The writing test is the third test you do on the test day. You have 60 minutes for this test. There are two tasks or parts to do. You will be given a card with the two tasks - one task on each side of the card. You can make notes or write your plans on the card but it will not be seen by the examiner. You will also be given an answer booklet. You have to write your essays in the answer booklet. Notes are not acceptable and essays under the word limit will be penalized.

Writing Task1

The IELTS Academic Task 1 Writing is not an easy part of the exam. Describing a graph well in 20 minutes is not something most people can do straight away whether they are English speakers or not. The fact that it is in a foreign language for you as well doesn't help. Practice is the magic word though. Even good English users need practice for the IELTS exam and it could mean all the difference between pass and fail. There is limited practice available and it's quite expensive. That's why we would recommend you download our practice material. You will get more practice for less money.

The Task

Basically The IELTS Academic Task 1 Writing is an information transfer task related to the factual content of an input text(s), graph(s), table(s) or diagram(s). It can be combinations of these inputs. Usually you will have to describe the information given in 1, 2 or 3 three inputs but sometimes you have will have to describe a process shown in a diagram.

Marking for the IELTS Academic Task 1 Writing

The IELTS Academic Task 1 Writing will be marked in three areas. You will get a mark from 1 to 9 on Task

Fulfillment, Coherence & Cohesion and Vocabulary and Sentence Structure. Your final band for task 1 will be effectively an average of the three marks awarded in these areas. Task 1 writing is less important than task 2 and to calculate the final writing mark, more weight is assigned to the task 2 mark than to task 1's mark. To get a good overall mark for The IELTS Academic Task 1 Writing though, both tasks have to be well answered so don't hold back on task 1 or give yourself too little time to answer it properly.

Task Fulfillment this is where you can really make a difference through careful preparation. This mark grades you on basically "have you answered the question".

Cohesion and Coherence These two are interrelated which is why they are done together. Cohesion is how your writing fits together. Does your writing with its ideas and content flow logically? Coherence is how you are making yourself understood and whether the reader of your writing understands what you are saying.

Vocabulary and Sentence Structure This area looks at the your grammar and choice of words. The marker will look at whether the right grammar and words are used and whether they are used at the right time in the right place and in the right way.

Task 2 in the IELTS Academic Writing Test is more important than task 1. You have to write more, it's a more difficult task and it is worth more to your final band for writing as more weight is given to Task 2 than to Task 1.

The IELTS Academic Writing Test

The IELTS Academic Writing Test lasts for 1 hour and includes 2 tasks. Task 1 is a letter and you must write at least 150 words. You should spend about 20 minutes out of the hour for Task 1. Task 2 is an essay and you must write at least 250 words. You should spend about 40 minutes for Task 2.

The Task for the IELTS Academic Task 2 Writing

The IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 asks you to write a short essay of a minimum of 250 words. The essay is usually a discussion of a subject of general interest. You may have to present and justify your opinion about something, give the solution to a problem or compare differing ideas or viewpoints. Marking for the IELTS Academic Task 2 Writing

Your task will be marked in three areas. You will get a mark from 1 to 9 on Arguments, Ideas and Evidence, Communicative Quality and Vocabulary and Sentence Structure. Your final band for Task 2 will be effectively an average of the three marks awarded in these areas. Task 2 writing is more important than Task 1 and to calculate the final writing mark, more weight is assigned to the Task 2 mark than to Task 1's mark. To get a good overall mark though, both tasks have to be well answered so don't hold back on Task 1 or give yourself too little time to answer it properly.

Arguments, Ideas and Evidence

This mark grades you on the content of your essay. The argument is how you present your case as regards the question. The ideas part is how many and how good your ideas are in helping your argument. The evidence is the facts that you use to back up your ideas. Evidence is very important in Task 2. You need to bring in facts from your own experience in order to support your ideas. The three parts (Arguments, Ideas and Evidence) are not independent but blend together to give a good answer. Together they really present the content and substance of your essay. Communicative Quality

This is how you are making yourself understood and whether the reader of your writing understands what you are saying. Are you communicating well with the reader and are your ideas that you want to present understood by the reader?

Vocabulary and Sentence Structure

This area looks at the your grammar and choice of words. The marker will look at whether the right grammar and words are used and whether they are used at the right time, in the right place and in the right way. Most people are predominantly worried about their grammar but, as you can see, grammar is only half of one section of three used to grade your writing. IELTS is much more interested in communication rather than grammatical accuracy.