Harver Writing Test: Practise Customer-Service Replies in 800 Characters

What the Harver Writing Assessment looks at

The Harver writing assessment, one of Harver’s newer modules, checks how well you write in English for a job, usually customer service by email or chat. You answer between one and six open questions; Harver offers two ready-made customer-service scenarios, and employers can write their own. Each answer must be 300 to 800 characters, about 50 to 140 words, and a live counter shows how many you have used. You have 10 minutes per question by default, pasting is disabled, and you cannot go back to change an earlier answer.

Harver scores every answer automatically on four criteria: Task Response (did you do what was asked), Vocabulary, Coherence and Grammar. The result is a CEFR level from A1 to C2 and a percentage. With more than one question, the overall score is your best question’s score rather than the average, so one strong answer counts more than two average ones. Employers can also turn on detection of AI-written text.

Candidate Falcon’s practice gives you two original customer-service tasks, such as a late delivery or a refund outside the returns window, under the same rules: 10 minutes, 300 to 800 characters, no pasting and no going back. Your result shows a score out of 5 and a tip for each criterion, a CEFR estimate per answer, and an overall result from your best answer. The scores are our estimate from your text, not Harver’s scoring.

How the Writing Assessment practice works

1. Press Start practice. Read the customer’s message, the company policy if there is one, and the task line.
2. Type your reply in the box. Watch the counter: you need at least 300 characters and can write up to 800.
3. Press Submit answer, or Ctrl+Enter, when you are done. If the 10 minutes run out, the reply is submitted as it is.
4. Answer the second task the same way. You cannot go back to the first one.
5. Read your scores, the tip for each criterion and the CEFR estimate for both answers.

Writing Assessment tips

• Open by acknowledging the customer’s problem in one sentence, then apologise where it fits.
• Answer every question in the message, and use the facts from the policy, such as dates, fees and time frames.
• End with a clear next step: what you will do, what the customer needs to do, and when.
• Aim for 500 to 750 characters: enough to cover the task, with room left to reread.
• Spend the last minute checking spelling, capital letters and full stops; the practice has spell check turned off.

Common Writing Assessment mistakes

• Writing a friendly reply that never says what will actually happen next.
• Promising something the policy does not allow, such as a refund after the deadline.
• Stopping just under 300 characters, or running out of time before the reply is finished.
• Repeating the same words (sorry, problem, order) instead of varying them.
• One long paragraph with no linking words, which makes the reply hard to follow.

A short Writing Assessment practice routine

1. Do one run without worrying about time, then read the tip for each criterion.
2. Rewrite your weakest answer using the tips, then do a fresh run with the timer.
3. Build a short checklist: acknowledge, apologise, act, next step, check.
4. Before the real test, practise typing your replies without spell check, as the practice does.

Writing Assessment FAQ

Practise other Harver modules

• Language Proficiency practice
• Live Chat Simulation practice
• Spoken Language Assessment practice

Sources

• Harver knowledge base: Writing Assessment
• Harver: language proficiency assessment