IELTS Writing practice: Task 1 and Task 2
IELTS Writing is one hour, two tasks and four marking criteria. It is also the paper where students improve most slowly, because writing without feedback mostly rehearses the habits that are already holding the score down.
This page explains what each task asks for, how examiners mark it, and how to practise Writing on TestPilot with model answers and AI evaluation against the official criteria.
The two Writing tasks at a glance
| Task 1 | Task 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Suggested time | 20 minutes | 40 minutes |
| Minimum length | 150 words | 250 words |
| Academic task | Describe a chart, graph, table, map or process | Write a discursive essay responding to a prompt |
| General Training task | Write a letter for a given situation | Write a discursive essay responding to a prompt |
| Weight in the Writing band | One third | Two thirds |
Task 2 carries twice the weight of Task 1, so a common and costly mistake is spending thirty minutes perfecting a chart description and then rushing the essay. On the computer-delivered test the word count updates automatically, which removes the counting problem but not the timing one.
How IELTS Writing is marked
Both tasks are marked against four equally weighted criteria. Knowing them changes what you practise, because each one fails for a different reason:
- Task Achievement (Task 1) or Task Response (Task 2) — did you do everything the question asked, with a clear position and developed ideas?
- Coherence and Cohesion — is the writing organised into logical paragraphs, with linking that helps rather than decorates?
- Lexical Resource — is the vocabulary varied, precise and used naturally?
- Grammatical Range and Accuracy — is there a range of sentence structures, and how often do errors interfere with meaning?
The most common ceiling
Many candidates plateau because of Task Response, not grammar. An essay that answers only half the question, or never states a position, is capped no matter how clean the language is.
How to practise IELTS Writing on TestPilot
TestPilot Writing tests open in the computer-delivered writing screen with the prompt, the response box and a live word count, timed like the real paper. When you submit, an AI evaluation returns a breakdown against the four criteria with specific, sentence-level comments on what to change — not a single number.
Alongside the tests, the Writing Samples library holds model Task 1 and Task 2 answers you can study for structure and phrasing, and teachers using TestPilot can review the AI evaluation and set their own final band and feedback for their students.
AI evaluations are included in every plan in limited numbers, so it is worth writing deliberately: one essay written under timed conditions and then rewritten after feedback is worth more than three first drafts.
A practice routine that works
- Write Task 2 first in every practice session. It carries more marks and needs your freshest forty minutes.
- Plan for five minutes before you write. A three-paragraph plan is faster than repairing a drifting essay.
- Write to time, not to comfort. An untimed essay tells you nothing about exam performance.
- Read the feedback against the four criteria and pick one criterion to fix in your next essay.
- Rewrite the same essay once with that fix applied. This is where the band actually moves.
Frequently asked questions
How long should I spend on each IELTS Writing task?
Twenty minutes on Task 1 and forty minutes on Task 2. Task 2 is worth twice as much, so protecting its forty minutes matters more than finishing Task 1 perfectly.
What happens if I write fewer than 150 or 250 words?
Under-length responses are penalised under Task Achievement or Task Response. Write comfortably above the minimum rather than counting to it exactly.
Is IELTS Writing marked by a person or by a computer?
In the official exam it is marked by trained human examiners against the public band descriptors. AI evaluation, like the one on TestPilot, is a practice tool for fast structured feedback between exams — it is not an official score.
Can AI feedback replace a teacher?
It replaces the waiting, not the teacher. AI evaluation is best used for immediate feedback on structure, task response and repeated language errors, with a teacher or study partner for judgement calls.
Write a timed Task 1 or Task 2 answer and get a criterion-by-criterion evaluation of it.
Practise IELTS Writing