Understanding IELTS Writing Task 2 Scoring

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IELTS Writing Task 2 is a crucial component of the IELTS exam, assessing your ability to compose an academic essay with effective grammar, vocabulary, and structure. This article delves into the scoring process for Writing Task 2 and provides examples to illustrate the scoring criteria.

How is the Writing Test Scored?

Update May 2023: IELTS has published updated band descriptors and key assessment criteria

Writing Task 2 is scored based on four criteria: Task Achievement, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy. Each criterion is given a band score from 0 to 9, and the scores are averaged to calculate your overall writing score.

Here is a breakdown of each criterion:

Criterion	Description
Task Response	Measures how effectively you address the question/task and support your ideas with relevant examples and arguments. For example, a good Task Response might include a clear answer to the question and well-explained examples to support your points.
Coherence and Cohesion	Assesses how well you organize and link your ideas and sentences using appropriate transition words and phrases. A well-organized essay may include a clear introduction, body paragraphs with topic sentences, and a conclusion summarizing the main points.
Lexical Resource	Evaluates your ability to use a wide range of vocabulary, collocations, and idiomatic language to express yourself. For instance, an essay with a high Lexical Resource score would use varied vocabulary and avoid repetition.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy	Examines your use of various grammatical structures accurately and appropriately to convey your message. A high score in this category would indicate correct and varied sentence structures, with few or no grammatical errors.

All four criteria are equally important and significantly impact your overall score. Therefore, focusing on improving all aspects of your writing is crucial for a higher score.

Bands meanings

Here's a table with the band descriptions for IELTS Writing Task 2 bands 5 to 8:

Band	Task Achievement	Coherence and Cohesion	Lexical Resource	Grammatical Range and Accuracy
8	addresses the task effectively and appropriately presents a well-developed, complex response uses a range of ideas and evidence to support the argument presents and develops ideas coherently and logically throughout the response	presents a clear central topic within each paragraph uses a wide range of cohesive devices appropriately to link ideas demonstrates skill in the use of paragraphing	uses a wide range of vocabulary resourcefully to convey precise meanings produces occasional errors in word choice, spelling, and/or word formation, but these are rare and are rapidly corrected	demonstrates a high level of control of grammar and sentence structures, using a variety of complex structures accurately and effectively
7	addresses the task effectively presents a well-developed response presents and develops relevant ideas coherently and logically throughout the response	presents a clear central topic within each paragraph uses a variety of cohesive devices to link ideas demonstrates good control of paragraphing	uses a wide range of vocabulary fluently and flexibly to convey precise meanings produces occasional errors in word choice, spelling, and/or word formation, but these rarely impede communication	demonstrates a good command of a range of complex structures produces occasional errors, but these are rare and do not impede communication
6	addresses the task adequately presents a clear position throughout the response may present some relevant ideas, but these may lack development and support presents information and ideas coherently and logically	presents a clear central topic within each paragraph uses a mix of cohesive devices to link ideas may demonstrate some skill in the use of paragraphing	uses an adequate range of vocabulary for the task may produce occasional errors in word choice, spelling, and/or word formation that do not impede communication	demonstrates a good control of grammar and sentence structures but may make some errors that may cause some difficulty for the reader
5	addresses the task only partially the format may be inappropriate the response may lack coherence and cohesion	presents some ideas but these are not sufficiently developed or supported there may be a noticeable lack of paragraphing	uses a limited range of vocabulary, but this is minimally adequate for the task may make noticeable errors in spelling and/or word formation that may cause some difficulty for the reader	demonstrates some awareness of basic grammatical structures may make frequent errors that result in some difficulty for the reader

Score 6.5 and above is generally considered good, but it depends on your purpose. For some cases 8 is not enough (e.g. some top universities) and for others 5.5 is enough (e.g. Canada immigration). See more details and nuances here.

Note that these band descriptions are based on the official IELTS Writing Task 2 band descriptors published by the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) and are subject to change.

How is the Writing Score Calculated in IELTS?

Your writing score is calculated by averaging the band scores you receive for each criterion. For example, if you score a 6 for Task Achievement (TR), 5 for Coherence and Cohesion (CC), 6 for Lexical Resource (LR), and 7 for Grammatical Range and Accuracy (GRA), your total writing score would be calculated as follows:

Scores (TR, CC, LR, GRA)	Average	IELTS Writing Score
6, 5, 6, 7	6.0	6.0

Note that rounding is always done down to the closest half-band. For instance, if your overall score is 6.75, it will be rounded down to 6.5, and if it's 6.25, it will be rounded down to 6.0.

Here are more examples

Scores (TR, CC, LR, GRA)	Average	IELTS Writing Score
6, 6, 6, 5	5.75	5.5
6, 7, 7, 9	7.25	7.0
7, 6, 7, 6	6.5	6.5
7, 7, 7, 7	7.0	7.0

if you are interesting in IELTS overall band calculator (Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking) your can check it out here

Conclusion

Overall, the IELTS Writing Task 2 score reflects your ability to write a well-organized, coherent, and grammatically correct essay. Achieving a high score requires not only a good command of grammar and vocabulary but also a clear understanding of the requirements of the task and how to address them effectively. By familiarizing yourself with the scoring criteria and practicing your writing skills, you can improve your chances of achieving a higher score on the IELTS Writing Task 2.

References:

"IELTS Writing Test Scoring Criteria." IELTS.org, https://www.ielts.org/for-organisations/ielts-scoring-in-detail
"IELTS Writing Task 2: Tips, Lessons & Models." IELTS Liz, https://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-task-2/