Cambridge IELTS 11 Academic Writing Test 1

• Task 1: describe the chart/graph/table in your own words.
• Task 2: write an argumentative essay responding to the prompt.
• On submit, AI will score you on all 4 IELTS criteria with feedback.

Cambridge IELTS 11 Academic Writing Test 1 sets a Task 1 process diagram alongside a Task 2 opinion (agree/disagree) essay, two challenges that draw on very different writing muscles. Task 1 asks you to summarise the percentage of water used for different purposes in six areas of the world. Task 2 then turns to a discursive prompt: Governments should spend money on railways rather than roads.

For a process, group the stages into two clear phases — typically input/preparation versus transformation/output — and lead the body with the phase that contains the most steps. Use the passive voice consistently and chain stages with sequencers like 'subsequently', 'once' and 'at this point' rather than counting 'firstly, secondly, thirdly'. State a clear thesis in the introduction — partial agreement is acceptable, but the position must be unambiguous.

Spend twenty minutes flat on Task 1 — five planning, twelve writing, three reviewing — and forty on Task 2, with at least five of those at the end for proofreading. Task 2 is worth twice the marks, so do not let an over-long process diagram description steal time from your essay. For band 7, the essay's argumentation matters more than the report's elegance, but a clean overview sentence in Task 1 is non-negotiable.

New to this skill? Read the Writing question types guide for tactics, scoring rules, and frequency analysis across Cambridge 10–20. Or browse all Writing practice tests.

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