. Headings are the cheapest organisation marks on the paper.

3. Step 3: 3

   Open with purpose and source, in two sentences

   Say what the report covers and where the information came from: a survey of forty students, observation over a fortnight, discussions with staff. Two sentences is enough, and it establishes authority immediately.

4. Step 4: 4

   Report findings before you interpret them

   Give the finding, then its significance. Candidates who interpret first end up repeating the finding later, which costs words they need for the recommendations.

5. Step 5: 5

   Attach every recommendation to a finding

   It is recommended that the opening hours be extended, given the demand recorded on weekday evenings. A recommendation with no evidence behind it reads as opinion and loses content marks.

6. Step 6: 6

   Keep yourself out of it

   The report is not about your feelings. Use impersonal structures, the passive and evaluative adjectives rather than first-person reaction, and reserve any I for a single closing offer to supply further detail.

7. Step 7: 7

   Use lists sparingly and grammatically

   A short bulleted list is acceptable in a report and can be efficient, but each item must be parallel and grammatically complete enough to show range. A report of nothing but bullets cannot demonstrate language.

8. Step 8: 8

   Close with the decision, not with thanks

   The final section should tell the reader what to do first and what depends on what. A closing paragraph of gratitude wastes the position where the argument should end.

• Not thisHeading: Introduction / Main body / Conclusion

  ThisHeading: Purpose and method / Current provision / Recommendations

  Generic headings organise nothing. Informative headings let a busy reader find what they need and demonstrate that you have structured the content, not just labelled it.

• Not thisI think the canteen should open longer because I get hungry after five.

  ThisExtended opening hours would meet the demand reported by evening students.

  Personal reaction has no place in a report. The impersonal version also demonstrates the range of structures the mark scheme rewards.

• Not thisEverybody says the sports hall is terrible.

  ThisA majority of respondents described the sports hall as inadequate, most often citing the changing facilities.

  Everybody says is unquantified and informal. Reports need proportion, source and a specific complaint.

• Not thisMixing findings and recommendations in one paragraph.

  ThisFindings in their own section; recommendations gathered at the end.

  The reader has to be able to extract the actions. Interleaving them means the actions cannot be found, which is a communicative achievement failure, not a style preference.

• Not thisIt is recommended to extend the opening hours.

  ThisIt is recommended that the opening hours be extended.

  This fixed structure takes a that-clause with the subjunctive or should. The infinitive version is a very common C2 slip.

• Not thisThe survey shows that everyone would definitely use a new bus service.

  ThisThe survey suggests that a new service would be well used, although the sample was small.

  Overclaiming from thin evidence undermines the report. Hedging that names the limitation is a mark of the top band, not a weakness.

• Not thisWriting the whole report in bullet points.

  ThisProse with short lists where a list genuinely helps.

  Bullets cannot show sentence range, and language is one of the four assessed criteria.

the purpose of this report is to

standard opening statement of aim

draw on

use as a source of information

the findings suggest

hedged reporting of what evidence indicates

a substantial proportion of

a large share, without a false precise figure

it is recommended that

formal recommendation; followed by a that-clause

with a view to

with the aim of; followed by a gerund

in light of

taking into account

fall short of

fail to reach a standard

be attributable to

be caused by

on the whole

generally

provision

what is supplied or made available

uptake

the extent to which something offered is used

a marked increase

a clear, noticeable rise

bear the cost

pay for

in the first instance

as the first step

subject to

depending on; conditional upon

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.

• Previous: Article40 questions
• Next: Review40 questions
• All C2 Proficiency writing topics5 task types
• C2 Proficiency preparationFree C2 Proficiency (CPE) practice for every paper: Reading and Use of English, Writing, L