How to improve your IELTS writing skills - The London School ...

How to improve your IELTS writing skills · 1. Know which type of IELTS exam you need to take · 2. Every word counts · 3. Use the correct format · 4. Ifyourplanschange,govirtual,comelater,orgetyourmoneyback × TheLondonSchoolofEnglish LondonSchoolOnline TheLondonSchoolofInternationalCommunication Menu Search Selectschool TheLondonSchoolGroup TheLondonSchoolofEnglish LondonSchoolOnline TheLondonSchoolofInternationalCommunication Whychooseus Open Experience EnglishLanguageImmersion AlumniSuccessStories Tailor-MadeEnglishTraining People SocialProgramme Courses Open LearnEnglishOnline GeneralEnglish BusinessandProfessionalEnglish AcademicEnglish ExamPreparation:IELTS&TOLES EnglishforLawyers InterculturalTraining Accommodation Open Residences Homestay ForCorporates Open OurApproach CorporateClientList CaseStudies EnglishLanguageTesting TheLondonSchoolTrust Blog Information Open AboutUs Brochure&Prices HowtoRegister&Pay VisaInformation StayingintheUK StudentLogin Whenweareopen Howtofindus Locations Open UK London,HollandParkGardens Sweden SelectLanguage: English Español Italiano Français Português Deutsch Türkçe 日本語 简体中文 Home » Blog » HowtoimproveyourIELTSwritingskills HowtoimproveyourIELTSwritingskills TheInternationalEnglishLanguageTestingSystem,orIELTS,isaninternational standardised testofEnglishlanguageproficiencyforpeople forwhomEnglishisasecondlanguage. Herearesometipsthatwillhelpimproveyourwritingskillsaheadof the written part ofthetest.  1. KnowwhichtypeofIELTSexamyouneedtotake  TherearetwodifferentIELTSwritingexams,theAcademicandtheGeneral. The AcademicIELTSis suitable forpeoplewantingtostudyinan English-speaking higher education environment.The Generalexam issuitableforpeoplewantingtostudyat a lowerlevel orwhoneedto demonstrate theirEnglishlevelforworkorotherpurposes. Themaindifferencesbetweenthetwoexamsarethetopicsandlanguageyouareexpectedtouse.Thisblogpostfocuses onthe Academicwritingtest.  At The LondonSchoolofEnglishweoffertheAcademicIELTSPreparationcourse[link]  2. Everywordcounts  Thewrittenexamissplitintotwotasks.Thefirsttaskisexpectedtotake20minutesandhasaminimumwordcountof150words.Thesecondtaskisexpectedtotake40minutes,withaminimumwordcountof250words.Thewordcountsandtimelimitsreflectthefactthattask2countsfortwiceasmanymarksastask.  Youcanbepenalisedforwriting less thantheminimumwordcount.Whileyoucanwriteasmanywordsasyoulike,remembertouseyourtimewisely.Youneedtocompletebothtasksand still have enough time to checkandcorrectyourwork.   3. Usethecorrectformat  Stay focused asyoucanalsobepenalisedforgoingoff-topicorifyouranswerisnotwrittenoutinfull.Donotusebulletpointsornoteforminanypartofthewrittenwork.And, ofcourse,  itshouldbeentirelyyourownworkandnotcopiedfromanothersource.Allanswersshouldbewrittenontheanswer booklet provided.  4.Readthe questions carefully   Youlosemarksifyouanswerthetaskincorrectlyoransweritincompletelybecauseyou haven’t readthequestionproperly.Thisisacommonmistake to avoid.  Task1  Task1assessesyourabilitytoidentifythemostimportantandrelevantinformationin a graph,chart,table,ordiagram.Youshouldgiveawell-structuredoverviewusingaccurate,academiclanguage inasemi-formalorneutralstyle.  5.Focusonthemain theme  Writeaboutthe highlights oftheinformation -a commonmistakethatcandidatesmakeistodescribetheinformationintoomuchdetail.Thisis veryimportant asyoucouldlosemarksfornotansweringthequestioninthe right way.  6.Practise thelanguage  Ifyouarewritingaboutpredictedtrends,youwillneedtouseexpressionssuch as:  ‘Expectedto’.Forexample, salesofXare expectedto reach20,000bytheendof2019.  Ifyouarewritingaboutaprocess,youwillneedtouse the presenttensebecauseyouaretalkingaboutarepeatedactivitythat doesn’t change.   It’s notenoughjusttosaysomething‘increased’or‘decreased’,‘fell’or‘rose’–youshouldsaybyhowmuch. Forexample:  Salesfellslightlybetweenthefirstandsecondquarters(from64to59) Salesincreaseddramaticallybetweenthesecondandthirdquarters(from59to89)  Usingexpressionssuchas‘about’,‘approximately’,‘roughly,‘justunderorjustover’isagoodidea,especiallywhenreportingfigures.Thisisespeciallyusefulifitisnotobviousfromagraphwhattheexactnumberis. Don’t wastetimetryingtocalculatetheexactfigureif hasn’tbeenmade clear.   Task2  Thistaskassessesyourabilitytopresentaclear,organisedargument,using relevant, appropriatelanguage.Intask2youwillbeexpectedtowritean essay abouttopicslike:  Technology Art  Education  The environment  Governmentandsociety  Health  Jobsand employment   Again,yourwritingstyleshouldreflecttheacademicnatureofthetest,souseasemi-formal,neutralstyle.Itshouldsoundlikethetypeofessayyouwouldwriteforyourtutoratuniversity.Thewordsyouuseshouldalsobe more formal,sofor instance,use‘children’ratherthan‘kids’. Avoid contractionsinyourformal/semi-formalwriting:replace don’t withdoesnot;can’twithcannot;doesn’twithdoesnot,etc. 7. Readthequestioncarefullyagain  Makesureyoureadthetaskcarefullyandrespondfully.Onlyrespondtotheactualtopicinthe task,for example,ifthetopicisaboutaspecificaspectofeducation,donotwriteabouteducationingeneral,oradifferentaspectofeducation.Remainontopicandmakesuretheworkisyourown. (Itisokaytoprovideevidenceorexamplestosupport ideas,but doprovidereferencesifyouknowthemtogivecredittoauthors.)  8.Buildyouressay A sample topicwouldbe:   ‘Inthepast,whenstudentsdidauniversitydegree,theytendedtostudyintheirowncountry.Nowadays,theyhavemoreopportunitytostudyabroad.Dotheadvantagesofthisdevelopmentoutweighthedisadvantages?Givereasonsforyouranswerandincludeanyrelevantexamplesfromyourownknowledgeorexperience’.  Beginyouranswerbypresentingthetopic and making ageneralstatement.Forexample:‘Itisbecomingincreasinglypopularforyoungpeopletoleavetheirowncountries inorderto studyatuniversity.’   Youcanthensaythatthistrendhasbothadvantagesanddisadvantages,andthisiswhatyouaregoingtodiscuss. (Hint: ifthetaskasksyoutodiscuss‘advantagesand‘disadvantages’youshouldfocusonbothsidesofthequestionequally, togiveabalancedanswer.)  9.Useyourownideas Makesurethatyou don’t justcopythelanguagefromtheinstructions.Youwillbeexpectedto paraphrase oruseyourownwordsasmuchaspossible todemonstratecomprehension.   It’s importanttodevelopyourideas.Forexample, it’s notenoughtosay:‘Oneoftheadvantagesofstudyingabroadisthatyoucanexperienceadifferentlanguageandculture.’Youneedtoexplainwhythisisanadvantage,orwhatthebenefitswillbe.Forinstance:‘Thisprovidesyouwithskills whichcanbeusefulthroughoutyourlife.’   10. Makeyouranswervisuallyappealing  Organiseyouranswerintoclearparagraphs.Plantheseaspartofyourpreparationbeforeyoubegintowriteanything.Forexample:Foran‘advantages/disadvantages’essayyouwouldprobablyneedfourparagraphs:  Anintroduction Oneparagraphtodiscusstheadvantages Oneparagraphtodiscussthedisadvantages Aconclusion  Youwilllosemarksifyouranswerhasnotbeensplitupinto paragraphs,orifyou haven’t usedtheminthecorrectway.  Goodluck!  Glossary:  Improve: tomakeorbecomebetter  Standardised: toassureconsistency  Proficiency: highlevelofskill  Suitable: atoolorsomethingthatis rightorappropriateforapurpose  Demonstrate: toshowsomething  Booklet:asmallthinbook withpapercovers  Paraphrase:tore-writesomethingusingyourownwords  Essay:ashortpieceofwritingonaparticularsubject  ThisbloghasbeenwrittenatlevelB2. Practiseyourreadingandlisteningbyreadingtheblogsbelow. 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