Vietnamese readers can read this page as chữa bài IELTS Writing 1 kèm 1.
How IELTS Writing correction works with Mike
Sessions are one-to-one over Google Meet, and every session is taught by Mike, who holds the Cambridge CELTA (July 2017), has taught English and IELTS for more than twelve years in Vietnam, Turkey and Iran, and has taught over 500 one-to-one sessions. His background is on the about page.
A Writing session runs like this:
- Read for the task first. Before touching the language, we check the question against your answer: does the essay cover every part of it, is the position clear, are the ideas developed?
- Paragraph by paragraph, live. We go through the essay on screen one paragraph at a time: a structure comment first (its central topic, whether the first sentence signals it, whether it progresses or repeats itself), then a language pass for vocabulary and grammar, with corrections explained, not just supplied.
- Coherence across the whole essay. Then we step back: does the introduction set up what the body delivers, do the paragraphs follow a logical order, does the conclusion match the position? This is where over-used linkers and unclear referencing get fixed.
- A criterion-by-criterion estimate. You leave with an estimate of where each criterion sits against the public descriptors and what the next half band asks for: a teacher's estimate, not a test result, but specific enough to plan around.
- Written notes afterwards. After each session, written progress notes are added to your account, so the corrections and priorities are there to reread. Sessions can be recorded on request.
Feedback happens during the session, not days later, so you can ask why a correction is a correction and try a rewrite on the spot.
Student results reported back include 5.5 → 7.0 Writing and 6.0 → 7.5 overall. No band is promised: progress depends on your starting point and on the writing you do between sessions.
An illustrative corrected paragraph
Written for this page as an illustration of the kind of comments a correction can include. It is not a student's work and it carries no band score.
Before: Nowadays many people thinks that technology make our life more easy. Firstly, we can contact with friends at anytime, so it is absolutely good for everyone.
Comments:
- Grammatical Range and Accuracy: "thinks" should be "think", "make" should be "makes", "more easy" should be "easier", and "life" reads better as "lives".
- Lexical Resource: "contact with friends" should be "contact friends", and "at anytime" should be "at any time".
- Task Response: "absolutely good for everyone" is an over-absolute claim that the paragraph does not support; a more careful position with a reason or an example is stronger.
After: Nowadays, many people think that technology makes our lives easier. Firstly, we can contact friends at any time, which is beneficial for many people.
Who this suits, and who it does not
It suits students who want a person to correct a Task 1 or Task 2 answer against the band descriptors and explain the corrections live on Google Meet. It does not suit anyone who only wants an instant automated score, or a marked essay returned by email instead of a session, since the service is live sessions. No band is promised.
Task 1 and Task 2: what each one is worth
The IELTS Writing test lasts 60 minutes and has two tasks. Task 1 (at least 150 words, about 20 minutes) asks you to describe a chart, graph, table, diagram or process in Academic, or to write a letter in General Training. Task 2 (at least 250 words, about 40 minutes) is an essay in both.
Task 2 counts twice as much as Task 1 in your Writing band. That is one reason the usual timing advice is 20 and 40 minutes rather than half and half, and it is why a well-argued Task 2 answer moves your band further than a polished Task 1.
| Task 1 | Task 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum length | 150 words | 250 words |
| Suggested time | About 20 minutes | About 40 minutes |
| What you write | Academic: a chart, graph, table, diagram or process description. General Training: a letter | An essay |
| Weight in the Writing band | Counts once | Counts twice |
| First criterion | Task Achievement | Task Response |
The four Writing criteria, and where marks tend to go
Each task is marked against four criteria, weighted equally: Task Achievement (Task 1) or Task Response (Task 2), Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy. Bands run from 0 to 9 in half-band steps, and to see how your four skill bands combine into an overall band you can use the IELTS band score calculator. The public band descriptors set out what each band looks like for each criterion, and they are the reference used for feedback in these sessions.
The gaps between a Band 6 answer and a Band 7 one come up again and again:
- Task Response. The question has two or three parts and the essay answers one well and the others in passing. The position is relevant, but the conclusions drawn are unclear, unjustified or repetitive. Ideas are listed rather than developed with an explanation and an example. Task 2 needs at least 250 words, and if an answer is too short, there may not be enough evidence of the language features needed to award higher bands.
- Coherence and Cohesion. Paragraphs without one central topic each. Linking words used mechanically, so every sentence starts with "Moreover" or "Furthermore" whether or not it adds anything; the descriptors mention over-use as well as under-use. Pronouns such as "this" and "it" that do not clearly refer to anything.
- Lexical Resource. Less common words attempted for effect but used with the wrong collocation or register. Spelling and word-form errors, such as "economic" for "economy". A memorised phrase bank that does not fit the topic.
- Grammatical Range and Accuracy. Complex sentences attempted but rarely without errors, or the opposite: safe, simple sentences throughout, which limits the range. Missing articles, subject-verb agreement, comma splices and tense shifts inside a paragraph.
For Task 1 Academic, a frequent gap is the overview: a clear summary of the main trends, differences or stages is expected, and an answer that lists every figure without one is marked down under Task Achievement. For the General Training letter, tone matters: the answer is judged partly on whether it fits the purpose of the letter.
Why marking against the band descriptors matters more than corrections
A returned essay with every grammar slip underlined feels thorough, but grammar is one criterion out of four. If your Task Response is at Band 6 because the conclusions drawn are unclear or unjustified, fixing forty article errors lifts only one criterion of the four and leaves that problem untouched.
Marking against the descriptors works differently. Each criterion is looked at on its own, the answer is placed against the wording of the neighbouring bands, and the feedback is specific: this paragraph has no central topic, so it is holding Coherence and Cohesion at 6; the position is stated in the introduction but not carried through the body; these three sentences are the ones without errors, and here is why the others are not. That tells you what to practise next week, not only what was wrong today. It also shows why adding rarer words and longer sentences to sound more academic often lowers accuracy without raising anything else.
How to prepare an essay before a session
The session is most useful when there is a real, timed piece of writing to work on. Here is how to prepare one:
- Pick a Task 2 question (for example one that asks you to give and justify an opinion, discuss different views, or propose solutions to a problem) and copy the full task wording at the top of your document. If Task 1 is your weaker task, bring a Task 1 instead; the process is the same.
- Write it under test conditions: 40 minutes for Task 2, 20 for Task 1, no dictionary, no checking online.
- Count the words. If you were under 250 (or 150) in the time, that is the first finding.
- Bring it in a form you can share on screen. A typed document is easiest to work through together; if you prefer to handwrite (for example to practise for the Writing on Paper option, where it is offered), a clear photo of the page can be shared instead.
- Do not edit it after the time is up. The mistakes you would have fixed with more time show what you can catch yourself and what you cannot.
Essay checking, review or a writing tutor: which do you need?
Help with IELTS Writing goes by several names, and they describe three different jobs. Each one answers a different question.
| The job | The question it answers |
|---|---|
| Checking the essay | What is wrong with the language? |
| Marking it against the descriptors | Where does each criterion sit, and what does the next half band ask for? |
| Working through it live | Why is it wrong, and can I fix it now? |
Checking finds surface mistakes: spelling, articles, agreement, word forms. It is the narrowest of the three jobs and is enough when you already trust your ideas and your paragraphing. A person or a program can do it. Automated and AI tools exist, and this page makes no claim about how accurate any of them is.
A writing review, as the term is used here, measures the answer against the public band descriptors. The Writing band descriptors on ielts.org give a separate table for Task 1 and for Task 2, with wording for each band from 9 down to 1 under each of the four criteria. The document says a script has to match the positive features of a band's descriptor in full, and that text in bold marks negative features which limit a rating. The copy linked here is dated May 2023 and asks readers to check ielts.org for updates.
Working through the answer live with a teacher is the third job. You ask why a sentence costs marks, try another version and hear whether it works, so the correction is practised rather than only read.
A session with Mike covers the second and third jobs together: your answer is marked against the public descriptors, criterion by criterion, then corrected live over Google Meet, with written progress notes in your account afterwards. His estimate is a teacher's estimate, not an IELTS test result, and no band is promised. If you only want a language check on a draft whose structure you already trust, a checking tool or a careful reader may be enough.
IELTS Writing correction price in Vietnam
In Vietnam, a 60-minute session is 500,000 ₫ and a 30-minute trial is 150,000 ₫, available once, on your first booking. Booking more than 5 sessions in a single order gives 10% off until 31 December 2026, bringing each session to 450,000 ₫ — available once per student, on their first qualifying order only; every order after that is full price, and there's no discount for fewer than 6 sessions. Students outside Vietnam see their own region's price, in their own currency, on the booking page before paying.
There is no subscription and no package to commit to. The full list is in the pricing section of the home page.
To start, book a trial session and choose a time from the live calendar, shown in your own time zone. Payment is by PayPal (cards work through guest checkout), VietQR bank transfer in Vietnam, or USDT on TRC20 or BEP20; the site never sees or stores card details. As soon as payment goes through, a Google Meet link and calendar invite arrive by email, with a link to set up your account. You can reschedule up to 12 hours before the slot at no extra charge; cancellations inside 12 hours are not refunded.
Learners in the US can check how Hanoi times map to Eastern and Pacific time on the IELTS tutor information for the United States.
Students in India can read about Writing correction for India and the Hanoi-to-India time conversion on the India page.
If Speaking is the other score you need to lift, there is a separate page on one-to-one IELTS Speaking coaching, and for all four skills together see how a one-to-one IELTS tutor in Hanoi works. If you are taking the test in Hanoi, see IELTS test dates and fees in Hanoi and IELTS test venues in Hanoi; Band Booster IELTS is a coaching service, so it does not register you for the test or set the exam fee. If you have a question before you book, email mkcenter007@gmail.com or message +84 383 390 963 on Zalo, WhatsApp or Telegram.