Marking in the writing test is more subjective in its assessment. In order to create a more objective marking system, IELTS uses an assessment criteria with each band level being marked against 4 criteria. Task 1 and 2 use similar criteria being:
| Task achievement (Task 1) |
| Coherence and cohesion |
| Lexical resource |
| Grammatical range and accuracy |
In Writing Task 1, the assessment is about achievement. (Did you achieve the questions) Whilst in Task Response (Task 2), the assessment is about your response ( How did you respond to the questions)