Guides
IELTS writing, explained by the mark scheme
Worked samples, band criteria in plain English, and the specific sentences that cost you a band.
Latest
How Your Overall IELTS Band Is Calculated From the Four Papers
Your overall band is the average of the four papers, rounded by a rule most candidates get wrong. Worked examples, and what it means for writing.
IELTS Task 1 Practice: Six Questions With Marked Answers
Six Task 1 practice questions, one answer written out in full, and the four things a marker looks for in it. Academic and General Training.
IELTS Task 2 Topics With Model Answers, Marked
Twenty Task 2 questions sorted by what they ask you to do, one full answer, and links to answers you can read next to the band they were given.
What a Band 9 IELTS Essay Looks Like, and Why Most Advice Is Wrong
Most essays labelled band 9 online are band 7 essays with longer words. Here is what the band 9 descriptors actually ask for, sentence by sentence.
IELTS Opinion Essay Topics With Full Answers
Twelve opinion essay questions, one complete answer written out in full, and the reasoning behind the band each part of it would earn.
IELTS Task 1 Topics: What Actually Comes Up, and How to Prepare for Each
Task 1 topics repeat as chart families, not as subjects. Here is every family that comes up, with a worked opening paragraph for each one.
Scoring and band descriptors
How Your Overall IELTS Band Is Calculated From the Four Papers
Your overall band is the average of the four papers, rounded by a rule most candidates get wrong. Worked examples, and what it means for writing.
What a Band 9 IELTS Essay Looks Like, and Why Most Advice Is Wrong
Most essays labelled band 9 online are band 7 essays with longer words. Here is what the band 9 descriptors actually ask for, sentence by sentence.
The IELTS Band Score Table, and How Writing Is Marked Against It
The full IELTS band table from 1 to 9, what each band means, and the column nobody prints: what a writing answer at each band actually looks like.
IELTS Writing Score Calculator: How the Four Criteria Become One Band
The arithmetic behind your Writing band, written out in full, including the quarter point rounding rule that costs candidates half a band.
IELTS Band Scores Explained: What Each Number Actually Means
A band score is not a mark out of nine. It is an average of four judgements, rounded by a specific rule. Here is the arithmetic, with worked examples.
How Your IELTS Writing Band Score Is Calculated and Rounded
Four criteria, averaged, then rounded to the nearest half band. See the arithmetic on real score combinations, and where a quarter band changes your result.
The Four IELTS Writing Criteria, in Plain English
Task Response, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, Grammar. What each one is really asking, and the one sentence that most often loses each mark.
Grammatical Range: Four Complex Sentence Patterns Worth Memorising
Range means a variety of accurate structures, not long sentences. Four patterns, each shown in a correct version and an overreaching one.
Lexical Resource: Collocation Beats Vocabulary Lists
A rare word used wrongly scores lower than a common word used precisely. Here is what Lexical Resource measures, with paired examples you can copy.
Coherence and Cohesion: Why Adding More Linking Words Lowers Your Band
Moreover, Furthermore and In addition will not raise your band. Here is what Coherence and Cohesion actually measures, and the four devices that do the work.
Stuck at Band 6.5 in Writing? The Four Habits That Hold the Score There
Band 6.5 in writing is rarely a vocabulary problem. Four specific habits keep the score there, and each one has a fix you can make this week.
How to Mark Your Own IELTS Essay Against the Four Criteria
A repeatable four pass method for marking your own IELTS essay, one criterion at a time, with the question to ask at each pass.
Task 1 charts and diagrams
IELTS Task 1 Practice: Six Questions With Marked Answers
Six Task 1 practice questions, one answer written out in full, and the four things a marker looks for in it. Academic and General Training.
IELTS Task 1 Topics: What Actually Comes Up, and How to Prepare for Each
Task 1 topics repeat as chart families, not as subjects. Here is every family that comes up, with a worked opening paragraph for each one.
IELTS Task 1 Sample Answer With Every Criterion Explained
One Academic Task 1 answer, the four criterion estimates behind it, the exact sentences that decided each one, and the same answer rewritten a band higher.
IELTS Task 1 Sample Answers Across Six Chart Types
Six Academic Task 1 chart families, one sample answer each, with the four criterion estimates and the exact sentences that held each answer back.
IELTS Academic Task 1: What Is Different From General Training
Academic Task 1 is a data description, General Training Task 1 is a letter. Same forty minutes, same criteria, two different jobs. Here is the split.
IELTS Writing Task 1: Every Question Type, With a Marked Answer for Each
The six things Task 1 Academic can show you, what each one is really asking for, and a marked sample answer you can read the reasoning behind.
How to Describe Any Process Diagram in IELTS Task 1
A repeatable method for process diagrams: count the stages, name the input and output, choose passive or active, then sequence. With a full sample answer.
IELTS Task 1 Table Questions: Choosing What to Ignore
A table can hold forty numbers and you have 150 words. Selection is the skill being marked. Here is the rule for choosing, with a full sample answer.
IELTS Map Questions: Describing Change Over Time Without Repeating Yourself
Map answers collapse into "was built, was built, was built". Here is the change-verb bank and the direction scaffolding that fixes it, with a full sample.
IELTS Pie Chart Sample Answer: How to Group Percentages Instead of Listing Them
The same pie chart answered twice, once by listing every slice and once by grouping them. See exactly which sentences cost a band and why.
IELTS Bar Chart Sample Answers: Band 6 vs Band 8, Sentence by Sentence
Two answers to the same bar chart, one weak and one strong. Compared sentence by sentence, with the reason each version scores what it scores.
IELTS Line Graph Sample Answer: The Overview Sentence That Decides Your Band
One line graph, four different overview sentences ranked from weakest to strongest, with the reason each version scores what it scores.
The Water Cycle Diagram in IELTS Task 1: A Full Band 8 Answer, Explained
A complete IELTS Task 1 answer for the water cycle diagram, plus the sequencing and passive voice patterns that transfer to any process question.
Task 2 essay types
IELTS Task 2 Topics With Model Answers, Marked
Twenty Task 2 questions sorted by what they ask you to do, one full answer, and links to answers you can read next to the band they were given.
IELTS Opinion Essay Topics With Full Answers
Twelve opinion essay questions, one complete answer written out in full, and the reasoning behind the band each part of it would earn.
IELTS Task 2 Sample Answer With the Band Explained
One full Task 2 answer, the four criterion estimates behind its band, the sentences that earned each one, and the single change worth half a band.
What IELTS Writing Task 2 Asks You to Do
One question, 40 minutes, 250 words, and two thirds of your Writing band. What the instruction is really asking for, and how the four criteria read it.
IELTS Writing Task 2: The Five Question Types and How Each Is Marked
Five question types, five different jobs. What each one is asking for, the structure that fits it, and a marked sample answer for each type.
IELTS Two-Part Questions: Answering Both Halves Properly
A two-part IELTS question asks two things. Answer one and Task Response is capped near band 5. Here is the checklist and a full worked example.
IELTS Problem and Solution Essays: Matching Every Solution to a Named Cause
Most problem and solution essays lose marks because the solutions do not answer the causes raised. See the mismatch, then the rewrite that fixes it.
Discuss Both Views and Give Your Opinion: The Three Paragraph Plans That Work
Where does your opinion actually go in a discuss both views essay? Three legitimate layouts, with the marking consequence of each one.
To What Extent Do You Agree? How to Answer Without Sitting on the Fence
Partly agreeing is allowed and is often the strongest answer, but only if you name the degree and hold it. Here is the committed version next to the mushy one.
IELTS Opinion Essay Sample: A Band 8 Answer With the Thinking Shown
A full IELTS opinion essay, then the plan that produced it, then the three positions you can take on any prompt and when each one is easiest to defend.
IELTS Advantages and Disadvantages Essay: Structure, Sample and the Question Trap
Two different IELTS questions hide behind the same words. Answer the wrong one and Task Response is capped. Here is how to tell them apart, with a full sample.
General Training letters
IELTS General Training Task 1: The Three Registers and When Each Applies
Formal, semi-formal or informal is the first decision in a General Training letter, and getting it wrong limits Task Achievement. A worked answer in each.
Complaint Letter About a Neighbour's Barking Dog: IELTS General Training Sample
A full General Training sample letter about a neighbour's barking dog, plus the complaint skeleton that also works for noise, parking, rubbish and building work.
IELTS General Training Formal Letters: Openings, Closings and the Three Bullet Points
In IELTS General Training, the three bullet points are the marking scheme. How to map each to a paragraph, plus greetings and sign offs that pair correctly.
IELTS Letter to a Neighbour: Formal, Semi-Formal and Informal Versions Compared
One situation, three registers, three letters. How to choose the right tone for a General Training letter to a neighbour, and what the wrong tone costs.
How to Start an IELTS Letter: Dear Sir, Dear Mr Smith, or Dear John?
The greeting you choose in IELTS General Training Task 1 sets the register for the whole letter. Here is how to pick it, and the sign-off that has to match.
Task 2 topics
IELTS Task 2 Topics That Keep Coming Back
Task 2 questions repeat in themes, not in wording. Here is what each theme asks you to argue and the vocabulary that carries from one question to the next.
Recent IELTS Task 2 Questions, Grouped by Type
Task 2 questions repeat in five shapes. Here is each shape with real question wordings, the position it demands, and the paragraph plan that fits it.
Recent IELTS Writing Task 2 Questions and How to Plan Each One in Five Minutes
Twelve recurring Task 2 question shapes, each with a five minute plan instead of a full essay. Planning is the skill that transfers to the unseen question.
IELTS Technology Essay Topics: Getting Beyond 'Technology Has Advantages'
Technology essays attract the most generic answers in the exam. Here is how specificity earns marks, with a worked band comparison you can copy.
IELTS Environment Essay Topics: Ideas, Vocabulary and a Band 8 Sample
The environment theme repeats in six question shapes. Here are the arguments, the collocations that lift Lexical Resource, and a full sample answer.
IELTS Education Essay Topics: Arguments and Vocabulary That Actually Score
Education is the most common Task 2 theme. Here are the arguments on both sides, the collocations that lift Lexical Resource, and the phrases to drop.
IELTS Writing Task 2 Topics: The Nine Themes Every Question Comes From
Task 2 questions are not random. Nine themes cover almost all of them, each with its own arguments and vocabulary. Learn the themes, not the questions.
Exam technique
IELTS Handwriting: What Actually Costs You Marks on Paper
Handwriting is not one of the four marking criteria. It still costs candidates marks, and the reason is simpler than most advice admits.
IELTS Writing: How the Paper Works and How It Is Marked
Sixty minutes, two tasks, four criteria. A single orientation page covering the format, the timing, the marking, and where the marks are actually lost.
IELTS Conclusions: What to Do With the Last Ninety Seconds
Your conclusion has one job and about ninety seconds to do it. Here are three real conclusions to the same question, marked, with the reasoning shown.
Paraphrasing the IELTS Question Without Changing Its Meaning
Copying the prompt earns nothing, and a broken paraphrase costs Task Response. Here are the safe transformations, with worked examples of each.
Do IELTS Examples Have to Be True? Using Evidence You Cannot Cite
You cannot look up a statistic in the exam. Here is what an IELTS example is actually for, and the honest framing that supports an idea without inventing data.
The Five Minute IELTS Essay Plan
Five minutes of planning is not five minutes lost. Here is the minute by minute plan that decides your position and your two body paragraphs before you write.
How to Write an IELTS Introduction in Two Sentences
Paraphrase the question, then state your position. That is the whole job. Here is the bloated version, the two sentence version, and why the short one scores.
IELTS Writing Time Management: Why Task 1 Should Take 20 Minutes and Usually Takes 30
Task 2 is worth twice as much as Task 1, so every extra minute spent on Task 1 is borrowed from the half of the paper that matters more.
Paper or Computer IELTS: Which One Is Better for Writing?
Word count, editing, legibility and planning space all change between the two formats. Here is how to decide which suits your writing, before you book.
Can an IELTS Essay Be Too Long? The Cost of Writing 400 Words
There is no upper word limit in IELTS writing, but a 400 word essay still costs you marks. Here is the real trade, and the length that manages it best.
Grammar and language
Academic Tone in IELTS Writing: Contractions, Slang and 'I Think'
Half of what candidates believe about formal IELTS writing is not a rule. Here is what actually costs marks, what is merely weak, and what is fine.
A, An, The: Articles for IELTS Writers Whose First Language Has None
Vietnamese, Indonesian, Uzbek and Russian have no articles. Here are the four rules that fix most article errors in IELTS writing, with corrected sentences.
The Ten Grammar Errors That Keep IELTS Writing at Band 6
Ten error patterns that appear again and again in band 6 writing, each shown wrong, then corrected, with the rule stated in one line you can remember.
Memorised Phrases Examiners Recognise Instantly
Template openers like "in this fast-paced modern world" are counted in thousands of essays. Here is why they cost you marks and what to write instead.
Worked essay topics
The Legal Drinking Age IELTS Essay: How to Use Country Comparisons as Evidence
Candidates invent statistics under exam pressure. Country comparisons are better evidence, cost nothing to remember, and need no citation. Here is how to use them.
Was Life Better in the Past? IELTS Sample Essay and the Nostalgia Trap
The past-versus-present question invites vague generalisation, and vague generalisation caps your band. Here is the concrete-example discipline that lifts it.
Animal Testing IELTS Essay: Both Sides, With a Full Sample Answer
Argument banks for both sides of the animal testing question, a complete Task 2 sample answer, and the reasoning behind every paragraph choice.