There are 4 major reasons why it's important, so let's look at each one now. Therefore, taking a practice test, at least a practice test from BestMyTest, is a simulation of the official exam. This experience will help you feel comfortable and relaxed during your actual exam.
Stress is the biggest reason why test takers with a high English level do not achieve their target scores. By going into IELTS unprepared, you're more likely to get stressed from small mistakes that test takers with more experience learned to ignore. That's just one example, but many others exist, so you want to improve your odds by practicing as much as you can. Think of it like preparing for a marathon. You cannot show up and run 10 miles unprepared; it takes consistency and dedication to train your body and mind to run the whole marathon.
Of course, it's not exactly like a marathon, but you get the idea. By about the 3 hour mark, if you are not utilizing our tips and strategies from how to score high in IELTS , you may run out of energy. Our IELTS lessons will help teach you when and where you should focus your energy, so you are not wasting it on things that don't matter. The quality of questions you practice matters, and it matters a lot.
If you practice easy questions, you're going to do poorly, especially, on the reading and writing section. Now, If you're interested, you might be able to find good reading passages from national geographic, academic essays from certain school websites, and good speeches from TED videos, but none of them come close, in terms of length and format, compared to what you'll experience from the official IELTS test.
Last, but certainly not least, an IELTS online test is a great way to identify your strengths and weaknesses. As we've mentioned, there are four sections: listening, reading, writing, and speaking and even though your reading scores might be excellent, you could struggle with the speaking section.
In this case, the speaking section would be considered your weakness and could be the reason you fail to achieve your target IELTS band score. In summary, a good IELTS practice test can give you the most authentic test experience possible and offer you add-on tips, teaching, and answers to help you improve and learn better. The simple answer is as many as you can. However, maybe you don't need to take that many. It really depends on your progress. You should utilize the practice tests diagnostic reports to determine where you currently stand.
This free resource is a great place to start to become familiar with question types and difficulty and the test format.
However, there are two critical factors you should be aware of. What's special about these two books is that they provide sample speaking and writing responses along with examiner comments, allowing you to learn how to give a high-scoring speaking or writing response from an IELTS examiner's point of view.
Both of them also come with a DVD comprising audio files for the Listening test and film footage of three students taking the Speaking test. The course includes numerous interactive activities, videos tutorials, and 9 full IELTS practice tests.
However, the biggest downside is that its speaking tests don't actually simulate the real experience of an official IELTS test having an examiner asking you questions face-to-face. Reading and listening questions are organized by question types, so you won't be able to experience taking a full reading or listening section.
However, you'll have to register on the website in order to access them. The Cambridge Guide is an official guide made from the actual test writers. This means that the sample tests and questions are very similar to what you will see on the actual test. This book is also a very good guide to learn what to expect on the exam. It thoroughly goes through each section of the test so that you are not surprised on your exam day.
The only downside of this books is it does not have enough concept review on the topics compared to other prep books.
Ammar Hdaifeh says. May 17, at am. Hi Eliza, hope u are doing good, do u have Skype lessons? May 17, at pm. May 31, at pm. June 1, at am. Abdullah Tahir says. February 11, at am.
Thank you for all your viewpoints. I am really indebted. Parminder singh says. August 18, at pm. I was overhelmed when i was watched your video and i have improved in ielts. Amritpal Singh Dahry says. March 5, at am. Keyvan says. February 23, at am. Hiiii liz. Salavat Yerbolat says. December 24, at am. Saad says. October 28, at am. October 16, at pm. Thank you so much for all support you are giving Liz. Sevinch Abbaszade says.
October 1, at pm. Mahmoud says. September 18, at pm. Aleksandra says. August 14, at pm. Komal sandhu. April 17, at pm. Shek Salina Khatun Tisha says. November 11, at pm. Hernus says. June 19, at pm. Parth Panchal says. November 14, at pm. June 13, at pm. Kishore says. May 2, at am. James Bond says. March 19, at am. Hi Liz, Thank you for providing such detailed information. I would really appreciate if you will be able to correct it. March 19, at pm. Viswanatha Reddy Inja says. June 12, at pm.
Sheda Sapudin says. January 22, at am. Hi Teacher Thank You for useful tips and info here. Ashumaan Gambhir says. January 21, at pm. January 25, at am. January 16, at am. December 29, at am. Jignesh Patel says. December 16, at pm. January 9, at am. Divya manjusha says. December 11, at am. Sajjad Anwer says. November 30, at pm. FF says. November 15, at am. November 15, at pm. SAVAD says. Bobodo'st says. October 30, at pm. Izaz Raouf says. October 7, at am. October 7, at pm.
August 19, at pm. I have one qustion. Which task i should start with first in writing section??? Humayun Asad Tapadar says. August 7, at am. I really improve my self frim your site. Jignesh says. August 1, at pm. Hi mem! Can you guide me on this? Lovepreet Singh Wirring says. October 12, at pm. Mohamed Ibrahim says. July 30, at pm. July 31, at pm. Sam Davis says. June 21, at am. Regards Sam. Miraziz says. June 10, at pm.
Karan says. April 12, at pm. Abbas Shah says. March 25, at am. Kieu Trang says. March 13, at pm. Sorry Ms Liz. I can not download or print the exercies from your site!!
Kennedy says. February 24, at pm. Hope to hear from you soon. February 25, at pm. Ahmed says. Aman says. February 13, at pm. Hi Liz, I want to know is there any syllabus for speaking test or is there any particular number of speaking cue cards that we can consider for exam? Krunal Sharma says. Doc khan says. January 18, at pm. Sushant Jog says. January 15, at pm. Hello Liz, Your blog has helped me to prepare adequately. Regards Sushant.
Jahangir Khan says. February 3, at am. Hi Liz, What is a second conditional? Please tell something more about it. Thanks Jahangir. February 3, at pm. Sk says. January 10, at am. Hi I want know that if I want to postpone my ielts test can I do. You need to contact your local test center and ask them.
January 7, at am. January 7, at pm. Cherish Chai says. December 23, at am. Thanks Liz and have a great day. December 23, at pm. December 20, at am. December 17, at am. December 18, at am. Nga says. November 30, at am. September 22, at pm. September 21, at pm. Sreylin Orn says. September 15, at pm. Orhan says. October 10, at am. September 12, at pm. September 10, at pm.
September 11, at am. Thazin Myint says. August 27, at pm. August 28, at am. August 21, at am. Amina Anwar says. August 3, at pm. Abdulhameed Ahmed says. October 25, at am. Mrs Liz your website is v. SurajSpk says. July 1, at am. July 3, at am. June 26, at pm. June 22, at am. Thank you for this website mam. I love it and I enjoyed it mam. Rithika says. June 18, at am. June 18, at pm. Liz is one of the best who know how to transfer knowledge from one to another.
June 11, at pm. June 12, at am. Ramveer says. May 11, at am. May 11, at pm. April 7, at pm. Susantha Sri Lanka says. March 9, at am. February 25, at am. March 1, at pm. Aziz says. February 8, at pm. February 10, at pm. Mustafa says. February 7, at am. February 6, at am. January 22, at pm. February 10, at am. December 15, at pm. Plz help in my speaking bcz i am week in grammer but my fluency good. December 5, at am. Comment by Simone Braverman — September 13, pm.
Fantastic resources! Comment by Dustin Stevens — September 15, pm. Comment by Simone Braverman — September 16, am.
Comment by Jaipreet kaur — September 19, am. Hye, I am looking for essay corrections. If I send 8 tasks together will I get them corrected in three days Please Explain and one more question,are you an Ex-Ielts examiner. Comment by Shaheen — September 19, pm. The second time I received a 6. I am Canadian I have perfect English. So I got it remarked and received an 8. How is a difference that big possible? I would advise Everyone who is not satisfied with their results and takes the exam in Bulgaria to get an EOR.
Comment by Unhappy person — September 20, am. Hi Shaheen, thanks for your comment — yes, you can send 8 essays in one day, and get them back corrected 3 days later. The IELTS teachers checking essays on our writing correction team have a great deal of experience, they would have checked thousands of tasks, you can trust them with checking yours. Comment by Simone Braverman — September 20, pm. Comment by Simarjit kaur — September 21, am. Comment by Mamta thapa — September 23, am. Comment by Shankari — September 23, pm.
Hi I would like to know…if I apply for reevaluation…is there any chance of getting lower score than the existing one. What is fee for …. Comment by Namrata Patnaik — September 23, pm. Comment by Malkit singh — September 25, am. Hi, after purchase the IELTS success forma thinking that I could print it, I discovered that the format ia totally incompatible with any other sistem but kindle. What do I need to do in order to print it? I really like the book, but I think it would be more useful for me in a phisic format.
Kind regards and thanks. Comment by Fabiola — September 28, am. If you can forward your receipt to us, we will be happy to send you a download link to the book in PDF format which you can easily print. Just email us to info ielts-blog.
Comment by Simone Braverman — September 28, pm. Hi can u help me for ielts preparation for general test,bcos i hav never done before. Comment by Jamyang — September 30, am. Hi Jamyang, if you sign up to our daily IELTS emails enter your name and email address at the top of this page we will start sending you detailed info how you can prepare for the exam, on your own, in the privacy of your home.
Comment by Simone Braverman — October 2, am. Can you help me to find the more practice mock test? Comment by Toni Gomat — October 8, pm. Can you give sample question answer for speaking whatever asked in past kelta exams in different countries? Hi Toni, certainly, you can use these online free practice tests here, and when you need some more to simulate the real exam, you can get these downloadable practice tests.
Comment by Simone Braverman — October 9, pm. Comment by Aashin Singla — October 20, am. Hi Aashin, we added you manually to our subscribers list, you would have received an activation email — can you please click on the link in it, to start your free subscription. Comment by Simone Braverman — October 22, pm. I am unable to score more than 6. You can find tips on writing an essay here , and sample essays are here.
Also, if you subscribe to our daily IELTS emails here , you will receive lots of useful tips, techniques and materials straight to your Inbox. You can always email us and ask any questions, just write to info ielts-blog. Comment by Simone Braverman — November 22, pm. Comment by bhomesh patel — November 29, pm.
Is there a chance that my marks get actually decreased if I file a EOR form? Comment by Tammy — December 16, pm. Hi Tammy, yes there is a chance your score can go down, just as well as go up or remain unchanged. Comment by Simone Braverman — December 16, pm. Hi Vimmi, if you purchased your books on our website , or on Amazon, please look at the first page of any Listening test.
At the top of the page there is a box with web address, that you need to type in your browser. That will take you to the page where you can download all the audio recordings for your books. Comment by Simone Braverman — January 10, pm. If I want to speak or write something,I can get only one sentence to say or write. Hi Noreen, it may help if you read high-scoring IELTS essays,letters and reports that other people wrote, because you can learn new types of sentences, synonyms and expressions you can use in your own writing.
Comment by Simone Braverman — January 13, pm. Hi Rehan, you can find the pricing of our writing correction service here. You can purchase any package on that webpage as well. Comment by Simone Braverman — January 22, pm. Comment by Karan Chhotala — February 1, am.
Hi Karan, I recommend that you send your writing to our teachers, to get their feedback and suggestions what you need to improve to get a higher score. Visit this page to choose a writing correction package , make a payment and start emailing your essays to our teachers.
Comment by Simone Braverman — February 5, pm. If I buy your book and find it unhelpful, please tell me what is the return process? Hi Khanh, this is a totally reasonable question, and a very good one to ask! Comment by Simone Braverman — February 6, pm.
Please let me know how to improve reading section. Hi Mala, you can get better at Listening and Reading with the help of some tips to improve your performance. For example, there is a way to listen actively and avoid missing answers when you hear them. Comment by Simone Braverman — March 3, pm. Comment by Sahar jalalizadeh — March 10, am.
Dear Ms. Simone, I would like to ask which of your ebook would best suit my situation, if my interest resides in enhancing my writing skills, and overcome the 6. My target is to reach the 7 band score, though that more than that 7. Comment by Simone Braverman — March 13, pm. Thanks Ms. Simone for your prompt reply. Hi MI, when you purchase on Amazon Kindle, you will be downloading the book in Kindle format to be read on your Kindle device or in app.
When you purchase on our website, you download the book in PDF format and the audio recordings in mp3 format, and you can read the book on any computer, tablet or mobile phone. Comment by Simone Braverman — March 14, pm. But I dont get my Target band. I am Very Tense about my Exam Preparations. Please give me Proper Guidance. Comment by Divyesh Bulsara — March 21, am. Hi mam, I want to purchase Target Band 7 book, can I purchase this from amazon.
I see so much price difference in both. What are the prime differences Kindly suggest me Regards, Sri. On Amazon you only get the book. Comment by Simone Braverman — April 5, pm. Comment by Sikhanyiso Kanongara — April 7, am. Dear friends, I am a self-study learner, every day, I struggle to write a writing about something, and unfortuntely, I have nobody to help me in correction. Hello Hamzeh, you can send your writing to our teachers and they will correct it for you.
Go here to learn how. Comment by Simone Braverman — May 24, am. Comment by Gurlal singh — June 7, pm. I am planning to take the online review for now. I need to pass the ielts exam with a 7. I dont know where to start.
I need your help. Thank you! Check out this book online, it helped our students get Band 7 or higher — it can help you, too. Comment by Simone Braverman — June 21, am. Comment by Simone Braverman — June 28, pm. Yes, we do — you can go to the Writing Correction Service page and purchase a package to get your OET writing checked. Comment by Simone Braverman — July 6, pm. I checked my results today and I had a 7. I am delighted to hear about your success.
You should be in our monthly IELTS results competition , and inspire other test takers to follow your steps! Thank you for your kind words about my materials and this website, and it feels great you could use them to get closer to your dream.
Comment by Simone Braverman — July 12, pm. Hlo Is there anyone who want to practice Speaking with Me. I am also doing ielts abd want somebody to practice Speaking. My Skype ID is kawargill. Comment by Namrata koshiya — July 16, pm. Comment by Chae Won Ahn — August 14, pm. Hi Chae, we will send you the topics for practicing when you sign up to our free daily tips here.
You can also find recent writing questions with answers here. Comment by Simone Braverman — August 15, pm. Comment by Jegede modupe opeyemi — August 24, pm. If you already have your first attempt score, you know what the gap is between that, and the score that you need. We will send you techniques how to achieve better accuracy in IELTS if you subscribe to our free daily emails here.
Comment by Simone Braverman — August 25, pm. I would like to have my essays corrected. Can you give me further information please? Comment by Alice Zaio — August 31, am. Of course — we are offering a writing correction service, please visit this page to read the details and have your writing checked.
Comment by Simone Braverman — August 31, pm. Comment by Bimal Baral — September 10, am. I saw your article above its giving a great guidance for the students those who want to learn the ielts. Comment by Mehmoon Ali — September 18, am. Comment by Simone Braverman — September 18, pm.
I just made a purchase! Comment by Anunay Kondugiri — September 20, pm. Hi Anunay, thank you for buying my book! We have just sent you a replacement book for general training, please check your email. Good luck with your preparation! Let us know if you need any help. I tried to purchase your writing correction, but ejunkie advertisement came up. What does it mean? Hi Saeko, E-Junkie is a digital delivery service that we use to send our buyers download links. You can buy any product or service on our website with confidence.
Comment by Simone Braverman — October 3, pm. Comment by Qdot International — October 24, am. Comment by citcchandigarh — November 14, am. Hi im an avid listening of ur blog im intending to take my ielts on dec. Lacking document. I just prepared for ielts in 15 days. I got so much help from your blog especially in the listening module. I got a perfect score of 9 in the listening test. Apart from that the model answers from you blog helped me a lot in developing the writing skills and i got 7 in the writing which i never hoped for.
I got 7. I am not a native English speaker and also my language of instruction in my primary schooling was not english, though i managed to get a respectable score in speaking. Again thanks a lot. Comment by Artik Bharoliya — November 24, am. Comment by Simone Braverman — November 24, pm. Comment by Khusi mehra — December 10, pm.
Comment by nitesh kumar — December 16, am. Thanks for sharing the helpful content with us. Comment by Simone Braverman — December 20, pm. Thanks for this timely information. If this occurs, the writer is unlikely to score Band 7 or above, irrespective of the quality of the language used.
Similarly, an essay that the examiner can read through once and be clear on meaning and direction of the essay will usually score Band 7, even if there are many grammatical and vocabulary mistakes. Strategies and Hints for IELTS Writing The purpose of this section is to help students develop strategies to assist their writing and includes common mistakes that students make.
The list of common grammatical and vocabulary errors is not intended to be comprehensive however it describes many common areas of weakness. Students should pay attention to each of these areas because they are likely to be able to identify weaknesses and reduce the number of errors in their writing. A section on techniques for generating ideas is also included because communicating good ideas effectively is the key aim of writing. Many students find it difficult to generate ideas for Task 2 responses and for this reason this book includes two critical parts for improving ideas.
The first, in this section, is devoted to strategies that students can use to generate further ideas. However since ideas are often culture based, the Task 2 section provides a summary of common IELTS topics including how educated Western people think about each of these topics. Grammar Hints Grammar is the conventions of presenting language and is an aid to communication. Grammar is one of the tools of language but is not the purpose, which is to communicate well. The aim of all IELTS students should be to use the conventions of the language that are used by native speakers.
Native speakers in all languages express ideas in the simplest way possible and students should do the same. Keeping language as simple as possible aids communication and helps avoid confusion. Using unnecessarily complex grammar can confuse native speakers because it is not standard language. This is particularly true if the vocabulary used is not precise.
If a student confuses the examiner, it will have a significant impact on their score. The over use of first person makes essays seem informal and is a style that is most commonly adopted by children. It is acceptable to use the first person, but it should be understood that using the first person is a literary device designed to draw the reader closer to the writer. If first person is used, it should be used rarely. For example: The environment is very important to us because it provides many of the things that we need.
Should be: The environment is very important because it provides many necessities. For example: In many cities around the world traffic jams present major problems to commuters. Use simple past and present tenses In IELTS Task 1 writing students are usually required to either describe events that have occurred in the past General or historical data Academic. For this reason simple past is almost always the correct tense in Task 1 writing.
The subjects are events that were occurring in the past, are occurring now and are likely to continue to occur in the future. If the event is continuing use the present form for the main verb. For example: In most Western countries students expect that they will have the opportunity to attend university. Misuse of Pronouns Pronouns are replacement words that must refer back to a particular person he, she, etc.
In other words they reference some other part of the text. A common mistake is that the pronoun has no antecedent and the writer assumes that the reader understands their meaning. Using a pronoun without an antecedent presents a significant problem as it can leave readers confused and causes a failure of communication.
This means that the pronoun could logically replace more than one noun. A simple example of this is: After the Minister and a senior bureaucrat met he decided that the budget for education was insufficient to meet the needs of society. In this sentence most readers will understand that it is probably the Minister that is the intended antecedent. However, this is unacceptable language as the writing must be logically unambiguous. The sentence should be written as follows: After meeting with the senior bureaucrat, the minister decided that the budget for education was insufficient to meet the needs of society.
Unlike problems with articles, misusing these words is likely to result in a significant penalty. The reason is that the examiner is likely to become confused about meaning and or logic, which is the most fundamental part of writing a good essay. The antecedent must be the exact noun or noun phrase being replaced. If in any doubt, students should not use pronouns. There is no penalty for more complete explanations.
The incorrect use of pronouns is very dangerous because it can confuse the reader. However, using the noun or noun phrase instead of the pronoun will avoid any problems. Tip: Avoid using pronouns unless certain that there can be no unambiguity A further problem occurs when a noun is used many times in a paragraph.
In such cases students will often use the noun the first time it is used and for all subsequent uses replace the noun with the pronoun. This is a dangerous strategy because the reader may not be paying careful attention or could become distracted and forget what the original noun was. This may cause the reader to become confused about who or what is being referred to and affect the quality of communication.
When a noun is used many times in a paragraph, it is far better to replace noun with a pronoun on every second occurrence. However, using the table below as a guide will allow students to reduce the number of errors to an acceptable level. Vocabulary Vocabulary is a very important part of IELTS writing but students generally do not understand what constitutes good vocabulary.
Precise vocabulary rather than the use of rarely used words is good vocabulary. Good vocabulary use occurs when students express ideas precisely and in a standard way similar to an educated native speaker , which means using standard phrases and collocations words that are used together e.
Vocabulary is assessed based on how words are used rather than what words are used. However, excellent vocabulary use is often incorrectly understood by students to mean writing essays that have many complex words. Very often students attempt to impress examiners by using complex words and the result is almost always that instead of using a simple correct word they use a complex word incorrectly.
They show the examiner that they do not fully understand the words that they are using. Furthermore, no two words in any language have exactly the same meaning if they did, one of the words would quickly fall into disuse , and changing a choice of vocabulary always means that the meaning of the sentence has also been changed.
Tip: Use vocabulary that is natural. When an incorrect choice of word is combined with other grammar or vocabulary mistakes, the writing becomes very difficult to understand. It is a failure on the part of the student to communicate well and if this occurs students will receive a very heavy penalty and it will usually exclude them from achieving a score of Band 7 in writing.
A further problem with attempting to use more complex vocabulary than is necessary is that the chosen word will not be consistent with the usual writing style of the student and will lead to cohesion problems. Furthermore, native speakers do not aim to impress people with their vocabulary so any attempt to use complex language will lead to non-standard usage.
Students should always aim to use language that is familiar to them. It is the quality of ideas and the effectiveness of the communication that create very good pieces of writing. Native speakers use very complex vocabulary only when they are seeking to achieve a very exact meaning and this only occurs when they are writing complex arguments or detailed descriptions.
When words are rarely used it is because they have very precise meanings and therefore should only be used in very specific circumstances. This makes them very difficult to use correctly and it is typically only highly educated native speakers who use complex vocabulary.
Language Variation Many students are taught to vary their language. The focus for students should always be to communicate well and varying language often does not lead to better communication and sometimes causes problems. Often students will vary their language naturally to good effect; however, students should not change a work purely to achieve variations as this can cause problems because sometimes there is no reasonable alternative for a word.
Students should only vary language if there is a clear alternative — often there is no acceptable alternative.
Commonly Misused Words There are many words that are commonly misused. Efficiency is how quickly or smoothly an event occurs and effectiveness refers to how good the final result is. For example: John completed his work in a highly efficient manner, however he would be more effective if he paid more attention to detail. It is worth noting that in most cases people are more concerned with effectiveness than efficiency.
Effectiveness is a word that is a marker of quality for an examiner. It is rarely used and its correct use will often draw the attention of an examiner. In developing countries education is focused on obtaining knowledge so students will choose this word correctly based on their understanding.
However, in the West the education system is based on idea and skills development resulting in native speakers rarely talking about knowledge. It should never be used as a synonym for improvement. Improvement is simply to make things better. It is a very common word and can be repeated a number of times in an essay. A drug is any substance that has the ability to modify the physiology of any species belonging to the animal kingdom. Drugs include illegal drugs such as heroin, cocaine or marijuana, medicines such as aspirin, panadol and morphine and alcohol.
Alcohol is a drug because it modifies brain chemistry and affects coordination and judgement. Medicine has a much narrow meaning when referring to drugs. It is used for drugs that are beneficial and when referring to individual drugs. The correct usage is complex and generally should be avoided in favour of the more general word.
Popular is most commonly used in fashion and entertainment. The use of popular often implies that something is in fashion at the moment but is likely to go out of fashion in future rather than become a permanent change. Music, films, clothes, brands and models of cars or phones, holiday destinations may all be popular.
However, going to university, having a mobile phone or a car or driving to school rather than walking or riding a bicycle to school are all common and it is incorrect to use popular in these cases. It is highly informal and should never be used in formal writing and probably should not be used in formal speaking including an IELTS speaking test.
The aim of discipline is to teach people who have made poor choices. For children the aim is always to teach, therefore children should be disciplined and never punished. Punished is also commonly misused in IELTS questions by examiners to test whether students know the correct language. Surfing is riding a wave and implies that a person goes where the wave takes them with limited control.
In an Internet context this means that a person has no set direction and will simply follow links that attract their attention. Surfing the Internet is a leisure activity. When using the Internet for a specific purpose such as research or for work it is incorrect to use surf the Internet. Studying is an action but it is always better to describe the purpose of the action rather than the action itself.
However, this is not normally done in formal writing and leads to indirect language. Unnecessary language tends to be found at the beginning of sentences and reduces the impact of sentences as they become more long-winded and less direct.
This has the effect of reducing the impact or diluting the ideas being presented. In recent days, it is easy to find many news stories on television, in newspapers and on the Internet that describe violent crimes. As we all know, life on campus is totally different from high school. Deleting the underlined phrase will make the sentence more direct. The words or phrases before the comma add no meaning because they are far too vague for formal writing. Educated native speakers almost never use them in writing and as such they should rarely be used.
They are used in speaking in order to give the speaker time to think. Some people like to try various ways to live, they are willing to try different things and they enjoy change things.
This makes time more available for students to control by themselves. It helps them to develop the ability to face problems with urgency and solve them by themselves. Therefore, because people's standard of living is improved at the time when society improves, people purchase goods because of their popularity instead of buying them for actual use or satisfying their needs.
In all of the examples given above the underlined words can be removed as this information is already stated or implied. Avoid Oral Language Sometimes words are used only in oral language and should be replaced by a formal word.
Many examples are given below. As a result plural forms of nouns without an article are widely used. Or: When patients are terminally ill, some doctors may feel that they should help patients die to avoid suffering. When patients are terminally ill, doctors may feel that they should help patients die to avoid suffering. Avoid Exaggeration Academic writing requires that the writer expresses their ideas objectively and therefore expressions of exaggeration should usually be avoided.
Similarly adjectives that are highly emotional and have extreme meanings should be avoided. As a result there is some language that should be avoided. In written language a higher level of precision is required. When using verbs ensure that the most precise verb is used. For example: People need to jump out of their old style of thinking if they are to adjust to new technology.
Should be: People need to change their old style of thinking if they are to adjust to new technology. It must also be possible for the subject to perform the action implied by the verb and it must be possible for the action to be performed on the object. For example: An argument, which disagrees with women in engaging in combat roles, is that women are not as strong as men. This sentence is incorrect because an argument does not have the ability to agree or disagree.
An argument, which implies that women should not engage in combat roles, is that women are not as strong as men. Use Positive Language — Negatives of Positives rather than Negatives In formal English it is more acceptable to use the negative of a positive word rather than a negative. Ensure that Subjects are Fully Described English as a language is precise and literal and therefore it is critical that subjects are fully described otherwise it will lead to confusion.
It is often the case that subjects are very long because of the level of precision that is expected in written English. This subject is appropriate for a Task 2 response. Errors also commonly arise when students attempt to shorten subjects. This is irrelevant information because it adds nothing to the ideas of the essay and the examiner already understands how much attention a topic is receiving in the media or society in general.
Using such phrases marks the essay as non-academic and makes an essay feel like a prepared IELTS essay rather than a natural piece of writing. An even more serious problem with using phrases describing the amount of attention a topic is receiving is that students often use them when they are simply not true. Any essay that contains information that is factually incorrect will leave a very poor impression. Avoid Leaving Readers Hanging Occasionally students will write that there are advantages of a particular action being taken but fail to say what the advantages actually are leaving the reader wondering what advantages the writer is referring to.
This distracts the reader and their focus will shift from the essay to trying to guess what the writer is trying to say. If an essay states that something has advantages, disadvantages or benefits it must be immediately followed by an explanation of what the author is referring to.
Sharing ideas is a key reason for communicating. Generating ideas and writing a simple plan is essential for developing a clear and cohesive structure. In practice, during an exam the recommended planning time is only two minutes. However, complete ideas development is important and students will become faster as they write more plans and develop more ideas. The intention of this part of the book is to give students the opportunity to learn methods of developing plans rather than use every strategy in every essay that they write.
Identifying the Topic Identifying the topic and writing it down is a useful method of avoiding being distracted by the complex wording of some questions. Writing down the topic is designed to keep students on track and to ensure that they address the key point of the question. The simple titles of essays in the Table of Contents of this book are good examples of identifying the topic. Defining a Topic Sometimes terms used for a topic have a single generally accepted meaning that most people will have the same definition for.
However, in a small number of cases people will have different definitions for what a particular word means. Clarifying the topic will allow clear distinctions to be made. Mostly it is not necessary to define the topic because the intended meaning is usually self-evident. In the case of a library most students will agree that a library is an appropriate place for movies and music but video games are inappropriate. The reason that they cannot give clear reasons is because they have not formed a clear definition of what a library actually is.
For example, if the definition of a library is that it is a place where books are made publicly available, it is clear that none of music, movies or video games belong in a library.
However, if a library is defined as a place where access to information and learning is provided to the general public, then movies and music have a place in a library but most video games do not educational games are an exception. A clear definition can be used to test ideas and a definition can be used to define the scope of what is being discussed in an essay. If an author defines education as formal education, then they are telling the reader that this is the scope of their essay.
Many students will think that education is only what is learned in school or formal education. However, education can also include concepts such as developing social skills and self- learning etc. A definition can avoid confusion. If there are only two choices then the question is a binary topic.
Examples of binary topics include: Buying a House, Having Children, Going to University, Having a Space Program In all of these cases there are only two choices because a person cannot half buy a house, or half have children. Therefore these topics are all binary. If there is a range of different possible outcomes then the topic is graded. People do not fit neatly into two groups, talented and non-talented, therefore this topic is also graded. The challenge in IELTS questions is that many questions are presented as binary when they are really graded and this causes students to use incorrect language.
A typical question like this might be: Some people believe that educated people will always earn much more money than non-educated people. This question implies that people are either or educated or not educated i. This can cause students to use inappropriate grammatical structures in essays. Consider the following two sentences. If the writer considers the topic binary they might write the following sentence: Educated people will be able to convince employers that they have many skills while non-educated people with have trouble showing that they are skilled.
If the writer considers the topic to be graded the writer would probably express this differently: The more educated a person is the more likely they will be able to convince employers that they have many skills. A further consideration is that a student who does think about whether a topic is binary or not might ask deeper questions about the nature of the topic. When building a list of key ideas students will usually ask the basic question. Simply listing pros and cons provides a simple plan that is suitable for many of the more simple questions, but in difficult questions students often fail to generate enough ideas.
The reason for this is students usually only consider their own personal experience and do not realise that they can extend their ideas by thinking about experiences far beyond their own. Have Stakeholders Been Considered? A stakeholder is a person who has an interest in an object or an outcome.
Each of these groups of people is likely to have different perspectives and thinking from their perspective may lead to new ideas. Consider the question whether businesses should open late at night.
Some of the perspectives of the different groups are listed below: Owners — More profits, need to be available more often to attend to problems Customers — Greater flexibility when they can buy things Employees — Can get more work, more jobs in general, could interfere with family life Suppliers — More sales Government — More taxation revenue from business and employees Neighbours — More vibrant local environment, increased traffic and noise By considering stakeholders and their perspectives the number of ideas can often be increased substantially.
In this case the number of ideas has become quite high by considering stakeholders. Dimensions — Time, Place and Culture Students can also broaden their ideas by not just considering their own personal experiences but also the wider world. Consider time - Talent is important in modern society but was less important years ago. It is likely to be even more important in the future. By considering different times students can generate more ideas.
Place — The Arts should be funded in wealthy nations but perhaps they should not be funded in poor nations. Whether countries should have a one-child policy depends on whether there is stress on the population. It may be necessary in highly populated countries such as India and China but probably not in New Zealand.
Place is also an important consideration. The one-child policy is a very interesting question. Asking why it is appropriate in one place but not another leads directly to the idea that the one-child policy is undesirable but necessary in some circumstances.
Culture — Miniskirts may come back into fashion in the future in countries such as Japan or the United States but is unlikely to ever be fashionable in Saudi Arabia. What is true in one culture is not necessarily true in another. Failing to follow local culture can have serious consequences. Consideration of different dimensions is helpful as students can demonstrate both broadness and show they can make fine distinctions rather than view the world as black and white.
Ideas should be developed and taken to their logical conclusion. Sometimes the reason given for why something occurs is superficial and there may be deeper reasons. Consider the example below: Why is having space program a good thing? It shows technical skill Why do people care about technical skill? It shows development of a nation Why is developing a nation important?
It helps make the nation more politically and economically secure And so on… There are also deeper levels of why than this if required. In general a high quality essay will contain logical chains. In other words, something causes an effect and that causes another effect that causes another effect.
The conclusion is unimportant; it is the quality of the logic behind those conclusions that is the key as that ultimately determines that validity of the conclusions drawn. The Academic Task 1 Essay Task 1 essays require students to describe data, diagrams or processes using English.
Most students find Task 1 essays much easier to write than Task 2 essays. Nevertheless, there are a number of choices that students can make to ensure they write an effective essay.
The first is that writers should have a clear idea of the aim of the essay. The goal of the writer should be to allow a reader who has never seen the information presented in the question to reproduce the information presented in the question accurately. Step 1 — Organising the information — thinking time The Task 1 response will almost always have an introduction and two body paragraphs. The first step is to analyse the data and determine how to split the data into two logical parts.
Very occasionally data is best split into three parts, but this is unusual.
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