Some questions regarding General writing task 1 and task 2

[chuduythuc]

Dear David,

I have some questions that need to be made clear regarding General writing task 1 and task 2. Hope you can help me.

1/ task 1
- if we are asked to write an informal letter to a friend, would it be OK to use contractions and any other very informal words/phrases such as "gonna, ASAP, just kidding, yeah, ha ha ha, etc?"

- I am a Christian and I have many Christian friends whose mother tounge is English. When we do some kind of business, I see they very often end their letter with "Blessings". Could I use that phrase too when writing to a friend in task 1?

2/ task 2
I see that no difference exists between general and academic writing task 2. Am I wrong? If I am not wrong, how are the tasks to be graded? Are they graded in the same ways, based on the same criteria?

Thank you very much for taking time to read my questions. Hope you all the best!

[David.IELTS.Examiner]

Hello!
Good questions!
1. Yes and yes
2. I see very little difference between GT and A T2. They are scored in exactly the same way. The phrasing of GT T2 is usually simpler.
All the best,
David