IELTS Writing can scare many students. But it doesn’t have to! By understanding what the IELTS General Training Writing Task 1 asks of you and how to get a high score, you’ll be able to go into test day relaxed and ready to do your best. So just what IELTS General Writing tips and tricks do you need?

In this post, we’ll look at everything you need for IELTS General Training Writing Task 1. This includes sentence structure, vocabulary, organization and word choice. And don’t worry—you’ll see plenty of useful practical examples along the way, too! (Also note that this guide is an excellent supplement for those following a Magoosh IELTS study schedule. In fact, we specifically recommend this guide for our one week IELTS study plan.)

Table of Contents

• IELTS General Training — Writing Task 1 Information
• IELTS General Training — Writing Task 1 Quick Tips
• How Do I Write the Letter for General Training?
• How Can I Prepare for IELTS General Training Writing Task 1?
• How Can I Get a High Score in General Task 1?
• Sample Questions and Model Letters for General Training Task 1
• IELTS General Writing Task 1 Tips & Free Videos

IELTS General Training — Writing Task 1 Information

Basic Instructions

In the IELTS General Training Writing Task 1, you need to write a letter responding to a given situation, explaining the situation or requesting information. In this task, you should spend 20 minutes writing a 150-word letter.

Types of Letters

There are two main types of letters in IELTS: formal letters and informal letters.

Personal letters: Writing to someone you know very well, such as a friend.

(There is also a third type of letter, the semi-formal letter. But in this post, we’ll focus on these two main types.)

How can you identify formal and informal letters? What does each one look like? Check out advice and examples from one of Magoosh’s resident IELTS experts, Eliot!

General Task 1 Scoring

Overall, your response to the IELTS General Training Writing Task 1 is worth 1/3 of your writing score.

More specifically, your score on this task depends on:

• Task achievement
• Coherence and cohesion
• Vocabulary
• Grammar

Word Count

Keep in mind that you have to write at least 150 words in response to the IELTS General Training Writing Task 1. The examiner does actually check this, so it’s important! Get into the habit of counting your words as you practice.

Not sure how to count your words? Find out more about IELTS word counting here! Choosing the correct Task 1 language will show that you understood the task and can change your tone according to circumstance.

IELTS General Training — Writing Task 1 Quick Tips

What do you need to succeed on Task 1? Here are a few key IELTS Writing tips and tricks for General Training Task 1!

1. Only spend 20 minutes on Task It’s only worth 1/3 of your score, after all. You’ll need all of your remaining 40 minutes for Task 2!
2. Don’t write an address. It’s not required. In fact, the task tells you not to do it. It’s a waste of time, so focus on other parts of the task.
3. Pay attention to the prompt. In particular, evaluate right away whether you need to write a formal or an informal letter, depending on the recipient and purpose.
4. Ensure you meet the minimum word count. You’ll get a score penalty if you write fewer than 150 words.

How Do I Write the Letter for General Training?

Now that you know what the IELTS General Training Writing Task 1 requires in general, here are some specific tools you can use to meet its requirements.

Formal or Informal?

When you’re reading the prompt, the first thing you need to do is to decide whether the letter is formal or informal.

First, look at the person you’re writing to. If you don’t know who the person is, it’s a formal letter. This includes cases where you’re unsure about the identity of the specific person who will receive the letter, like when you’re writing to a company. However, it also includes cases where it’s a person you’ve never met, like the director of an internship program.

Notice that formal letters may also be required when you’re writing to someone you do know but in a formal situation. This includes writing to a boss or a professor.

Identifying an informal letter tends to be easier. If the letter is to a friend or family member, it is informal.

Next, look at the situation given in the prompt. If the situation is regarding your career or schooling, it is likely formal.

Openings and Signing Off

Why is it so important to determine whether the letter is formal or informal? For openings and sign-offs, among other things!

Ensure that you show the examiner that you understood the prompt by correctly using openers and closers. Below are some examples.

Formal letters

Opening: Dear Sir/Madam

Closing: Yours faithfully + your full name

Personal letters

Opening: Dear + the first name of the recipient

Closing: Best regards + your first name

Sentence Structure and Phrases

As you write your IELTS General Training Writing Task 1, it’s important that you use a variety of different sentence structures and phrases. This shows the examiner that you can use English fluently. In fact, one thing you’ll be graded on is how well you use different sentence structures.

Using the same sentence structures repeatedly makes your writing sound very simple. For example, sentences that continually begin with “I + verb” get repetitive.

Here are a handful of IELTS sentence structures you can use to mix up your writing. However, keep looking for different structures in your reading, as well! You can then incorporate these into your writing later.

In terms of phrasing, it’s important not to keep repeating the same words. Before you start writing, you might come up with different synonyms to mix into your letter.

For example, if you need to write a letter asking your friend to take care of your pet, words you could use instead of “pet” are:

• Specific animal words (dog, cat, rabbit)>
• The animal’s name (you can make this up!)
• Words like “animal” and “creature”

Similarly, you don’t want to keep using the phrase “take care of,” especially if it’s in the prompt. You could add variety by using phrases like:

• Care for
• Feed and water
• Look after

Tone and Tense

Choosing the correct tone for your letter will depend entirely on whether it is formal or informal. Some words and phrases are OK to use with a friend (like the word “OK”!), but not with an employer. Choosing the correct language will show that you understood the task and can change your tone according to circumstance.

You also want to make sure that you use the correct tenses in your letter. Yes, tenses (plural!). While most letters will be about a future situation, you will also need to use other tenses depending on the situation. For example:

• Present progressive: “I am writing to you…”
• Simple present: “I always love taking vacations with you”
• Conditional: “It would be so fun to go on a vacation together”
• Past tenses: “I remember when we went to Spain and had a lot of fun.”

Help keep your letter in the correct tense by noting which tenses are appropriate for the scenario as you read the prompt.

How Can I Prepare for IELTS General Training Writing Task 1?

The absolute best thing you can do to prepare for IELTS General Training Writing Task 1 is to improve your English through repeated practice. This sounds simple and general! However, there are some specific things you can do to get ready.

• Study grammar and vocabulary daily. Getting a good grammar book is crucial. Meanwhile, practice 15-20 new vocabulary words a day.
• Read in English daily. The more you can practice with newspaper articles, magazines, and web content, the easier you’ll find IELTS materials. Overall, aim for about 75% of this reading to be pretty easy to understand, and for 25% of it to challenge you.
• Use English-to-English dictionaries. Yes, I know it’s harder than using dictionaries in English-to-your-native-language! But it will help you so much to find synonyms and learn how to describe terms.
• Write—a lot. The more you write, the more fluent you’ll become. Practice with journals, practice questions, emails to friends. Practice as much as you can!

Paper-Based Versus Computer-Based

As you practice, it’s important to write in the same format you’ll see on test day. If you’re taking the computer-based IELTS, practicing on a computer is best. If you’re taking the paper-based test, practice on sample writing answer sheets.

This may seem obvious, but a lot of test-takers hesitate to write long-hand (on paper), particularly if they have been out of school for a while. This can make the task seem even more strange and unfamiliar on test day! Get the practice in now, and you’ll be better prepared for the exam itself.

 

How Can I Get a High Score in General Task 1?

The first thing to do is to set yourself up for success by practicing productively! But it’s also really important to know how you will be graded on the exam.

For IELTS General Training Writing Task 1, you’ll be graded on four criteria:

• Task achievement: how well you satisfy the requirements of the task
• Coherence and cohesion: how well your writing flows, using paragraphing and transitions
• Vocabulary: how well you use a range of vocabulary in a natural way
• Grammar: how well you use a variety of grammatical structures in a natural way

The British Council has a rubric where you can see how they classify each of these criteria at each band descriptor.

Wondering how to score in one of the top band descriptors? Here’s Eliot again, sharing his IELTS Writing tips and tricks for General Training. In particular, he’ll give you his advice for scoring 8+ on IELTS Writing!

Sample Questions and Model Letters for General Training Task 1

So what does this look like in practice? Here are some model letters you can use as a guide!

Informal Letter

Prompt:

You just moved to a new city for work. Write a letter to a friend. In your letter, 

Response:

Dear Juliette, 

Best, 
Fujiko Kine

Want to see another example? You can find an additional model informal letter here!

Formal Letter

Prompt:

You recently rented a car for a business trip. When you received the bill from the rental company, there were some charges that did not seem correct. 

Response:

Dear Sir or Madam, 

Cordially, 
Ben Ore

Want to see another example? You can find an additional model formal letter here!

More Practice

Still want more? I’m impressed! Take a look at these example letters for IELTS General Training Test Writing Task 1.

Then, take a look at some of the IELTS official prompts: here and here. Practice with them using the models above! Then, take a look at sample answers and their band descriptors at the IELTS site to understand the band score your responses would likely achieve.

IELTS General Writing Task 1 Tips & Free Videos

Congratulations! That’s all of the basic information you need to succeed on IELTS General Training Task 1. Now that you’ve mastered these IELTS writing tips and tricks for General Training, you’re set up for success.

However, if you want even more IELTS Writing tips and tricks for General Training, check out our video on improving your IELTS writing. Then, return to Eliot to learn about some IELTS mistakes to avoid. From there, check out IELTS paraphrasing tips to raise your score even more. And finally, check out our complete guide to IELTS Writing. Good luck!

There are two common types of letters you might write: informal and formal. What you may not know is that there is a third type of letter: a semi-formal letter. Semi-formal letters have some formal language and are written in response to tasks involving situations that have formal elements. Let’s take a closer look at what semi-formal writing is for Task 1, and how it relates to formal writing.

To understand the difference between formal and semi-formal writing styles in IELTS General Training Task 1, it helps to first look at what it means to write an entirely formal letter.

Formal Letter Writing, Defined

In IELTS General Training Writing Task 1, formal letters deal with situations that are very oriented toward official business and are not particularly personal. Basically, when writing a formal letter, you should imagine you are socially distant from the person who will read the letter, but that you still need to convince them to pay attention to what you are saying or asking.

The use of language will be—as you would expect—highly formal. These kinds of letters address the recipient by title and by family name rather than given name (if the family name is known). Acceptable formal greetings include “Dear Sir,” “Dear Madam,” “Dear Mz. Lopez,” “Dear Doctor Sanyal,” and so on. In addition, formal letters avoid contractions, using “cannot” or “will not” instead of “can’t” or “won’t,” for instance.

Such letters also often have a clear statement of intention at the beginning of the letter (the first sentence of this model formal letter) and a polite statement thanking the reader for their attention at the end of the letter (the last sentence in the letter linked above). In general, a formal letter tone is exceptionally polite and uses “academic” sentence structure and word forms (no sentences beginning with “and” or “but,” no contractions).

The Difference Between a Semi-Formal Letter and Formal Letter

First and foremost, you should understand that there is no clear line between informal, semi-formal, and formal writing. The good news is that you don’t need an exact guide on the difference between these three. Instead, you are allowed to decide just how formal or informal your letter should be, based on the situation you are writing about. With that in mind, let’s discuss what a semi-formal situation looks like in this writing task.

Semi-formal letters are used to express closeness and familiarity to the reader of the letter, while also putting this closeness and familiarity in a “formal” context such as business, customer service, or work. Some topics of a semi-formal letter may include:

• talking to a co-worker about a work project
• writing a letter to a business where you’re a customer
• offering assistance to a supervisor

You could also possibly choose between formal or semi-formal language in some Task 1 situations. For instance, in the model formal letter we talked about above, although Rachel chose to describe a very formal volunteer opportunity—practicing medicine in Africa—that same prompt could be used for a less serious activity, such as volunteering at a local animal shelter, offering to coach a neighborhood children’s sports team, and so on. In that case, the opportunity would be less serious and less competitive, and some degree of informal language might work.

Similarly, in our model personal/informal letter, Rachel could have said that she looked forward to the dinner party because she wanted to discuss a proposed business partnership with the host. In that case, some semi-formal language would have been appropriate, even though the letter would still be largely informal.

I hope this has helped! For more help with task 1 and with IELTS Writing in general, check out Magoosh’s complete guide to the IELTS Writing section.

In IELTS General Training Writing task 1, you will write a letter, based on the situation and description in the prompt. Situations range from personal, informal ones (communicating with a neighbor or friend for instance) and more formal business/work oriented ones (writing a memo to your boss, talking about an experience you had as a customer and so on). In this article, we’ll look at a sample personal informal letter. Ultimately, informal letters are just one of two kinds of letters that you might need to write on test day. The other letter type is a formal letter (although, so many claim that there is a third type—the semi-formal letter).

IELTS Writing Task 1 Informal Letter: Model Question and Answer

The Prompt

Model of a Personal, Informal Letter

Word count: 167

Explanation and Band Score

Let’s look at a band score, with explanation. This score report is similar to the ones we can provide you if you have a Magoosh IELTS subscription plan, and the score itself is based on the categories in the official IELTS Writing Task 1 rubric.

Overall Band Score: 9

Tips and Feedback

What was done well in this essay:

• The 150-word minimum was met and exceeded, to avoid a penalty.
• All three requirements from the task description are met. (Rachel says why she is accepting the invitation and why she is looking forward to coming; she also offers to bring something.)
• Each paragraph has its own clear theme and focus.
• There are good transition words and phrases (EX: also, in fact, as for me)
• There is an appropriate and consistent informal tone with friendly language, the use of contractions, and so on.
• There is variety in word choice; different words used to say similar things (EX: happy/glad, can’t wait/it will be lovely)
• Sentence structure and length is varied, and all sentences are written clearly and feel natural.

The Takeaway

Understanding the official score guide for Task 1 is an important key to getting a top score. Good language skills and a good mindset are important too. What do I mean by a good mindset? I mean that you should use your imagination. Be creative as you picture the personal, friendly scenario in the prompt. Then write a letter that addresses the friendly situation you’re imagining.

Above all, keep using great prep materials and seeking out more practice. This blog is a great place to start. We have more prompts and example letters to help you prepare for the IELTS General Training writing task. We also have a full guide to the entire IELTS Writing section!

Formal Letter Prompt and Model Letter

The Prompt

Model of a Formal Letter

Word count: 171

Explanation and Band Score

Let’s look at a band score, with explanation. This score report is similar to the ones we can provide you if you have a Magoosh IELTS subscription plan, and the score itself is based on the categories in the official IELTS Writing Task 1 rubric.

Overall Band Score: 9

Tips and Feedback

What was done well in this essay:

• The 150-word minimum was met and exceeded, to avoid a penalty.
• All three requirements from the task description are met. (The writer discusses what they know about the programme, explains why they’re interested in the opportunity, and describes their skills.)
• Each paragraph has its own clear theme and focus.
• There are good transition words and phrases (EX: as described, furthermore, in the past)
• There is an appropriate and consistent formal tone, with polite, business-oriented language (the use of formal titles, the avoidance of contractions, etc…)
• There is variety in word choice, with different words used to say similar things (EX: this appeals to me/I look forward to, good fit/well qualified)
• Sentence structure and length is varied, and all sentences are written clearly and feel natural.

Final Thoughts on IELTS General Training (GT) Formal Letters

In some ways, formal letters are more challenging than other types of IELTS GT letters. After all, you have to use language that is careful and a little more elaborate. In some ways, however, formal letters are easier: the language rules are more clear. In contrast, for less formal letter writing, you don’t need to be as careful to follow an exact set of rules, but you also don’t get as much close guidance on how to write. With that in mind, even with formal letters, there can be a gray area: sometimes a formal situation calls for a mix of formal and semi-formal language. Fortunately, Magoosh offers a great guide on formal vs. semiformal tone in General Training letters.

In fact, Magoosh has you covered for any kind of letter. We have more prompts and example letters to help you prepare for the IELTS GT letter writing task. And if you have a Magoosh IELTS General Training subscription, you’ll be able to watch our video lessons on letter writing, go through extra practice questions, and even get your responses scored. We also have a collection of resources that will have you covered for any aspect of the IELTS Writing section.

Formal Letters

A formal letter is addressed to someone you have never met (an insurance representative, someone in customer support, a city council member, mayor). You often don’t know the name of the person to whom you are writing. Also, a formal letter can be addressed to someone you know but have a professional relationship with (a manager, boss, teacher, or landlord).

Types of letters that are often formal:

• Letter of enquiry
• Letter of request (to a business or organization)
• Letter of complaint
• Letter of recommendation
• Letter of suggestion (this can also be an informal letter)

We offer a lot more detail on General Training Writing Tips and Examples post.

Sample Formal Letter for General Training Writing Task 1 Test

First, take a look at the prompt:

Okay, let’s look at the topic and who we are writing. The topic is an enquiry into a volunteer opportunity and you don’t know who you’ll write in the organization. So this will be a formal letter and that means using formal openings, closings, and tone. Here’s a template we can use.

In response to that prompt, here’s a General Training formal letter sample.

For more recommendations on formal language, take a look at the table the IDP offers.

Additional Topics of Formal Letters

Here are some IELTS Writing Task General Training prompt topics you can use to get started! You can respond to these using the IELTS General Writing Task 1 model answers above.

Personal/Informal Letters

In comparison to formal letters, personal or informal letters are written to people that you know. For IELTS General Training task 1, these can cover a range of situations: from addressing friends and family members to making a suggestion to a colleague.

Unlike in a formal letter, you know the person to whom you’re writing and the topic is less formal. This means that you can address them by their specific name and bring up relevant details in your letter.

Types of letters that are often personal or informal:

• Letter of request (to a friend, family member, or peer)
• Letter of invitation
• Letter of thanks
• Letter of suggestion (this can also be a formal letter)

We offer a lot more detail on General Training Writing, tips, and examples on our blog.

Sample Personal/Informal Letter for General Training Writing Task 1 Test

First, here’s a sample prompt:

The prompt has clear signals that you’ll write an informal letter. You are writing to a friend about a party. That means you’ll use more casual language, openings, and closings than you would in a formal letter.

Here’s an IELTS Writing Task 1 general template you could use to write a model answer to an informal letter:

Now that you’ve seen the template, you can use it to construct a model letter! Here’s an example letter of how you could respond to the above prompt.

Additional Topics of Personal/Informal Letters

If you want more practice with personal/informal letters, read on! Here are additional prompts for informal letter writing for IELTS General Training.

I hope this has helped! As you continue to prepare for test day, don’t forget to check out Magoosh’s Complete Guide to IELTS Writing.