Free mock test
Free IELTS Writing mock test, marked on all four criteria
Every Cambridge Writing paper, Task 1 and Task 2, scored against the published band descriptors.
Start a free Writing testA free account, no card. Your first AI evaluation is included.
You can sit any Cambridge IELTS Writing paper here free. Both tasks, on the computer-delivered screen with the same 60-minute clock: Task 1 is about 150 words in roughly 20 minutes, Task 2 about 250 in roughly 40, and Task 2 is worth twice Task 1. You get a band on each of the four criteria — task achievement, coherence and cohesion, lexical resource, and grammatical range and accuracy. Your first AI evaluation is free, and an instructor can mark it instead.
- 84 papers
- Cambridge 1 to 21
- 60 minutes
- Two tasks, one clock
- 4 criteria
- A band on each, not one number
- Free
- Your first AI evaluation included
Start a free Writing testA free account, no card. Your first AI evaluation is included.
What the Writing test asks of you
Task 1 — about 150 words, roughly 20 minutes
Academic: describe what a chart, table, map or process shows — what it does, not what it means. General Training: write a letter. Marked on whether you covered the data, not on whether you found it interesting.
Task 2 — about 250 words, roughly 40 minutes
An essay answering a specific question: agree or disagree, discuss both views, a problem and its solution. Worth twice Task 1, which is why running out of time on it is the single most expensive mistake in the paper.
The word counts are minimums
Writing under them is penalised. Writing far over them is not rewarded, and costs the time you needed for the task that carries twice the marks.
How a Writing band is worked out
There is no raw score. Each task gets a band on four criteria, Task 2 counts double, and the result is rounded to the nearest half band. A report here names all four criteria for both tasks, because "band 6" on its own does not tell you whether to work on your argument or your grammar.
Every Writing paper
All 84 Cambridge Writing papers, newest book first. Each one is free to sit.