IELTS Writing Band descriptors

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23-06-2025

IELTS writing Band descriptors - Task 1 & Task 2

In the IELTS writing test, you will get a band score 1-9 based on your writing skills. Your performance in English writing will be assessed on various IELTS writing band descriptors. There are commonly four band descriptors for both academic and general training tests. Those are Task achievement or task response, Coherence and cohesion, Lexical resource, Grammatical range and accuracy. Examiners assess your word count, handwriting, and the quality of your essay as IELTS writing band descriptors. For Writing Task 1, task achievement will be assessed, which means how appropriately and relevantly you answer the question. For Writing Task 2, task response will be assessed, which determines how well you justify your opinion and present your essay.

Keep reading this article as we make you explore full assessment scales used by IELTS writing examiners, which consists IELTS band descriptors and its key assessment criteria.

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What are the 4 marking criteria for the IELTS writing task?

The examiner assesses your response based on 4 marking criteria, which you can find below. Each criterion carries 25% of your overall band score in the IELTS writing task,

Task response or Task achievement
Coherence and cohesion
Grammar
Lexical resources

The IELTS writing task 1 & writing task 2 band descriptors pdf is given here for your reference. You can see descriptor for each band level here.

Task response or Task achievement:

In Task 1, Task achievement is one of the criteria which differs from Task 2. It refers to how you achieve the requirements given in the task appropriately, accurately and relevantly with the minimum of 150 words. You should not write less than 150 words, which will affect your band score.

In Task 2, Task response is the criterion. You need to articulate and develop a position for the prompt given in the form of opinion or question. You have to support your ideas with strong supporting reasons and examples, which can be picked from your real life experiences. It must be a minimum of 250 words.

Marking criteria: Task achievement for writing Task 1

Band Score	Task Achievement	Skill Level
9	Need to be satisfy all the requirements of the task Have to present a fully and clearly developed response	Expert
8	Need to cover all the requirements of the task adequately Have to present, highlight and illustrate the key features or bullet points in a clear and appropriate manner	Very good
7	Needs to achieve the requirements of the task Academic - have to present a clear overview of main trends, differences or stages General training - A purpose supposed to be clearly presented and tone should be consistent and appropriate	Good
6	Need to address the task requirements Academic - an overview supposed to be present with information appropriately selected General training - presented purpose is generally clear and there might be inconsistencies in tone Presented and highlighted key features/ bullet points but details might be irrelevant, inappropriate and inaccurate	Competent
5	Addressed the task generally but the format might be inappropriate in places Academic - Mechanically reproduced the detail with no clear overview; there might be no data to support the description General training - letter’s purpose is unclear at times; the tone might be variable and sometimes inappropriate Presented; but key features and bullet points are insufficiently covered; there might be a tendency to focus on details	Modest
4	Task is addressed but it did not covered all the key features and bullet points; the format might be inappropriate General training - failed to clearly explained the purpose of the letter; the tone might be inappropriate Might be confused key features or bullet points with details; parts might be unclear, irrelevant, repetitive or inaccurate	Limited
3	Failed to address the task, which might have been completely misunderstood Presented minimal ideas which are mostly irrelevant or repetitive	Extremely Limited
2	Answer is not related to the task that much.	Intermittent
1	Answer is not entirely related to the task	Non-user
0	Did not attend Did not attempt the task in any way Wrote a entirely memorised response	Did not attemp the test

Know more about the IELTS general writing task 1, to crack the exam with a high band score.

Marking criteria: Task response for writing Task 2

Band score	Task response	Skill Level
9	Fully addresses all aspects of the task Needs to present a fully developed position in response to question with relevant, fully extended and well supported ideas	Expert
8	Adequately addressed all parts of the task Have to present a well constructed response to the question with relevant, extended and supported ideas.	Very good
7	All parts of the task have to be addressed Need to present a clear position throughout the response Main ideas are presented, extended, supported but overgeneralise or supporting idea could lack the focus	Good
6	All parts of the task might be addressed but some parts might be covered more fully than others Though the conclusions are unclear and repetitive, a relevant position is presented Presented relevant main ideas but some ideas might be insufficiently developed/ unclear	Competent
5	Only partially addressed the task; the format might be not suitable in places Position is expressed but the development is not always clear and there might be no conclusions were drawn Some of the presented ideas are limited and inadequately developed and there could be irrelevant detail	Modest
4	Responding to the task minimally or the answer is erratic; the format might be inappropriate Position is presented but it is unclear Some main ideas are presented but those are hard to identify and might be repetitive, irrelevant and not well supported	Limited
3	Does not sufficiently address all parts of the task. Clear position is not expressed Few ideas are presented but those are largely undeveloped and irrelevant	Extremely Limited
2	Hardly responds to the task Does not express a position Attempted to present one or two ideas but there is no development	Intermittent
1	Answer is entirely is unrelated to the task	Non-user
0	Does not attend the test Does not attempt the task in any manner Writes a completely memorised response	Did not attemp the test

Coherence and Cohesion

Coherence and cohesion criterion is same for both task 1 and task 2. Coherence denotes how well you link the ideas in logical sequences. Cohesion means how variedly and appropriately you used the cohesive devices such as, for example, logical connectors, pronouns and conjunctions to establish the conceptual and referential relationships between and within sentences.

Marking criteria : Coherence and cohesion

Band Score	Coherence and Cohesion	Skill Level
9	Uses cohesion in a way that it attracts no attention Manages paragraphing skilfully	Expert
8	Information and ideas are sequenced logically All aspects of cohesion managed well Uses paragraphing adequately and appropriately	Very good
7	Organises information and ideas in a logical manner and clear progression throughout the response Employs a range of cohesive devices appropriately but there may be some under or overuse Needs to present clear central topic within each paragraph	Good
6	Information and ideas are arranged in a coherent manner and there is clear overall progression Could have used cohesive devices effectively but cohesion within sentences might be faulty or mechanical Referencing not always used clearly or appropriately Paragraphing is used; but not always logically	Competent
5	Information with some organization could be presented but there may be overall lack of progression Cohesive devices - inadequate, inaccurate or overuse Might be repetitive because of lack of referencing and substitution Might not write in paragraphs or inadequate paragraphing	Modest
4	Information and ideas are presented but not arranged coherently and there is no clear progression in the essay Basic cohesive devices could be used but those might be inaccurate or repetitive Might not write in paragraphs or their use of paragraphs might be confusing	Limited
3	Ideas are not organised logically Might used a very minimal range of cohesive devices and those are not denotes a logical relationship between ideas	Extremely Limited
2	Control over organizational features could be little	Intermittent
1	Not able to communicate any message	Non-user
0		Did not attemp the test

Lexical resources

Lexical resources means how much vocabulary you have used and how accurately and appropriately you used for the specific task. Vocabulary must be properly used to express the precise meanings. Pick out the topic related vocabularies and add it in the sentences in an appropriate manner. Using the uncommon lexical terms skilfully helps you to achieve a good band score.

Marking criteria: Lexical resources

Band score	Lexical Resources	Skill Level
9	Wide range of vocabularies are used with a very natural and sophisticated control over lexical features and rare minor errors happens only as ‘slips’	Expert
8	Uses wide range of vocabulary in a fluent and flexible manner to communicate precise meanings Uses uncommon lexical items skilfully and there may be inaccuracy in word choice and collocation occasionally Rare errors in spelling and/or word formation	Very good
7	Uses an adequate range of vocabulary in order to allow some flexibility and precision. Less common lexical items are used with some awareness of style and collocation. Might produced occasional errors in word choice, spelling and/ or word formation	Good
6	Adequate range of vocabulary is used in the task. Attempted to use less common vocabulary but with some inaccuracy Made some errors in spelling and/ or word formation, but they do not obstruct communication	Competent
5	Limited range of vocabulary are used, but this is minimally sufficient for the task Noticeable errors in spelling and/or word formation which may cause some difficulty for the reader	Modest
4	Only basic vocabulary is used that might be used repetitively and inappropriate for the task. Limited control of word formation and/ or spelling; errors might cause strain for the reader	Limited
3	Limited range of words and expressions with limited control over word formation and/or spelling Errors might severely distort the message	Extremely Limited
2	Extremely limited range of vocabulary; no control of word formation and/or spelling	Intermittent
1	Few isolated words are only used	Non-user
0		Did not attemp the test

Learn more about the IELTS writing vocabulary, to know the appropriate lexical resource usage.

Grammatical range and accuracy

Grammatical range and accuracy as a band descriptor refers to how accurately and appropriately you are able to use the grammar in your response essay. Sentences are supposed to be grammatically structured well. Most of the students make errors in articles, prepositions, subject-verb agreement, overusing present continuous.

Marking criteria: Grammatical range and accuracy

Band score	Grammatical range and accuracy	Skill Level
9	Wide range of structures are used in full flexibility and accuracy and rare minor errors occur only as ‘slips’.	Expert
8	Wide range of grammatical structures are used Most of the sentences are error free Made just a few occasional errors or inappropriacies	Very good
7	Variety of complex structures are used Frequent error-free sentences Good control over grammar and punctuation but may make some errors	Good
6	Mix of simple and complex forms are used Made some errors in grammar and punctuation but they barely reduced communication	Competent
5	Limited range of structures are only used Complex sentences are attempted but those are all tend to be less accurate than simple sentences Frequent grammatical errors and faulty punctuation; errors could some difficulty for the reader	Modest
4	Very few limited range of structures; rare use of subordinate clauses Several structures are accurate but predominated errors and faulty punctuation	Limited
3	Sentence forms are attempted but has grammatical and punctuation errors which distort the meaning	Extremely Limited
2	Absence of sentence forms except in memorized phrases	Intermittent
1	No sentence forms are used	Non-user
0		Did not attemp the test

IELTS writing Task 1 band descriptors

Generally, you need to complete the IELTS writing task 1 with 150 words and within 20 minutes. In academic writing task 1, you will be given a graph, table, chart or diagram. Your task is to describe, summarise or explain the information in your own words. In the general training test, you will be presented with a situation and ask you to write a letter as a response or explain the situation.

The band descriptors for IELTS writing task 1:

Task achievement
Coherence and cohesion
Lexical resource
Grammatical range and accuracy

IELTS writing Task 2 band descriptors

You have to complete the IELTS writing task 2 with 250 words in about 40 minutes. In a writing task, you are supposed to give a response as an essay to a point of view, argument or problem presented in the form of a question. This task is the same for both academic and general training tests, except the style of writing. For the general training test, you can write your essay in a fairly personal style while for the academic test, you have to write your essay in a formal style.

The band descriptors for writing task 2 are:

Task response
Coherence and cohesion
Lexical resource
Grammatical range and accuracy

IELTS writing task score calculator

You will get a band score for each criterion. And, 4 of the band scores will be calculated and divided by 4. The resulting score is the overall band score for both IELTS writing task 1 and task 2.

For example,

Task achievement = Band 7
Coherence and cohesion = Band 6
Grammatical range and accuracy = Band 7
Lexical resources = Band 6

Total score for IELTS writing task 1 or task 2: 7 + 6 + 7 + 6 = 26/ 4 = 6.5. In this way, you can calculate your score, add all scores together and divide by 4.

Summary

Examiners assess and rate band scores based on the IELTS writing band descriptors.
There are four IELTS writing band descriptors: Task achievement or Task response, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical resources and Grammatical range and accuracy.
There is one band descriptor that is different for task 1 & 2: Task achievement (task 1) and Task response (task 2).
Each marking criterion serves 25% of the overall band score.

FAQ

1. Can we use idioms in IELTS writing ?

The answer is No. Idioms are informal, which means you should not use it in both academic and general training tests.

2. How can I improve my writing in IELTS ?

There are limitations in usage of words. 150 words for task 1, while 250 words for task 2. So, write with the consciousness of every word counts. It will prepares you to write well
Build your essay in proper format. Practice writing with the same format in your IELTS preparation.
Read the questions carefully. You might have good writing skills but if you haven’t read properly then it leads to errors.
Learn vocabulary. Gather vocabularies based on the topics could help you to communicate precise meaning

3. What's the difference between a "wide range of structures" and "uses a variety of complex structures" in the IELTS band descriptors for writing ?

Wide range of structures denotes the ability to use all the tenses and aspects, modals, passive voice and active voice, gerunds, and infinitives.

Uses a variety of complex structures indicating simple sentences, compound sentences and complex sentences.

4. How is writing analysed in IELTS ?

In IELTS, writing is assessed based on four distinct marking criteria: Task achievement or task response, Coherence and cohesion, Lexical resources and Grammatical range and accuracy

About Author Dinesh Pandiyan

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