Many candidates believe that IELTS General is easier than IELTS Academic. Although some sections might look less complicated, both tests have their own difficulties and peculiarities. For example, texts in Reading section of the general test are quite simple. On the other hand, in Task 1 of the Academic Module Writing section, you need to describe a graph, chart, table or diagram, which means that you actually need more correct answers to get the same band score. We are going to describe the main differences of the Writing section of both modules below.
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WRITING TASK 1
| IELTS General | IELTS Academic |
| Letter (formal, informal, semi-formal) | Report: one or two tables, flow-charts, maps, pie charts, line graph etc. |
| Timing: You should spend no more than 20 minutes on this task. | |
| Word count: at least 150 words | |
| In Task 1, candidates have to respond to a given problem with a letter requesting information or explaining a situation.
In the given prompt, you will see a purpose of the letter and the list of points to cover in it. You have to make sure you cover all of them. Example: You arranged to visit a friend in Canada but an important event at home now means that you must change the dates of the visit. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: · explain the important event · apologise for the situation · suggest a new arrangement *Taken from ielts-exam.net Also, pay attention to the structure of the letter: use proper openings, closing statements, express your ideas in separate paragraphs etc. Style and tone are important depending on whether the letter is formal or informal |
The task requires you to write a summary in response to a particular graph (bar, line or pie graph), table, chart, or process (how something works, how something is done).
In the given prompt, you will see a general statement about the graph or two graphs. You will also see the visuals that may show information about the same topic but focus on different aspects. You will need to analyse what information each chart / graph / table shows and find the relationships between them. Example: The average prices per kilometre of clothing imported into the European Union from six different countries in 1993 and 2003 are shown in the bar chart below. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant. *Taken from ielts-mentor.com Your task is to highlight key features and to present the information. You DO NOT NEED to write about all the numbers in the chart and describe every detail. |
| What is assessed? | |
| Depending on the task suggested, candidates are assessed on their ability to:
— engage in personal correspondence, — elicit and provide general factual information, — express needs, wants, likes and dislikes, — express opinions (views, complaints etc.). |
In this task, your ability to select and report the main features, to describe and compare data, identify significance and trends in factual information, or describe a process is tested.
DO NOT express your own ideas or opinions.
|
| Scoring | |
| Task Achievement refers to using appropriate tone and purpose when writing a letter + word count. | Task Achievement refers to presenting key features of the graph, having an overview and accurate data in your report + word count. |
READ ABOUT: How IELTS Writing is assessed
WRITING TASK 2
IELTS Writing Task 2 requires you to write an essay of at least 250 words. You should spend no more than 40 minutes for this task. You will see a prompt with a topic and a question to answer in your essay.
Example:
Car ownership has increased so rapidly over the past thirty years that many cities in the world are now ‘one big traffic jam’.
How true do you think this statement is? What measures can governments take to discourage people from using their cars?
In this task, the examiners check your ability to respond by giving and justifying an opinion, discussing the topic, summarizing details, outlining problems, identifying possible solutions and supporting what you write with reasons, arguments and relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. There is only one scoring for all essays: general and academic. The types of essays are the same, so you should use the same techniques for essay writing.
There are minimal differences between the tasks for Academic and General Modules. They are in:
— question difficulty, i.e. in Academic Module, the question is written in a more complicated way;
— topics for essays, i.e. the Academic test covers a wider range of topics unlike General training uses more common topics such as family and relationship, schools, media etc.
Generally, our experience shows that IELTS Academic Writing seems more challenging. That’s why we’ve created an online course that focuses on all kinds of IELTS Academic writing tasks. Register for a free trial here and get access to automated writing check, diagnostic writing, practice tasks, knowledge bank and useful strategies that will help to develop your writing gradually and increase your IELTS score.
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