Task one GT answering the question

1 Answering the question.

Task achievement (answering the question) is one quarter of your total mark and it is an area in which everyone should do well. This is often, however, not the case.
What you must do is to write a letter, which would fully answer the needs of the problem in a real life situation. Even if you have covered all that the question itself asks, have you included everything in the letter needed to realistically perform its function. For example, a question I have seen somewhere gives the candidate the following task:

You have some library books that you are unable to return as a member of your family in another city has fallen sick and you have had to go and look after them.

Write a letter to the library explaining the situation. Apologize for the inconvenience called and say what you are going to do.

You should write at least 150 words.

This seems a fairly typical IELTS General Training  Task 1 writing question.  Answering the question in a way that will get you a good Task Fulfilment grade needs a number of things for you to do.

1) Write at least 150 words.

Writing less does not answer the question, which tells you to write at least 150 words. If you write less than 150 words, the examiner marking your paper will give you a maximum of 5 for Task Achievement or even less. Making sure that you write enough is one of the vital things you can do when using IELTS practice tests.

2) Fully do all the things that the question asks you.

In this case it asks you to do 3 main things:

1.    explain the situation

2.    apologize for the inconvenience

3.    say what you are going to do