As an IELTS writing instructor, I am often asked by my students what the secret is to successful essay writing. When I tell them ‘lots of practice, lots of guidance and lots of patience’, they usually look at me a bit disappointed as though my answer was too obvious.

So I tell them, ‘just follow the 4 Cs.’

‘The 4 Cs?’ they ask with new interest.

Yes, the 4 Cs: conciseness, cohesion, coherence and composition. Each needs to be employed properly if you want to score well on your Task 2 essay. In this short article, which I am writing exclusively for www.ielts-blog.com, I would like to touch on each of the 4 Cs and describe how you can use these powerful ideas to heighten your IELTS score.

So let’s begin with conciseness. Unlike other languages which prize long and very elaborate sentences, proper written English is language that says a lot in few words. Students often falsely believe that the longer a sentence is the more academic it sounds.

Writing longer sentences in your response is problematic for 2 reasons. The first is it heightens the chances of errors related to coherence. The second is it makes it more difficult for you to control the grammar of the sentence, leading to silly grammatical mistakes. Too often, students receive disappointing marks on their IELTS essay simply because their long sentences led them to issues with coherence and grammar.

So how long should a sentence be? Including cohesive phrases (the second ‘C’ in our list), typical sentences are somewhere between 8 and 15 words.

Now let’s take a look at how to write these cohesive phrases.

Cohesion refers to words and phrases that help ideas link together. Cohesive phrases include wordings like…

Because of this, …As this shows, …As can clearly be seen from this example, …It is clear that…Thus, the idea that…To illustrate this, …After analyzing both points of view, …To provide a summary, …Without a doubt, this causes…

What I always suggest to students is to commit many of these phrases to memory and learn how to use them properly. When you get to your examination, you can use these phrases with confidence, which will not only save you time but also reduce the chances of grammatical mistakes.

Our third C is coherence, which is the notion that all ideas you present in your essay should be easily understood by your reader. As you can probably guess, using the cohesive phrases above correctly can really help to boost the coherence in your essay as they clarify your ideas. Coherence is also greatly improved by proper grammar, so make an effort to brush up on this prior to your examination.

Our final C, composition, refers to employing a proper essay structure. This means including a thesis (in the case of an argument essay), at least 2 supporting ideas, real-life examples, proper discussion of those examples as well as some kind of summary and finally a reasoned conclusion. To break it down, an argument essay is most likely going to contain 15 sentences partitioned into 4 paragraphs and follow a pattern something like this:

Introduction paragraph

A background sentence giving some background informationon the essay topic. A more detailed sentence linking the background sentence to the thesis. A thesis that presents your point of view on your given topic. An outline sentence declaring the 2 points you are going to use to support your thesis.

Supporting paragraph 1

A topic sentence illustrating the first point you will be presenting to support your thesis (this point taken from your outline sentence).

A sentence showing a real-life example of this topic in action. A discussion sentence that shows how your example links or proves your topic sentence. A conclusion sentence that links this entire paragraph back to your thesis.

Supporting paragraph 2

A topic sentence illustrating the second point you will be presenting to support your thesis (this point taken from your outline sentence).

A sentence showing a real-life example of this topic in action. A discussion sentence that shows how your example links or proves your topic sentence. A conclusion sentence that links this entire paragraph back to your thesis.

Conclusion paragraph

A summary sentence that briefly states the 2 points you discussed in your supporting paragraphs. A restatement of your thesis using different words. A prediction or recommendation based on the topic you have been given.

By employing a logical structure like this you fulfill your essay’s requirement for proper composition.

So, in a nutshell, the 4 Cs make up the essential elements in a successful essay. Conciseness keeps sentences brief, cohesionhelps the sentences link together, coherence maintains understanding in the essay and composition links all parts of the essay together logically.

Make an effort to use the 4 Cs properly and I guarantee your IELTS written mark will improve.

Good luck on your exam!

This article was written by Ryan Higgins, an online IELTS instructor, blogger and author. For more of his free IELTS resources, visit his blog.

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The IELTS Writing test: a common mistake

Before we begin, there is something else you need to know. In the recent post about the difference between the formal and informal writing styles there was a mistake. Although it was caught and fixed almost immediately on the website, the erroneous version was sent to your emails before we could stop it. To clarify, the words “children”, “many” and “much” are formal equivalents of informal “kids”, “a lot of” and “heaps of”. My apologies, if the previous email confused you.

And now to the common mistake in the IELTS Writing test. As you may know, there are 2 tasks, Writing Task 1 and Task 2, and in both Academic and General Training modules Task 1 is shorter (150 words) than Task 2 (250 words). Often people decide to write the Task 2 first, before writing Task 1. No problem so far, but we are getting to the really important bit.

It is essential that you pay attention to the Answer Sheet and write your answers in the right places. There are 2 marked spaces on the Answer Sheet that you get in the Writing test, one says “Task 1″ and the other says “Task 2″. To avoid confusing the examiner who will check your work, you need to make sure that the the essay is written under “Task 2″ and the report (for Academic) or the letter (for General Training) – under Task 1.

If worse comes to worst and you’ve mixed the two spaces, don’t panic. First, finish writing your tasks – wherever

you’ve started to write, don’t worry about the wrong spaces, just take care of the contents and the paragraphing as usual. After the Writing test is over you can ask staff at the test center to affix a note to your work explaining where each task is. It will help the examiner locate the right task and your score won’t suffer.

Good luck with your exam!

The IELTS Writing test: telling the difference between formal and informal

Many of you have asked me about the difference between the formal and informal writing in IELTS and this tells me that it’s a common problem. So here is what you need to know about the styles of writing in the IELTS test.

If you are preparing for the Academic IELTS module, both Task 1 and Task 2 in the Writing test are formal. For the General Training candidates, Task 2 in Writing is always formal, and Task 1 can be formal or informal.

As you know, Task 1 for the GT module is a letter, and if the topic asks you to write to someone you know, that is an informal letter – as opposed to writing to someone you don’t know, which should be formal.

The difference between formal and informal styles is mainly in the vocabulary. Informal words are the ones used in everyday conversations and formal are used in books, contracts, business letters and essays. If the task requires formal writing – avoid using informal vocabulary. If the task requires informal writing, such as a letter to a friend, avoid using formal ‘heavy’ words.

Apart from the vocabulary in formal writing it is best to avoid words like “I”, “you”, “we”, unless you are expressing an opinion. For example in an essay instead of writing “You would find it difficult to get a job without proper qualifications”, write something like “One would find it difficult to find a job without proper qualifications”, or you could write “Finding a job without proper qualifications would be rather difficult”.

For those of you who don’t live in an English speaking country and don’t speak English on daily basis it may be difficult to tell the difference between the formal and informal vocabulary, which is why I compiled this short list of words. You could memorize it and use in your writing while practicing – this way the chances you will use the correct word in the real exam increase.

Formal Informal

Inform me Let me know

Cancel Drop

Contact Get in touch

Obtain Get

Apologise Say sorry

Postpone Delay

Request Ask for

Compensate Make up

Establish Set up

Discover Find out

Handle Deal with

Investigate Check up on

Tolerate Put up

Increase Go up

Children Kids

Many / Much A lot of

Many / Much Heaps of

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IELTS writing: using transitional phrases

This post was contributed by Mr. Nipun Jain, the head of Benchmark – our evaluation team. On behalf of all the readers I would like to thank Mr. Jain and all the fine teachers of Benchmark.

Transitions

Transitional words and phrases are what gives your essayscoherence, we need them to join sentences and thoughts together. Look at the lists below. These are transitional phrases that you can memorize and keep in your arsenal for the IELTS writing module.

AGREEMENT: also, plus, in addition, further, furthermore, moreover, additionally, to add to that, next, in accordance with, accordingly, in agreement, finally, for instance, for example, in exemplification, exemplifying that, in fact, factually speaking, in terms of, and so forth, looking at the nexus between, in coordination with, along those lines, collectively speaking, generally speaking, indeed, undoubtedly, obviously, to be sure.

CONTRAST: however, contrastingly, in contrast, on the contrary, on the other hand, To put it into perspective, from a different angle, nonetheless, nevertheless, but, yet, a catch to this is, sadly enough, as a hindrance, looking at the holdups, oddly enough, instead, in direct opposition, still, and rather.

RESULT: as a result, as a consequence, consequently, thus, therefore, hence, thereby, resulting in, ultimately, in the end, finally, in the overall analysis, in hindsight, in retrospect, retrospectively, vicariously, the long term effect,

as a short term result, significantly, as a major effect, effectively, heretofore, hereafter, thereafter, in short, generally, over all, concluding.

4 ways to get in trouble with your IELTS Writing tasks

If you have an IELTS exam this weekend, this post can literally save your score. Many people get in trouble with their IELTS Writing tasks for no reason, just because they don’t realize some things are not acceptable in IELTS letters, essays or reports. Here is a number of ways you can get in trouble with your IELTS writing tasks:

1. Using informal English in the IELTS Writing tasks.

Informal English is OK for your Speaking test – it is not OK for your Writing test. Even though not every informal word gets penalized, the more formal your style is, the better your score will be. To demonstrate the difference, informal expressions such as “loads of / tons of” should be replaced with “many” or “much”; “fed up with” should be replaced with “lost his patience”, etc.

2. Using contractions.

Contractions are “it’s” instead of “it is”, “I’ve” instead of “I have”, “we’re” instead of “we are” (these are only a few examples). Contractions are a bad, bad thing to use in your essay, they don’t save you much time and can cost you marks. Do me a favor and forget about contractions in your IELTS writing. Write “should not” instead of “shouldn’t”, “could not” instead of “couldn’t”, “would not” instead of “wouldn’t”. You get the idea.

3. Using slang.

You can use slang any time talking to your friends, but this is the only place where it belongs, in a conversation between friends. Keep it out of your IELTS essays, letters or reports. You can’t write “dunno” instead of “don’t know”, “wanna” instead of “want to” or “gonna” instead of “going to”.

4. SMS-like spelling.

We all are typing SMS messages, chatting on Skype and the like, and there is a bunch of shorter ways to write longer words. We type “u” instead of “you”, “c” instead of “see”, “IMHO” instead of “in my humble opinion”. None of these can appear in your IELTS exam, unless you are specifically trying to mess up and get a lower score than you deserve. You need to write the full word and spell it correctly, period.

I hope this post has caught you in time to prevent any of the above mistakes. Good luck with your exam!

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IELTS Writing: connective words (part 4)

This is the post about connective words and here you will find words to use in sentences referring to examples, describing reasons or sequencing events in time.

Time

for instance

There are many schools in many countries where you could study, for instance the schools in London or Birmingham.

one example

One example of how to get better at cooking would be to start readingrecipes.

for example just as

I wanted to be home already just as much as a thirsty man in the desert wanted water.

in particular

I am referring to my exams, in particular, IELTS and TOEFL.

such as namely

My friends, namely Andy and Cindy, have told me about this new exhibition in the city.

to illustrate

Reason

since

Since you asked, I’d like to tell you my story

because (of) due to

Due to the teacher’s illness this lecture is canceled.

owing to the reason why in other words leads to

This assumption leads us to believe that …

cause

The cause of this unfortunate accident was…

Time

before since

Since 2005 I have been working in …

as until

Until now I wasn’t able to find anything like it.

meanwhile

Meanwhile, I would like to ask you to be patient.

at the moment

At the moment I am experiencing financial difficulties.

when whenever

Whenever I call him, he appears to be very busy.

as soon as just as

IELTS Writing: connective words (part 3)

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Continuing the topic of previous posts (part 1 and part 2), here are some more connective words to use in your IELTS essay, letter or report. The headings in bold are the purpose for which you are using the connective words.

Certainty

obviously

I was very disappointed, obviously because my expectations were too high.

certainly

I will certainly let her know your opinion.

plainly

You are plainly wrong

of course undoubtedly

She is undoubtedly very beautiful

Condition

if unless

I won’t be able to participate, unless we schedule the meeting in the morning.

whether

Whether you like it or not, this is the truth.

provided that

I can guarantee a good result, provided that you study.

so that

I can send you the documents so that you would have proof.

depending on

We can have a picnic this weekend, depending on the weather.

Summary

in conclusion in summary lastly finally to sum up

To sum up, I strongly support the efforts of our society to help the environment.

to conclude to recapitulate in short

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IELTS Writing: connective words (part 2)

I was going to post more connective words again, if it wasn’t for an email that gave me another good idea.

These connective words are awesome, but they won’t help you if you are seeing them for the first time and don’t know how to use them in a sentence. So now, I am repeating the whole list – with examples, where appropriate.

Addition

in addition

In addition, I would like to point out that my neighbor is disturbing melate at night.

and similarly

Your life will change forever and similarly, your whole family will feel the change.

likewise

Some people have little time for a hobby, and have likewise little will to get one.

as well as

Beauty, as well as smarts, is a remarkable quality

besides

We aren’t friends. Besides, I don’t feel it’s my place to set him straight.

furthermore

Computers are getting faster and faster these days; furthermore, their cost is getting lower and lower.

also moreover

I’ve been wanting a change for a long time, moreover, I feel I deserve one.

and then too not only … but also

Not only this product is good for your hair, but also it may soften your skin

Sequence

first(ly) initially

Initially, you would start putting a plan together.

second(ly) to begin with

To begin with, you will need to commit a portion of your time to studying.

then next earlier/later

Later on there comes a stage when your skills are put to a test.

after this/that following this/that

Consequence

as a result

I studied well and as a result, I got a high score.

thus so therefore

I was younger and therefore less experienced.

consequently it follows that thereby

I upset my friend, thereby causing her pain.

eventually then in that case admittedly

Admittedly, he is the smartest person I know.

Contrast

however

The book is expensive, however it is worth it.

on the other hand

She says she feels fine, but on the other hand, her face is pale and she doesn’t look healthy.

despite in spite of

In spite of the difficulties, the task was completed.

though

He still insists, though he knows that won’t do any good.

although but on the contrary

The music didn’t lift her spirit, on contrary, it made her feel weak and vulnerable again.

otherwise yet instead of

He felt unwelcome, yet instead of leaving, he stayed.

rather

Eggs for breakfast is not a good idea, I would rather have some toast.

whereas

He was her true love, whereas for him she was just another girlfriend.

nonetheless

While they didn’t trust each other, nonetheless they worked together for many years.

even though compared with in contrast alternatively

IELTS Writing: connective words (part 1)

Since many of you have been asking me for tips in Writing, I though a useful collection of connective words would help. It was kindly shared by a student and I am sure that using those words in your essays, letters and reports will positively affect your score.This is part 1, part 2 is coming tomorrow.

Addition

in addition and similarly likewise as well as besides further more also moreover and then too not only … but even besides

Sequence

first(ly) initially second(ly) etc.to begin with then next earlier/later after this/that following this/that

Consequence

as a result thus so therefore consequently it follows that thereby eventually then in that case admittedly

Contrast

however on the other hand despite in spite of though although but on the contrary otherwise yet instead of rather whereas nonetheless even though compared with in contrast alternatively

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2 assumptions you shouldn’t make about your IELTS exam

This post is basically a common mistake alert. As you know I’m receiving many emails from IELTS test takers and they tell me about their exams, what went right, what went wrong, and we analyze the situation and what should have been done differently.

And here is a point regarding the latest exam. As you know it was identical in many countries and apparently many people had the same problems, because they weren’t mentally prepared.

Assumption # 1

People assumed that Task 1 in the Academic IELTS will be a chart or a graph – and when they were given a diagram, it came as a complete shock. As a result, it took them longer to get their heads around the task and they spent over 30 minutes only thinking what they are going to write in their reports. Then it’s a chain accident – if the first task takes you longer, you don’t have enough time for your essay and you are stressed, so the performance goes down the drain.

This could have been easily solved by practicing beforehand. Guys, when you practice – don’t choose just graphs, prepare for diagrams as well, it’s important to be prepared for whatever they throw at you and not things you think are likely to appear. If you’re under time pressure and have only a week to study – that’s fine, do just one or two diagrams, but at least try yourself at it.

Assumption # 2

I don’t know why, but people assume that IELTS questions never repeat – when this blog is a proof to the fact that they do, and quite often. I’ve got an email from a student that said: “You know what is really ironic? I saw my speaking question the night before my exam on IELTS-Blog, but thought I will never get the same question and didn’t practice it.”

Do yourself a favor – go through the list of recent exams and familiarize yourself with the latest questions. The best chances to get the same questions as before are, of course, in the Speakingtest, however in the Writing test we too have seen that the questions were repeated over time.

And above everything else – good luck with your preparation and I wish you an easy exam!

Spelling in IELTS: British or American?

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Not everyone knows that there is a British and an American way of spelling words, and they are different. The question about the acceptable spelling came up a lot lately and I found out that many students are unsure how to spell words in the IELTSListening, Reading and Writing tests – the British or the American way.First, for those who have no idea what I’m talking about, let me explain: if you ask someone from the USA and someone from the UK to spell a word such as color, the American will spell “color”and the person from the UK will spell “colour”. There are many other examples:favorite (USA) – favourite (UK)honor (USA) – honour (UK)memorize (USA) – memorise (UK)check (USA) – cheque (UK)

There is no point in listing all of the differences here, you can see the whole  list on this page .

As to the question, what is the right way to spell words in IELTS, the American or the British, the answer is both. You can use either form and it will be accepted, no penalties.

The important thing is to choose one particular way and stick to it.

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9 Academic IELTS Writing tips from Phuong on how to get Band 7

This is the last article from Phuong, Band 7 in IELTS, and here he shares the secrets to success in the Writing test.Writing tipsThis isn’t, in fact, my weakness. But this skill is difficult to self-study. You need to go to an English center where there are teachers who are willing to check your writing. Here are some suggestions I can think of, it maybe can’t help you out. But do your best, you will be fine.

1. Before writing an essay, you must know its basic structure. Abook about essay writing might show you this.

2. Do Task 2 first, because it is worth more marks and is easier.

3. Don’t waste too much time on Task 1. Learn all the specific writing structure for each type of task 1. In the real test, you just have to apply that structure with new data and suitable verb tenses. Read sample essays and take note of the ones with good structure to have a wide range of academic structures for task 1. Some structures might be used in the task 2 as well.

4. You must complete both tasks. I don’t care how difficult the test is, I don’t care how little time you have got. You MUST complete your test at any cost. If you don’t, you will be penalized.

5. Again, practice writing. Do both 2 tasks in one hour. You can focus only on task 1 or task 2, but before the test, you should practice writing both tasks to get familiar with time limits.

6. Practice makes perfect. In writing, this statement is completely true. But it is better if there is someone to check your writing for you and so you can learn from your mistakes.

7. Writing requires wide academic vocabulary. You also have to buy a dictionary to work on and enrich your vocabulary.

8. Avoid all informal ways of writing. There are some rules of writing you should follow. For example: no abbreviations, no 1st and 2nd pronoun or possessive (I, you, me, my, your), except in conclusion where you have to state your opinion.

9. Each body paragraph has to include: the topic sentence, supporting sentences (2-3 sentences), development sentences (evidence: example, experience, data). In many languages (English included), there are many ways to develop a body paragraph, which results in a situation where that topic sentence is not the first sentence. But you are advised to put the topic sentence at the beginning of each body paragraph. Don’t be creative in this case.

That is all I can think of. I hope you will be lucky in your exam and what I wrote will help you in one way or another. But REMEMBER, to reach success, you MUST make an effort. You should have a clear motivation and a strong will to overcome difficulties. When I did practice tests, I was exhausted. But no success comes easily. Practice is the only way to gain success. Don’t just wait for a lucky break, it will never come if you don’t know how to grab it.

And the final point I want to mention is:

Relax before the test!

Attempting to do one or two practice tests before the real test won’t help you increase your score. On the contrary, it will make you feel stressed and less confident.

I took IELTS 2 times:

The first time: no relaxing, I tried to do more practice tests right before the test day. As a result, I couldn’t concentrate on the test and the result is: L:5.5 ; R:7.0 (don’t mention about W and S here because it depends mostly on examiners)

The second time: 2 weeks after the first time, that means when I received the first result, I had to take the test the day after. But this time I felt relaxed since I knew I got 6.5 overall in the first test. And here is the second result: L:6.5 ; R:7.5

I believe in a short period of time (two weeks), I couldn’t improve that much. Moreover, the second test was considered to be more difficult. So what makes the difference is the relaxation. There are more examples I could mention to prove this point, but it would be wasting your time.

In brief, you must relax before any tests. Forget about them to relax, and believe in yourself.

Free Writing SamplesWriting  samples for the General Training testThis sample includes letters and essays, all with examiner’s comments, as follows1) A letter of Band 52) A letter of Band 73) An essay of Band 54) An essay of Band 8

Click here to view the samples

This sample is a Letter topic – click here to view

This sample is an essay topic – click here to view

Writing samples for Academic Module

This sample includes 4 reports and 4 essays, all with examiner’s comments, as follows

1) A report of Band 52) Two reports of Band 63) A report of Band 74) Two essays of Band 55) An essay of Band 66) An essay of Band 7

Click here to view the samples

Task 1 – Sample bar graph, click here to view

Sample essay topic #1, click here to view

Click here to see what a real Answer Sheet for the Writing sectionlooks like.

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The IELTS Writing test – How to avoid getting your essay penalized or disqualified

Did you know that in IELTS your marks are taken away for writing an essay, a letter or a report that is too short? The length of your essay dictates how many marks you may lose. Let me explain: if you have written 240 words (instead of the required 250 for an essay), you will lose fewer marks than if you have written only 200 words.

The lesson here is this: even if you don’t have enough time to write 250 words, try to write as much as you can, because then you will lose fewer marks. Obviously the best is to aim at 250-265 words to avoid penalty for underlength.

Did you know that if you write an essay/letter/report but not on the topic you were given, your work can be disqualified? Yes, that’s true and here is another sure way to lose all the marks for writing: memorizing. The examiners are not fools; they are trained professionals and can easily spot a memorized work.

The lesson here is this: don’t take any chances, write an essay on the topic you were given, even if you don’t have brilliant ideas on it. It doesn’t matter how original you are, as long as your writing makes sense and follows the rules of an IELTS essay.

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How to get ideas for an IELTS essay

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You guys often ask me this question in the emails: “How do I get ideas for an IELTS essay, when I don’t understand the topic?”. And you’re right, it is extremely hard to write about something you don’t understand.

So here’s what you can do to solve this problem:

Work on your vocabulary and learn new words, to make sure you will be able to understand the topic or at least take a very good guess. Read as many IELTS essays as you can. You can find manysample essays here. Reading other people’s essays helps with the ideas, if you don’t have any of your own – “borrow” from others. Read as much IELTS essay topics, as possible. You can find essay topics in every post in the Recent exams category. Why should you do it? Simply because sometimes the topics repeat in the future exams 

Important! Don’t try to memorize essays. IELTS examiners are trained to look for memorized essays and they will disqualify your work on the spot.

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The IELTS Writing – half-band scores

About a year ago there was a change in the IELTS grading system, when half-band scores were introduced for theWriting and Speaking modules. At first there was so much confusion, until they came up with an explanation of those half-bands, but even now many people write to me asking to explain what can make a difference between a full band and a half-band.

According to the IELTS examiners, it is the quality of your writing that makes that half band of difference. Let me explain. I have written a post explaining how your Writing task gets graded, what things are important and what you can get marks for. So let’s take for example one of categories there, “Selecting what information to present”. If the examiner sees that you attempted to do that, but didn’t do it quite right (for example threw too much information away) – that could mean that you get half of band for attempting but not the full band because you didn’t do a very good job selecting information. Usually messing up in just one category is not enough to cost you half-band; it would take two or three mess-ups of that kind to get the half-band taken away.

Another example – weak grammar and poor choice of words can make the difference between band 5.5 and 6. The work can be written in beautiful English but if it doesn’t follow the IELTS format, you’ll never get beyond Band 7.

So I think the bottom line is – they introduced the half bands to make difference between students that know what IELTS writing rules are, try hard but do a poor job following the rules and students that do a good job in fulfilling all the requirements.

The IELTS Writing – how your band score is calculated

This is the key question of many students: please explain how the band score is calculated. Finally, I decided to try and summarize what I know about the scoring process so this is it – the scoring process in my understanding.

When your Writing Task 1 gets graded (I am talking about theIELTS Academic module here), you can get (or lose) points for:

Filling the requirement of the taskThis means writing a report that shows – this student understands what he needs to do and does as we ask.

Selecting what information to present A bit tricky, you need to be careful not to throw away useful information yet avoid including every little detail.

Presenting an overview Describing what the graph shows without repeating the task statement (task prompt), in your own words. If you don’t have an overview or copy the task statement it will cost you marks.

Presenting key featuresAlmost any graph has the most noticeable features, write about them.

Organization of informationThis is mostly about paragraphs that should come in a logical order.

ProgressionAs the examiner reads your report he/she needs to see how you move smoothly on the graph from one thing to another.

Cohesion, reference and substitution That is to do with the way you present statistics. If you repeat the same structure to mention all the numbers, or choose awkward expressions to do it – it will cost you marks.

Range of vocabulary Your choice of words can point at limited, normal or wide vocabulary. It also matters if your vocabulary is adequate for the task or not (if it is not wide but enough to write a clear report, that’s fine)

Control over grammar, spelling and appropriate choice of wordsNo need to explain 

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The IELTS test score – an important changeAs you all know, the IELTS score consists of 4 parts which are the scores for the Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking modules. Until now you could get half scores in the Listening and Reading tests, but for the Writing and Speaking you could only get whole bands (such as 6 or 7, but never a 6.5).From 1 July 2007, as the IELTS official site www.ielts.org announced, the Writing and Speaking tests will also be graded using half-scores, just like the Reading and Listening. The reason for this change is to give students more accurate information on their skills. They also mentioned that students shouldn’t change a thing in the way they study.

Well, a change like that demands further research – I am going to look for more information about this and once I learn more – I promise to share 

Tips by an IELTS examiner

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I was fortunate to have met a very special person, a former IELTS examiner. He sent me an email and it was filled with GREAT tips, real insider information and, of course, I wasn’t going to keep all of that to myself   .IELTS Writing tips

It is better to write in regular, not very sophisticated English, than to use phrases or structures you don’t fully understand.

If you need Band 6 – no need for complex sentence structure. If your goal is Band 7 – then show advanced sentence structure, language and vocabulary.

Don’t write more than 260-265 words in IELTS Writing 2 task. Why? Not because you will get a lower mark, but because of these 2 reasons:

1) It takes more time2) More words = more mistakes

If you are told to cover specific points in your essay/letter – cover every point, examiners do actually count them.

Don’t overuse connecting words (like However, Furthermore, Moreover, etc) – examiners are watching for you to do that.

IELTS Speaking  – interview tips

Speak until they stop you, don’t just answer the question and stop. Display you best English. Behave as if it was a driving test – keep going straight until told to turn right, left or park.

It is quite possible that you have to speak about something you have never heard of, or have no opinion of. If you don’t know the subject – tell the examiner immediately, so he could ask you another question. If you don’t tell him and start trying to speak, he might think that it is not a knowledge problem, but a language problem.

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The IELTS Writing Task 2 explainedI said this many times and I will repeat it again – “to write a good IELTS essay, you need to get into your examiner’s head”. You’ve got to understand what makes you gain or lose marks, because once you do – you can’t go wrong. What I am about to reveal here can be found in the IELTS official site, but I am explaining it in simple English.

This is how they grade your essay: you receive points for Task Response, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource,Grammatical Range and Accuracy. Looks heavy? Never mind, here comes the simple English version:

“Task Response” means that your essay shows that you understood and covered the topic from all its sides, aspects, etc. Let’s take this topic for example – “Internet: connecting or isolating people?”. Those who chose to write about how Internet connects people – lose marks, those who chose to write about how Internet isolates people – lose marks, those who compare and contrast both sides of the Internet and give arguments for and against – gain marks.

“Coherence and Cohesion” means how well you connected the paragraphs and sentences inside each paragraph. You see, all of your paragraphs need to be logically connected. For example, if paragraph 1 explains the advantages of the Internet, and paragraph 2 explains its disadvantages, then paragraph 1 should have a last sentence saying something like this: “In spite of Internet being such a help in communication, its drawbacks can not be overlooked”. This sentence creates the connection between 1st and 2nd paragraphs. If it wasn’t there, the examiner could have thought that you jumped from advantages to disadvantages without a reason. The same rule applies to sentences inside the paragraph. Every sentence should lead to the next one.

“Lexical Resource” means vocabulary and different types of sentences, simple and complex. You should be able to use words and their synonyms.

“Grammatical Range and Accuracy” means spelling and grammarof sentences. You should be able to spell the words correctly, do not forget the articles “a/an” and “the”, the punctuation is also important, and so on – you get the picture, don’t you?

One more important thing to know: the four criteria are equally weighted. It means that if you forgot about the “Coherence and Cohesion” in your essay, you will lose 1/4 of your essay points.

It is quite possible that after reading this explanation you still couldn’t write a good IELTS essay. This is where “Ace The IELTS” book comes in. It has a full chapter dedicated to IELTS essays, which explains from A to Z the whole process of essay writing and makes it so easy that a child could do it.

There are topics of essays for you to practice on and our teachers are waiting to check your essays and make sure you are ready for the real IELTS test. And, of course, I am here to answer your questions, solve your problems and support you every step of the way, write me to simone@IELTS-Blog.com

Tips for the Writing Task 1 of the IELTS Academic test

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As I promised to many of you, this is what you need to know about the Academic IELTS Test Writing Task 1.

The task here is to describe a graph in a report. The report is intended for a university lecturer, so the language you use should be appropriate.

There are several different graphs you could see in a Writing Task 1:

Single line graph – see example Double line graph – see example Bar graph (Single, Double or Triple bar graph) – see example Pie chart – see example Table – see example Process

No matter what graph, diagram or table you are describing, you shouldn’t break these rules:

Your report must be of at least 150 words written in 20 minutes. You shouldn’t write your opinion or copy words from the task prompt – rephrase and use synonyms instead. Never use bullets, write as if you were writing an essay or a letter.

When your Academic Writing Task 1 is graded by IELTS examiners, they look for this structure:

IntroductionBodyConclusion

The Introduction should describe the purpose of your report and say what overall trends you see.For example, if the graph is climbing up or dropping down, you should mention that.You need to remember that you are describing a graph to someone who doesn’t see it. Write what the graph is about, its dates and location.

The Body should describe the most important trends, while all information is summarized to avoid unnecessary details. For example, if there is a graph that has 2 peaks, you should mention them; tell when those peaks appeared and what the peak values are. Notice how many distinctive features the diagram has and divide information into paragraphs, one paragraph per feature. You should link the paragraphs by sentences that logically connect them to one another.

Important! You need to write about all the periods of time and all the subjects of graph. If it shows several years (1992, 1993, 1994) – write about all of them, if it is about men and women – write about both. Remember, summarizing doesn’t mean throwing away information. The secret here is to select what’s important, organize it, compare and contrast.

The Conclusion should sum up the global trends shown on the graph and compare them if possible.

And if you need some sample answers, here they are, enjoy.

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More Writing tips for the IELTS General module

Let’s continue with the Writing tips, because I have more of them for you.

By the way, for those of you who can’t wait to read “Ace The IELTS” book – it is coming, I will release it very soon. In the meantime – you’ll have to settle for these tips   .

In the Writing Task 2 you will receive a topic and you will have to write an essay of 250 words.This task has more weight than the Writing task 1. It also takes longer – 40 minutes, whereas Writing task 1 takes only 20 minutes.

The topic of an essay can be one of 3 possible types: a description of an opinion, an argument or a social problem.

Any essay you write on any topic must have structure – you can receive (or lose   ) points for it. Structure means having at least 4 paragraphs (5 is better). The first paragraph is introductory, the next two or three are the actual essay body, and the last one is the conclusion.

The first thing to do is to understand what kind of topic is before you.

Next:

for an argument – you need to explain both sides and agree with one of them for an opinion – you need to present another point of view and say which one you agree with and why for a problem – you need to explain it, discuss and offer a solution and discuss it too.

No matter what type of essay you are writing, you must provide some facts, evidence and information. When you explain the problem – evaluate it; say when/where/who for it is especially difficult. If you present an idea of solution – discuss it; say what its good and bad sides are. Add examples from your own experience to support what you’re saying.

In any essay the logical sequence of information is very important. Jumping from one idea to another is very bad for you score, all ideas must be connected logically. Another important thing is “smart” words – try to use them as much as you can, because this also affects your score. Punctuation is important too. Take a look at some Examples Of Writing Task 1 and Writing Task 2 here.This file is from the IELTS official site – it can be trusted.

That’s all for today – keep up the good work!