The two tasks
You have 60 minutes for both tasks.
- Task 1 (at least 150 words, about 20 minutes). Academic: describe a chart, table, process or map. General Training: write a letter, formal, semi-formal or informal.
- Task 2 (at least 250 words, about 40 minutes). An essay giving your opinion, discussing two views, explaining causes and solutions, or weighing advantages and disadvantages.
Task 2 counts for more than Task 1, so never let Task 1 eat into your essay time.
The four criteria, in plain words
Both tasks are marked on four equally weighted criteria:
- Task Achievement (Task 1) / Task Response (Task 2): did you answer the actual question fully, with a clear position and developed ideas?
- Coherence and Cohesion: is it logically organised, with clear paragraphs and natural linking?
- Lexical Resource: is your vocabulary precise and varied, used correctly?
- Grammatical Range and Accuracy: do you use a mix of sentence structures with few errors?
Most students focus on vocabulary and grammar. In practice, Task Response is where many essays lose the most, because they answer a slightly different question from the one asked.
Common mistakes, and how to fix them
These come up again and again in essays from Indian students, including those from Dehradun's strong English-medium schools. They are habits, not failures of ability.
Memorised phrases
"In this modern era of globalisation..." or "This essay will throw light upon..." are recognised instantly by examiners and add nothing. Start with a direct paraphrase of the question and your position.
Over-long introductions
An introduction of five or six sentences leaves too little time for body paragraphs. Two sentences are usually enough: paraphrase the topic, then state your answer.
Indian-English usage
Some expressions are common in Indian English but are marked as errors in IELTS:
- "revert back" → reply or get back to you
- "discuss about" → discuss (no "about")
- "do the needful" → say exactly what you want done
- "one of the reason" → one of the reasons
- "cope up with" → cope with
- "kindly" in every sentence of a GT letter → use it once, if at all
Translated structures
Students who think in Hindi or Garhwali sometimes produce long sentences joined by "and" and "so", or leave out articles ("a", "the"). Read your essay once purely for articles and once for sentence length.
Describing every number in Task 1
Academic Task 1 needs an overview: the main trends or features in one or two sentences. Listing every figure without one is a common reason for a Task Achievement score of 5.
Writing practice for Dehradun's candidates
What you write about will depend on why you are taking IELTS.
- Engineering, petroleum, computing and law students at UPES, Graphic Era or DIT often find process and map questions in Academic Task 1 easier than they expect, since they read diagrams daily. Their Task 2 essays sometimes become too technical; keep examples general.
- Hotel-management graduates heading for General Training will write letters about workplace situations, complaints and requests. Your work vocabulary is an advantage; just keep the tone right for the reader.
- Boarding-school students usually write fluently but may write too much. Practise to time, not to length: 270–300 words for Task 2 is plenty.
Environmental topics appear in IELTS regularly, and students who have grown up around the Doon Valley's forests, rivers and changing hill towns often have real examples to use. Use them; personal, concrete examples beat generic statistics.
How AI feedback and teacher sessions help
IELTS Learning has 104 prompts across Academic Task 1, General Training letters and all Task 2 essay types. When you submit a response, you get:
- An AI-estimated band for each of the four criteria, so you can see which one is holding you back.
- Specific feedback: where your argument drifted, which sentences were unclear, which errors repeat.
AI feedback is fast and lets you write often. For a deeper check, Book a Teacher gives you about 20 minutes 1-to-1 with an IELTS teacher from ₹299. A good use: write three essays, apply the AI feedback, then bring your best one to a teacher to confirm whether it is really at your target band.
A weekly Writing routine
- Two Task 2 essays a week, timed at 40 minutes each.
- One Task 1 a week, timed at 20 minutes.
- Rewrite one essay using the feedback; this is where most improvement happens.
- Note recurring errors in your Mistake Notebook and check for them before every submission.
Read the Writing chapters in Study Notes for essay structures, and pick up topic vocabulary with the free Daily Vocabulary. When you are ready to practise properly, create your account and try your first IELTS Writing Task 2 with feedback today.