How Task 1 General IELTS is scored

Knowing how Task 1 General IELTS is scored is the best way of being able to reach a higher band, so take a look at the 4 criteria the examiner uses to assess and score your report.

The examiner is looking for your essay to demonstrate 4 different aspects in order to get a good result:

• Task achievement (have you completed the task?)
• Cohesion and coherence (does your answer make sense?)
• Lexical resource (have you used academic vocabulary?)
• Grammatical range and accuracy (is your grammar correct and have you shown a number of different structures?).

Task achievement

First is whether you have completed the requirements of the Task. Have you covered all of the information required in your letter? Have you written at least 150 words? Also in this section, the examiner will be looking to see if you have used the right tone or register (is it formal or informal) for your letter. Overly formal letters to a friend or informal letters for more official types of letter will mean a loss of points.

Cohesion and coherence

The second area the examiner will be looking at is whether what you have written actually makes sense. This means that when you plan and write your essay, you must have a logical presentation with ideas that are linked together. You should also have a clear sentence and paragraph structure.

Lexical resource

For lexical resource, you are being judged on whether the vocabulary you use is accurate and suitable for the situation. You should avoid repeating vocabulary – especially using words taken from the question title. You should also choose the level of vocabulary based on the relationship between the writer and the reader – if the reader is a friend, this should be clear from the language used.

Grammatical range and accuracy

The final area you are being marked on is your grammar – again, you should use a suitable level of grammar and avoid repeating grammar structures.

Now test your understanding!

---