What are the differences between Academic and General Ielts writing?

We're glad you asked! Even though the differences between Academic and General Ielts writing are not that great, they do require a special page devoted to them and so, here it is.

One of the main differences in the Ielts writing is that of the first task.

Although there are many similarities in the second task for both exams, the first task is completely different.

For instance, the General Ielts writing requires a letter either formal, semi-formal or personal. While the the Academic Ielts writing requires information interpretation from a chart or other source.

The table below shows the differences between the Academic and General Ielts writing tasks.

	General Training Writing	Academic Writing
Task 1	informal, semi-formal or formal personal letter with some information provided	Interpreting information from a diagram, graph, chart, or process, etc., from your own words
Task 2	discursive essay on general topic of interest	discursive essay on academic topic addressed to educator

The differences between Academic and General Ielts writing tasks are clearly shown in the above chart.

The second tasks are quite similar in that they are both discursive essays. You may need to present a solution to a problem or justify an opinion about a given topic.

That's about all the differences between Academic and General Ielts writing there are. To return to the previous page, click on the preceding link.

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