The question that decides it
Almost every tense error in an IELTS script comes from defaulting to the same form rather than from not knowing the rule. Ask one question about the time the sentence refers to and the tense follows.
Is the time finished and identified? Past simple.
Is it connected to now, or unspecified? Present perfect.
Is it finished and still true now, like a law? Present simple.
Is it finished but with present relevance? Present perfect continuous.
That is genuinely most of it. The rest is the forms that get confused with these four.
The three tenses you actually need
| Tense | Use for | Signal |
|---|---|---|
| Present simple | habits, facts, permanent states | always, usually, every day |
| Past simple | completed actions at a finished time | yesterday, in 2020, last week, ago |
| Present perfect | past action with a link to now, or unspecified when | already, yet, just, ever, never, since, for |
The present perfect and the past simple do the same job with one difference. The past simple needs a finished time; the present perfect does not allow one.
- "I visited Mumbai last year." — identified time, so past simple.
- "I have visited Mumbai twice." — no time given, so present perfect.
Put "last year" next to "have visited" and it is wrong. That single incompatibility causes more marks than any other rule on this page.
The two that catch people
Present perfect continuous, for something that started in the past and is still going:
- "I have been studying here for two years." Not "I am studying here since two years."
- "She has been working at the company since 2019."
The pair *since* and *for* is the giveaway: since takes a point, for takes a period. Since 2019, for two years.
Past continuous, for two past events with one interrupted:
- "While I was cooking, the phone rang."
- "She was studying when I arrived."
One event is the background and is continuous, the other is a single completed action.
Future forms
- will — prediction, or a decision made in the moment: "It will rain", "I'll help you with that."
- going to — a plan already decided: "I am going to study abroad next year."
- present continuous — a fixed arrangement with a time: "I am meeting my doctor on Friday."
The distinction between will and going to is intention versus arrangement. It is a small mark, but it is the kind of range the grammar criterion rewards.
Consistency within a paragraph
The most common and most avoidable error is drift: three sentences in the past simple, then a slip into present.
Wrong: "I wake up early. I went to the gym. I will eat breakfast."
Right: "I wake up early, go to the gym, and eat breakfast."
This is a single sentence with a consistent tense, which is also better writing.
Consistency does not mean the tense never changes. A genuine change of time reference is correct and expected:
"I graduated in 2020. Since then, I have been working at a software company."
The rule is that the change must be justified, not accidental.
Subject-verb agreement with the present simple
A separate error that sits alongside tense and is equally visible:
- "The number of students has increased." (the number, singular)
- "A number of students have increased." (a number, plural)
- "The government says" (singular)
- "Students study" (plural)
In Writing and Speaking
Task 1 is mostly present simple for general trends and past simple for the data: "exports rose steadily between 2010 and 2015".
Task 2 argues in the present simple. "Governments should invest", "schools are required to provide" — not "should have invested". Present simple is the register of argument.
Speaking follows ordinary conversation, so past simple and present perfect both appear, and mixing them because each is correct in its own time reference is fine.
One caution for Task 2: candidates sometimes use the present perfect for general statements, as though past relevance made them more serious. "This has been a significant problem" is weaker than "This is a significant problem", because the present perfect adds nothing.
Fixing your own
Keep one file. Every time you write a sentence and are unsure which tense applies, note it. In a fortnight you will have a short personal list, and it will be far shorter than a grammar chapter.
Rewriting past tense errors is the highest-yield minute in editing. Find one file of your own writing and tense-check only that. Most candidates find the errors cluster, and a cluster means one habit rather than twenty separate mistakes.
That is the same principle as dictation in Listening: the errors you make repeatedly are the ones worth finding, because they are the ones costing you marks.
The Grammar Portal has tense exercises, and the IELTS Practice Portal gives you timed writing with a band calculator to check the result.
🎯 Practice What You Learned
Put these tips into action with our student practice portals:
Both portals are available for enrolled students — login required. Daily practice is what actually moves a score, so use them as often as you can and keep track of your own mock results.
📍 Visit Step Ahead Institute
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