SampleCandidateWritingScriptsand ExaminerComments
BoththeAcademicandGeneralTrainingWriting
Modulesconsistoftwotasks,Task1andTask
2.Eachtaskisassessedindependently.The
assessmentofTask2carriesmoreweightin
markingthanTask1.
Detailedperformancedescriptorshavebeen
developedwhich describewrittenperformance
atthe9IELTSbands.Thesedescriptorsapply
toboththeAcademicandGeneralTraining
Modules.
Task1scriptsareassessedonthefollowing
criteria:
•Task Achievement
•CoherenceandCohesion
•LexicalResource
•GrammaticalRangeandAccuracy
Task2scriptsareassessedonthefollowing
criteria:
•Task Response
•CoherenceandCohesion
•LexicalResource
•GrammaticalRangeandAccuracy
Cand idatesshouldnotethatscriptswillbe
penalisediftheyarea)undertheminimumword
leng th,b)partlyorwhollyplagiarise d,c)not
writtenasfull,connec tedtext(e.g.usingbullet
pointsinanypartofthere sponse,ornoteform,
isnotappropriate,etc.).
Task1
TaskAchievement

Thiscriterionassesseshowappropria tely,
accuratelyandrelevantlytheresponsefulfil sthe
requiremen tssetoutinthetask,usingthe
minimumof150words .
AcademicWritingTask1isawritingtaskwhich
hasadefinedinputand alargelypredictable
output.Itisba sicallyaninformationtransfertask
whichrelatesnarrowlytothefactualcontentof
aninputdiagramandnottospeculated
explan ationsthatlieoutsidethegivendata.
GeneralTrainingWritingTask1isalsoawriting
taskwith alargel ypredictableoutputinthat
eachtasksetsoutthecontextandpurposeof
theletterandthefunctionsthecandidateshould
coverinordertoachievethispurpose.
CoherenceandCohesion
Thiscriterionisconcernedwiththeoverallclarity
andfluencyofthemessage:howtheresponse
organisesandlinksinformation,ide asa nd
language.Coherencereferstothelinkingof
idea sthroughlogicalsequencing.Cohesion
referstothevariedandappr opriateuseof
cohesivedevices(forexample,logical
connectors,pronounsandconjunctions)to
assistinmakingtheconceptualandr eferential
relationshipsbetweenandwithinsentences
clear.
Lexica lResource
Thiscriterionreferstotherangeofvocabulary
thecandidatehasus edandtheaccuracyand

appropriacyofthatuseintermsofthespecific
task.
GrammaticalRangeand Accuracy
Thiscriterionreferstotherangeandac curate
useofthecandidate’sgramma ticalresourceas
manifestedinthecandidate’swritingatsentence
level.
Task2
TaskResponse
InbothAcademicandGeneralTrainingMo dules
Task2requiresthecandidatestoformulateand
developapositioninrelationto agivenprompt
intheformofaquestionorstatement.Ideas
shouldbesupportedbyevidence,andexamples
maybedrawnfromthecandidates’own
experience.Responsesmustbeatleast250
wordsinlength.
Writingscriptsaremarkedbytrainedand
certificatedIELTSexaminers.Scoresmaybe
reportedaswhole bandsorhalfbands.
Onthenext12pagesyouwillf indcandidates’
answe rstotwosampleWritingtests.Thereare
twoanswersforeachWritingtask.Eachanswer
hasbeenawardedabandscoreandis
accompaniedbyanexaminercommentonthe
candidate’sperformanceforthattask.
Theexaminers’guidelinesformarkingthe
Writingscriptsareverydetailed.Thereare
manydifferentwaysacandidatemay
achieveapartic ularbandscore.The

candidates’answersthatfollow shouldnot
beregardedasdefinitiveexamplesofany
particularbandscore.
Acad emicWritingSampleTask1A
SampleScriptA
Ex aminercomment
Band5
Thelengthof th eanswerisjustacceptable.Thereisagoodattempttodescribetheoveralltrendsbutthecontentwouldhavebeen
greatly improvedifthecandidatehadincludedsomereferencetothefiguresgivenonthegraph.Withoutthese,ther eaderislacking
someimportantinformation.Theanswerisquitedifficulttofollow andtherearesomepunctuationerrorsthatcauseconfusion.The
structuresarefairlysimpleandeffortstoproducemorecomplexsent encesarenotsuccessful.
Acad emicWritingSampleTask1A
SampleScriptB
Ex aminercomment
Band6
The candidate has made a good attempt to describe the graphs looking at global trends and more detailed figures. There is,
however, some information missing and the inf ormation is inaccurate in minor areas. The answer flows quite smoothly although 
connectivesareoverusedorinappropriate,andsomeofthepointsd onotlinkupwell.Thegrammaticalaccuracyisqui tegoodand
thelanguageusedtodescribethetrendsiswellhandled.However,thereareproblemswithexpressionandtheappropriatechoice
ofwordsandwhilsttherei sgoodstructuralcontrol,thecomplexityandvariationinthesentencesarelimited.
Acad emicWritingSampleTask1B
SampleScriptA
Ex aminercomment
Band6
The answer has an appropriate introduction which the candidate has attemptedto express in his/her own words. There is good
coverage of the data and a brief reference tocontrasting trends. The answer can befollowed although itis ratherrepetit ive and
cohesivedevices are overused. In order togain a highermarkforcontent, the candidatewouldbe expected toselect the salient
featuresofthegraphandcommentprimarilyonthese.Sentencesarelongbutlackcomplexity.Therearesomeerrorsintense,verb
formandspellingwhichinterfereslightlywiththeflowoftheanswer.
Acad emicWritingSampleTask1B

SampleScriptB
Ex aminercomment
Band7
Theanswerdealswellwithboththeindividualmediatrendsandtheoverallcomparisonofthesetrends.Theopeningcouldbemore
fully devel oped with theinclusion ofinformation relatingtothe groups studied andthe period of timeduringwhichthestudy took
place. There is a good variety of cohesive devices and the message can be followed quite easily although the expression is
sometimes alittle clumsy. Structures are complex and vocabulary is varied butthere are errors in wordforms, tense and voice
thoughthesedonotimpedecommunication.
Acad emicWritingSampleTask2A
SampleScriptA
Ex aminercomment
Band5
Thean swerisshortatjustover200wordsandthuslosesmarksforcontent.Therearesomerelevantargumentsbutthesearenot
very well developed and become unclear in places. The organisation of the answer is evident through the use of fairly simple
connectives but there are problems for the reader in that there are many missing words and word order is often incorrect. The
structuresarequiteambitiousbutoftenfaultyandvocabularyiskeptquitesimple.
Acad emicWritingSampleTask2A
SampleScriptB
Ex aminercomment
Band6
Therearequitealotofideasandwhilesomeofthesearesupportedbetterthanothers,thereisanoverallcoherencetotheanswer.
Theintroduction is perhaps slightlylong and moretimecould have beendevoted to answeringthe question. The answeris fairly
easy to follow and there is good punctuation. Organisational devices are evident although some areas of the answer become
unclear andwouldbenefitfrommoreaccurateuseofconnectives.Therearesomeerrorsinthestructuresbutthereisalsoevidence
oftheproductionofcomplexsentenceforms.Grammaticalerrorsinterfereslightlywithcomprehension.
Acad emicWritingSampleTask2B
SampleScriptA
Ex aminercomment
Band5
Althoughthescriptcontainssomegoodarguments,thesearepresentedusingpoorstructuresandthe answerisnotverycoherent.

Thecandidatehasa clearpointofview butnotallthesup portingargument sarelinkedtogetherwellandsometimesideasareleft
unfinished.Thereisquitealotofrelevantvocabularybutthisisnotusedskilfullyandsentencesoftenhavewordsmissingorlapse
intodifferentstyles.Theanswerisspoiltbygrammaticalerrorsandpoorexpression.
Acad emicWritingSampleTask2B
SampleScriptB
Ex aminercomment
Band7
Theansweriswellwrittenandcontainssomegoodarguments.Itdoestendtorepeattheseargumentsbutthewriter’spointof view
remainsclearthroughout.Themessageiseas ytofollowandideasarearrangedwellwithgooduseofcohesivedevices.Thereare
minorproblemswithcoherenceandattimestheexpressionisclumsy and imprecise.Thereisaw iderangeof structuresthatare
wellhandledwithonlysmallproblemsintheuseofvoca bulary,mainlyintheareasofspellingandwordchoice.