How Writing is marked — the four criteria
The four things you are marked on
- Every piece of IELTS writing is marked on four criteria, each given a band from 0 to 9.
- The four are averaged into the task's band, and Task 2 counts twice as much as Task 1.
- Task 1 is marked on Task achievement; Task 2 on Task response. The other three are the same for both.
- Nobody is marked on whether the examiner agrees with you.
How many times more does Task 2 count than Task 1 in the Writing band?
Task 2 counts twice as much, so it gets 40 of the 60 minutes.
Criterion 1 — did you do the job?
- Task 1 — Task achievement. Did you select the key features and report them accurately, and is there an overview?
- Without an overview sentence, Task achievement cannot go above band 5, however good the detail is.
- Task 2 — Task response. Did you answer every part of the question, hold one position, and support each idea rather than assert it?
- A question half answered cannot go above band 5. A position that changes cannot go above band 6.
A Task 1 answer describes every number accurately but has no overview sentence. What is the highest band it can reach on Task achievement?
Without an overview, Task achievement is capped at band 5. The overview is one or two sentences saying what the data does overall.
Criterion 2 — Coherence and cohesion
- Does the writing progress logically, one central idea per paragraph?
- Are the linking words the right ones, in the right places?
- ⚠ Starting every sentence with Firstly, Moreover, Furthermore, Last but not least lowers this band. It is counted as over-use.
- Real cohesion comes from pronouns, repeated noun phrases, and the order you put the ideas in.
Beginning every sentence with Firstly, Moreover, Furthermore raises Coherence and cohesion.
It lowers it. Mechanical linkers are counted as over-use; real cohesion comes from pronouns, repeated noun phrases and the order of ideas.
Criteria 3 and 4 — words and grammar
- Lexical resource is range, precision and collocation — do the words fit each other?
- A common word used correctly beats a rare word used wrongly. Ameliorate the problem is worse than improve the situation, because ameliorate does not go with problem.
- Grammatical range and accuracy is the variety of your structures and how often errors appear.
- Errors that make a reader stop cost more than errors that do not.
Which phrase scores better on Lexical resource?
'Ameliorate' does not collocate with 'problem'. A common word used correctly beats a rare word used wrongly.
Match each criterion to what it measures.
All four are equally weighted within a task, then averaged into the task's band.
Length, and what it costs
- Task 1 needs at least 150 words; Task 2 at least 250.
- Under the minimum is penalised mechanically, on criterion 1, before quality is considered.
- Count if you are unsure. Learn how many words one line of your own handwriting holds, then count lines.
- You must write connected prose. Notes and bullet points are marked as an unfinished answer.
Complete: an answer under the word minimum is penalised on criterion ___.
Criterion 1 — Task achievement for Task 1, Task response for Task 2. The penalty is applied before quality is considered.