There are four major reasons why candidates score poor grades in the exams. These include not answering all the questions posed, using linking words in all their sentences, reproducing memorized lines, and getting stuck in very short sentences. These are the common mistakes in IELTS writing tasks, and this is why thousands of candidates in Kerala attempt the test year after year with the same band score of 6.5 on the report card.
Listening and Reading are skills that can be improved through practice. Writing does not improve through practice. It is marked by a human reader trained by British Council, IDP, or Cambridge testing panels. If nobody has ever shown you that rubric, you are guessing.
Most students think long words and a heavy template will impress the examiner. They do the opposite. In reality, it is a logical argument, a standpoint you maintain throughout your writing, and proper grammar that will get you a Band 7.
Each mistake in the guide is broken down based on the grading criterion, allowing you to understand how you should improve yourself.
Four IELTS Grading Criteria Described
Both task 1 and 2 are graded using four criteria, and each carries 25% weightage of your band in writing. Here are the IELTS writing assessment criteria in simple terms:
| Grading Criteria | What It Actually Means | Weight |
| Task Achievement / Task Response | Did you answer all parts of the question clearly? | 25% |
| Coherence and Cohesion | Do your paragraphs and ideas connect logically? | 25% |
| Lexical Resource | Did you use natural, accurate vocabulary and not just “big” words? | 25% |
| Grammatical Range and Accuracy | Did you use complex sentences correctly without basic errors? | 25% |
Look at what is not included in this marking scheme. No points are awarded for good thoughts, no points are given for good penmanship, and no points are earned by exceeding the question’s demands.
At Tiju’s Academy IELTS coaching, every new student starts with Base Camp, a five day orientation where we open the actual band descriptors and read them line by line. After that comes Base Check, a full diagnostic assessment that tells you which of the four criteria is holding you back. Fixing the wrong problem for three months is the most expensive mistake a candidate can make.
- Mistakes in Task Achievement and Task Response
This is where most of the IELTS writing task 1 and 2 mistakes occur. An excellent essay that does not address the right question will score very poorly.
Task 1: Missing the overview
The first task in academic English is the graph or diagram. Students look at the data and write a paragraph, but often they just take the numbers from left to right.
The examiner is looking for something else. They want an overview paragraph that summarizes the main trends without quoting figures. Which line went up? Which category stayed flat? What is the biggest gap?
If there is no clear overview, your task achievement score is capped at Band 5. It does not matter how accurate your numbers are.
Quick fixes:
- Write the overview as your second paragraph, right after the introduction
- Use no data in it, only trends and comparisons
- Start it simply, for example “Overall, sales of both products increased across the period.”
- Save your figures for the two body paragraphs
Task 2: Sitting on the fence
Whenever the question is “To what extent do you agree or disagree?” most of the students tend to write four neutral paragraphs followed by “There are some strengths in both arguments.”
This is not an answer. Your opinion has to be visible in the introduction, supported in the body, and repeated in the conclusion. Same opinion, three times, no wobbling.
Task 2: Half answers
If the question asks about causes and solutions, both parts get equal space. Three paragraphs on causes and one line on solutions is a fatal error, and it is one of the most common Band 7 IELTS writing errors we see in essay corrections.
Put the question words underlined prior to commencing your work. In case of two questions, there must be two paragraphs.
This is exactly what our Blank2Brilliant technique solves. Students freeze because they cannot think of ideas, then they write whatever comes first. Blank2Brilliant gives you a repeatable way to generate two solid ideas for any topic in under three minutes, so you plan before you panic. Our 250in60 programme then puts your essay through line-by-line correction against the same rubric the examiners use.
- Mistakes in Coherence and Cohesion
Coherence and cohesion involve flow. Most students fight coherence and cohesion using the wrong weapon.
Overusing linking words
Somewhere along the way, candidates were told that transition words raise your band. So essays arrive looking like this:
“Firstly, pollution is a problem. Secondly, traffic is bad. Moreover, people are unhealthy. Furthermore, the government must act. Consequently, we need change.”
Every sentence has a signpost, and none of them are needed. It reads like a robot filling in blanks, and examiners are trained to spot mechanical linking. Better flow comes from referencing. Use words like “this,” “these,” “such,” “it,” and “they” to point back to what you already said:
- Weak: “Traffic is increasing. Moreover, traffic causes pollution.”
- Natural: “Traffic is increasing, and this is now the main source of urban pollution.”
Two or three linking words per essay is plenty. The rest of the connection should come from the ideas themselves.
Poor paragraphing
Students go to two extremes. Some hand in one giant block of text with no breaks at all. Others write seven tiny paragraphs of two sentences each.
The golden rule for Task 2:
- Four or five paragraphs total
- One introduction
- Two or three body paragraphs
- One conclusion
- Only one main idea per paragraph with an explanation supported by an example
In case you have three ideas in your paragraph, the examiner will fail to comprehend your argument, and no matter how well you command the English language, your score for coherence and cohesion will decrease.
Structure is trainable. It is the fastest part of the exam to improve, which is why our Band 7+ writing templates are built as flexible frames, not scripts. You keep the shape and change the content.
- Mistakes in Lexical Resource
Lexical Resource is not a vocabulary test. It measures whether you use words correctly and naturally.
Memorised templates
Examiners read thousands of essays. They know every memorized opening in circulation, including old favorites like “Since the dawn of time, this topic has been heavily debated by the masses.”
The IELTS essay templates’ penalty is real. When an examiner spots language that does not belong to you or does not fit the question, that chunk of text is ignored, and your band falls. Memorised sentences also eat your word count without answering anything.
Wrong collocations
Collocations refer to word partners that occur together. The usage of a complex word in an inappropriate collocation is worse than the usage of a simple word correctly.
- You commit a crime. You do not “do a crime.”
- You make a decision. You do not “do a decision.”
- Traffic is heavy, not “big.”
- You pay attention, take action, and raise awareness.
Examiners want natural collocations, not rare dictionary words. “Ameliorate the pecuniary situation” will lose you marks. “Improve the financial situation” will not.
Spelling mistakes
Careless spelling drags down your lexical resource band. The repeat offenders are almost always the same:
- enviroment instead of environment
- goverment instead of government
- recieve instead of receive
- sucess instead of success
Write down all the words that you have difficulty with. Our Word Savvy lesson is based on this principle, where we teach you topic words within context and using the correct partners for them, allowing you to learn usable phrases rather than incorrect individual words.
- Mistakes in Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Two things are being measured here, and students usually only work on one of them.
“Range” means variety of structures. “Accuracy” means how often you get them right. You need both.
Writing only simple sentences
Look at this: “The graph shows car sales. They went up in 2020. Then they went down.”
Nothing is wrong. Nothing is interesting either. Written entirely in short sentences, this caps you around Band 5.5 for Grammatical Range and Accuracy.
To score band 7, you must demonstrate proficiency with:
- Relative clause: “Sales, which had increased drastically in 2020, decreased in the next year.”
- Conditional sentence: “If governments invested in public transportation systems, traffic would decrease.”
- The passive voice: “The materials are transported to the factory.”
- Complex linkers: although, whereas, despite the fact that
Use them, but do not overload. One or two complex structures per paragraph is enough.
Comma splices and run-on sentences
- Among the common errors in Indian candidate essays are comma splices and run-ons. A comma splice is formed by putting together two full sentences using a comma.
- Incorrect: “Pollution levels are increasing; the government needs to do something.”
- Right: “Pollution is rising, so the government must act.”
- Also right: “Pollution is rising. The government must act.”
Subject-verb agreement
Small errors here signal weak foundations to an examiner.
- Wrong: “The government need to take action.”
- Right: “The government needs to take action.”
- Wrong: “People is more aware nowadays.”
- Right: “People are more aware nowadays.”
Our grammar and vocabulary improvement lessons target the mistakes you personally repeat, tracked across every submission through progress tracking so you can see errors disappearing week by week.
The Word Count and Time Management Trap
The IELTS writing word count rules are strict and non-negotiable.
- Task 1 needs a minimum of 150 words
- Task 2 needs a minimum of 250 words
- Writing 249 words in Task 2 brings a penalty
Now the part nobody warns you about. Writing too much can also work against you. A 400-word essay will have more grammar errors, repetitions, and off-topic sentences. Your goal should be between 160 and 190 words in Task 1 and 270 to 290 in Task 2.
Time is the other trap. You get 60 minutes for both tasks:
- 20 minutes for Task 1
- 40 minutes for Task 2, because it carries twice the marks
- 5 minutes of that 40 goes to planning
- 3 minutes at the end goes to checking spelling and verb endings
Running out of time on Task 2 is the fastest way to lose a full band. Our time management strategies and Testfinity unlimited mock tests fix this by making you write under real exam pressure until 40 minutes feels normal. Mic Drop Day, our final session before your test date, walks you through the exam day plan minute by minute.
Why Students Choose Tiju’s Academy?
We are known as the best IELTS academy in Kerala because we teach the rubric, not tricks. Whether you join us in person or prefer IELTS coaching online Kerala students can attend from home, you get the same system:
- A step-by-step IELTS study plan built around your target band roadmap
- Personalized essay correction through 250in60
- 40in60 for reading explanation and ListenLock for detailed listening breakdowns
- Brain Spark for speaking idea generation and Fluent Sphere for fluency practice with feedback
- Read Savvy for skimming and scanning under time pressure
- TenX, our intensive exam batch, and the 4 in 1 programme covering all four modules
- Daily practice tasks, live classes or recorded lessons, and an active peer community
Students searching for the best IELTS online coaching in Kerala usually find the same problem everywhere. Plenty of centres give you practice tests. Very few sit down and explain why you scored 6.5 instead of 7.
Ready to Fix Your Writing?
Identifying the common mistakes in IELTS writing tasks is but the first step. You cannot rectify what you are unable to see. Without feedback, all essays will simply serve to cement your flaws.
The certified coaches at WriteMyIelts.net will assess your writing based on the British Council and IDP rubrics, identify your weaknesses in structure, fix your grammar and provide you with a personalized plan to surpass Band 7. That is why students looking for IELTS coaching in Kerala keep sending us their friends.
Do not pay for another retake. Explore our IELTS Coaching Packages and send us your first essay for a professional evaluation today.
Frequently Asked Questions:
A: The four biggest ones are not answering every part of the question, overusing linking words, copying memorized templates, and writing only short simple sentences. These common mistakes in IELTS writing tasks are why so many candidates stay stuck at Band 6.5 across repeat attempts.
A: There are four IELTS writing assessment criteria, each worth 25%: task achievement or task response, coherence and cohesion, lexical resource, and grammatical range and accuracy. Your final writing band is the average of all four, so one weak area pulls down three strong ones.
A: Usually because you are fixing the wrong problem. Most Band 7 IELTS writing errors come from structure and task response, not vocabulary. Without feedback from a trained reader, you keep repeating the same mistakes in every practice essay.
A: Your Task Achievement score is capped at Band 5, no matter how accurate your figures are. Missing the overview is one of the most costly IELTS writing task 1 and 2 mistakes. Write it as your second paragraph, using trends only and no data.
A: Yes. The IELTS writing word count rules are strict. Task 1 needs at least 150 words and Task 2 needs at least 250. Even 249 words brings a penalty. Aim for 270 to 290 words in Task 2.
A: No. Examiners read thousands of essays and recognize every memorized opening. The IELTS essay template penalty means that text is ignored during marking, and it still eats into your word count. Use flexible frames instead, where the shape stays and the content changes.
A: Two or three instances across the whole essay is enough. Starting every sentence with "Firstly," "Moreover," or "Furthermore" reads as mechanical and hurts coherence and cohesion. Better flow comes from referencing words like "this," "these," and "such."
