The single most-marked-down tense confusion in IELTS Writing is mixing up the present perfect (have done) with the past simple (did). They look similar. They’re not. Pick the wrong one and the sentence either contradicts itself or sounds non-native; pick the right one and your Grammatical Range jumps a band.
Past simple — finished time
- The government banned single-use plastic in 2022.
- She graduated from Cambridge last year.
- I visited Japan three times in the 2010s.
Present perfect — still relevant
- The government has banned single-use plastic.
- She has graduated from Cambridge.
- I have visited Japan three times.
Time markers that lock you in
- Past simple
- yesterday, last week, in 2020, two years ago, when I was young, in the 1990s, last summer.
- Present perfect
- ever, never, since 2020, for ten years, recently, lately, already, just, so far, until now.
- Either, depending on meaning
- today, this week, this year, recently (sometimes).
The IELTS-essay shape that uses both
Most Band 7+ Writing Task 2 essays use the present perfect to establish the situation in the introduction, then drop into past simple for specific historical examples, then back to present perfect for the conclusion.
Online learning has expanded rapidly over the past decade. In 2020, lockdowns forced millions of students online almost overnight, accelerating an already-running trend. Today, the question is no longer whether online learning works — it has become whether it should replace traditional classrooms.
Present perfect (ongoing) → past simple (specific 2020 event) → present perfect (current relevance). Natural Band 7+ shape.
Pick the tense
- 1
____ you ever ____ to Korea?
Pick one. You'll see why straight away.
- 2
The internet ____ the way we communicate since the 1990s.
Pick one. You'll see why straight away.
- 3
In 2008, the global financial crisis ____ unemployment to surge across Europe.
Pick one. You'll see why straight away.
The present perfect is the tense of relevance. Use it when something started in the past, continues now or when the consequence is still felt. Use the past simple when the action is closed off in finished time. Get this distinction right and one band lift on Grammatical Range is genuinely on the table.