IELTS Writing guides

How the marking actually works, written plainly. These explain the publicly published assessment criteria in our own words — they do not reproduce official descriptor text.

• How IELTS Writing is scored
  IELTS Writing is marked on four equally weighted criteria, and Task 2 counts double. How the four scores combine into your final band, and how the rounding works.
• What Band 7 actually requires in IELTS Task 2
  Band 7 in IELTS Writing Task 2 is not about advanced vocabulary. It is about answering the whole question, controlling complex sentences, and producing frequent error-free sentences.
• IELTS Writing word count: why 150 and 250 matter
  Writing under the IELTS minimum word count is penalised under Task Achievement. What the limits are, what happens if you go under, and whether writing more helps.
• Common mistakes in IELTS Academic Task 1
  The most frequent Academic Task 1 errors: no overview, describing every data point, giving opinions, misreading the chart, and using the wrong tense.