How IELTS Writing is marked
Each task is marked on four equally weighted criteria, and the two tasks are then combined with Task 2 counting double. Knowing which of your four is lowest is worth more than any amount of general practice, because the criteria do not improve together.
The four, and what each is looking for
| Criterion | What moves it up | What holds it down |
|---|---|---|
| Task Achievement / Response | Answering exactly what was asked; developed ideas | A near-miss reading of the prompt; thin development |
| Coherence and Cohesion | Clear paragraphs, one idea each; natural linking | Linkers used mechanically; no paragraphing |
| Lexical Resource | Precision and collocation | Thesaurus words used approximately |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | A variety of structures, mostly accurate | Correct but uniformly simple sentences |
The usual ceiling is the first criterion
Most candidates who plateau are plateauing on Task Response rather than on English. An essay in confident, accurate English that answers a slightly different question — broader, narrower, or one half of a two-part prompt — cannot reach the higher bands, and more vocabulary will not move it.
- Spend two minutes on the prompt before writing. It is the highest-return two minutes in the paper.
- Count the things the prompt asks for and make sure your plan has that many parts.
- Check your essay against the prompt at the end, not against your plan.
Connectives are over-used because they are visible. Coherence is about ideas following each other sensibly; a paragraph opened with "Moreover" that does not add anything is marked down, not up.
How Writing is marked — FAQs
2 questions
On the same four criteria, but the first is named differently — Task Achievement for Task 1, Task Response for Task 2 — and Task 2 counts double.
Yes. The four criteria are averaged, so a Writing band of 6.5 is normal.
More writing question types
Sources
Written from the test board's own published material and checked on 1 October 2026.