Task 1: Academic and General Training
You have 60 minutes for both tasks. Task 1 needs at least 150 words.
Academic Task 1 asks you to describe a chart, table, process or map. The key is the overview: two sentences that say what the main trends or stages are, without numbers. Many students describe every figure and never state the big picture, which limits Task Achievement.
General Training Task 1 is a letter, which may be formal, semi-formal or informal. You must cover all three bullet points in the prompt and keep a consistent tone. A letter to a landlord about a broken water heater should not open with "Dear Sir/Madam, I hope this letter finds you in the pink of health."
Spend about 20 minutes on Task 1.
Task 2 and why it counts for more
Most IELTS Writing practice time should go here. Task 2 needs at least 250 words and carries more weight than Task 1 in your Writing band. Give it about 40 minutes. You will meet one of several types: opinion, discussion of two views, advantages and disadvantages, problem and solution, or a two-part question.
A plan that works for most prompts:
- Introduction: paraphrase the question and give your position, in two or three sentences.
- Two body paragraphs, each with one clear main idea, an explanation and a specific example.
- A short conclusion that restates your view.
Spend five minutes planning. An essay with a clear plan almost always scores higher on Coherence and Cohesion than one written straight off.
The four criteria examiners use
- Task Achievement / Task Response: Did you answer every part of the question and, in Task 2, give a clear position?
- Coherence and Cohesion: Is the essay logically organised, with paragraphs and linking that help the reader?
- Lexical Resource: Do you use a range of accurate vocabulary, including less common words used naturally?
- Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Do you use varied sentence structures with few errors?
Each is worth a quarter of your Writing band, which is why our feedback scores all four separately.
Common habits Indian students can fix quickly
These are habits, not failings, and most are easy to change once you notice them.
- Memorised openings. "In this modern era of science and technology" or "Every coin has two sides" tell the examiner nothing and may be recognised as memorised language.
- Introductions that are too long. Some students spend 80 words before stating an opinion. Get to your position by the second sentence.
- Indian-English usage. Phrases like "revert back", "discuss about", "cope up with", "do the needful" and "prepone" are understood in India but count as errors in IELTS. Write "reply", "discuss", "cope with" and "bring forward".
- Present continuous for states. "Many people are having smartphones" should be "Many people have smartphones".
- Articles. Tamil has no direct equivalent of "a" and "the", so they are often dropped or overused. Check every noun in your final read-through.
- Very long sentences. Several clauses joined with "and" and "which" are harder to follow and hide errors.
Writing practice that fits Madurai applicants
The prompts you practise should match your reason for taking the test. Nurses and doctors from Madurai's medical and nursing colleges applying for Academic should practise processes and tables; they appear often and suit a clinical eye for steps. Engineering graduates from local colleges often find line graphs comfortable and maps harder. GT applicants should practise complaint and request letters, the type you might actually send to an employer or landlord abroad.
Our 104 prompts cover Academic charts, tables, processes and maps, General Training letters, and every Task 2 essay type. Typing practice matters too, if you plan to take the computer-delivered test.
AI feedback, then a teacher
After each response you get an AI-estimated band for each criterion with comments on what to change. Rewrite the same essay using the feedback before you start a new prompt; that rewrite is where most improvement happens.
When you want a human view, Book a Teacher gives you about 20 minutes 1-to-1 online from ₹299. Bring two essays and the AI feedback, and ask the teacher what is holding your Task Response back. This combination gives Madurai students regular IELTS Writing practice without waiting a week for a marked script.
Full Access is ₹999 for 2 months. Write your first essay free, and find more Task 2 advice on our blog.