12 Common IELTS Writing Mistakes (and How to Fix Each One)

Marked IELTS Writing scripts repeat themselves. The same dozen problems come up again and again, and most of them are fixable in a week of focused practice — they are habits rather than gaps in English ability.

Each mistake below is paired with the band criterion it damages and a corrected example.

1. Not answering the actual question

Criterion affected: Task Response

The prompt asks whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, and the essay lists advantages and disadvantages without ever weighing them. Or the prompt has two parts and only one is addressed.

Weak: Question: Do the advantages of remote work outweigh the disadvantages? → An essay with one paragraph of advantages and one of disadvantages, and a conclusion saying "there are both good and bad points."

Better: The same two paragraphs, but with a conclusion that commits: "On balance the advantages are greater, because the time and cost saved on commuting affect every working day, whereas the isolation that critics describe can be reduced with deliberate scheduling."

Fix: Underline the task words before planning. Write your one-sentence answer to the question first, then build the essay around it.

2. Under-developed ideas

Criterion affected: Task Response

This is the most common problem of all. The essay has enough ideas but explains none of them.

Weak: Public transport reduces pollution. This is good for cities.

Better: Public transport reduces pollution because a single bus carrying forty passengers emits a fraction of what forty cars would produce over the same route. In dense cities this compounds — fewer vehicles also means less congestion, and engines idling in traffic are at their least efficient.

Fix: After every claim, ask "why?" twice before moving on.

3. Memorised opening sentences

Criterion affected: Task Response, Lexical Resource

Phrases like "In this modern era of globalisation, it is a highly controversial issue that has attracted much attention nowadays" contribute nothing and are easily recognised.

Fix: Start by paraphrasing the question directly. Your first sentence should be unusable in any other essay.

4. Copying the question wording

Criterion affected: Lexical Resource

Copied words are not counted towards your 250, and a script that leans on the prompt shows limited range.

Weak: Prompt: Some people think that children should start learning a foreign language at primary school. → "Some people think that children should start learning a foreign language at primary school."

Better: "It is sometimes argued that second-language instruction should begin in the first years of formal schooling."

Fix: Change both the vocabulary and the grammatical structure — turn a verb into a noun, or an active clause into a passive one.

5. Overusing linking words

Criterion affected: Coherence and Cohesion

A "moreover" at the start of every sentence does not create cohesion. The band descriptors explicitly treat mechanical overuse as a weakness.

Weak: Firstly, cars cause pollution. Moreover, they cause congestion. Furthermore, they are expensive. In addition, they require parking.

Better: Cars cause pollution and congestion, and the cost does not end at the purchase price: fuel, insurance, and parking continue for as long as the vehicle is owned.

Fix: Aim for two or three connectives per paragraph, and use pronouns, synonyms, and sentence structure to carry the rest.

6. One idea per sentence, no paragraph focus

Criterion affected: Coherence and Cohesion

Each paragraph should have one central idea signalled by a topic sentence. Paragraphs that drift between three unrelated points are hard to follow.

Fix: After writing, check that you can summarise each paragraph in four words. If you cannot, it contains more than one idea.

7. Wrong or missing articles

Criterion affected: Grammatical Range and Accuracy

Weak: Government should invest in the public transport.

Better: The government should invest in public transport.

Fix: Learn the two rules that cover most cases — use the when the reader knows which specific one you mean, and use no article for general plural or uncountable nouns.

8. Tense inconsistency

Criterion affected: Grammatical Range and Accuracy

Essays about general truths should sit in the present simple. Drifting into past or future tense mid-paragraph is a frequent slip.

Weak: Technology changes education. Students will used tablets instead of books and it made learning easier.

Better: Technology is changing education. Students increasingly use tablets instead of books, which makes learning materials easier to update.

Fix: Pick your default tense before you write and only leave it deliberately.

9. Subject-verb agreement with long subjects

Criterion affected: Grammatical Range and Accuracy

The longer the gap between subject and verb, the more likely the slip.

Weak: The number of students who choose to study abroad have increased.

Better: The number of students who choose to study abroad has increased.

Fix: When checking, find the verb and trace back to its actual subject, ignoring everything in between.

10. Vocabulary that is unusual rather than precise

Criterion affected: Lexical Resource

Thesaurus substitution produces sentences that are technically varied but wrong.

Weak: Numerous adolescents are enthralled by ocular entertainment.

Better: Many teenagers spend a large part of their free time watching video content.

Fix: Range means using the right word in the right collocation. A precise common word beats a misused rare one every time.

11. Missing an overview in Task 1

Criterion affected: Task Achievement (Task 1)

An Academic Task 1 answer without an overview paragraph is capped. The overview states the two or three biggest patterns without any specific figures.

Better: Overall, car ownership rose steadily across all three countries, with the sharpest increase in the final decade, while bicycle use declined everywhere except in the Netherlands.

Fix: Write the overview immediately after the introduction, before any detail paragraphs.

12. Writing under the word count

Criterion affected: Task Response / Task Achievement

Task 1 requires at least 150 words, Task 2 at least 250. Short answers are penalised directly.

Fix: Learn what 250 words looks like in your own handwriting or at your typing speed. Count once during practice and then stop counting — you will be able to judge it.

Turning corrections into improvement

Reading a list of mistakes changes very little on its own. What works is tracking which of these you actually make. Write one essay, get it marked against the four criteria, and note every error in a log with the correction and the rule. Most candidates find they repeat three or four errors constantly, and fixing those three is worth more than studying all twelve.