Did you know that the IELTS writing usually scores the lowest band in any IELTS exam session? The IELTS writing test can be a hard mountain to climb but with the right preparation you can make sure that your IELTS essay will be good enough to attract the score that you really want.
Taking time over your IELTS writing practice and making sure that you are not repeating the same mistakes over and over is essential and with some focus you will soon be on track to get the score you dream about.
There is a lot to remember: you need to manage your time, not make mistakes, find valid points to make about the topic, keep to the word limit AND find time to use great vocabulary and check your work. It may look impossible but it is all achievable if you work systematically and keep control over what you are doing.
Here are 5 great tips that will help you to do just this.
1. Make sure you identify the key words in the question
It’s really important to be absolutely sure that you know what is expected of you. Look carefully at the questions and underline or circle the words that TELL YOU WHAT TO DO. Is it an opinion, a discussion, problem solution or a combination? If you get this wrong then you will lose marks
2. Take some time to plan your writing
I often hear people say that they don’t have time to plan but I can’t stress the importance of planning enough. I plan and I am a native speaker. Planning your writing will help you to write faster because you have your ideas and support before you put pen to paper and it will help you to make fewer mistakes. Planning is NOT a waste of time it is GOOD USE of your time.
3. Choose the correct linking words
Combining your ideas into more complex sentences is not only good IELTS style; it is also one of the IELTS Band Descriptors for band 6 and above. Create a bank of linking words and make sure you know how they work in a sentence and also how to use them well. Learn some useful devices to create complex sentences. These are important tools in the ‘academic’ style that you need for IELTS writing.
4. Avoid repetition
You will know from your IELTS reading that in good writing style there are a lot of synonyms and your writing should also try to follow this example. Try not to repeat words where possible. Sometimes if the words are in the question you may need to use them more than once but by varying the form of the word – adjective, adverb, noun or verb for example or by using synonyms, in this way you are showing the examiner that you have a wide range of vocabulary and also that you can use English very flexibly – this will help you to get a higher band in writing.
5. Allow a few minutes to check your work
Most students I speak to tell me that they don’t have time to check their work. This means that you are perhaps sending the examiner mistakes which you could easily spot and correct. This also means that you are giving away ‘points’. Learning how to check quickly and efficiently is a good skill and can help you identify and correct errors fast. Your skimming skills can be used here (they’re not just for reading). You should also be aware of the errors that you tend to make and have a mental checklist of these so you can look for these first (they may be things like articles, agreement, singular-plural certain misspellings – you’ll know what they are).
These techniques are key to producing good IELTS writing for Task 2 especially at bands 7 and 8.