IELTS General Training Tips For Writing Test  Â
The IELTS General Training Writing test takes 60 minutes. You have to complete two writing tasks.
Task 1
• You have about 20 minutes
• You must write a letter of at least 150 words
• You are given a problem and you muse write a letter explaining a situation and/or requesting information or action.
• You may also have to talk about your needs, wants, likes, dislikes and/or to give opinions.
Task 2
• You have about 40 minutes
• You must write an essay of at least 250 words
• Your answer should be like an essay you would write for a teacher or course tutor
• You are given a problem or an argument/point of view. In your answer, you may have to:
+ describe the situation in your own country
+ give your opinion and explain why you have that opinion
+ agree or disagree with a statement.
For both Tasks apply the following points:
• The topics of the questions will be of general interest, and no specialist knowledge is required. For example, topics can include travel, accommodation, current affairs, shops and services, health and welfare, health and safety, recreation, social and physical environment.
• You must write in complete sentences. Notes are not acceptable.
• Do not copy whole sentences or long phrases from the question. The examiner will recognise them, and they will not count towards the minimum number of words you must write.
• You may write on the question sheet if, for example, you want to underline key words or to write notes. (The person who marks your writing will not sec the question sheet.)
How Answers are Assessed Â
• Task 1 and Task 2 are marked separately, i.e. when the marker is assessing your answer to one task, hc/she will not look at or consider your response to the other task.
• Task 2 is longer and therefore it is more important in calculating your final mark. For example, if you get Band 6 in Task 1 and a Band 5 in Task 2, your overall mark will be Band 5. However, both questions must be answered satisfactorily in order to get a good overall mark. If you write a very good answer to one task and do not attempt the other task, your overall score will be much lower.
• When assessing your writing, the examiner looks at three things:
+ content (the information and ideas)
+ organization (how the information and ideas arc organized)
+ language (sentence structure, vocabulary, etc.)
You should not neglect any of these aspects. For example, if the grammar and vocabulary of your answer are good but the content and organisation are poor, your score will be lower.
Writing Strategies
To answer Task 1 and Task 2 questions, you should work through the following steps:
     + Step 1: Analyze the question
     + Step 2: Make notes of ideas which could be useful
     + Step 3: Make a plan
     + Step 4: Write the letter or essay
     + Step 5: Check for mistakes
For more details, please check out Useful Tips & Strategies for IELTS General Training Writing Task 1 & Useful Tips & Strategies for IELTS General Training Writing Task 2
