The IELTS tests are assessed by trained examiners from the IELTS, the Writing test will be assessed so. Out of the two Writing tasks, Task 2 will be the task carrying more marks and consuming more time for the test takers. Task 2 is an Essay task, test takers of both the test types; Academic and General are given an Essay task but they will be different considering the difficulty. In this blog, the band descriptors for Writing Task 2 are discussed.
The IELTS test takers are assessed based on the guidelines IELTS provides. The test takers are assessed for IELTS Writing trained examiners on these four guidelines:
- Task Achievement
- Coherence and Cohesion
- Lexical Resources
- Grammatical Range and Accuracy
IELTS Writing Task 2 Band Descriptors
The four factors, the test takers will be assessed on are discussed below:
1. Task Achievement
For task 2 an essay is assigned for both test types: Academic and General Training. The task will be different only in the terms of difficulty and essay topics given. IELTS Academic test-takers will be given essay topics specifically inclined to academic issues while IELTS General test takers are given essay topics that are more common and in general interests.
As for the task achievement, the essay must consist of 250 words at the least and fully developed and well-supported ideas. The essay should be divided into proper paragraphs and have a thesis statement. The essay must have a clear position in the essay, usually, the essay topics are a response to a point of view, argument, or problem. The essay you write must respond to the prompt with a well-developed response, sufficiently generalized along with the test taker’s ideas and relevant examples.
2. Coherence and Cohesion
The test takers are assessed for their ability to organize information, paragraphing, and use of linking devices in Coherence and Cohesion.
For coherence, the ability to link ideas systematically, logical, and consistently will be tested. And for cohesion, the ability to use devices to link sentences together to show a logical flow. The test-takers will be assessed based on the accurate and appropriate use of cohesion and coherence.
3. Lexical Resources
The test taker’s vocabulary and their ability to use their vocabulary will be tested in the lexical resources. Here, the ability to use a range of words, paraphrasing skills, colocation skills, and spellings are assessed.
4. Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The test takers’ ability to use a variety of sentence forms; complex and compound, with grammatically correct sentences and proper punctuations, will be assessed. Thus, the scores for Grammatical range and accuracy are given based on the test takers’ ability to use complex and compound sentences that are error-free with good punctuations in the sentence to receive scores here.
Here is an image provided by IELTS explaining the criteria for Writing Task 2 Band Descriptors.
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