The two tasks
You have 60 minutes for both tasks. Task 2 counts for more than Task 1, so protect your 40 minutes for it.
- Academic Task 1 (at least 150 words): describe a chart, table, diagram of a process or a map. You report and compare; you do not explain causes or give opinions.
- General Training Task 1 (at least 150 words): write a letter, formal, semi-formal or informal, covering three bullet points.
- Task 2 (at least 250 words, both versions): an essay responding to a question: opinion, discussion of two views, advantages and disadvantages, problem and solution, or a two-part question.
IELTS Learning has 104 prompts covering all of these, including Academic processes and maps, which many students skip until it is too late.
The four criteria, in plain words
- Task Achievement / Task Response: Did you answer exactly what was asked, with a clear position (Task 2) or a clear overview (Academic Task 1)?
- Coherence and Cohesion: Is it logically organised, with one main idea per paragraph and linking that feels natural rather than mechanical?
- Lexical Resource: Is your vocabulary precise and varied, with correct collocations and spelling?
- Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Do you use a mix of sentence structures, and how many errors are there?
Each criterion counts equally. A brilliant vocabulary cannot rescue an essay that answers the wrong question.
Common mistakes Indian students make, and how to fix them
These come up again and again in essays from capable students across India, and Coimbatore is no exception:
- Memorised openings and closings. Phrases like "In this contemporary era" or "Every coin has two sides" are recognised instantly by examiners and add nothing. Write a plain, direct introduction.
- Over-long introductions. Two or three sentences are enough: paraphrase the question and state your view. Some students spend 80 words before saying anything.
- Indian-English usages. "Revert back" (just "reply"), "discuss about" (just "discuss"), "prepone", "do the needful", "cope up with" (just "cope with") and "return back" are common in office English here but count as errors in IELTS.
- Overusing linking words. "Moreover", "furthermore" and "additionally" at the start of every sentence lower your Coherence score.
- Missing the overview in Academic Task 1. Many students list every number but never say what the main trends are.
- Tone problems in GT letters. Writing "Respected Sir" or "Kindly do the needful" in a letter to a friend, or being too casual in a complaint to a company.
- Under-length answers. Count your words; below 150 or 250 is penalised.
Writing habits from college and the workplace
Students from Coimbatore's engineering colleges are trained to write lab reports and project documentation: numbered steps, passive voice and technical terms. That is useful for describing an Academic Task 1 process diagram, but Task 2 needs an argued opinion with examples.
Professionals from the region's textile, pump and engineering firms often write short, functional emails, sometimes switching between Tamil and English. Those habits are fine at work, but IELTS rewards complete, well-linked paragraphs. A useful exercise is to take a work topic you know well, such as automation in spinning mills or export competition, and write a full Task 2 essay on it. You will have ideas ready and can focus on language.
How AI feedback and teacher sessions help
On IELTS Learning, every Writing response gets an AI-estimated band for each of the four criteria, with feedback on what lowered each score. This lets you write often, say three or four essays a week, and see patterns quickly: perhaps your Task Response is strong but grammar slips in long sentences.
AI feedback is a guide, not an official score. When you want a human reading, Book a Teacher gives you about 20 minutes 1-to-1 online from ₹299. Teachers can tell you whether your argument actually convinces and which of your habits an examiner would notice first.
A weekly IELTS Writing practice plan
- Monday: one Task 1 (20 minutes), then read the feedback.
- Wednesday: one Task 2 (40 minutes), timed.
- Friday: rewrite Wednesday's essay using the feedback, without looking at the original.
- Weekend: a full Writing section as part of a mock test.
- Every two weeks: a teacher session on your two weakest essays.
Study Notes include strategy chapters for each essay type, and English Improvement covers the grammar points that come up most. Register free to start your IELTS Writing practice from Coimbatore, and read the weekly tips blog for model approaches to common Task 2 topics.