Band 8 Excellent: The ability to communicate with clarity, precision and efficiency. The use of a wide variety of structures and vocabulary with flexibility and confidence. Sufficient control of language to handle well a wide range of face-to-face and written interactions in social, academic, or professional conversational exchanges. May produce occasional errors or minor flaws, but these do not detract from the effectiveness of the speaking and writing. At this level, speakers/writers will not often produce irrelevant language or veer off-topic (e.g. as might be reflected in less-well focused writing, or in a discussion of a topic which is tangential to the question asked by an interlocutor in an oral exam).