Band 8 model answer
A model answer written to illustrate a Band 8 response to this question, with the rubric breakdown and what carries it. Written by us as a teaching example, not a verified exam script.
“Misinformation on the internet is becoming a serious threat to democracy. To what extent do you agree?”8
Overall
8
Task response
8
Coherence & cohesion
8
Lexical resource
8
Grammar
The rapid spread of false information online has prompted concern that democratic societies are being undermined. I largely agree that misinformation poses a serious threat, although its damage depends heavily on how citizens and institutions respond.
There are strong reasons to view online misinformation as dangerous. Democracy rests on the assumption that voters make informed choices, yet fabricated stories and misleading claims can distort public understanding of important issues, from elections to public health. Because social media platforms reward content that provokes outrage, sensational falsehoods often travel faster and further than careful reporting, allowing a single rumour to reach millions before it can be corrected. In the worst cases, deliberate disinformation campaigns deepen social divisions and erode trust in the very institutions, such as courts and electoral bodies, on which democracy depends.
Nevertheless, I would not regard the threat as unstoppable. Societies are not passive victims of false information: independent fact-checking organisations, quality journalism, and media-literacy education can all help citizens distinguish reliable sources from unreliable ones. Several governments and platforms have also begun labelling or removing demonstrably false content, which, if applied transparently, can limit its reach without censoring legitimate debate.
The decisive factor, therefore, is resilience. Where people are taught to question what they read and where trustworthy information remains freely available, the influence of misinformation is significantly reduced; where it is not, democratic debate can indeed be poisoned.
In conclusion, I agree that online misinformation represents a genuine and serious danger to democracy, but its ultimate impact will be determined by how seriously education, journalism, and regulation rise to meet it.
- •Takes a nuanced “to what extent” position, agrees the threat is serious but conditions it on how societies respond, and sustains that line throughout.
- •Ideas are built with cause and effect (outrage-driven algorithms → falsehoods spread faster) rather than asserted.
- •Sophisticated, accurate lexis: “fabricated stories”, “deliberate disinformation campaigns”, “media-literacy education”.
- •Varied complex sentences, well punctuated and essentially error-free.
- •A few claims would be stronger with a concrete real-world example; that added specificity is the main gap to Band 9.
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