IELTS Academic Writing

IELTS | Test Takers – Academic Writing sample

 The Academic Writing test is 60 minutes long.

It has two writing tasks of 150 words and 250 words.

In Task 1 candidates are asked to describe some visual information (graph/table/chart/diagram), and to present the description in their own words. They need to write 150 words in about 20 minutes. In Task 2 candidates are presented with a point of view or argument or problem. They need to write 250 words in about 40 minutes.

Below are samples of Task 1 and Task 2. (Note that candidates for IELTS Academic do a different Reading test to IELTS General Training) ).

Computer-delivered General Training IELTS Writing test

There is no difference in the content, format or level of difficulty and scoring of the computer-delivered IELTS test. The type of Writing questions asked, thus, remain the same as in the paper-based test: Please ensure you are using Chrome or Firefox to launch the sample texts.

Computer Based ACADEMIC WRITing Sample tasks
Sample Academic Writing – Part 1
Launch sample test  

Download sample candidate writing scripts & examiner comments
Sample Academic Writing – Part 2
Launch sample test  

Download sample candidate writing scripts & examiner comments

Paper Based Academic Writing Sample tasks

Downloadable Academic Writing samples
Academic Writing Sample Task 1 (PDF, 257KB)
Academic Writing Sample Task 1 (PDF, 411 KB)
Academic Writing Sample Task 2 (PDF, 249KB)
Academic Writing Sample Task 2 (PDF, 249KB)
Academic Writing Answer sheet
IELTS Writing Answer sheet Task 1 (PDF, 700KB)
IELTS Writing Answer sheet Task 2 (PDF, 400KB)
Academic Writing Sample script
IELTS Academic Writing Sample Script (PDF, 1.4MB)

FAQs for Computer-delivered IELTS Test takers

This comes down to personal preference and choice. Some test takers will be used to paper-based tests as this might feel similar to other exam situations from school, whereas other people might feel more comfortable typing.

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