Cambridge IELTS 18 Academic Writing Test 3

• 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 18 Academic Writing Test 3 pairs a Task 1 process diagram with a Task 2 positive-or-negative development essay, and the contrast between the two is what makes this paper a useful diagnostic. Task 1 asks you to summarise the floor plan of a public library 20 years ago and how it looks now. Task 2 then turns to a discursive prompt: In many countries around the world, rural people are moving to cities, so the population in the countryside is decreasing.

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 your overall judgement (positive, negative, or mixed) in the introduction and stick to it.

Budget twenty minutes for the Task 1 report and forty for the Task 2 essay, and resist the temptation to keep polishing Task 1 once your overview and two body paragraphs are in place. On a positive-or-negative development essay, the introduction and conclusion deserve at least seven minutes of focused work between them — they frame the marker's first and last impression of your Coherence and Cohesion.

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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