In this tutorial, we confirm those popular rumours you have heard about the IELTS writing exam.

The one thing about IELTS Writing that all IELTS test takers believe. 

The Writing Test is the most difficult of the four parts of the exam. Reading, Listening and Speaking are not so hard. If we just check the average band scores obtained by IELTS candidates, it’s true!

Do you want the numbers? I can give you the numbers. In the year 2019, the overall band score in IELTS Academic was 6.1. And if we break down the overall band scores in the four areas, we see: Reading 6.2, Listening 6.2, Speaking 5.9 and finally, Writing 5.7.

Now, those numbers are taking IELTS as a whole and, of course, there are variations according to where you are in the world and, especially, what your first language is. In those countries where there is more contact as it were, with English, for whatever reason, business, culture, geographical proximity, linguistic similarities between the native language and English, it is hardly surprising that band scores are a little higher than where these similarities or contacts are not felt so strongly. 

Let’s take 5 common languages, for example, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese and Hindi. 

For French speakers, the overall band score is 6.7 and in writing 5.9.

Spanish is very similar: 6.6 overall and again 5.9 in writing. 

On the whole, 2 European languages are relatively close to English in many aspects: grammar, vocabulary, in the ways in which we express our ideas in writing, and so on. 

Arabic, however, drops to a 5.6 overall and just 5.2 in writing. Chinese speakers do a little better, however with scores of 5.9 overall and 5.5 in writing. Not bad but still about three-quarters of a point less overall and around a pointless in writing compared to French and Spanish speakers. 

What about Hindi? We have to remember that a high proportion of Hindi speakers receive at least a part of their education in English and the fact that English is used throughout India and so the overall score for Hindi speakers is 6.4 and in writing they score better than the French and Spanish speakers. The average is 6.0.

What does any of this tell us about the IELTS Writing exam?

It gives you a clear, general idea of what you are up against. I know I’ve only mentioned a few languages here but there’s no time to go through the entire list! 

If you’re interested go to www.ielts.org and search for test statistics or test-taker performance. 

Right, you know what I would do with these statistics, with these numbers? I’d go straight to check out how my fellow native language speakers score, then get some professional feedback on my own performance levels in all 4 areas. Once I have the feedback, I’d work hard at proving that statistics are just another type of lie. I’d do my very best to go way beyond these averages and guarantee that I get at least a point or more above the average overall. In writing, I’d set my aim at a minimum of 7. 

In fact, I would also use these averages to my advantage. I mentioned that the differences could be an indication of some kind of distance between any given language and English itself. That distance might be the way we put our thoughts together on paper (writing and reading) or out loud (speaking and listening). 

For example, some researchers have pointed out that when we write in English in formal academic style English, a style we are supposed to use in the IELTS exam, we write in a very direct way …we build the text in paragraphs. Each paragraph has its main idea …to put it simply …and it will be supported by evidence, that is to say, examples.