IELTS Writing Task 2
Can I Use I in an IELTS Essay?
Can I use I in an IELTS essay? Yes. The public Task 2 descriptors do not ban first person, and they do not list it as a penalty. Use it when the prompt asks for your view, and do not let it replace the idea.
The notes below paraphrase the public IELTS Writing band descriptors and the style labels already used on this site. The descriptor file itself is marked as updated in May 2023. This page does not reproduce that scale, and it does not award a band. A script has to fit the positive features of a band as a whole.
Task Response is how fully the essay answers the question. A clear position is part of that criterion, so use the Task Response band 6 to 7 guide if the view is still hard to find. Lexical Resource is the words. The Lexical Resource band 7 tips cover repetition, precision, and style. Length is separate: the Task 2 word count guide is the 250-word minimum, not a pronoun rule. All four criteria are mapped in the band descriptors guide.
The short answer
You can write “I” in IELTS Writing Task 2. The May 2023 public Task 2 descriptors do not name the pronoun, do not forbid it, and do not describe a first-person penalty.
What the scale does ask for is a position. “I agree” is one way to make it easy to find. “Cities should charge weekday drivers” can do the same job without “I”.
Academic Task 2 is academic or semi-formal. General Training Task 2 is semi-formal or neutral. Examples from your own experience can support the argument, so a relevant example can use “I”. A chatty diary is still not the essay.
When the prompt asks for your view
First person is most useful when the question asks you to take a side. Common wordings are “To what extent do you agree or disagree?” and “Give your opinion.” A discussion prompt can add “give your own opinion” after it asks you to discuss both views. Those words ask for a view. They are not a rule that every sentence must start with “I”.
| What the prompt asks | Where “I” helps | What still has to be written |
|---|---|---|
| To what extent do you agree, or give your opinion | The introduction, the return of the view, and the conclusion | A clear position, then reasons and support |
| Discuss both views and give your own opinion | The sentence that states your view, not the summary of each side | Both views, plus a position that stays visible |
| Causes, effects, problems, or solutions | Optional. One relevant example from experience can use it | The causes, effects, or solutions the question names |
| A reason that is not about you | Unnecessary | The reason, with enough detail to extend it |
On an agree or disagree question, put the extent in the first paragraph and repeat that same extent at the end. “I partly agree” is a position only when the essay says which part. A later paragraph that takes the opposite side, with no limit, leaves the position unclear.
On a both-views question, report each side in the third person. Your own view still has to appear: “I support a mixed week, because the office day and the home day do different work.” Extend that line instead of repeating “I think”.
When first person is unnecessary
Most sentences in a Task 2 essay are reasons, results, or limits. “A weekday charge gives drivers a reason to take the bus” is the idea. Putting “I think that I believe” in front of it adds no support.
Problem, cause, and solution prompts ask you to explain the situation the question names. One “I” can say which solution you treat as realistic. A personal story is optional. This site’s reading of the public task is that examples may come from your own experience when they support the argument. “I waited six weeks for a routine blood test, while the emergency desk saw patients the same day” shows the difference. “I went to a café afterwards” does not.
Academic Task 1 is a summary of visual information, not an opinion essay, so a personal view is not what that report asks for. This page stays with the Task 2 essay.
Tone and register
First person and an informal tone are not the same choice. “I agree that weekday drivers should pay to enter the centre” fits the academic or semi-formal style this site records for Academic Task 2, and the semi-formal or neutral style it records for General Training Task 2. “I reckon drivers should just cough up” does not. The descriptors do not publish a band deduction for that sentence. They do ask Lexical Resource to notice style.
Band 7 Lexical Resource, as this site already describes it, shows some awareness of style and collocation: the wording still belongs in an essay. Slang and a spoken aside are a word-choice problem, not a ban on “I”. Letter tone is a General Training Task 1 feature, and an essay is not marked on those letter lines.
Natural phrasing and overuse
The paragraphs below were written for this page. They are not past papers, not examiner comments, and not scores. The topic is a weekday charge for cars entering a city centre.
A direct position, with “I” only where the view is stated.
I agree that cities should charge drivers who enter the centre on weekdays. The fee gives a reason to take the bus, and the same street can then carry more people in fewer vehicles. I would spare emergency vehicles and residents who already hold a local permit. A parent driving a sick child to a clinic is not the traffic the rule is trying to reduce.
The first sentence answers the question. The next sentences give the reason and the limit, and the support does not depend on “I”.
The same view, with the pronoun doing all the work.
I think I agree and I believe cities should charge drivers. I think this is a good idea. I think buses are better and I think streets are too busy. I think people should agree with me.
The view is obvious, and the reason is missing. Band 6 on the public scale can hold a relevant position whose conclusions are repetitive and whose main ideas are not developed enough. A rarer opener does not add that support.
No “I”, and no position either.
Some people think cities should charge drivers. Other people think driving is a right. There are many opinions about this topic. It is a controversial issue in modern society.
Avoiding “I” did not produce a position. The prompt asked for a view, and the paragraph never gives one. That is a Task Response problem, which the Task Response band 6 to 7 guide treats as a position that blurs.
Common mistakes
- Hiding the view to sound formal. “Some people think” is not a substitute for the opinion the question asked for.
- Starting every sentence with “I think”, “I believe”, or “in my opinion”. The phrase stops carrying meaning, and the range stays narrow.
- Using a personal story that does not support the claim. Band 5 on the public scale allows irrelevant detail. A relevant example from your own experience is a different thing.
- Writing “I strongly agree because it is good.” The reason, the case, and the limit are the extension. The adverb is not.
- Dropping into chat, as in “I reckon it’s obvious”. The pronoun can stay. That register does not match the Task 2 style this site records.
How this meets Task Response
Task Response looks at the answer, not at a count of pronouns. If the prompt asks for your opinion, the reader has to be able to find the position, and the main ideas have to be extended and supported. “I agree with the first view” can be that position. It is undeveloped if the next sentence does not say why, and it is unclear if a later paragraph takes the other side.
A personal example is judged the same way. Examples from your own experience can support a main idea when the link is visible. The story is the irrelevant detail named at Band 5 when it leaves the question. The higher step is a clear, developed position, with main ideas that are extended even if some support stays broad.
How this meets Lexical Resource
Lexical Resource does not score the letter “I”. It scores range, precision, collocation, style, spelling, and word formation. The Lexical Resource band 7 tips put the Band 6 limit in a restricted range or a lack of precision, and the Band 7 step in wording that can be more exact, with some awareness of style and collocation.
“I think” in every sentence is that restricted range. The chunk is grammatical, and the next sentence is no more exact. A rarer frame such as “I am of the conviction that” is the same problem if the idea is still “it is good”. Precision names the thing: a charge, a permit, a commuter. “I disagree with a total ban” can stay inside the essay register. Slang attached to “I” is a style slip. Band 6 cohesion also allows devices that turn mechanical through overuse, so delete the repeated opener and keep the reason.
A check before you stop
- The introduction answers the question that was asked, including “to what extent” if those words are in the prompt.
- A reader can point to the position without guessing. “I agree”, “I partly agree”, or a sentence with no “I” can all do this.
- The last paragraph states the same position as the first. It does not add a new topic.
- Body sentences that explain a reason are not all opened with “I think” or “I believe”.
- Any “I” example is relevant to the idea in that paragraph. If you can delete the story and lose no reason, delete the story.
- Slang is gone, and the answer is still at least 250 words of connected sentences. See the word count guide for that minimum.
Read the position and the repeated phrase together
Paste the essay with the question. A missing “to what extent”, or a view that appears only in the introduction, is easier to see beside the prompt. If “I think” opens sentences that have no reason, write the reason.
The IELTS Writing Checker takes Task 1 and Task 2, and the main form starts on Task 2. The Task 2 checker is locked to the essay. The methodology page describes the product as a diagnostic and revision tool. Feedback is organised around the four public criteria and looks for repeated weaknesses such as weak idea support and repetitive vocabulary. A band estimate shows a likely bottleneck. It is not an official IELTS score. The form runs from 50 words and stops at 400, which are product limits. A complete Task 2 answer is still at least 250 words. Read Task Response for the position and Lexical Resource for the phrase that repeats.
Paste one essay and the question it answers. Mark the sentence that states your view, then delete any “I think” that is not followed by a reason.
The form runs from 50 words and stops at 400. A full Task 2 essay is at least 250 words. The estimate is a diagnosis, not an official band.
What this page is not claiming
This site is not affiliated with IELTS, the British Council, IDP, or Cambridge English. The band descriptions here paraphrase the public Writing descriptors so you can revise a draft. They are not the official wording, and they are not a result. Only an official IELTS test assigns an examined band. The descriptors do not say that examiners deduct marks for “I”, or award marks for avoiding it. The city-charge paragraphs were written for this page.