5 ways to improve your IELTS Writing skills

To improve your writing skill you need to read – everyday! By reading widely, you'll be introduced to a wide range of words and phrases that are used in a ... Skiptomaincontent BlogsonReading FindoutfromourexperiencedteamhowtoachieveyourbestscoreintheReadingsectionoftheIELTStest. Backtoallblogs BlogsonWriting FindoutfromourexperiencedteamhowtoachieveyourbestscoreintheWritingsectionoftheIELTStest. Backtoallblogs BlogsonListening FindoutfromourexperiencedteamhowtoachieveyourbestscoreintheListeningsectionoftheIELTStest. Backtoallblogs BlogsonSpeaking FindoutfromourexperiencedteamhowtoachieveyourbestscoreintheSpeakingsectionoftheIELTStest. Backtoallblogs BlogsonTopTips Findoutessentialadvicefromourexperiencedteamtogetyourpreparationofftothebeststart. Backtoallblogs BlogsonCommonMistakes Findoutfromourexperiencedteamhowtoavoidcommonmistakestoachieveyourtargetbandscore. Backtoallblogs Writing Writing 5waystoimproveyourIELTSWritingskills WritingisadifficultskillandnotjustforpeoplelearningEnglishordoingtheIELTStestbutforanativeEnglishspeakeraswell.Inourday-to-daylifewedon'toftenhavetowriteessaysordescribegraphs.We’remoreusedtowritingtextmessagesoremails.Buttherearethingsyoucandotopractiseandimproveyourwriting.    ListeningPractice:ListentoLizshare5waystoimproveyourIELTSWritingskills     Hereare5waystoimproveyourwritingskillseverysingleday: 1.Read! That’sright,youreadthatcorrectly!Toimproveyourwritingskillyouneedtoread–everyday!Byreadingwidely,you’llbeintroducedtoawiderangeofwordsandphrasesthatareusedinavarietyofcontexts.Youwillalsocomeacrossalotofdifferentgrammarstructureswithoutactuallyhavingtofocusongrammar.Bybeingexposedto(presentedwith)wordsandgrammarusedcorrectlyandincontext,youtoowillpickupnewwordsandstartusingnewgrammaticalstructures.Whenyoulearnnewwordsorstructures,copyandpastethemintoadocumenttohelpyourememberthem.  Therearelotsoffreelyavailablereadingresourcesonline.Someexamplesare: BBCWorld Voanews (thesehavetheaddedadvantageofbeingorganisedbybeginner,intermediateandadvancedlevel.) BreakingNewsEnglish Itdoesn’thavetobejustnews,youcanreadaboutanytopicyou’reinterestedinaslongasit'sinEnglish!   2.MakeyourwritingPOW! So,you’vereadaninterestingarticleandnowyoucanpractisewritingaboutthetopic.Imagineyoureadthefollowingarticle:  SpacedBakedCookies Whynotwriteanessayaboutspaceexplorationsandthechallengesfacedbyastronauts?Orperhapsyoucoulddiscusswhetheryouagreeordisagreewithspendingmillionsofpounds/dollars/yuenonspaceexploration. Whateveryoudecidetowriteabout–makesureyouusePOW!   3.Linkingwords IntheWritingtest,theexaminerwillbelookingathowideasarelinkedtogetherwithinsentencesandparagraphs.Additionally,they’lllookathowyourwritingflows.Yourideasneedtobeorganisedlogicallyintoparagraphssoit’seasytounderstandandfollowthem.Thisiscalledcoherence.  Theexaminerswillalsobelookingoutforcohesion.Thisreferstotheuseoflinkingwordswhichlinkideasandparagraphs.  Someexamplesoftheseare: Firstly, Additionally, Similarly, Ontheotherhand,  Whenyou’rereadingthearticleyou’vechosen,highlightallthelinkingwordsyoucanfind.Justdouble-clickonthewordandhighlightorprintoffanduseagoodold-fashionedhighlighterpen.Organisethelinkingexpressionsyoufindintogroupswithsimilarmeanings.Forexample/forinstance,Inaddition/Additionally/Moreover. Thiswillmeanyouhaveawiderangeofwordswhichyoucanusetoavoidusingthesameonesoverandover.   4.Checklist Whenyou’vefinishedwritingmakesuretoleaveabitoftimeattheendtoedit(check)yourwriting.Checkforspelling,correctsubject+verbagreement(Theythink;Celebritiesare;Technologyhasadvanced),paragraphsandmostimportantlyyourowncommonmistakesthatyouknowyoumakequiteoften.  Here’sachecklistforyoutouse: Downloadeditingchecklist Youcandothiseverydaybylookingat: restaurantmenus(theseoftenhavemistakesinEnglish–seeifyoucanspotsome),socialmediaposts,emails,magazines–thelistisendless. 5.Writingcircles Writingcanbeasociablething(really–itcan!). Theideasdescribedinthisblogaremorefunifdonewithafriendorgroupoffriends.Createa‘writingcircle’ –agroupofpeoplewhocansitdowntogetherto:  readeachother’sworkusingthe‘editingchecklist’  sharenewvocabularyyou’vefoundwhenreading(seetip1) usemyPOWtechnique.  Eachpersoncanplanadifferenttaskandthenpassitontothenextpersoninthegrouptowriteanoutline,thenpassitonagaintowriteanintroduction,thenparagraph1,etc.Attheend,youcanusetheeditingchecklisttoreviewthepieceofwriting.See,wesaidwritingcouldbefun! Ihopethisbloghasbeenuseful(pleasefeelfreetousetheeditingchecklisttoreviewthisblog?).  Happywriting! Liz LizMarqueiro 15January,2021 Writing 5waystoimproveyourIELTSWritingskills LizMarqueiro 15January,2021 Shareposton WritingisadifficultskillandnotjustforpeoplelearningEnglishordoingtheIELTStestbutforanativeEnglishspeakeraswell.Inourday-to-daylifewedon'toftenhavetowriteessaysordescribegraphs.We’remoreusedtowritingtextmessagesoremails.Buttherearethingsyoucandotopractiseandimproveyourwriting.    ListeningPractice:ListentoLizshare5waystoimproveyourIELTSWritingskills     Hereare5waystoimproveyourwritingskillseverysingleday: 1.Read! That’sright,youreadthatcorrectly!Toimproveyourwritingskillyouneedtoread–everyday!Byreadingwidely,you’llbeintroducedtoawiderangeofwordsandphrasesthatareusedinavarietyofcontexts.Youwillalsocomeacrossalotofdifferentgrammarstructureswithoutactuallyhavingtofocusongrammar.Bybeingexposedto(presentedwith)wordsandgrammarusedcorrectlyandincontext,youtoowillpickupnewwordsandstartusingnewgrammaticalstructures.Whenyoulearnnewwordsorstructures,copyandpastethemintoadocumenttohelpyourememberthem. Therearelotsoffreelyavailablereadingresourcesonline.Someexamplesare: BBCWorld Voanews (thesehavetheaddedadvantageofbeingorganisedbybeginner,intermediateandadvancedlevel.) BreakingNewsEnglish Itdoesn’thavetobejustnews,youcanreadaboutanytopicyou’reinterestedinaslongasit'sinEnglish! 2.MakeyourwritingPOW! So,you’vereadaninterestingarticleandnowyoucanpractisewritingaboutthetopic.Imagineyoureadthefollowingarticle: SpacedBakedCookies Whynotwriteanessayaboutspaceexplorationsandthechallengesfacedbyastronauts?Orperhapsyoucoulddiscusswhetheryouagreeordisagreewithspendingmillionsofpounds/dollars/yuenonspaceexploration. Whateveryoudecidetowriteabout–makesureyouusePOW!   3.Linkingwords IntheWritingtest,theexaminerwillbelookingathowideasarelinkedtogetherwithinsentencesandparagraphs.Additionally,they’lllookathowyourwritingflows.Yourideasneedtobeorganisedlogicallyintoparagraphssoit’seasytounderstandandfollowthem.Thisiscalledcoherence. Theexaminerswillalsobelookingoutforcohesion.Thisreferstotheuseoflinkingwordswhichlinkideasandparagraphs. Someexamplesoftheseare: Firstly, Additionally, Similarly, Ontheotherhand, Whenyou’rereadingthearticleyou’vechosen,highlightallthelinkingwordsyoucanfind.Justdouble-clickonthewordandhighlightorprintoffanduseagoodold-fashionedhighlighterpen.Organisethelinkingexpressionsyoufindintogroupswithsimilarmeanings.Forexample/forinstance,Inaddition/Additionally/Moreover.Thiswillmeanyouhaveawiderangeofwordswhichyoucanusetoavoidusingthesameonesoverandover.   4.Checklist Whenyou’vefinishedwritingmakesuretoleaveabitoftimeattheendtoedit(check)yourwriting.Checkforspelling,correctsubject+verbagreement(Theythink;Celebritiesare;Technologyhasadvanced),paragraphsandmostimportantlyyourowncommonmistakesthatyouknowyoumakequiteoften. Here’sachecklistforyoutouse: Downloadeditingchecklist Youcandothiseverydaybylookingat:restaurantmenus(theseoftenhavemistakesinEnglish–seeifyoucanspotsome),socialmediaposts,emails,magazines–thelistisendless. 5.Writingcircles Writingcanbeasociablething(really–itcan!).Theideasdescribedinthisblogaremorefunifdonewithafriendorgroupoffriends.Createa‘writingcircle’–agroupofpeoplewhocansitdowntogetherto: readeachother’sworkusingthe‘editingchecklist’ sharenewvocabularyyou’vefoundwhenreading(seetip1) usemyPOWtechnique. Eachpersoncanplanadifferenttaskandthenpassitontothenextpersoninthegrouptowriteanoutline,thenpassitonagaintowriteanintroduction,thenparagraph1,etc.Attheend,youcanusetheeditingchecklisttoreviewthepieceofwriting.See,wesaidwritingcouldbefun! Ihopethisbloghasbeenuseful(pleasefeelfreetousetheeditingchecklisttoreviewthisblog?). Happywriting! Liz Shareposton LizMarqueiro LizhasbeenteachingIELTSaroundtheworldforover25years. Moreabouttheauthor filtertags RecommendedForYou OfficialCambridgeGuidetoIELTS Thisall-in-onestudyguideprovidescomprehensivepreparationforIELTSAcademicandGeneralTrainingandispackedwithactivities,practicetestsandtipstohelpyoumaximiseyourIELTSscore. Itcoversthelanguageandskillsyouneedtoperformwithconfidence.Organisedbyskill,youcanstudyfromstarttofinishorfocusonareasthatyouneedmosthelpwith. *BookDepositoryisanonlinebookstorewhichoffersfreeworldwidedelivery.Alternatively,youcanfinditat yourlocalbookstoreoronlineshop. TargetScore4.0andabove AcademicandGeneralTraining Upto120hours PrintedBook recommendedforyou Youmayalsolike Skillbar Stayup-to-date Joinover16,000test-takers SignuptoournewsletterforIELTStipsandadvice. Subscribe FOLLOWUSonsocialmedia Joinourcommunity Don'tmissoutonourdailytipsandadviceandthechancetoconnectwithotherlearnersonoursocialmediachannels. LatestfromInstagram@WeLoveIELTS