Skip to main content
Exam guide & reading text

C2 Paper 10 — Essay: Read the two texts about the convenience economy and its hidden costs — Writing

"C2 Paper 10 — Essay: Read the two texts about the convenience economy and its hidden costs" is a C2 Proficiency Writing practice task (Essay). Cambridge assesses content, communicative achievement, organisation and language on a scale from 0 to 5 per criterion. Plan before you write: identify the target reader, the required register and the number of points you must address. At C2, examiners expect sophisticated vocabulary used accurately, varied sentence structures and clear paragraphing.

Read the full Writing strategy guide →

How should I approach this C2 writing task?

Plan the Essay before writing, address every prompt point, keep the expected register, respect the word limit, and use feedback to improve content, organisation, grammar range, and vocabulary precision.

Task prompt

Write an essay summarising and evaluating the key points in both texts. Integrate the arguments rather than discussing the texts separately, and use your own ideas to judge which forms of convenience deserve support and how their full costs should be recognised.

Word limit: 280 words

Input texts

Convenience as Wider Access

Services that deliver goods, transport or household assistance on demand are often portrayed as indulgences, yet convenience can expand independence for people with limited time, mobility or local choice. Digital coordination also allows small providers to reach customers without maintaining expensive premises. The challenge is to distinguish genuine efficiency from business models that hide costs in unstable work, excessive packaging or congested streets. Consumers cannot investigate every transaction, so regulation and transparent pricing must make those costs visible. Convenience is not inherently shallow; fairly organised, it can release time and broaden access to useful services.

The Erosion of Everyday Capacity

When every minor inconvenience becomes a service to be purchased, people may lose practical skills, local relationships and tolerance for delay. Platforms encourage this change by presenting speed as neutral progress while shifting risks to workers and public infrastructure. The individual transaction appears cheap because social costs are distributed elsewhere and immediate desire is separated from consequence. Not everyone has the time or ability to avoid such services, but societies should ask which forms of convenience solve real problems and which merely create dependence. Efficiency should be measured against collective resilience, not only minutes saved by the customer.

Assessment criteria

  • Content: All points addressed with relevant detail and examples.
  • Communicative achievement: Appropriate register and tone for the target reader.
  • Organisation: Clear paragraphing with cohesive devices linking ideas.
  • Language: Wide range of vocabulary and structures used with control and accuracy.