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    IELTS General Writing Task 1 Checker

    Have your formal, semi-formal, or informal letter scored with tone and format feedback.

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    How it works

    1. 1

      Paste the letter task, including who you're writing to and the three bullet points.

    2. 2

      Paste your letter of at least 150 words, or use “From a photo” to turn a handwritten page into text.

    3. 3

      Click “Check my letter” and read the Task Achievement feedback first. Tone and bullet coverage live there.

    4. 4

      Note the tone fixes, then practise the opposite register next time; flexibility across registers is what the top bands reward.

    Good to know

    Matching tone to recipient

    The recipient decides everything. A letter to a company or an official you've never met is formal: “Dear Sir or Madam”, no contractions, “I would appreciate”, signed “Yours faithfully”. A letter to a named person in a professional context is semi-formal: “Dear Mr Chen”, measured warmth, “Yours sincerely”. A letter to a friend is informal: “Dear Sam”, contractions, phrasal verbs, “Best wishes”. Mixed register (the most common GT error) reads as not understanding the task, and it's a Task Achievement penalty, not a style preference.

    The three bullets are a checklist, not a suggestion

    Every GT task lists three things your letter must do, and examiners check each one. The reliable structure is: purpose sentence first (“I am writing to…”), then one paragraph per bullet, then a closing action line (what you want to happen next). Cover a bullet in half a sentence and you'll be marked down for under-developed content; skip one and Task Achievement drops sharply. The checker verifies coverage bullet by bullet.

    Questions

    How do I know if the letter should be formal or informal?
    Look at the recipient in the task. Unknown person or organization → formal. Named person in an official or work context → semi-formal. Friend or family → informal. If you set the tone option (or let the checker detect it), the feedback will tell you what the task demanded and whether you held it consistently.
    Do greetings and sign-offs really affect my score?
    Yes, as part of tone consistency in Task Achievement. The classic pairs matter: “Dear Sir or Madam … Yours faithfully” and “Dear Mr/Ms [name] … Yours sincerely”. Ending a formal letter with “Cheers!” is exactly the kind of register break examiners are trained to notice.
    Can I invent details in my letter?
    You're expected to. The task says “you recently bought an appliance”. Invent the appliance, the shop, the dates. Examiners assess language, not truth. What you can't do is drift off the three bullet points, and invented detail should serve them.
    Is this the same scoring as Academic Task 1?
    The four criteria are the same, but Task Achievement is judged on letter conventions (purpose, tone, bullet coverage) rather than overviews and data selection. That's why this is a separate checker rather than one generic writing tool.