General Training
A Task 1 letter and a Task 2 essay, with a Band 9 model answer for each. Free, with no signup.
This is the second complete IELTS General Training writing practice test on this site: a letter to a course tutor, and an essay about motivating children to learn.
Sixty minutes for both tasks, split twenty and forty. Task 2 is worth twice the marks of Task 1, so it gets the larger share of the hour and the better half of your attention.
Task 1 · 20 minutes · at least 150 words
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
You have enrolled in an evening course but you have found that you are too busy to continue and would like to take the course next term instead. Write a letter to your teacher. In your letter:Nothing you write here is sent anywhere or stored. Copy it out before you leave the page.
Dear Mr Williams,
I am writing with regard to my enrolment in your Business Marketing course. While I have found the past seven weeks to be genuinely valuable, a family matter has arisen that will require me to travel abroad for several weeks to care for a relative, making it impossible for me to continue this term.
I would like to propose a solution, if you are open to it. Having already completed three of the five course assignments, I am hopeful that it may be possible to join a future intake at the point where I left off, rather than repeating the course from the beginning. This would allow me to complete the remaining four weeks without losing the progress already made.
I recognise this arrangement may not be straightforward, and I would very much appreciate your guidance on the most appropriate path forward. Should rejoining mid-term not be feasible, I would welcome any alternative you might suggest.
I apologise sincerely for any inconvenience this causes and look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely, Samuel Winburbe
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
Nothing you write here is sent anywhere or stored. Copy it out before you leave the page.
Children are expected to sustain enthusiasm for learning across more than a decade of formal education, and for many, that enthusiasm inevitably wanes. While this is a genuine challenge, it is one that can be addressed through deliberate changes in both teaching practice and the home environment.
One of the most significant factors behind disengagement is an over-reliance on passive, lecture-based instruction. When students absorb information without actively participating, many disengage entirely. Shifting towards interactive methods — student-led presentations, project-based learning, and structured field trips — not only makes content more engaging but gives students a sense of ownership over their education, which sustains motivation over time.
A related issue is that teaching is often delivered as though all students learn in the same way. In reality, learning styles vary considerably, and a student who appears disinterested may simply not be accessing content in a format that suits them — and if this goes unaddressed, that student may disengage permanently, not from lack of ability, but because the system failed to reach them. Varying methods across visual, auditory, and practical approaches can prevent this outcome for many.
Some argue that motivation is an internal quality that cannot be taught. There is truth in this, but it overlooks the extent to which environment shapes behaviour — and nowhere is this more visible than in the home. When parents treat learning as something worth celebrating — through educational games, reading habits, or open discussions — children absorb that attitude. Motivation, in this sense, is largely cultivated rather than innate.
Ultimately, sustained engagement depends on schools and families creating conditions in which curiosity is encouraged. Where both environments align, disengagement becomes the exception rather than the norm.
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
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 includesSixty 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.