The format of IELTS General Training Writing consists of two tasks – Task 1 and Task 2. The first task is about letter writing and the second task is an essay on any argument or a problem given.
In Writing Task 1, you will be given a situation to write a personal response in a formal, semi-formal, or informal format. The word limit of this task is a minimum of 150 words. Some of the situations could be writing a letter to a company for a job opportunity after looking at the advertisement, or a letter to your friend regarding a public event saying you are interested in a party that is hosted by your friend, or an apology letter to your friend for damaging the furniture by mistake in her/his house and so on. You should assess that letter response to be informal, formal, or semi-formal based on the situation. In all of these tasks, a few bullet points are given stating what kind of information or response that the test taker should include in their letter.
Below is one of the Writing Task 1 questions
You recently stayed at your friend’s place to look after the house while he/she is away. You accidentally damaged something in his/her house. Write a letter to your friend.
In your letter, you should:
- describe what the accident was
- explain when it happened
- suggest how the damage can be fixed.
Time and word limit of Writing Task 1
Please remember that you cannot spend more than 20 mins for Task 1 as you require more time for Task 2. And, ensure that your answer is not too short because you will be penalized if your word count is less than 150. Also, make sure that your response should be complete, relevant to the topic. Otherwise, you will be penalized for any of these mistakes.
Writing Task 1 marking and assessment
Task 1 responses are assessed and marked based on the following criteria:
- Task achievement
- Coherence and cohesion
- Lexical resource
- Grammatical range and accuracy
Source: https://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/teach-ielts/test-information/assessment
