IELTS General Writing Task 1
Test Format
In the general training version of the IELTS writing exam, for task 1 you are required to write a letter.
There are only really two types of letters that you can be asked to write: a formal letter or an informal one. Your ability to choose language that matches the required level of formality will therefore be considered when assessing your letter.
You should write at 150 words for this task and spend no more than 20 minutes. When practising, aim to produce letters of 170-180 words in about 15-18 minutes.
Formality
The first thing you will need to decide when writing your letter is whether it needs to be formal or informal. In English, we use formal language with people we don’t know or who are in positions of power. With our friends, we use informal English unless we are addressing them in a position of authority (for example, if your boss also happens to be your friend).
With your friends, you might be in the habit of using a lot of slang. It is best to avoid this in IELTS. IELTS examiners are not typically young people who use slang themselves, and they misinterpret your slang as incorrect use of English.
Similarly, when writing a formal letter, that doesn’t mean we need to be overly polite or formal. We may still need to be fairly direct about what we want and this may mean presuming the reader will take action. If not, we should use phrases that are likely to convince them to take action e.g. “I strongly urge you to…”
Scoring
The IELTS general writing task 1 is graded accorded to four criteria:
- Task achievement – essentially, how well your letter meets the purpose for which you are writing.
- Coherence and cohesion – whether your writing makes sense logically in the connections within and between sentences.
- Lexical resource – in other words, the width and depth of your vocabulary.
- Grammatical range and accuracy – whether you know more complex structures and are able to use them appropriately.
For a more in-depth look at the IELTS scoring, click here.
General Hints
The following tips are useful for writing a letter in task 1:
- Before writing, spend a minute looking at the task. Try to work out what you want to write for each point.
- You are generally given three points to write about. One paragraph per point is a good rule of thumb.
- Good letters tend to describe a few ideas, rather than listing ideas. For example, it is better to write “when you visit my town, there is a quaint little coffee shop overlooking the river, which I’d love to show you”. This is better than “there are many cafes, restaurants and bars you can visit“.
- You can invent as many details as you want, although I would say it is better to keep it realistic.
- You might need to invent details about the person you are writing to and include these in your letter. For example: I remember you telling me that you were interested in Roman history. Therefore, if you come to my city, you must visit the aqueduct as it is a very well-preserved example from this time.
- In a formal letter, use yours sincerely to sign off if you know the name of the person you are writing to, and yours faithfully, if you don’t.
- For informal letters, you could finish with a phrase like best wishes.
