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.
“The diagram illustrates the natural water cycle.”8
Overall
8
Task response
8
Coherence & cohesion
8
Lexical resource
8
Grammar
The diagram illustrates the natural water cycle, showing how water moves continuously between the oceans, the atmosphere, and the land.
Overall, the process is cyclical and has no fixed start or end point. It involves four principal stages, namely evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and surface run-off, and depends primarily on solar energy to drive the movement of water.
The cycle is typically described as beginning when the sun heats the ocean surface. This solar energy causes water to evaporate, transforming liquid water into water vapour that rises into the atmosphere. As the vapour climbs to higher altitudes, it cools and undergoes condensation, forming tiny water droplets that cluster together to create clouds.
Once sufficient water has accumulated in the clouds, precipitation occurs and the water falls back to the earth's surface as rain or snow, depending on the temperature. This water then flows down mountains and hillsides via rivers and streams in a process known as run-off, gradually making its way back towards the ocean. On reaching the ocean, the water is once again exposed to solar heat, and the cycle begins again, continuing indefinitely and maintaining the distribution of fresh water across the planet.
- •Overview correctly identifies the process as cyclical with no fixed start point, names all four key stages, and attributes the driving force to solar energy.
- •Present simple active is used accurately and consistently throughout, appropriate for a natural process: 'the sun heats', 'water evaporates', 'vapour rises', 'water flows'.
- •Key scientific terminology is used correctly: 'evaporation', 'condensation', 'precipitation', 'run-off'.
- •The cyclical nature is made explicit at the close of the description: 'the cycle begins again'.
- •The description of precipitation could specify that snow melt also contributes to run-off, which would account more fully for the cold-climate portion of the diagram.
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