The first two things, of the six, to remember when writing IELTS tasks

The first two things, of the six, to remember when writing IELTS tasks

1. The purpose of the IELTS writing is to demonstrate YOUR ability to write coherently in ENGLISH on a given topic

It is very important to bear this in mind when preparing for the exam. This is one of your chances in the IELTS exam to take control (the other being in the speaking) and demonstrate your great ability in English and to write good English so don’t waste it! 

Make sure that you give a lot of preparation time to this and , if possible, get a teacher to help you especially if you are looking at bands 7 and 8. The teacher will not only mark your essays but will also help you to improve it by showing you how to develop your writing to ensure that you get the band you want.

2. The key to IELTS writing is effective preparation and practice.

I know that many IELTS students work VERY hard on their IELTS but I have also met many who, despite this hard work, have not been able to achieve their goal. Your practice has to be effective to work for YOU.

If you need to get band 7 you HAVE to understand what a band 7 essay looks like, what it contains and how it feels to write one. You need to know this in your muscle!  To do this you need to produce one and this may take 2 or 3 hours but it doesn’t matter, once you have it then you will not go back to your old way of writing again.

Less is more with writing – quantity does NOT necessarily produce quality. It is better to work for a long time on ONE essay than produce 4 at once. You have an IELTS teacher or coach then I will tell you when you have managed to get your band 7 essay down. If not then you will have to rely on models. Model essays are YOUR key to great writing and don’t rely simply on the good essays of your friends, they will have mistakes. 

See the model essay posted right after this.