Academic
IELTS Academic writing practice test 2
A Task 1 chart description and a Task 2 essay, with a Band 9 model answer for each. Free, with no signup.
This is the second complete IELTS Academic writing practice test on this site: a bar chart showing urban populations by region, and an essay about motivating children to learn.
This chart carries data labels, so the figures are exact and there is no estimating. Select the features that matter rather than listing every number, and put the two or three biggest ones in an overview before you go near the detail.
Task 1 · 20 minutes · at least 150 words
Task 1: the question
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
The bar chart below shows the percentage of the population living in urban areas in six regions of the world in 2025, together with estimated figures for 2050.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
Write at least 150 words.
Nothing you write here is sent anywhere or stored. Copy it out before you leave the page.
Show a Band 9 answer to this task (195 words)
The bar chart compares the percentage of the population living in urban areas across six regions in 2025, with estimated figures for 2050.
Overall, urban populations are projected to increase in every region over the period. While South America and North America already had the highest urbanisation rates in 2025, Africa showed the most significant projected growth despite remaining the least urbanised region in both years.
In 2025, South America and North America had the highest proportions of urban dwellers, at 83% and 82% respectively, followed by Europe at 75%. The world average stood at 57%, while Asia, at 52%, fell slightly below it in both years — sitting at 64% in 2050 compared to the world figure of 68%. Africa recorded the lowest figure of any region at just 44%.
Looking ahead to 2050, every region is estimated to have expanded its urban population further. Africa is projected to see the largest rise, growing by 14 percentage points to 58%, followed by Asia, up 12 points to 64%. The world average is forecast to reach 68%. Europe, South America and North America are all expected to exceed 80%, reaching 82%, 88% and 87% respectively.
Read it after you have written your own, not before. Comparing your answer with a model is useful; copying its structure into a different question is not, and examiners recognise it.
Task 2 · 40 minutes · at least 250 words
Task 2: the question
Nothing you write here is sent anywhere or stored. Copy it out before you leave the page.
Show a Band 9 answer to this task (281 words)
Education systems worldwide have long grappled with the challenge of engaging disinterested learners. The most effective approaches tend to focus on three interconnected areas: reframing the purpose of learning, restructuring the learning environment, and strengthening the teacher-student relationship.
Perhaps the most effective strategy is to reframe the purpose of education in the child's mind. Many disinterested students do not lack intelligence or curiosity — they lack a convincing reason to engage. When teachers explicitly connect curriculum content to real-world outcomes that matter to the individual child, whether career aspirations, personal interests, or immediate practical needs, the perceived value of learning shifts dramatically. A student indifferent to algebra may respond entirely differently when financial literacy or engineering applications are introduced as context.
Equally important is the structure of the learning environment itself. Research consistently shows that autonomy is a powerful driver of intrinsic motivation. Allowing children some degree of control over how they demonstrate knowledge — through creative projects, oral presentations, or practical tasks rather than exclusively written examinations — reduces the anxiety that frequently underlies disengagement and replaces it with a sense of ownership over their own learning.
The quality of the teacher-student relationship is arguably the single greatest determinant of student motivation. Children who feel genuinely seen and respected by an educator are significantly more likely to invest effort, even in subjects they find difficult. Professional development that equips teachers with the skills to identify and respond to individual barriers to engagement is therefore as important as any curriculum reform.
Ultimately, motivating disinterested learners demands more than surface-level incentives — it requires a fundamental rethinking of how value, autonomy, and human connection are woven into the fabric of education itself.
Read it after you have written your own, not before. Comparing your answer with a model is useful; copying its structure into a different question is not, and examiners recognise it.
The honest limit of a free page
Nobody can tell you what that would score
Reading and listening convert from a raw score, so this site can mark them for you. Writing cannot be marked that way. There is no answer key, because the assessment is a judgement against four criteria: task achievement, coherence and cohesion, lexical resource, and grammatical range and accuracy.
Comparing your answer with the Band 9 model above will show you some of the gap. What it will not tell you is which of the four criteria is holding your band down, and that is almost always the thing worth fixing first.
IELTStestONLINE assesses your writing against those four criteria, instantly and as often as you like, using a system built by a former IELTS examiner and examiner trainer.
See what membership includesQuestions about this IELTS Academic writing practice test
How long is the IELTS General Training writing test?
Sixty minutes for both tasks. Spend about twenty minutes on the Task 1 letter and forty on the Task 2 essay, which is worth twice the marks.
How many words do I need to write?
At least 150 for Task 1 and at least 250 for Task 2. Writing under the minimum is penalised under Task Achievement, and there is no benefit in writing far over it.
Can I get my answer marked here?
No. Writing is judged against four criteria rather than checked against an answer key, so no free page can score it. That is what full membership on IELTStestONLINE is for.
Should I read the model answer first?
No. Write your own answer under time, then read the model and compare. Reading it first turns a test into a copying exercise, and examiners recognise borrowed structures.
Is Task 2 the same in both modules?
Yes. Task 2 is an essay of at least 250 words in both Academic and General Training. Only Task 1 differs, where General Training writes a letter.