A report is one of the Part 2 options. You write for a superior, a committee, an institution or a group of peers, presenting information, evaluating it and making recommendations. C2 tasks often combine facts with analysis: assessing a course, a change at work or a significant event, and suggesting what should follow.
The register is formal and impersonal, and the report is organised under headings. The reader wants to be informed and advised efficiently, so clarity, objectivity and well-founded conclusions matter more than colour.
C2 report tasks are often long and packed with requirements: evaluate the content, organisation and method, assess its usefulness for colleagues, suggest questions for discussion. List them all and make each one a visible section.
Keep the reader and purpose in mind. A report for your employer on a training course needs a different emphasis from one prepared for a student society meeting.
Keep the tone formal and detached: passives, impersonal constructions and nominalisation (the introduction of flexible hours led to...) rather than personal narrative. Avoid contractions, rhetorical flourishes and emotional language.
Where the task asks for your view, give it with measured authority: on the basis of these findings, it would appear that or it is my considered opinion that.
Description earns little at C2. Each section should present facts and then weigh them up: strengths, weaknesses, causes and implications. Evaluative language (a marked improvement, of questionable value, largely counterproductive) carries the analysis.
Support your evaluation with plausible evidence: staff feedback, attendance figures, a comparison with last year. Invented data is expected, as long as it is believable.
Use a title, an introduction stating purpose and scope, headed sections that mirror the task and a final section of recommendations. Headings should be informative: Impact on collaboration, not Point 2.
Link the sections so the report reads as a whole: in view of the above, by contrast, this in turn. Bullet points may appear briefly, but most of the report should be fully developed prose.
C2 language in a report is precise and economical: exact reporting verbs (reveal, indicate, attribute to), complex passives (the scheme is widely considered to have) and the subjunctive after recommend and propose.
Sophistication here means exact terms, not flowery adjectives. A 15% fall in absenteeism says far more than an amazing improvement.
Content: every element of the task covered, with recommendations. Communicative Achievement: formal, objective and useful to the stated reader. Organisation: headings, logical sections, cohesion. Language: a wide, precise range.
Common traps: missing one of several task requirements, personal anecdotes instead of findings, recommendations unrelated to the evaluation, and headings with nothing substantial beneath them.
Your company has trialled a four-day working week for six months. The managing director has asked you for a report evaluating its effect on productivity and staff wellbeing, identifying any problems and recommending whether it should become permanent.
Four-Day Week Trial: Evaluation and Recommendations Introduction The purpose of this report is to assess the impact of the six-month trial of a four-day working week and to recommend whether the arrangement should be made permanent. The findings are drawn from productivity data, an anonymous staff survey completed by 86 employees and interviews with all six department heads. Productivity Contrary to the concerns expressed before the trial, output has not declined. Sales figures remained stable throughout the period, while the design team completed projects on average two days ahead of schedule. Department heads attributed this largely to shorter, more focused meetings and a marked reduction in time lost to non-essential tasks. Client satisfaction ratings were likewise unaffected. Staff wellbeing The effect on morale has been overwhelmingly positive. Over 80% of respondents reported lower stress levels, and sick leave fell by almost a third compared with the same period last year. Several employees noted that the additional free day had allowed them to deal with personal matters without taking annual leave. Problems identified The trial has not, however, been without difficulties. Customer service found it hard to maintain full cover on Fridays, which led to a small number of complaints about delayed responses. In addition, a minority of staff admitted to working longer and more intensive days, raising concerns about fatigue in the long term. Recommendations In view of these findings, it is recommended that the four-day week be adopted permanently, subject to two adjustments. Firstly, customer-facing staff should work on a rota so that the service remains available five days a week. Secondly, managers should monitor working hours closely to ensure that the gains in wellbeing are not undermined by excessive workloads. A further review after twelve months would allow the policy to be refined where necessary.
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