I gave the same essay to 9 AI writing checkers. The results were surprisingly different.
AI IELTS writing checkers
Want to check your IELTS essay with AI? There are now plenty of free IELTS writing checkers that can analyse your essay in seconds.
They can help you:
🔍 find grammar, vocabulary and spelling problems
📊 get an estimated band score
💡 understand some of your weaknesses
✍️ get suggestions for improving your writing
But don’t automatically trust the band score.
AI can give you useful feedback, but it can also miss important problems, give inaccurate advice or give you a different score from another checker.
As an ex-IELTS examiner, I think AI is best used as a practice and feedback tool, not as your examiner.
I’ve included some of the IELTS writing checkers I’ve tested below, followed by some important things to consider before you rely on AI feedback or pay for a detailed report.
See also: The Band Criteria that AI IELTS Writing Checkers get wrong (Resource Library)
🙇♂️ My test: I submitted the same IELTS Writing Task 2 essay to 9 different online checkers and compared their band scores, feedback and suggestions. I’m an ex-IELTS examiner, so I also looked at whether their advice actually made sense from an IELTS assessment perspective.
✅ Quick Summary: Free AI IELTS writing checkers can be useful for spotting language problems and giving you an estimated band score, but they aren’t a substitute for an IELTS examiner. I tested 9 checkers using the same essay and found significant differences in both their scores and their advice.
What AI can and can't tell you
1. AI is useful for finding language errors
AI is very good at spotting many common language problems in your IELTS essay, including:
- 🔤 grammar and spelling mistakes
- 🔁 repeated words
- 📝 awkward sentences
- 📚 inappropriate word choices
- 🔧 problems with sentence structure
It can also suggest alternative ways to express your ideas.
But checking your English isn’t the same as checking your IELTS writing.
Your IELTS score depends on four criteria, not just grammar and vocabulary. An AI checker might tell you that a sentence is grammatically correct while missing the fact that it doesn’t actually answer the question.
AI can be useful for checking your language, but it can’t always judge the quality of your IELTS writing.
2. AI cannot reliably predict your IELTS band score
The biggest mistake is to assume that an AI band score is your actual IELTS score.
Put the same essay into two different checkers and you might get:
📊 Band 6.5 from one
📊 Band 7.5 from another
So which one is right?
You can’t know.
AI is making an estimate based on patterns it has learned. It isn’t an IELTS examiner applying the assessment criteria to your writing in a real test.
This matters particularly if you’re aiming for a specific score. If you need Band 7, don’t assume you’re already there because an AI tool says you are. Equally, don’t panic if one tool gives you a lower score.
Treat the band score as an estimate, not a fact.
The feedback explaining why you got that score is usually much more useful than the number itself.
3. Task Response is harder to judge
AI can spot a grammar mistake much more easily than it can decide whether you’ve fully answered an IELTS question.
For example, you might write an essay with excellent grammar, sophisticated vocabulary and clear paragraphs, but only discuss one side of a question that asks you to discuss both views.
That’s a serious Task Response problem, even though your English might be very good.
AI can also tell you that an idea needs “more development”, but that doesn’t necessarily help you understand how to develop it.
A teacher might ask:
❓ What exactly do you mean?
💡 Why is this true?
🎯 How does this answer the question?
These questions help you understand why your idea needs more development and what you need to do differently.
Good IELTS writing isn’t just about correcting sentences. It’s about developing relevant ideas and answering the question fully.
4. AI can give you advice that sounds good but isn’t actually helpful
AI feedback can sound very convincing, even when you shouldn’t follow it.
For example, an AI might suggest a more sophisticated word when your original word was perfectly good. The new word might be grammatically correct but less natural or less appropriate in context.
It might also rewrite a perfectly good sentence simply because it can.
⚠️ Remember: better English doesn’t always mean more complicated English.
You don’t get extra IELTS marks for using unusual vocabulary or unnecessarily complex sentences. For Band 7 and above, you need to use language accurately, appropriately and flexibly.
So don’t automatically accept every AI correction.
Instead, ask:
Why is this better?
If you don’t understand the reason, don’t simply memorise the correction. You need to understand your English, not let AI write your essay for you.
5. Different AI checkers can give you very different results
Try putting the same essay into two or three different AI checkers.
Don’t be surprised if you get different scores and different feedback.
Different tools use different AI models and scoring systems, so there isn’t necessarily one “correct” AI score.
Don’t choose a checker just because it gives you the highest score!
Instead, look for patterns. If several tools identify the same problem, it’s worth investigating. If one tool gives you strange advice, don’t automatically assume the computer is right.
More feedback doesn’t necessarily mean more accurate feedback.
6. The best way to use AI is to ask it to help you improve
Don’t just ask an AI checker:
“What band score would this essay get?”
Ask better questions, such as:
“What are the three biggest things I should improve if I want to reach Band 7?”
You can also ask AI to:
🔍 identify your most common grammar mistakes
🔁 find repeated vocabulary
💡 explain why an idea isn’t well developed
🎯 check whether you’ve answered every part of the question
✍️ explain why a suggested correction is better
The aim is to understand your weaknesses, not simply collect corrections.
Use AI as a practice and feedback tool, not as your examiner.
IELTS writing checkers I have tested
Updated August 2026: AI IELTS writing checkers have changed considerably since I first tested these tools in 2023. I’ve updated this article to reflect the current AI landscape, while keeping my original test results and observations where relevant.
I’ve kept my original observations because they show something that is still important: an automated IELTS writing checker can give you useful feedback, but you shouldn’t automatically trust its corrections or band score.
I’ll update this section as I test the current tools again. For now, use the individual tools as examples rather than as a definitive ranking of the best IELTS writing checkers available today.
In this article I evaluate:
- IELTScdt.com
- IELTSpodcast.com (and IELTSing.com)
- Essaychecker.ai
- Upscore.ai
- ChatGPT
- Claude.ai
- IELTS Writing Pro*
- Gotlearning.com (see comments)
- Engnovate (see comments)
- Balang.app (see comments)
IELTS Writing Pro
I have tested and I recommend IELTS Writing Pro. It offers AI-based feedback and band estimates across the four IELTS Writing criteria, and currently provides a free report before you pay.
I receive a small commission if you choose to purchase through my link.
The task
I used a simple task to test the online checkers, because I wanted to be realistic about what is achievable in 40 minutes with no preparation and under the stress of the exam.
I believe that the response below could achieve a Band 9, though I understand that more sophisticated structures and vocabulary could be used if you had more time available.
I also realise that ‘mobile phones’ is repeated several times, but as I always tell my students, sometimes there are simply no synonyms for key words.
Task
Mobile phones have brought many benefits, but they have also had negative effects. Do the disadvantages of having mobile phones outweigh the advantages?
Response
Mobile phones have had an enormous impact on many aspects of our lives. Our personal and professional communication has been profoundly changed by them, and they clearly have many advantages. However, there are several drawbacks to being constantly available and connected to the internet, which I will outline below.
By far the most common criticism of mobile phones is the fact that we are now expected to be available at all hours of the day. Before mobile phones were invented, the time spent away from work was our own, but now it seems that the separation between work and free time has disappeared. In addition, mobile phones pose certain health risks and can be dangerous if drivers use them at the wheel or if people cross busy roads while texting. There have been several mobile-phone related accidents and fatalities. A final negative effect is that in public places such as on the train or at the cinema, there is no escape from the noise of annoying ringtones and loud, one-sided conversations.
On the other hand, there are obvious benefits. The most powerful argument in their favour is that they can be used to call for help in the most inaccessible places, for example when a car breaks down in a remote area, and emergency services can be called to the scene of an accident without delay. Moreover, being easily contactable every minute of the day has real advantages for business people and for working parents.
To sum up, I feel that although there are some clear drawbacks to mobile phones, their efficiency, portability and multi-functional abilities have greatly enhanced most aspects of our lives and the plus points certainly offset the downsides.
288 words
1. IELTScdt.com
The first checker that came up in my search was IELTScdt.com.
It gave my essay an overall Band 7, with these scores:
- Task Achievement: 8.5
- Lexical Resource: 6.5
- Coherence and Cohesion: 6.0
- Grammatical Range and Accuracy: 7.0
⚠️ My main problem: the detailed feedback was difficult to understand.
My lowest score was 6.0 for Coherence and Cohesion, but the feedback underneath was mostly a collection of percentages and numerical scores (see image below).
I’m sure these numbers mean something to the software, but they didn’t tell me what I should actually do to improve my writing.
My verdict: A useful band estimate, perhaps, but the detailed feedback wasn’t very actionable.
Note
*’Task Achievement’ is the wrong band criteria – it should only be used for Task 1. ‘Task Response’ is used for Task 2 band criteria. Only ChatGPT got this right.
**Also, it is strange that they use 0.5 scores for each criteria, which does not happen in the real test and makes you wonder where they got their marking system from. Again, only ChatGPT got this right.
2. IELTSpodcast.com
The second checker I found in Google was IELTSpodcast.com. IELTSing.com uses the same software, so I didn’t test both.
It gave my essay a very different score from the first checker:
- Overall Band: 6.0
- Task Achievement: 7.0
- Lexical Resource: 6.0
- Coherence and Cohesion: 5.5
- Grammatical Range and Accuracy: 6.5
👍 What I liked: This checker was more useful than the first one because it highlighted areas of weakness. I could hover over them to see what it thought was wrong.
⚠️ The problem: Some of its suggestions were simply bad.
For example:
❌ It suggested “a plethora of advantages” instead of “many advantages”. Nooooo!
❌ It suggested “dial”, “contact” and “call up” as synonyms for “mobile phone”. None of these works in that context.
❌ Most seriously, it suggested replacing “but” with ‘on the contrary’ because “but” was supposedly too simple.
That’s wrong. On the contrary does not mean the same thing as but, and using it this way is a common mistake I see IELTS candidates make.
My verdict: The highlighting was useful, but I would not blindly follow its vocabulary and linking-word suggestions. A more complicated word or phrase isn’t automatically better IELTS English.
❌ It also told me that I DIDN’T
- include an introduction or conclusion (?!)
- answer all parts of the question (?!)
In the real IELTS test, you would get 5 for Task Response if you didn’t answer all parts of the question, but they gave me 7 anyway.
3. Essaychecker.ai
This checker gives you a detailed report covering things like vocabulary and grammar, but much of the feedback isn’t particularly useful.
For example, it tells you how many adjectives, adverbs, complex sentences and other features you used. Interesting, perhaps, but knowing the number doesn’t tell you how to improve your IELTS writing.
⚠️ The spelling feedback was even more confusing.
It said I had made “few” spelling errors.
That’s grammatically incorrect in this context. “Few” means not many, whereas “a few” means some.
So if it meant that I had made some spelling errors, it should have said:
“a few spelling errors”
My verdict: Lots of data, but not necessarily useful feedback. And if the checker is correcting your English, it needs to get its own English right!
4. Upscore.ai
upscore.ai gave my essay an accurate-looking Band 7.5, and I found some of its vocabulary feedback genuinely useful.
👍 What I liked: It picked up issues with formality and word choice that some of the other checkers missed. Some of its synonym suggestions were also sensible:
✅ Instead of repeatedly using “mobile phones”, it suggested “cell phones” or “smartphones”.
⚠️ The problem: Its grammar feedback was limited, and some of its advice about using examples was questionable.
For example, it suggested:
❌ Instead of writing about “several mobile-phone related accidents and fatalities”, I should give a specific example, such as a well-known case where a driver caused a fatal accident while texting.
I don’t recommend this.
For IELTS Writing, you don’t need to invent specific cases or statistics to make your argument convincing. A general, realistic example is often much safer and more appropriate.
My verdict: Some genuinely useful vocabulary feedback, but don’t automatically follow its advice about adding specific evidence to your essay.
5. ChatGPT
After being disappointed by the first few online checkers, I asked ChatGPT to review and grade my essay.
Of all the tools I tested, this probably gave me the most useful overall feedback. It gave a brief explanation for each criterion and, when I asked for more detail, it provided some genuinely helpful suggestions.
- Overall Band: 7.5
- Task Response: 8.0
- Lexical Resource: 7.0
- Coherence and Cohesion: 8.0
- Grammatical Range and Accuracy: 7.0
👍 What I liked: It identified repetition that the other checkers had missed:
“There is a noticeable repetition of words and phrases throughout the essay.”
I agreed with this. The problem is that, as we’ve already seen, finding a good synonym for “mobile phones” isn’t always easy!
⚠️ The problem: ChatGPT, like some other AI writing tools, didn’t like some of my passive sentences.
For example, it suggested changing:
“Before mobile phones were invented, the time spent away from work was our own.”
to:
“Before the invention of mobile phones, we had more control over our free time.”
But there’s nothing wrong with the passive construction in the original sentence. Passive voice is not automatically too formal or inappropriate for IELTS.
My verdict: Probably the most useful feedback I received, but still check its suggestions carefully. Even ChatGPT can give IELTS advice that sounds convincing but isn’t actually correct.
ChatGPT Band 9 essay
Finally, I asked ChatGPT to give me a Band 9 response for this essay question.
It produced a 377-word essay (overlength).
I then asked ChatGPT to evaluate its own Band 9 essay, using the IELTS Band Criteria.
Guess what?
Overall, this essay would likely score a Band 7 or 8 on the IELTS Writing Task 2, due to its effective organization, clear and concise writing, and strong arguments. With a few minor improvements, particularly in terms of grammatical accuracy, the essay could potentially score higher.
6. Claude.ai
Claude.ai was not able to give me a score for a student’s essay but it did give me feedback on specific mistakes.
Unfortunately I do not have the capability to provide IELTS essay scores. Providing accurate IELTS scores would require more advanced NLP techniques and training on a dataset of scored essay samples which I currently lack.
Claude.ai also wrote a model essay about mobile phones. Although the language was excellent, it does not conform to a standard IELTS essay, as it does not develop any of the points – it just lists examples of pros and cons.
Conclusion
So, should you use an AI IELTS writing checker?
Yes, but use it carefully.
AI checkers can now do much more than correct grammar and spelling. They can analyse your essay against the four IELTS Writing criteria and suggest ways to improve.
But there are some important limitations:
🔍 Useful: Get feedback on grammar, vocabulary, organisation and other potential problems.
⚠️ Be careful: Different tools can give you different band scores, and AI feedback isn’t always accurate or helpful.
🎯 Don’t trust the number: An AI band score is an estimate, not your actual IELTS score.
💡 Look for the “why”: Don’t just accept a correction. Try to understand why something is a problem and how you can improve it.
💷 Think before you pay: A more detailed AI report isn’t necessarily a more accurate one.
I’ve included some of the IELTS writing checkers I’ve tested below. Some were tested when I originally wrote this article, so features and results may have changed. I’ll update this page as I test more of the current tools.
Use AI as a practice tool, not as your examiner.
7. IELTS Writing Pro
One tool I have tested and recommend is IELTS Writing Pro. It offers AI-based feedback and band estimates across the four IELTS Writing criteria, and currently provides a free report before you pay.
I receive a small commission if you choose to purchase through my link.
Try my F.I. online IELTS essay checker here:
Watch me help a student figure out how to get past Band 6.5.
Want to improve your IELTS Writing?
AI can give you feedback, but it can’t replace learning how to plan, develop and structure your ideas.
Don’t just correct your mistakes. Understand them.
Learn how to identify the problems that are really affecting your IELTS Writing score, with my step-by-step Writing resources.
👉 Explore the Resource Library
Prefer free resources?
Start with my free IELTS Writing lessons and guides.
About Fiona
Fiona is an IELTS trainer, ex-examiner and course creator based in the UK. She has a Master’s in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (Distinction) and over 35 years of teaching experience. She has helped thousands of IELTS candidates develop the language and exam skills needed to achieve their target scores.
Frequently Asked Questions about AI IELTS Writing Checkers
Is there a free AI IELTS essay checker?
Yes. There are now many free AI-powered IELTS essay checkers. They can analyse your writing, identify possible grammar and vocabulary problems, and give you an estimated band score. Some also assess your writing against the four IELTS criteria.
What is the best free IELTS writing checker?
There isn’t one IELTS writing checker that I would recommend as the most accurate. I tested 9 different checkers using the same essay, and they gave different scores and feedback. My advice is to use free checkers for additional feedback, but don’t treat their band scores as your actual IELTS score.
Are AI IELTS writing checkers accurate?
They can provide useful feedback, but their band scores are only estimates. Different AI checkers can give different scores for the same essay, so you shouldn’t treat an AI score as the same as an official IELTS score.
Can ChatGPT check my IELTS essay?
Yes. You can ask ChatGPT to analyse your essay using the IELTS Writing criteria and give you feedback on your strengths and weaknesses. However, ChatGPT can also give inaccurate or inappropriate advice, so don’t automatically accept every correction or band score. I found ChatGPT useful when I tested it, but I still had to check its suggestions carefully.
Can an AI checker replace an IELTS teacher?
No. AI can provide instant feedback on your writing, but it can’t replace the personalised guidance of an experienced IELTS teacher. In particular, a teacher can help you understand why an idea isn’t fully developed, whether you’ve really answered the question, and what you should work on next. These are important parts of IELTS Writing assessment.
Should I pay for an IELTS writing checker?
I’d be cautious. Try the free version first and decide whether the feedback is genuinely useful before paying for a detailed report. A longer or more expensive AI report isn’t necessarily more accurate. If you’re paying for feedback because you need to know exactly why you’re getting a particular band score, personalised feedback from an experienced IELTS teacher may be a better investment.
Hi Fiona, I have found a quite good website for marking IELTS Writing. Can you check how effective it is, please? This is the web: https://poe.com/IELTS-Grading
Hi Amy
Many thanks for sending me this recommendation. I had a go with it, but found it no better than ChatGPT itself – is there something specific you liked about it that ChatGPT can’t do well? I also found it gave a higher grade than the actual grade (it gave 6.5 for an essay I had given 5.5).
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes
Fiona
Hi there,
There is a new site for writing correction called Balang: https://www.balangapp.com
Have you used it? What are your thoughts?
Hi Jamal. Many thanks for sharing this new website for IELTS correction. It certainly looks very impressive, even just using the free version. I tested it with an example from a student who was just starting her IELTS preparation with me, so there was quite a lot to correct. The app did this in GREAT detail, explaining EVERY mistake. The drawback with such detailed feedback for lower level students is that they don’t know where to start. The corrected version analysed 38 grammar/vocab points, so the whole writing was covered in red question marks. A human teacher would probably ignore a lot of these at this stage, and focus on two or three action points instead. The language that they use to give feedback and explanations is very formal – this might not be helpful for a Band 5 student, though it could be helpful at higher levels. For example this correction is quite complex: “Led” is the past participle of “lead,” used here after “has” to form the present perfect tense. Also, the score was quite harsh – it gave her essay a 5 (I gave it 5.5 and ChatGPT gave it 6). But definitely this could be helpful for some students. Thank you for sharing, Best wishes Fiona.
Hi Fiona,
Not sure if you’re still accepting comments on this.
I found “Engnovate” gives similar results to ChatGPT. What are your comments on this site?
Hi Glenda
Many thanks for the tip – I tried Engnovate and I was pleased with the results. It gave me overall 7.5 (8 for Task Response, though weirdly 7.5 for the others). In IELTS you can only give whole bands, so the examiner has to decide between 7 or 8, but Engnovate couldn’t decide, I guess. It picked up the repetition of ‘mobile phones’ (though it didn’t suggest any alternatives – maybe this is in the Premium plan?). It also said I repeated ‘there’, which I thought was a less valid criticism. The small corrections were possibly unnecessary or inaccurate e.g. it corrected ‘business people’ to ‘businesspeople’. In comparison with ChatGPT, it did not give detailed feedback, but for a quick check, I was happy with this one. Thank you again,
Best wishes
Fiona
Hi Fiona，
Thank you so much for your helpful video about AI checkers! I learnt a lot from it.
I have read a lot of band 9 sample essays either from websites or ChatGPT, they always contain some very advanced vocabulary or expressions; while the essay you provided here is much simpler and easier to understand. I used to think that I have to include many advanced or less common words in my essay if I want to score a band 7.5 or higher in task 2. I’d like to ask, if I may, can this essay in this blog really score band 9?
Best regards,
Grace
Hi Grace
Many thanks for your comment and for reading my blog. I chose this essay so that it would be easy for students to read. I didn’t focus on the features of a Band 9 essay, as I have many other examples elsewhere. So please don’t worry about whether this essay is Band 9 or not – that was not the purpose of it here. Very few of the ‘Band 9’ essays I see on other websites are really Band 9, and I think that focusing on this number is a distraction for many students, especially when most students struggle to get Band 7.
If you are really interested in Band 9, you can find lots of examples here:
https://ieltsetc.com/?s=band+9
Best wishes
Fiona
Try with several essays each several time and find the mean of results for better evaluation. What you have done is not precise evasluation by any means.
Expert Bro, I am REALLY looking forward to see your superior evaluation. Can’t wait!
I also tried one of the websites above. The most ridiculous one was ieltsing.com.
It gave a band 5.5 score to a model answer written by IELTS examiner in Cambridge 10 Test 1. hahahahahaahh.
Thank you for sharing your experience Qin.
Did you find a good one?
Best wishes
Fiona
Hi Fiona,
I’m the founder of essaychecker.ai and thanks for reviewing our app. 🙂
Though little disappointed that you only checked the statistical overview at top and didn’t review the complete feedback section below the essay which gives detailed scores and feedback for cohesion, sentence variety, lexical and grammar criteria.
But we are working and trying our best to improve it.
Thanks once again.
Hardik
Hi Hardik
Many thanks for reading my blog and letting me know more information about your essay checker. I will have another look,
Best wishes
Fiona
I think I need to sign up and give my phone number to see more details.
Yes, you can send me your email id used for signup, we will enable premium account. Till now we have focused on checking sentence variety, cohesion, now soon we are also adding ChatGPT like analysis for Task Response.
Hi Hardik
Thanks I’ll email you now.
Best wishes
Fiona
Unfortunately, I do not have access to a teacher who will check my essays at the moment, and which of the sites on the Internet gives the most accurate results, especially in terms of scoring systems?
Hi Mustafa
From the ones I checked in the article above, ChatGPT came out the best, though it wasn’t perfect by any means!
Best wishes
Fiona
Have you experienced the writing9, do you have any idea about it? I tried 4-5 times, but it felt like the points were given a little too much. Thanks 🙂
Hi Mustafa. No I haven’t tried that one! To be honest I got so tired of seeing such random results that I gave up pretty quickly.
NEW! I just tried https://upscore.ai/ (you get 2 free)
This gave me an accurate score.
Total Score: 7.5
Task Response: 8
Coherence and Cohesion: 8
Lexical Resource: 7.5
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: 7.5
And it gave me a nice suggestion as a synonym for ‘powerful argument’ (though I don’t recommend using a thesaurus unless you know what you’re doing).
“Use more impressive vocabulary to elevate the language in the essay”.
– Suggestion: Try using a thesaurus to identify and memorize new synonyms for frequently used words.
Example: Instead of “powerful,” use “compelling” or “potent.”
Unfortunately the advice it gave me about a grammar mistake was wrong:
– Lack of article usage in “from work was our own,” should be “from THE work was our own.”
‘work’ does not need a definite article here, as it is a general concept.
NEW! I just tried this with https://feedback.gotlearning.com/
There’s no grading but I got these comments. They are quite VAGUE.
Overall, your writing is good, but you can make some improvements to the narrative structure to create a smoother and more effective flow. Below are some suggestions for how you can improve the transitions in your writing:
– Start with a strong introduction that grabs the reader’s attention and provides context for the topic. You can start by mentioning the ubiquity of mobile phones in modern society and the far-reaching effects they have had on various aspects of our lives.
– In the second paragraph, start with a clear statement about the positive impact of mobile phones, followed by specific examples to support your point. This will make your argument stronger and more convincing. You can then move on to the drawbacks, keeping in mind that you want to keep a balanced approach.
– In the third paragraph, start with a transition phrase like “on the other hand”, followed by a clear statement about the negative impact of mobile phones.
Hi Fiona,
Thank you for this podcast episode about AI-based essay checkers. It put a huge smile on my face when you were sharing your experience with each of the services that you mentioned.
I tried the ieltspodcast.com one months ago and was disappointed. This cannot be used in IELTS prep at all because it is misleading. I wrote and pasted two essays into their checker and both scored not higher than a 6. I took IELTS six times and scored 8.0 in Writing in 5 out of my 6 attempts. So Band 6 is just a joke, together with the ridiculous synonyms that they want me to use.
You reminded me about them today in your podcast, so I tried their checker again to see if it’s become any better. Nothing of the kind! Still 6.
The first thing that is a red flag for me is that they provide scores in half-bands for CC or GRA, which is not the way it works, right? Half-bands are possible only for the total score based on four scoring areas.
The same applies to ChatGPT. The same half-bands.
I spent a good hour talking to ChatGPT, teaching it the IELTS scoring system. It kept apologizing for not knowing the rounding conventions in IELTS, which made it rather confusing even for the bot itself. It recalculated the scores several times and couldn’t really produce the right overall one.
However, I did like the way it caught some minor mistakes in my grammar and offered some improvements in wording some complex sentences. Very useful! And it did great at checking my GT letters. The scores were close to reality.
I still think that nothing can be compared to a good old human brain able to ‘feel’ the language and look at any essay from four different perspectives covered in the band descriptors. But AI is progressing so rapidly that it’s getting kind of scary:) Will us teachers have to re-invent what we do, say, in a few coming years?:)
I’ve been teaching IELTS in Kazakhstan for more than 10 years and have checked thousands of essays, helping my students understand what IELTS wants them to do in Writing.
By the way, I’ve been listening to your podcast for years and I always recommend it to my students because I absolutely love the way you break Reading, Listening and grammar into pieces! This cannot be any better – please bring more! Thank you ever so much for being so dedicated to teaching and giving so much help to the world!
Hi Ilya,
Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge and experience with us. I definitely agree that these checkers can be helpful for noticing minor errors but I agree that teachers will be able to give much more meaningful feedback when it comes to IELTS.
Thank you for listening to my podcast and for taking the time to write this!
Best wishes
Fiona
Hello there, I faced the same problem while looking for an online essay checker today. Is there any website that could help me achieve my desired band score and correct it similarly to the way IELTS marks the essays?
Hi Muhammad
Many thanks for your comment. If I find what you’re looking for, I will update my blog.
Best wishes
Fiona