The VSTEP writing test evaluates your ability to express yourself in written English, over two tasks in one hour. Task 1 is written Communication (20 minutes- a minimum of 120 words). Essay writing (40 minutes, minimum 250 words) will be Task 2. Task 2 has the greater importance in your final VSTEP writing score than does Task 1.
This guide provides you with the format, the criteria for scoring and templates to help you practise both tasks as well as full sample answers.
|
Want to FINALLY Pass the IELTS Academic Test And Reach Your Goals? Get Your FREE Lume Account Today to Unlock… ✅ 10,000+ PRACTICE QUESTIONS with detailed answers ✅ FREE MOCK TESTS with fast & accurate AI scoring ✅ Get BETTER SCORES with a PERSONALIZED study plan (Limited seats available!) |
Prompt: You have just been to a hotel which you were not pleased with. Send a note of complaint to the hotel’s manager! In your letter:
You should write at least 120 words.
Model answer:
Dear Sir or Madam,
The service provided to me by your hotel from 12th March to 15th March attracted my dissatisfaction with the hotel.
On arrival I found my room wasn’t cleaned and the aircon wasn’t working. I complained about these things on the first night at reception but it took until the next day for them to be sorted out. Also, breakfast was moderately late every morning and meant I was missing 2 conferences.
Optimistically, I thought that things might be smoother as this definitely did not fully turn out as you promise in your website.
I would say that that is an inconvenience and I would like a partial refund or else a free night’s stay to come back some other time. Looking forward to your feedback!
Yours faithfully, [Name]
Word count: 148. Time target: 18 minutes.
Prompt: There is a university you are interested in enrolling at after your postgraduate studies. Send a letter of acceptance to the admissions office. In your letter:
You should write at least 120 words.
Model answer:
Dear Admissions Office,
I would like to ask you for more information about your university’s MBA programme that was displayed during an education fair I attended recently.
I graduated from my undergraduate economic course last year and very much interested in specializing in International Business Management. I was interested in obtaining further information prior to applying on these matters: What are the minimum qualifications for getting admission into this course and what is the last date to apply for next programmed intake?
Also if anyone has any details about scholarships or financial assistance that domestic students could receive this would hugely affect my decision to apply for as they are traditionally very expensive.
Thanks for your help. Looking forward to hearing back from you, I hope to make my official application soon.
Yours sincerely, [Name]
Word count: 143. Time target: 18 minutes.
Prompt: Your friend has never visited your city before. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:
Express your excitement about their visit
Share some ideas about activities and locations to go for
Include practical tips on items to pack and such
You should write at least 120 words.
Model answer:
Dear Minh,
I am so excited that you’ll come to visit Hanoi soon in the next month! This has been and will be an event for which I have been waiting so long and looking forward to showing you.
I’ve got a couple things planned for us. The first day I figured we’d explore the Old Quarter of the city and sample some of the food available on the streets of the Old City, especially bun cha and banh mi. It is also the place to visit the Temple of Literature and enjoy a night-time walk around Hoan Kiem lake, weather permitting.
One little hint: Have comfortable walking shoes as we will be on our feet, a lot of the time. Also, in this time of year, weather conditions can be unpredictable so wearing light layers is advised.
I can’t stop hoping every day till reality strikes!
Best wishes, [Name]
Word count: 152. Time target: 18 minutes.
Prompt: There should be no charges for university education for all students. To what extent do you agree or disagree? Provide reasons and include as much as possible from your experience or knowledge to support your answer. A minimum of 250 words should be used.
Model answer:
I love the concept of free university education, and I am sure that in theory it can work, but I’m sure that if we make a completely free education for everyone it will not be economically viable and not the most fair. Rather, a focussed financial assistance to attend college for students unable to pay for higher education would be a better policy.
The most important one in favor of free university education is that it eliminates financial restriction and makes it possible to base the choice of going to the university not upon financial, but upon talent factors. The perception that students from the lower educational classes lack sufficient ability is not their only obstacle to enrolling in University, as many students are also discouraged due to the prospect of huge debt. National tuition-free university systems, like Germany and Norway, have proven to work well at the national level.
But it is an uneconomic use of public money to pay for free education for every student, even for the one already in the habit of paying for it who is able to afford it. There are often the wrong resources spent on services, either in the resources that go towards providing vocational education, or into providing teacher training, or the resources spent on school infrastructure, that are spent on students who might have been attending the school anyway if they had been paying the fee.
A more sustainable option would be something akin to Australia’s HECS-HELP scheme where the fee is repaid based on income when it exceeds a certain level. Under this model, no student with financial need should be denied admission to a university, and those who are most economically advantaged from having the university degree are recovering the costs of their studies.
Finally, although the principle of placing everyone at university has value, ensuring equal access to free university education is not the best and most focused means of doing so. Equity goals are just as effectively met in a well designed system of support, but in a more responsible way.
Word count: 258. Time target: 38 minutes.
Prompt: With the advent of the Internet people can work from home and not report to an office. What are the benefits and drawbacks of being a telecommuter? Provide reasons for your answer and provide examples where appropriate. At least 250 words should be written.
Model answer:
Millions of workers who can work from a distance thanks to the fast internet connection! This transition has a number of positive consequences but it also has some positive challenges to face both the individual and organisation.
Flexibility is the main benefit of working remotely. Staff have flexibility in their work schedule, which is beneficial for parents with young children and those who have long commutes. Numerous studies conducted in different industries have concluded that remote working allows employees to experience greater job satisfaction and boost productivity, in many cases. Moreover, businesses that utilize telecommuting formats will likewise be able to save in workplace space and broaden recruitment choices to pass their local constraints.
However, working remotely presents certain issues. Distinctions between work and the home turn into blurrrier, many workers experience struggles in switching off at the finish of the day. Another issue might be isolation, especially for employees who use hand-to-hand interactions and informal mentoring from their peers. The opportunities for learning when working side by side with experienced staff in a common setting, particularly for junior staff members, may be missed.
Also, any role is not necessarily the best for working from home. Not every job is suitable for remote work: The advantages of remote working are not the same for every occupation, especially in the service and health care sectors, where the nature of the job dictates that being physically present at work is a prerequisite.
Finally, while work-from-home arrangements present clear pros and cons in their flexibility and the savings in costs, they also come with a social and professional price tag of connecting with other people remotely. For many organisations, the best hybrid solution is one that maintains both benefits.
Word count: 256. Time target: 38 minutes.
Prompt: Discuss the current situation of youth not attending higher education in many countries. What factors account for this trend and what would your answer be to the problem? Give reasons for your answer. A minimum of 250 words should be written.
Model answer:
There is an increasing proportion of young people refusing to go to the traditional school or university.Increase in young people in different countries opting out of the conventional school/universities for various reasons. The trend is attributable to various economic, social and structural elements each of which is accompanied by potential solutions that can be explored.
An obvious factor is the increasing expenses of higher education. Too many countries over the last 20 years have seen tuition fees soar, while there has been a decline in the strong economic payoff of a college education. Many college graduates have jobs that don’t require their degrees and will likely owe a lot of money for college educations. This cost benefit analysis becomes more compelling towards alternate routes like going through vocational training or apprenticeships, or even directly into the world of work.
The second contributing factor is the increasing numbers of options for education outside the traditional structure. Online certifications, coding bootcamps and industry-specific credentials now are offered to the market but can significantly speed up skills that are important for employers at lower costs than pursuing an entire degree. This has led many into believing that university isn’t essential in some careers.
There is a need for complementary strategies to address these causes if they are to do anything about it. Firstly, it is important that universities re-think their tuition and scholarship policies and increase scholarships for economically disadvantaged students. Second, employers need to expand whom they hire as well to acknowledge that a career might not always require a degree. Third, career advice offered to secondary learners must offer a range of education options that are realistic options and not a focus on university.
In combination, these approaches would provide greater access to higher education and ensure that young people exploring other pathways feel supported, but not disadvantaged, by these either.
Word count: 262. Time target: 38 minutes.
Daily 30-minute routine:
Weekly VSTEP writing rotation:
Task 1 of the VSTEP writing will be at least 120 words long. VSTEP writing Task 2 demands at least 250 words. The responses below any of these thresholds will automatically be given a mark for the Task Fulfillment criterion.
No maximum word count was specified; however, exceeding the desired word count by a considerable margin may result in additional grammatical typing mistakes, and may make your coherence suffer due to lack of embedded topics.
130 to 160 words is a good guideline for Task 1. To write VSTEP Task 2 (Writing Performance 260-290), materials should be adequate to ensure full development without being too wordy.
VSTEP Writing B1, a learner needs to get an average mark of 4.0-5.5 across all four skills. VSTEP writing B2 is the skill level which requires an average score from 6.0 upwards in all four skills.
A VSTEP writing B2 response showcases greater repertoire of vocabulary use, greater consistency of grammar usage, better coherence and development of paragraphs, and more sophisticated and well-established arguments than a B1 response.
These differences are most clearly seen in Task 2 in which B2 responses develop each argument with specific examples and demonstrate a coherence and linkage between the ideas over the three parts of the task.
No. VSTEP writing Task 1 calls for a letter format (full paragraphs, no bullet points). Letters should start with a greeting, include full-sentence development of each point covered by the topic (in one or more body paragraphs), and conclude with a short formal conclusion statement.
Bullet points used in writing in VSTEP Task 1 will negatively impact your Organisation grade since they are not expected to show the B1 to C1 level of coherent and paragraph structures in your writing.
Each task of the VSTEP writing is worth a mark out of 10. Task 1 is marked separately to Task 2. The final VSTEP writing score is based on the addition of the scores of the two tasks, with Task 2 double counting, divided by 3.
In this formula, Task 2 gets twice the weightage as compared to Task 1. For each task all the 4 criteria are evaluated; Task Fulfillment (whether the required points have been covered or not), Organisation (paragraph structure and coherence), Vocabulary (range and accuracy) and Grammar (accuracy and variety of structures).
The most popular topics for the last few years of VSTEP writing Task 2 have been: education and learning, technology and society, environment and sustainability, work and career, health and lifestyle and social issues like urbanization and inequality.
|
Want to FINALLY Pass the IELTS Academic Test And Reach Your Goals? Get Your FREE Lume Account Today to Unlock… ✅ 10,000+ PRACTICE QUESTIONS with detailed answers ✅ FREE MOCK TESTS with fast & accurate AI scoring ✅ Get BETTER SCORES with a PERSONALIZED study plan (Limited seats available!) |
Share
Lume Test
Editor
Lume Test is a leading platform offering practice questions and mock tests for major English exams like PTE, IELTS, TOEIC, Duolingo English Test, and more. We provide up-to-date, comprehensive materials designed to help learners improve their language skills and achieve high scores. With expert-crafted tests that closely mirror real exam formats, Lume Test ensures you're fully prepared for success. Your goals are our mission!
