Most candidates walk into IELTS Writing treating the two tasks as equals. Sixty minutes, two tasks, split it evenly-ish — a polished Task 1, then a rushed Task 2. That instinct is the single most expensive mistake in the Writing module. Task 2 contributes twice as much as Task 1 to your Writing band. The official math is (Task 1 band + 2 × Task 2 band) ÷ 3, rounded to the nearest half or whole band — fixed across both Academic and General Training.

The math, with numbers

Take a candidate who scores Task 1 = 7.5 and Task 2 = 6.0: (7.5 + 12.0) ÷ 3 = 6.5. Now flip them — Task 1 = 6.0 and Task 2 = 7.5: (6.0 + 15.0) ÷ 3 = 7.0.

Same two task scores, different order — half a band apart. Half a band is the entire difference between CLB 7 and CLB 8 in Writing. One full band on Task 2 moves your overall Writing score twice as far as one full band on Task 1. That is not a rounding quirk; it is the designed structure of the test.

The practical corollary: if you are running out of time, protect Task 2. A finished strong Task 2 plus a slightly compressed Task 1 beats the reverse every time.

The 20/40 split — and why it exists

The official guidance is at least 150 words for Task 1 and at least 250 words for Task 2, in a total of 60 minutes. The recommended time split follows the weight: ~20 minutes on Task 1, ~40 minutes on Task 2. Working targets that give you a safety margin: 160–190 words for Task 1, 260–290 for Task 2.

Two things candidates get wrong here:

1. There is no bonus for extra length. A 230-word Task 1 earns nothing extra — and it steals minutes from the task worth double. A long Task 1 is a self-inflicted wound. Stop writing it, check it, bank it, move on. 2. Under-length is penalised directly. Fewer than 150/250 words gets marked down under Task Achievement (Task 1) / Task Response (Task 2), because a short answer cannot fully address the task. Words copied straight from the question do not count toward the minimum.

How each task is actually scored

Both tasks are marked by trained examiners against the same four criteria, each scored 0–9 and averaged per task: Task Achievement (Task 1) / Task Response (Task 2), Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy. Task 1's first criterion differs by module — Academic candidates are judged on the data report (overview + key features), GT candidates on the letter's purpose, tone and conventions — but Task 2 essays are marked to the same standard in both modules.

Because the four criteria are averaged, a single weak criterion drags the whole task down — and then that task's band gets weighted 1 or 2 in the final formula. For a CLB 9 Writing target (band 7.0), the realistic shape is roughly Task 1 in the 6.0–7.0 range and Task 2 at 7.0–7.5. You do not need perfection in Task 1. You need it safe.

The three decisions this forces

1. Task order. Many strong candidates write Task 2 first while their brain is fresh — then do Task 1 in the remaining time. Nothing in the rules requires Task 1 first. If Task 2 first feels strange, at minimum set a hard stop: 20 minutes into Task 1, you move on whether it is perfect or not.

2. Planning budget. Five minutes of planning on Task 2 pays for itself several times over; five minutes of planning on Task 1 is a luxury you may not have. Plan Task 2's position, two-to-three main ideas, and paragraph structure before writing a word. A planned Task 2 is also a faster Task 2 — no mid-paragraph stalls eating your checking time.

3. Checking budget. Reserve 3–5 minutes at the end of Task 2 for error-checking: subject–verb agreement, articles, tense consistency, singular/plural nouns. Mechanical errors live in Grammatical Range and Accuracy — and in a Task 2 weighted double, every corrected error counts double too.

The CLB 9 bottom line

Writing 7.0 is one of the four gates of CLB 9, and the candidates who miss it usually miss it on Task 2 — under-planned, under-length, or abandoned in the last ten minutes while they polished a Task 1 worth half the marks. The test tells you exactly where the marks are. Weight your effort the way the test weights its scoring: Task 2 first in importance, Task 1 contained, both checked. Half a band is hiding in this decision alone.

Put it to work

Score your Task 2 the way an examiner does: [Try the free Writing practice →](/practice/writing) · Find out which skill is leaking your marks: [Take the free 4-skill diagnostic →](/diagnostic) · Complete the Writing cluster: IELTS Writing Task 2: structure for band 7, GT Writing Task 2 topics 2026, Writing 6.5 → 7.0: what changes.

Fact-check anchor: Writing band = (Task 1 + 2×Task 2) ÷ 3, rounded to the nearest half-band, identical in Academic and GT; word minimums 150 (Task 1) / 250 (Task 2); recommended split ~20/40 minutes; under-length penalised under Task Achievement/Response; copied rubric wording doesn't count toward the minimum; Task 2 marked to the same standard in both modules; CLB 9 Writing = band 7.0. Verified Oct 5/8 2026 — format rules change slowly, re-verify before quoting.