As an IELTS candidate, your writing skill is evaluated at the final stage of your written test. The following points give a snapshot of this section of IELTS.

Timing

60 minutes (Ideally, 20 minutes for Task 1 and 40 minutes for Task 2)

Tasks

There are 2 tasks. You are required to write at least 150 words for Task 1 and at least 250 words for Task 2.
In Task 1, you are presented with a situation in which you need to write a letter. You are asked to describe and present the situation. You may be asked to ask or give information, request a service, apologize, apply for a course or a job position, invite someone to an event or complain about a matter.
In Task 2, you are asked to write an essay in response to a point of view, argument or problem. The issues raised are of general interest to, suitable for and easily understood by those entering undergraduate or postgraduate studies or seeking professional registration. Answers to Task 1 should be written in a formal/academic or informal style, whereas Task 2 can be written in a formal or semi-formal style.

Types of Topics

In Task 1, depending on the task type, your letter is evaluated based on certain subjects, including apology, complaint, ask or give information, request, job, thank you or invitation.
In Task 2, your writing is evaluated based on certain subjects, including an agreement or a disagreement; advantages and disadvantages, a problem and a solution, causes and effects and giving an opinion.

Skill Assessment

In both tasks, your writing is evaluated based on:
a. content of your writing
b. the organization of ideas in your writing
c. the accuracy and range of vocabulary and grammar used in your writing.

Scoring

Your writing is evaluated based on your performance on each task by certificated IELTS examiners according to the IELTS Writing test assessment criteria (Task Achievement/Response, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy). Needless to mention Task 2 contributes twice as much as Task 1 to the Writing score. Scores are reported in whole and half bands from 1 to 9.