Shukurullo's blog

It is a common tendency among many Uzbek students to deem their ielts writing scores as actual indicators of their writing skills. However, this is nothing but a poor speculation. Here are key reasons why it is so. 

First, writing in IELTS operates under limited time constraints---just 60 minutes for at least 400 words of essays. This constraint often forces candidates to prioritize speed over depth, leaving them little to no time to reflect on proper ways to express their ideas. In real-world scenarios, however, including when you are a book writer, quality writing entails deep, thorough brainstorming and lots of editing, a habit impossible with the limited time of IELTS.

Second, IELTS writing hugely relies on specific, narrow markers to evaluate the writing score of a candidate. With grammar, coherence, vocabulary, and task achievement, one could easily get a high score in this specific section, despite lacking other significant factors in the art of crafting ideas. While the aforementioned traits are surely essential in estimating the quality of writing, there are far more important factors such as the originality of ideas and persuasiveness of the arguments. Improving these traits takes more than getting a high score on your IELTS exam.

Third, the very standardized nature of the writing prompts in IELTS can also prove why it is not equivalent to general writing. The questions in Task 1 and Task 2 are usually generic or formulaic, stripping the candidates away from the chance to showcase their unique tone and voice. Real-life writing, on the other hand, allows writers to tailor their tone, style, and content to suit different audiences and purposes—an essential skill that goes largely untested in IELTS.

In conclusion, while IELTS Writing provides a useful benchmark for English proficiency, it falls short of capturing the full spectrum of a person's writing and thinking abilities. Thus, we should not rely on IELTS alone to deem an individual a bad or a good writer.

But a natural question comes: If IELTS Writing is not the actual writing, what is Writing then?