You have 60 minutes to complete both writing tasks, and the exam gives you no warning when to move on. The clock keeps running whether you have finished Task 1 or not. Because Task 2 carries twice the weight in your overall writing score, spending too long on the first task is one of the most expensive mistakes a candidate can make. Learning to divide that hour deliberately is a skill in itself, separate from grammar or vocabulary.
Splitting Your Minutes
The standard split is 20 minutes for Task 1 and 40 minutes for Task 2. Treat that as a hard boundary, not a suggestion. The temptation is always to keep polishing Task 1 because it feels almost done, but every extra minute there comes straight out of the task worth more marks.
Inside those blocks, break the time down further. For Task 1, that might mean 3 to 4 minutes reading the chart or diagram and noting the main features, around 13 minutes writing, and 2 to 3 minutes checking. For Task 2, allow roughly 5 minutes to plan, 30 to write, and 5 to review. These are targets to rehearse, not rigid rules, but a candidate who has never timed themselves will almost always overrun.
Planning Before Writing
Planning feels like time you cannot spare, which is exactly why so many people skip it and then stall halfway through a paragraph. A short plan does the opposite of wasting time: it stops you from writing sentences you later delete. For Task 1, planning means deciding which two or three features matter most and in what order you will present them. For Task 2, it means settling your position and jotting down the main idea for each body paragraph before you write a single sentence of the introduction.
The plan does not need to be neat or in full sentences. A few words per paragraph is enough to keep you moving. Candidates who practise with the paper-based test and those preparing for the computer version both benefit from the same habit, though the mechanics differ slightly; guidance on the changing formats is set out at https://careerwiseenglish.com.au/, and it is worth knowing which version you will sit before you rehearse your timing. Language schools around Sydney that run IELTS preparation often build these timed planning drills into their sessions precisely because the skill transfers directly to exam day.
One more point on planning: resist the urge to write your introduction slowly and beautifully. The opening lines carry no more weight than the rest, and a laboured introduction eats into the minutes your body paragraphs need.
Saving Time to Check
Reserving the final few minutes of each task for checking is the phase most often abandoned when the clock gets tight. It should be protected. Even two or three minutes at the end of Task 2 will catch the errors that pull your score down: a missing plural, a verb that does not agree, a sentence that trails off without a main clause.
When you check, look for your own recurring mistakes rather than reading the whole essay hoping something jumps out. Most writers have three or four errors they make repeatedly. If you know yours are article use and subject-verb agreement, scan specifically for those. It is faster and catches more than a vague reread.
The single most useful thing you can do this week is sit down with a real clock and complete both tasks in the full 60 minutes, without pausing. Do it once and you will see exactly where your time leaks before it costs you on the day.