IELTS Writing Task 1 General Training

IELTS Writing Task 1 General Training will test your ability to write a personal, semi-formal, or formal English letter in at least 150 words and not more than 20 minutes.

Read more for more information about the IELTS Writing General Training task 1 test.

About The IELTS Writing Task 1 General Training

IELTS Writing Task 1 General Training in this task you will be given a situation and asked to write a letter requesting information, or explaining the situation in at least 150 words in the answer booklet provided.

The letter may be:

  1. personal,
  2. semi-formal,
  3. or formal in style.

The situations test takers are asked to write about are such as:

  • writing to a college accommodation officer about problems with accommodation,
  • writing to a new employer about time management problems they are having,
  • writing to a local newspaper about a plan to develop a local airport,
  • writing to a renting agency to sort out problems with the heating system in their house.

The test taker will be told what type of information they must include in their response. They may be required to request or give information and/or explain a situation.

To do this, they may need to do some of the following:

  • ask for and/or provide general factual information,
  • express needs, wants, likes or dislikes,
  • express opinions or complaints,
  • make requests or make suggestions/recommendations.

The style of writing that test takers should use depends on who they are asked to write to and how well they are supposed to know them. The style of writing must be appropriate for their audience and that will help them to achieve their purpose for writing.

For example, if they are asked to write to a friend, they should write an informal letter and if they are writing to a manager, they should follow a semi-formal or formal style. Test takers do not need to include any addresses at the head of their letters.

IELTS Writing Task 1 General Training Tips

Focus on the following points while taking the IELTS Writing General Training Task 1:

  • You should spend no more than 20 minutes on this task.
  • You will be penalised if your answer is shorter than 150 words.
  • You will not be penalised for writing more than 150 words.
  • You should remember that a longer Task 1 answer may mean that they have less time to spend on Task 2, which contributes twice as much to the Writing band score.
  • You should also note that you will be penalised for irrelevance, if the response is off-topic or is not written as full, connected text.
  • You will be severely penalised for plagiarism (i.e. copying from another source).

In the end, you should know that this task evaluates the ability to follow English letter-writing conventions, to use language accurately and appropriately, and to organise and link information coherently and cohesively.