Test takers entering undergraduate and postgraduate studies, as well as those seeking professional registration, will find the topics of general interest and suitability. There are two tasks to complete:
Task 1– You’ll be given a graph, table, chart, or diagram to describe, summarise, or explain in your own words. You might be asked to describe and explain data, process stages, how something works, or a specific object or event.
Task 2– In response to a point of view, argument, or problem, you will be asked to write an essay. Both tasks must be completed in a formal manner.
Paper format – Both of the writing assignments must be completed.
Timing 60 minutes
No. of questions 2
Task types
Task 1 – Test takers are asked to describe in their own words some visual information (graph/table/chart/diagram). They have about 20 minutes to write 150 words.
Task 2 – They react to a point of view, a debate, or a problem. They have about 40 minutes to write 250 words.
Answering
Answers must be written in their entirety on the answer sheet. Answers in the form of notes or bullet points are not acceptable. Test takers are allowed to write on the question paper, but they cannot take it out of the room and the examiner will not see it.
Topics are of general interest. There are two tasks:
Task 1 – You’ll be given a situation and asked to write a letter requesting information or explaining what happened. The letter can be written in a personal, semi-formal, or formal tone.
Task 2 – You’ll be asked to respond to a point of view, argument, or problem with an essay. The essay’s tone and content can be quite personal.
IELTS General Training Writing description
Paper format
There are two Writing tasks to complete.
Timing 60 minutes
No. of questions 2
Task types
Test takers are asked to respond to a situation by writing a letter requesting information or explaining a situation in Task 1.
In Task 2, test takers respond to a point of view, argument, or problem by writing an essay.
Answering
Answers must be written in the answer booklet in their entirety. Answers in the form of notes or bullet points, in whole or in part, are not acceptable. Test takers are allowed to write on the question paper, but they cannot take it out of the room and the examiner will not see it.
No. of questions 1
Marking and assessment
IELTS examiners with certification grade writing responses. All IELTS examiners have relevant teaching qualifications, are hired by test centres as examiners, and are approved by the British Council or IDP: IELTS Australia.
Each task is graded separately. Task 2 is given more weight in the marking process than Task 1. Whole and half bands are used to report scores. Written performance at the nine IELTS bands has been described in detail using detailed performance descriptors. They can be found on the page about how IELTS is scored. The descriptors are based on the following criteria and apply to both the Academic and General Training versions.
Task 1 responses are assessed on:
Task 2 responses are assessed on:
Task 1
Task achievement
This evaluates how well the response meets the task’s requirements in terms of appropriateness, accuracy, and relevance, using a minimum of 150 words. General Training Writing Task 1 is a writing task with a largely predictable outcome in that each task establishes the context and purpose of the letter, as well as the functions that the test taker should cover to achieve this goal.
Coherence and cohesion
This evaluates the message’s overall clarity and fluency: how the response organises and connects information, ideas, and language. The linking of ideas through logical sequencing is referred to as coherence. Cohesion is the varied and appropriate use of cohesive devices (such as logical connectors, pronouns, and conjunctions) to aid in the clarification of conceptual and referential relationships between and within sentences.
Lexical resource
This refers to the range of vocabulary used by test takers, as well as the accuracy and appropriateness of that vocabulary in terms of the task at hand.
Grammatical range and accuracy
This refers to the range and accuracy with which the test takers used grammar in their sentence writing.
Task 2
Task response
Task 2 requires test takers to formulate and develop a position in response to a question or statement in both the Academic and General Training versions of the IELTS. Ideas should be backed up by evidence, and examples from the test takers’ own lives can be used. Responses must be a minimum of 250 words long. Scripts that are less than the required word count will be penalised.
For Task 1 and Task 2, the other three assessment criteria (coherence and cohesion, lexical resource, grammatical range, and accuracy) are the same.
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