Do printed newspapers have a future
This is a model answer written to show what a Band 7 response looks like against the marking criteria. It is a worked example, not a graded submission. To see your own band, paste your writing into the free checker.
The prompt
Fewer people are buying printed newspapers now that news is freely available online. Why is this happening? Do you think printed newspapers will disappear completely?
Band 7 model answer (265 words)
Sales of printed newspapers have fallen steadily for two decades as readers move to screens. This essay considers why print is losing its audience and argues that, although the decline will continue, newspapers are unlikely to vanish entirely.
The main reason for the shift is speed and cost. Online news is updated by the minute and is usually free, while a printed paper reports yesterday's events and charges for the privilege. Habits have changed with the technology: most people now encounter news on the phone they already hold, through alerts and social media, so buying a physical paper requires a deliberate effort that fewer and fewer are willing to make. Advertising money has followed the readers, which leaves papers with thinner budgets and less reason to print at all.
Despite this, I do not believe print will disappear completely. A printed paper still offers things a feed cannot: a finished, edited package with a clear beginning and end, read without notifications interrupting every paragraph. Older readers remain loyal to it, and some younger ones are returning to print precisely because it lets them switch off. Weekend editions and local papers also serve communities and rituals, the slow Saturday read, that digital versions have never replaced.
What seems most likely is a smaller, more specialised role, in which daily mass-market printing fades while weekly and premium titles survive for readers who value depth over speed.
In conclusion, printed newspapers are declining because online news is faster, cheaper and more convenient, but their strengths as a calm, finished product should keep a reduced version of them alive.
Why this reaches Band 7
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Task Response
Both parts are answered with a clear position on the second ("unlikely to vanish entirely"), and the prediction is refined into something specific, "a smaller, more specialised role", rather than a vague yes or no.
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Coherence and Cohesion
Causes and prediction each get their own territory, and the progression from decline to survival to synthesis feels like one argument, helped by links such as "Despite this" and "What seems most likely".
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Lexical Resource
Precise and occasionally stylish phrasing: "charges for the privilege", "a finished, edited package", "readers who value depth over speed".
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Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A confident mix of structures, including embedded contrast ("while a printed paper reports yesterday's events") and appositional detail ("communities and rituals, the slow Saturday read"), with minimal error.
The one fix to reach Band 7
Band 6 answers to prediction questions tend to stop at "maybe they will, maybe they will not". The upgrade to Band 7 is committing to a specific, qualified prediction, as this essay does with its "smaller, more specialised role", and then supporting that exact claim.
Now check your own answer.
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