Many IELTS candidates write a strong-looking essay and still miss their target band, because they do not know what the examiner is actually marking. IELTS Writing Task 2 is assessed on four equally weighted criteria, and Task 2 counts for twice as much as Task 1 towards your Writing band. Understand the four, and you can write to them deliberately instead of hoping. Here is how the marking works.

The four assessment criteria

IELTS marks Writing on four criteria. For Task 2 they are:

  • Task Response. How fully and relevantly you answer the actual question: addressing every part of the prompt, taking a clear position, and developing your ideas. For Task 1 this criterion is called Task Achievement; for Task 2 it is Task Response.
  • Coherence and Cohesion. How well your writing is organised and flows: logical paragraphing, clear progression, and linking that guides the reader.
  • Lexical Resource. Your range and accuracy of vocabulary, including using less common words appropriately rather than repeating basic ones.
  • Grammatical Range and Accuracy. Your range of sentence structures and how accurately you use them.

IELTS states that "the criteria are weighted equally and the score on the task is the average". So each of the four counts the same, and your Task 2 score is the average of the four. That has a direct consequence: a brilliant vocabulary cannot rescue a weak answer to the question, because Task Response is worth exactly as much as Lexical Resource.

Task 2 counts double

Here is the fact that should shape how you spend your hour. IELTS states plainly that "the assessment of Task 2 carries more weight in marking than Task 1", and on the Academic Writing format specifically that "Task 2 contributes twice as much as Task 1 to the Writing score".

So although both tasks matter, Task 2 has twice the influence on your Writing band. Spending most of your best effort and time on Task 1 is a common and costly mistake.

What the rules mean for your strategy

  • Budget your time around Task 2's weight. IELTS advises you "should spend no more than 40 minutes" on Task 2 out of the "60 minutes" total, leaving about 20 minutes for Task 1. Given Task 2 counts double, that split is not arbitrary, so protect it.
  • Meet the word count. Task 2 requires you to "write at least 250 words". Under-length answers are penalised under Task Response, so never finish short.
  • Answer the exact question. Because Task Response is a full quarter of the mark and often the weakest area, read the prompt carefully, address every part, and state a clear position. A beautifully written essay that dodges the question loses a quarter of its marks before style is even considered.
  • Spread your effort across all four criteria. Since they are equally weighted, a candidate who is strong on grammar but weak on organisation gains more from fixing coherence than from polishing grammar further.

Writing is scored on the same nine-band scale as the rest of IELTS, in whole and half bands, and your Writing band feeds your overall score. We explain how the overall band is worked out in how the IELTS band score is calculated.

Practise under real exam conditions

You can only write to the four criteria if you know which one is holding your band back, and that requires realistic, timed practice with feedback by criterion, not just a word count. Full, timed writing practice that mirrors the real 60-minute paper and the Task 1 and Task 2 split builds the pacing and shows where your marks are lost. CandidatesPrep's simulator lets you rehearse under timed conditions, and teachers preparing IELTS groups can track readiness across a whole class.

The bottom line

IELTS Writing Task 2 is marked on four equally weighted criteria, Task Response, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Task 2 counts twice as much as Task 1. Write to all four, protect your 40 minutes and 250 words on Task 2, and above all answer the exact question, because Task Response is a full quarter of the mark that many strong writers throw away.

Aiming for a specific Writing band? Practise under timed conditions, or book a demo to see how teachers track IELTS readiness on CandidatesPrep.