IELTS Writing Task 2: the four marking criteria, decoded

IELTS Writing Task 2 is marked on four criteria, each worth a quarter of your Task 2 score: Task Response, Coherence & Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range & Accuracy. Most learners pour their effort into one—usually vocabulary—and quietly lose marks on the other three.

Below is each criterion as a small card in three registers: the examiner’s own words (a short phrase from the public band-7 descriptor), the same idea in plain English, and one practical move. The descriptors are paraphrased except for the short quoted phrases; the full band-by-band ladder lives in the guide.

Task Response — are you answering the whole question?

• The examiner’s words: at band 7 the response “presents a clear position throughout.” descriptor · quote · ielts-descriptors
• In plain English: you answer every part of the prompt, take one clear stance, and hold it from introduction to conclusion—no drifting, no half-answers.
• Your move: before writing, restate the exact question and your position in one sentence, then check that each paragraph still serves it. The Task Response guide has the band-by-band moves.

Coherence & Cohesion — can a reader follow the argument?

• The examiner’s words: band 7 shows “clear progression throughout.” descriptor · quote · ielts-descriptors
• In plain English: ideas are ordered so each leads to the next, and linking words are used naturally—not a device bolted onto every sentence.
• Your move: give each paragraph one central idea and let its first sentence announce it; use linkers only where the logic actually turns. The Coherence & Cohesion guide shows how.

Lexical Resource — do you use words precisely?

• The examiner’s words: band 7 vocabulary allows “flexibility and precision.” descriptor · quote · ielts-descriptors
• In plain English: you use words accurately and in their natural collocations, with some less common items—precision, not rare-word insertion.
• Your move: fix near-miss word choices and collocations rather than adding fancier words; the precise common word beats the imprecise rare one. The Lexical Resource guide goes deeper.

Grammatical Range & Accuracy — how often is a sentence clean?

• The examiner’s words: band 7 produces “frequent error-free sentences.” descriptor · quote · ielts-descriptors
• In plain English: you use a controlled variety of structures and, crucially, a high proportion of your sentences carry no error—accuracy over ambition.
• Your move: find the two or three errors that recur in your writing and fix those; a clean mix beats an ambitious tangle. The Grammatical Range & Accuracy guide has the detail.

Equal weight: fix your weakest gate, not your favourite

Because the four criteria are weighted equally, your Task 2 band sits close to their average. That has a blunt consequence: your fastest gain is almost always your lowest criterion, not the one you enjoy polishing. A learner who is 7 on vocabulary but 5 on Task Response does not need better words—they need to answer the question.

So diagnose before you drill. Get a piece of writing scored criterion by criterion, find the lowest gate, and work it. The full Writing guide lays out the moves for every criterion and band, and the companion pieces on Lexical Resource and Grammatical Range & Accuracy go deeper on the two that learners most often misread.

One caveat: the criteria are scored separately but they interact—weak organisation can drag down how your ideas read—and the phrases above are the official public wording, paraphrased here except for the short quotes. Treat these cards as a map, not the whole territory.