Cambridge IELTS 17 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 17 Academic Writing Test 1 brings together a Task 1 map and a Task 2 direct-question essay, and managing the time split between them is half the challenge. Task 1 asks you to summarise an industrial area in the town of Norbiton, and planned future development of the site. Task 2 then turns to a discursive prompt: It is important for people to take risks, both in their professional lives and their personal lives.

With maps, group changes into structures added, structures removed and structures relocated, then describe each group together. Use compass directions and fixed reference points (the river, the road, the boundary) so the examiner can re-draw the map from your description without seeing the original picture. Answer the question directly in the introduction and use each body paragraph to develop one main reason or example. Hedge sensibly with 'in many cases' or 'particularly' rather than absolutes — examiners reward measured argumentation.

Keep Task 1 to twenty minutes by writing a one-sentence overview straight after the introduction; you can refine it during the review pass. For Task 2, plan for five minutes before you write — three minutes of planning here saves ten minutes of confused redrafting later. For band 7, vocabulary range and complex-sentence accuracy carry as much weight as the strength of the argument.

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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