Haven't you forgotten the content? My experience is admittedly restricted to the FCE writing tasks at B2 level and Business Letter writing for telc B1 and B2, but here a lot of marks are reserved for answering the question. Perhaps it is different at higher levels?

Diana

Haven't mentioned it on purpose, so everyone is free to contribute with their own experiences...though I might frame the discussion as it goes on, in case many people decide to join the forum with many different experiences, according to the actual experiences.

I have taught quite a few exam classes preparing students for the Cambridge exams and use the exam criteria when marking. I use the acronym CARROT as it is easy to remember and mirrors the exam marking scheme. C is for Content, A is for Accuracy, R is for Register, R is for Range of structures and vocabulary, O is for Organisation and Cohesion, and T is for Target reader, or the effect the writing has on the target reader. You can, of course, use it for non exam classes too.

Silvia,

 thanks for the issue of exam essays. It's very important.The most terrible thing about writing ,especcially informal letters and essays is word limit. It's auful! Who can explain why the mark is lower when everything is perfect except the word limit? Our exam criteria say that more than 3-5-word difference in the volume of an essay leads to a lower mark! How do you like it? What are your criteria for essay writing? I mean other countries.