I get 7 in Task 1 but 6.5 in Task 2 — here's exactly why

Scoring 7 in Task 1 and 6.5 in Task 2 is the common direction for the gap, not a fluke of the marking. The two tasks share three criteria but not the first one, and the criterion that replaces Task Achievement in Task 2 — Task Response — asks for something a chart description never does: a position you build and develop yourself. Length, vocabulary and time then widen the same gap.

It also costs more than half a band suggests, because Task 2 is the heavier of the two in the Writing calculation. This article takes the five places the gap opens, each tied to the descriptor line that creates it, and ends with how to find which one is yours.

The same candidate, the same hour, a different first criterion on each sheet.

Where the half band goes

First, a note on where the two numbers come from. Your Test Report Form gives one band for Writing, not one per task, so a Task 1 of 7 and a Task 2 of 6.5 are figures you have from a tutor, a mock test, or a tool that scores the tasks separately.

Within each task, four criteria are weighted equally and averaged. Across the two tasks, IELTS states that "the assessment of Task 2 carries more weight in marking than Task 1". The working formula used almost everywhere is (Task 1 + Task 2 × 2) ÷ 3, rounded — IELTS confirms the weighting but does not publish the ratio, so treat the arithmetic as direction rather than as a calculator.

Run your numbers through it: (7 + 6.5 × 2) ÷ 3 = 20 ÷ 3 = 6.67, reported as 6.5. The 7 in Task 1 has vanished. Lift Task 2 to 7 and the sum becomes 21 ÷ 3 = 7.0. Lift Task 1 to 7.5 instead, leaving Task 2 alone, and you get 20.5 ÷ 3 = 6.83, which also reports as 7.0 — but a 7.5 in Task 1 needs two criteria at 8, and a 7 in Task 2 needs one criterion to stop scoring 6. The second is the shorter road, and the rest of this article is about which criterion that is.

Reason 1 — Task Response asks for something Task Achievement never does

This is the structural reason, and the one the other four sit on top of.

In Task 1 the content is given to you. The chart, the map or the letter prompt contains everything you are going to say; the job is to select, group and report it. The band 7 Task Achievement line reflects that: it asks for a clear overview and for key features that are "clearly highlighted", and its criticism is only that they "could be more fully extended". The full comparison is in Task Achievement vs Task Response.

In Task 2 nothing is given. You generate the content, decide what it proves, and carry it to a conclusion. The two Task Response lines that decide the 6 or the 7 are these.

Band 6: "The main parts of the prompt are addressed (though some may be more fully covered than others). A position is presented that is directly relevant to the prompt, although the conclusions drawn may be unclear, unjustified or repetitive."

Band 7: "The main parts of the prompt are appropriately addressed. A clear and developed position is presented. Main ideas are extended and supported."

Developed, extended, supported. None of those words has a Task 1 equivalent, because a bar chart does not need to be argued for. A candidate who reports data cleanly and then, in Task 2, states a relevant opinion, gives one example and restates it has done the Task 1 job twice. The first time it scored 7; the second time it is the band 6 line word for word — relevant, but not developed.

How to check. In each body paragraph of your last Task 2, find the sentence that answers why is that true or what follows from it. If a paragraph has no such sentence, the paragraph is a report, not an argument. The same essay rewritten from band 6 to band 7 tags every edit to the criterion it moved, and most of them are this one.

Reason 2 — Grammar: 150 patterned words versus 250 that reason

Grammatical Range and Accuracy is the same criterion in both tasks, but the two tasks make very different demands of it.

Task 1 sentences run on a small number of rehearsed frames — rose from X to Y, while A remained stable, B fell, the proportion of ... was almost twice that of .... Those frames are genuinely complex structures, they have been practised on a dozen charts, and they come out clean. A 150-word answer built from them is short enough to check in the time available.

Task 2 sentences have to carry reasoning, and reasoning needs subordination you cannot rehearse in advance: although, because, which means that, if ... then, even where. That is where the errors land. The band 6 line describes the pattern exactly: "Examples of more complex structures are not marked by the same level of accuracy as in simple structures." Band 7 asks for structures used "with some flexibility and accuracy" and for error-free sentences to be "frequent". The point is not that Task 2 needs more ambitious grammar than Task 1 — it is that accuracy falls exactly where you reach, and Task 2 makes you reach for 250 words instead of 150.

How to check. Mark every sentence in your Task 2 that contains a subordinate clause and check only those. If the errors cluster there while your Task 1 was clean, this criterion is the 6. The four structures that reliably count as range are in complex sentences for band 7.

Reason 3 — Vocabulary: a closed set versus an open one

Lexical Resource is the same criterion too, and the gap here is about how much of the vocabulary you could prepare.

Task 1 vocabulary is a closed set. Trend verbs, comparison language, the words for parts of a process or features of a map — a candidate who has practised the task types owns the whole list before test day, and the band 7 line's "flexibility and precision" is reachable from memory.

Task 2 vocabulary is open. The topic could be education, urban planning, criminal justice or the arts, and precision on that topic is what separates the two lines: band 6 describes "a rather restricted range or a lack of precision in word choice", band 7 asks for "sufficient" resource "to allow some flexibility and precision" and for "an awareness of style and collocation". An essay written in important, problem, affect and many people contains no errors and stops at 6. The opposite reach — memorised academic vocabulary dropped into the wrong collocation — stops at 6 as well, because band 7 names collocation explicitly.

How to check. Take ten content words from your Task 2 body paragraphs. How many could have been a more precise word you already know? If most, this is your 6. The two versions of one essay in band 6.5 vs band 7 show the difference at sentence level.

Reason 4 — Coherence: a structure you are handed versus one you build

Task 1 hands you the structure. Task 2 makes you build one.

In Task 1 the data organises the answer for you. Overview, then a paragraph on one group of features, then a paragraph on the other — the grouping is decided by the chart, and progression follows from it.

In Task 2 the organisation is yours to construct, and this is where mechanical linking shows. The band 6 Coherence and Cohesion line says cohesion "may be faulty or mechanical due to misuse, overuse or omission"; band 7 asks for "a range of cohesive devices including reference and substitution" used "flexibly". Firstly at the top of paragraph two and Moreover at the top of paragraph three are labels announcing that a paragraph has begun. They carry no information about how the second idea relates to the first, and in a Task 1 answer that gap is filled by the data — in a Task 2 answer nothing fills it.

How to check. Delete every Firstly, Moreover, In addition and In conclusion from your essay and read it again. If nothing was lost, those words were decoration. Linking words are keeping you at band 6 takes the descriptor apart in full.

Reason 5 — Time: Task 1 is eating the minutes Task 2 needs

The fifth reason is not a criterion. It is the clock, and it feeds all four.

IELTS recommends no more than 20 minutes on Task 1 and no more than 40 on Task 2, inside the 60 allowed for the paper. Candidates who score higher on Task 1 very often do so partly because they gave it 25 or 30 minutes. The cost lands on the task that counts double. A Task 2 written in 30 minutes is planned in none, and an unplanned Task 2 produces every band 6 line above at once: the second body paragraph less developed than the first ("some may be more fully covered than others"), a conclusion that restates the introduction ("repetitive"), and complex sentences written too fast to check.

How to check. Note the time you actually spent on each task in your last practice. If Task 1 took more than 20 minutes, the fix for Task 2 may start with a stopwatch rather than with grammar. Some candidates write Task 2 first for exactly this reason; the order is not prescribed, and the only rule is that both are completed.

Finding your Task 2 six

The five reasons rank themselves by how fast they move. Time is a decision you can take next week. Task Response and Coherence and Cohesion respond to planning — count the parts of the prompt, commit to a position, write one development step per paragraph, cut the connectors that carry nothing — and those are habits that change in days. Lexical Resource and Grammatical Range and Accuracy track your English level and move over months.

So start with the fast ones. Take your most recent Task 2, written under time, and run the four checks above one criterion at a time. Reading an essay for "mistakes" finds grammar and misses the other three; reading it four times, once per criterion, finds the 6. If more than one criterion is at 6, why am I stuck at band 6.5 sets out the four patterns in order of how often they occur.

The full band 5 to 8 wording for both tasks is in IELTS Writing band descriptors explained, and how to get band 7 in IELTS Writing sets the four criteria out as conditions your essay has to meet rather than advice.

FAQ

Is it normal for Task 2 to score lower than Task 1 in IELTS?

Yes, it is the usual direction. Task 1 reports content you are given and is short enough to write from rehearsed frames; Task 2 asks for a position you build and develop over 250 words on a topic you did not choose. Task Response, which only exists in Task 2, is where the half band most often goes.

Why does my Writing band show 6.5 when my Task 1 was a 7?

Because Task 2 carries more weight. The widely used working formula is (Task 1 + Task 2 × 2) ÷ 3, rounded, so a 7 and a 6.5 give 6.67, which reports as 6.5. IELTS confirms that Task 2 carries more weight but does not publish the exact ratio.

Should I fix Task 1 or Task 2 first?

Task 2. Raising Task 2 from 6.5 to 7 takes the working average to 7.0, and it needs one criterion to stop scoring 6. Raising Task 1 to 7.5 reaches the same number on paper but requires two criteria at 8 on a task that already scores 7.

Can I see my separate Task 1 and Task 2 scores on the Test Report Form?

No. The form reports one Writing band. Per-task and per-criterion figures come from a tutor who marks by criterion, a mock test, or a tool that scores each task separately.

Does writing Task 2 first help?

It can, if Task 1 has been taking more than the recommended 20 minutes and leaving Task 2 unplanned. IELTS does not prescribe the order, only that both tasks are completed, so it is a time-management choice rather than a scoring one.

Related reading

• Task Achievement vs Task Response — the criterion that differs between the two tasks, line by line
• Why am I stuck at band 6.5 in IELTS writing? — the four patterns that produce a 6.5, and how to tell which is yours
• Band 6.5 vs band 7 essay — the same question answered at both bands, scored side by side
• Band 7 vs band 7.5 in IELTS Writing — how the Task 1 and Task 2 weighting decides whether a gain shows up

All descriptor wording quoted here is from the public Writing band descriptors updated in May 2023, published by IELTS and the British Council. Timing guidance is from the IELTS Academic Writing format page.