IELTS Computer Delivered Tests + Band Score

Marks deducted for misinterpretation

by Aditya Patkar
(Roorkee)

In Writing task 1, I misinterpreted one table (in all 2 were given) and wrote my answer based on that interpretation (actually I mistook 'number of potatoes in kg/person' as 'consumption in million tonnes' as the same unit was used in the other table).

Table 2 interpretation is fine and my overall writeup is fine English-wise but the interpretation is wrong. Task 2 went fine and I could get 8/9 in that.

What score could I expect in overall writing?

How much marks are cut if the table/graph is interpreted wrongly?

Comments for Marks deducted for misinterpretation

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Oct 30, 2017
 Marks deducted for misinterpretation
by: IELTS buddy

The marking doesn't work in a way that your question can be answered. There is not a fixed score deduction for using the wrong subject of a graph.

The examiner would probably take that into account as part of Task Achievement in terms of the accuracy of the information you presented but that is only one thing.

There are lots of other criteria under TA so it's impossible to know if it affected your score in any way or if so to what extent.
Apr 15, 2018
 Wrong interpretation
by: Anonymous

Hi,
while describing a graph in writing 1, I mistakenly described it using a wrong y axis definition. In place of % of rivers having good chemica quality, I described it as % of chemical quality in rivers. How much of a concern is this in terms of band score. Apart from this, the overall writing is fine.
Apr 15, 2018
 Wrong interpretation
by: IELTS buddy

It's not really possible to report back here one type of error you made then for someone else to predict how it may have affected your score.

You are graded on lots of aspects to do with your grammar and vocabulary so it's really not possible to say if, or to what extent, one particular thing it may have impacted on your score.
Jul 21, 2018
 wrong data in writing task 1
by: Simran Khanna

hi!
i wanted to know if providing wrong data in writing task 1 will affect my band score. Actually i wrote 70% as 1/7 in exam and i might have repeated the same mistake 2 or 3 times. This query is haunting me. can you please guide me if this is going to affect my band score in any way?
Jul 22, 2018
 wrong data in writing task 1
by: IELTS buddy

It's impossible to say if your score was affected without seeing your answer.

All I can tell you is that in the band descriptors, inaccurate data as an issue could limit you to a band 6 or lower for Task Response. It would depend on how you did with other things in the marking criteria.

For instance band 6 says "Presents and adequately highlights key features/bullet points but details may be irrelevant, inappropriate or inaccurate".
Jan 05, 2019
 Year misinterpreted
by: Anonymous

I by mistake wrote a decade in overall in place of period of 90 years ..will it make my whole report wrong
Jan 13, 2019
 Year misinterpreted
by: IELTS buddy

No it won't make the whole report wrong. That is an error in representing the data which is addressed in 'task achievement' criteria.

So it's possible it could pull your score down for task achievement but you are marked on many things in the criteria, not just one thing, so it's impossible to say if or how much it affected your response.
Feb 23, 2019
 Wrong numbers
by: Anonymous

In our task 1, there was a grouped bar graph and we were tasked to write about the average class size of primary and secondary schools in the UK as compared to the world average. I think I did well in writing overall, providing moderate to above average skills in grammar, vocabulary, and cohesion. I think also did okay in grouping my data and I was also able to provide an overwiew for my report.

However, I made the honest mistake of putting % symbols beside the numbers I presented (I realized this right after I passed my exam paper). I was able to present the numbers correctly but misinterpreted them as percentage in my body 1 and 2. How will this affect my overall score?
Feb 25, 2019
 Wrong numbers
by: Grammar

I answered this below. Yes it may bring your TA score down to Band 5 but difficult to judge the impact without seeing your piece of writing.
Apr 07, 2019
 Wrong tone in the IELTS letter
by: Anonymous

Hi

In task one I have written formal letter but it had to be written informally. How much band will be deducted for this mistake.
Apr 08, 2019
 Wrong tone in the IELTS letter
by: IELTS buddy

That depends on to what extent it was wrong, which is difficult to know without seeing your letter. What you mention comes under the 'tone' of the letter.

According to the marking, if it is 'inappropriate', then it can limit you to band 4 for task achievement.

Band 5 would mean 'the tone may be variable and sometimes inappropriate'.

Band 6 would be 'there may be inconsistencies in tone'.
Jul 20, 2019
 Writing task 1.
by: Anonymous

Hi. I made a mistake in writing task 1. I wrote diagram instead of a map/plan. Does it affect my entire score? Please enlighten me. Thank you.
Jul 22, 2019
 Writing task 1.
by: IELTS buddy

That is an issue with lexis but something that minor will not make much difference if you are looking to get around the 6 to 7 bands.

Remember you can't judge IELTS on single mistakes as mistakes are looked at on a cumulative basis.
Aug 19, 2019
 Misinterpreted values
by: Anonymous

I did my exam last day and I misinterpreted data in task 1 like (in question it was provided by "1000s of metric tons" but I wrote just "metric tons" instead of "1000s of metric tons" and repeated the same mistake in 2 body paragraphs like 400 metric tons instead 400,000 metric tons).does it bring down my overall score to 5.5?. however I did task2 nicely.
Dec 20, 2020
 Misrepresentation
by: Anonymous

Hi I wrote exam yesterday but the problem is that I wrote 'teenagers' synonyms everywhere in task 1 instead of 'adults'. Rest of this are correct. How will my task achievement be affected?
Dec 30, 2020
 Misrepresentation
by: IELTS buddy

It's possible you could get limited to a band 6 for Task Achievement as it says "presents and adequately highlights key features/bullet points but details may be irrelevant, inappropriate or inaccurate".

However it's really not possible to make an assessment on one error like that as each each criteria is graded on many factors.
Jun 17, 2021
 Task 1 query
by: Gagandeep Singh



yesterday I appeared for exam in task 1 I made mistake actually the figures given like 7000000 instead of 7 million I wrote 70 million and 1.4 million I wrote 14 million

I just need 6 in writing . Could u tell me is it possible to get 6, still or not

Nov 20, 2021
 if figures are not written in task 1
by: Anonymous

I want to get assured if someone does not write the figures in task 1, how much score he can anticipate, then.
Nov 21, 2021
 data misinterpretation
by: Anonymous

In task 1, the units were measured in thousands of trips but I wrote like 300 trips for all body 1 and 2 of the task. Please tell me the consequences please.
Dec 01, 2021
 data misinterpretation
by: IELTS buddy

It's impossible to say if your score was affected without seeing your answer.

All I can tell you is that in the band descriptors, inaccurate data as an issue could limit you to a band 6 or lower for Task Response. It would depend on how you did with other things in the marking criteria.

For instance band 6 says "Presents and adequately highlights key features/bullet points but details may be irrelevant, inappropriate or inaccurate".
Aug 22, 2022
 Misinterpretation
by: Anonymous

I wrote wrong name of the given paragraph is it make the whole passage wrong?.
Aug 26, 2022
 Misinterpretation
by: IELTS buddy

I don't understand what you are saying you did wrong. What name?
Sep 03, 2022
 Wrote percentage instead of tons
by: Akshay

I wrote percentage of coal instead of tons but overall i gave all the information in a good way this is the only mistake i have done. How it can effect my band scores
Sep 05, 2022
 Wrote percentage instead of tons
by: IELTS buddy

It's not possible with things like that to say how it would affect your overall band score because you are marked on many criteria.

It could be classed as inaccurate data for Task Achievement but this can still mean it gets 6 for this but it could take it down a bit further. That really depends on how often you did it and whether it affects the answer.

It could alternatively be viewed as a Lexis (vocabulary) error.

Someone would really need to see you answer to have any idea how your score might be affected.
Sep 24, 2022
 Wrong graph name
by: Anonymous

I took my ielts exam, in a hurry I just wrote "table chart" in task 1 writing except it was a bar graph. so I just want to know that I will create problem in reducing band score.
Sep 27, 2022
 Wrong graph name
by: IELTS buddy

You are not graded on one error like that. Errors looked at cummulatively so it's not possible to say how that may affect your score - it depends what else you did or what other mistakes were made and how they were viewed as a whole.
Mar 12, 2023
 Misinterpret
by: Anonymous

Actually I had given my exam of ielts yesterday and by mistake in second bp of overall I wrote factor which prefered by students to take admission in UK university. And I wrote wrong factor.For example reality was students enrolled more because wide variety if courses availabe but i wrote sports facilities effect them alot fir taking admission in Uk university. But I wrote all correct information in Bp1 and Bp2 all coreect data. Is overall harm my band score but I also wrote least effecting factor in overview and that was corect.
Mar 09, 2024
 wrong information
by: Anonymous

The graph shows five regions where Australian students studied in two years. But i wrote five region people went to study in Australia. Will my whole writing task 1 invalid?? my introduction and overall was accurate.
Mar 11, 2024
 wrong information
by: IELTS buddy

No the grading doesn't work like that. You don't make one error then invalidate your whole answer.

Go online and search for 'IELTS public band descriptors writing' and you can see how it's graded.

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IELTS Task 1 Data

by Nam
(Viet Nam)

Dear Ielts Buddy,

What if I misinterpret the data in writing task 1?

If I misinterpret the most important data groups which leads to a misguided general trend statement.

Thank you so much.

Comments for IELTS Task 1 Data

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Jan 22, 2017
 IELTS Task 1 Data misinterpretation
by: IELTS buddy

Hi Nam,

If you misinterpret the data, then your score will be affected for the first of the four marking criteria, "Task Achievement".

For example, at worst, if there are a lot of noticeable problems in your description, you could be knocked down to a band 4 for TA:

"May confuse key features/bullet points with detail; parts may be unclear,irrelevant, repetitive or inaccurate"

But it's impossible to judge how a Task 1 will be affected without seeing it. One small error may make little difference, but several is more likely to.

And you mentioned specifically the general trend, by which I assume you mean the general overview at the beginning.

So that as just one error could possibly have a small impact, but really as I said predictions can't be made without seeing exactly what the error is.

So as a final point, to avoid this happening, always analyse the graph, pie chart etc. very carefully before you start writing to make sure you fully understand the data and what it is presenting. If you misunderstand one or more things and thus make errors throughout your response, it could have a very negative affect on your score.
Jan 22, 2017
 Task 1 misunderstanding
by: Sirvan zamani

Hi there,

By misunderstanding task 1 your writing would be completely deviated and the outcome will be an irrelevant script that no one understands what it's about.
Apr 15, 2018
 misunderstanding of graph
by: Anonymous

I made a mistake yesterday in writing task 1. it was a line graph talking about a quality of rivers in four different countries of UK. I wrote an answer by taking those four countries as a river, so I wrote Scotland river was polluted instead of Scotland's rivers were polluted.

Other things were correct mostly, but I think due to this my introduction and overview will be wrong. grammar, coherence and lexical resources were of moderate level.

it will affect only task achievement or overall essay will be rejected with band 4.
Apr 15, 2018
 misunderstanding of graph
by: IELTS buddy

It's not really possible to report back here one type of error you made then for someone else to predict how it may have affected your score.

What you mention would likely be treated by the examiner as a grammatical or lexical error, but you are graded on lots of other aspects to do with your grammar and vocabulary, not just possessives, so it's really not possible to say if, or to what extent, it may have impacted on your score.
May 08, 2018
 Paraphrase Issue
by: Sudhir Chhabra

Do you find this reasonable to paraphrase "river" as "tributary"?
May 10, 2018
 Tributary
by: IELTS buddy

'Tributary' specifically means a river or stream flowing into a larger river or lake but it should be ok.
May 13, 2018
 Tributary
by: Sudhir Chhabra

I too think this was O.K. to paraphrase "river" to "tributary," with knowing the specific meaning.

I have 8, 8, 6, and 8.5. I have applied for re-evaluation. Waiting for the result.
Aug 20, 2021
 Wrote data wrong
by: Anonymous

Hi in task1 i wrote data of the weather wrong, means when i had to write about the data of rain i wrote about sunny day how much impact will this have on my bands
Aug 20, 2021
 Wrote data wrong
by: IELTS buddy

It's not possible to know without seeing your answer.

If it's created a mistake in your interpretation of the data then you may be penalised on Task Achievement, but it's impossible to know if or by how much it could have been.

If it was just getting some words mixed up and it does not affect the analysis it could perhaps be classed as a lexis error.

As I say though, it's really impossible to know.
Sep 16, 2021
 Less words and easy
by: Anonymous

I wrote around 130 words in task one and didn’t used any difficult words but I explained all the points but used some words like both quite a few times. How this will effect my band score? Please tell me I am really stressed.

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Writing Task 1 Inaccurate Data

We were tasked to write about the average class size of schools in the UK as compared to the world average.

I think I did well in writing overall, providing moderate to above average skills in grammar, vocabulary, and cohesion. I also was able to provide an overwiew of my report.

However, I made the mistake of putting percentages (%) numbers I presented (I realized this right after I passed my exam paper. There shouldn't be percentages at all).

How will this affect my overall score?

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Feb 25, 2019
 Numbers instead of percentages Task 1 IELTS
by: IELTS buddy

If you present inaccurate data then that can affect your score for Task achievement.

It's quite possible something like that could bring it down to a band 5 (for TA, not overall) but it's difficult to make those kinds of judgements without seeing your actual answer.
Aug 17, 2019
 Wrote tabular chart instead of bar chart
by: Anonymous

Hi, today I had ielts exam I wrote tabular representation in task 1 but It was horizontal bar graph .However my overall data was alright .Will this effect my band score in significant way??

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Write diagram instead of map

by Angeli
(Vancouver)

Hi. I just had my ielts exam. I think i made a huge mistake in writing task 1. I wrote diagram instead of a map/plan. Does it affect my entire score? Please enlighten me. Thank you.

Comments for Write diagram instead of map

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Jul 22, 2019
 Diagram instead of map
by: IELTS buddy

Something as minor as that is not really going to affect your score unless it is an examiner deciding between something like a band 8 and 9 as it is fairly minor.

But with IELTS you can't pick out one error like that and work out how it will affect your score because you are graded for so many things.

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Wrongly identified the graph

by Kevin
(Patiala )

I wrote flow chart graph instead of line graph although I interpreted the rest of the data correctly. How much deduction it may possibly cause

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Jun 27, 2021
 Wrongly identified the graph
by: IELTS buddy

If you just made one small error like the in the introduction and the rest was ok it's unlikely to make any difference to your score.

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Grammar mistake

by Sagar
(Gujarat)

I got 5.5 in writing because i wrote entire writing task map in present tense instead of past, but apart of that there was no error and also my writing task 2 was quite good.
I am thinking to re-check my writing task.
Can i get the 6 score??

Comments for Grammar mistake

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Jul 20, 2021
 Grammar mistake
by: IELTS buddy

It's not possible to know that the reason you got 5.5 was because you wrote it in the present tense. It's possible but there might be other reasons you got 5.5 and possibly issues with your essay.

Whether you could end up with a 6 if you dispute it is really impossible to know. It's just a gamble if there is not a good reason why you think the score is wrong.

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Misunderstood one word in the title

by Besari
(Indonesia)

Hi, i recently took ielt test and i realized that i had misinterpreted a word in the title. Is it possible that i can still have a band 6?

Comments for Misunderstood one word in the title

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Dec 31, 2022
 Misunderstood one word in the title
by: IELTS buddy

You haven't explained what the misinterpretation was and how it may have affected your response. But yes, depending what it was, it's still possible to get a 6.

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