Writing
Two tasks in sixty minutes, marked on four equally-weighted criteria. Write to the clock in the app, get an AI band estimate with specific feedback, and on a booked mock have both essays marked by a trained examiner.
Every essay is scored on four criteria of equal weight, and your task band is their average. Knowing which one is holding you back is the whole game — most candidates try to fix vocabulary when the problem is task response.
Task 2 carries double the weight, so the recommended split is twenty minutes on Task 1 and forty on Task 2. Overrunning on Task 1 is the most expensive time mistake in the exam, and it is extremely common because a chart description feels safer to start with.
Task 2 asks for at least 250 words. Going far beyond that is not rewarded — a 400-word essay usually contains more errors and weaker organisation than a tight 280-word one.
Academic Task 1 asks you to select and report the main features of a graph, table, chart, map or process, and to make comparisons. It does not ask why the data looks that way, and speculating about causes costs marks rather than earning them.
General Training Task 1 is a letter. Match the register to the recipient, cover all three bullet points, and use the appropriate opening and sign-off — those are the marks most often thrown away.
When you submit an essay in the app, the AI Writing Check returns an estimated band on each criterion plus written notes on what to fix. It is fast and specific, and it is genuinely useful for catching recurring habits — a missing overview, unsupported claims, the same three linkers in every paragraph.
We call it an estimate on purpose. It is not an examiner mark and should not be planned around as if it were. On a booked mock test, a trained examiner reads both essays and issues the band that counts, with feedback that replaces the estimate.
Writing thirty essays and reading thirty pieces of feedback improves very little. Writing ten, and rewriting each one after reading the feedback, improves a lot. The rewrite is where the correction becomes a habit instead of a note.
At least 250 words. Around 260 to 300 is a practical target — long enough to develop your points, short enough to stay accurate and to leave time for checking.
You are penalised under Task Achievement or Task Response. Write at least 150 words for Task 1 and at least 250 for Task 2.
It can give a useful estimate and specific, actionable feedback, but it is not an examiner mark. For a band you can rely on, have your essay marked by a trained examiner as part of a mock test.
If the question asks for your opinion, yes, and it must be clear and consistent from the introduction to the conclusion. A position that shifts halfway through lowers your Task Response score.
Sparingly, for structure only. Examiners recognise memorised chunks that do not fit the specific question, and content that does not answer the prompt is not credited.
Write to the clock and get an instant estimate, or book a mock test and have both tasks marked by a trained examiner.
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