Before you write a word of your General Training Task 1 letter, the prompt has already made your biggest decision: who you are writing to. Two letters can carry the same facts and sit at different bands, because the recipient fixes the register — and register is marked. Most candidates read the prompt for what to say and skim past who is listening.
From the ielts.org General Training Writing format page:
"In General Training Writing Task 1, you are given a situation and you need to write a response of at least 150 words in the form of a letter."
"Depending on the task, the letter may be personal, semi-formal or formal in style."
"You should spend no more than 20 minutes on this task."
That second sentence is the whole game — and the entire published definition of the three levels. As coaching, not IELTS wording: a friend or family member means personal — contractions, first names, warmth. Someone you know in a limited role — a neighbour, a landlord — means semi-formal. A stranger, a company or an official means formal. Read the recipient line, pick the register, and only then plan content.
The failure
The commonest register failure runs both ways: a stiff business-letter opening to a friend, or a chatty, contraction-filled note to a company. Either way, the letter is addressed to nobody.
The May 2023 band descriptors — the current version — mark exactly this under Task Achievement. Band 6 (General Training):
"All bullet points are covered and adequately highlighted. The purpose is generally clear. There may be minor inconsistencies in tone."
Band 7 (General Training):
"All bullet points are covered and clearly highlighted but could be more fully or more appropriately illustrated or extended. It presents a clear purpose. The tone is consistent and appropriate to the task. Any lapses are minimal."
The step from 6 to 7 is partly a tone step: "minor inconsistencies in tone" versus "consistent and appropriate to the task". Purpose and tone are named separately — a wrong-register letter can have a perfectly clear purpose and still fail on tone. Task Achievement is one of four criteria the scoring page says "are weighted equally": a quarter of your Task 1 mark sits where tone lives.
One prompt, two openings
Practice prompt (written by us — not a real test question):
You are going abroad for two months, and a friend has agreed to stay in your flat while you are away. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter: explain how to get into the flat · describe a problem with the heating · suggest things to do in the area.
A friend who has already agreed — personal register, fixed before sentence one. Two four-sentence openings, both ours, neither examiner-marked:
Right register (personal):
Dear Marta, — Thanks so much for agreeing to flat-sit while I'm in Vancouver — you've saved my life. Before I fly out on the 3rd, there are a few things you'll need to know about the place. The big one is the boiler, which has a mind of its own, so I'll explain how to keep it behaving. I've also hidden the spare key somewhere slightly odd, so I'll start with how you get in!
Wrong register (formal, same facts):
Dear Ms Kowalska, — I am writing to inform you that I will be absent from my residence for a period of two months commencing on 3 October. I would be grateful if you could assume responsibility for the property during this period. Please find below the relevant information regarding access and heating. Should you require any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.
What separates them:
- The salutation. "Dear Ms Kowalska" to a friend gets the relationship wrong in word one — the register error predates the first sentence.
- Sentence 1. "I am writing to inform you" announces news to someone who already agreed — it misreads the situation as well as the relationship. "Thanks so much for agreeing" shows the writer understood both.
- Sentence 2. "Assume responsibility for the property" asks a friend a favour in the language of a contract. "There are a few things you'll need to know" does the same job at the right temperature — contractions included.
- Sentences 3–4. "Please find below" and "do not hesitate to contact me" are borrowed business-letter formulas that fit no friend. The personal version instead previews the bullets ("the boiler", "the spare key") in its own voice — "clearly highlighted", in practice.
The formal version is grammatical throughout — that is the point: register is not a grammar problem, so grammar practice never fixes it. Make the recipient a company manager and the versions swap places: the formulas become appropriate, the contractions become the lapse.
The bullet points are a checklist
Both descriptor quotes open the same way: "All bullet points are covered." As coaching: treat the prompt's bullets as a literal checklist and tick each one against your draft. One rushed clause per bullet is risky too — Band 6 allows that "further extension or illustration may be needed" — Band 7 wants each "clearly highlighted".
Three more official rules from the format page:
"You must write at least 150 words and will be penalised if your answer is too short."
"You will be penalised if what you write does not relate to the topic."
"You will also be penalised if your answer is not written as a whole piece of connected text (i.e. you must not use notes or bullet points)."
The bullets in the prompt are a checklist — bullets in your answer are a penalty.
What is official and what is not
- Everything above in quotation marks is verbatim official wording. What is NOT officially defined is what each register consists of: IELTS names the three styles but publishes no feature list for them — our contractions-and-salutations guidance is coaching.
- One wrinkle: the format page says a too-short answer "will be penalised", but the current descriptors PDF has no explicit word-count penalty rule — its only hard length rule is "Responses of 20 words or fewer are rated at Band 1." Treat 150 words as the rule you follow.
- No official raw-mark-to-band table exists for Writing — anyone showing you one invented it.
What actually costs you
- Writing before deciding the register — the recipient line decides it, not your habit.
- "I am writing to inform you" to a friend, or "Hey, quick question!" to a company.
- A missed or skimmed bullet point — "All bullet points are covered" opens Bands 6 and 7 alike.
- Bullet points in your answer — connected text only, per the official penalty wording.
- Under 150 words, or stealing minutes from Task 2 — which counts twice as much.
Try one
Decide the register from the recipient line before you type — then see whether a marker agrees.
[Write a marked letter →] — one full task, marked, no card required.