hey aubrey how's it going i had the coolest thing happened this last weekend i met a new friend
for coffee um she's doing this project that's sort of like comedy skits and i'm interested so i sort
of tried out and i'm gonna maybe be in a couple of them but the coolest thing happened she's just
like a mom from near where i live turns out we found out we're both fluent in french she was an
au pair in france and i've really been trying to find a friend with whom i could practice french
so we like as soon as we found out we're in this little coffee shop and switched to french
and then just chatted in french the whole time and it made my month i was so excited
to have a language exchange partner who's also a friend that i'm going to get together with anyway
it was so dreamy i loved it you know guys that reminds me that we are having a shared contest
this month for the podcast guys always english.com ielts contest you can experience this this love
that aubrey has experienced guys who do you know that's studying english who would you
like to know that is studying english you can text or email your personal link to share the
ielts energy podcast guys with old friends and new friends um and you could just share this
link on any in any group you belong to on social media the more people that click on your link
you have a chance to win there's two prizes aubry what are the two prizes that students can win in
this first is free transcripts for a month and second is a 15-minute one-on-one chat with one
of us the alders english team which those are the most fun chats you can use them any way you want
we could do a mock speaking test mark speaking questions go over an essay or just chat answer
any questions you have about the ielts exam this is very valuable time so i hope that you share
it with everyone you can everyone you know so you can increase your chances of winning
yeah so go to alliersenglish.com ielts contest and sign up to be an ielts energy ambassador it takes
like two minutes guys it's so easy and then you have your personal link and you just share it as
much as you want to oh all right so so today we're talking about some high level writing mistakes and
i i say high level because these are students who have studied how to analyze a graph how to
write about it what kind of impressive vocabulary that we should be using but they're still not
putting all of things these strategies together correctly right so we're going to talk about some
really important issues that stand in the way of you guys getting a seven or higher on writing task
one exactly so this is more about this essay that these mistakes are pulled from was an academic
task one essay but i do see students make these same mistakes on general training letters so the
strategies we're teaching you definitely apply to all ielts writing for sure for sure all right so
the basic problem that we're going to dive into here in some of these mistake sentences that
we'll correct is that students aren't taking the time to really think about what these numbers are
and that's something that makes students get six or lower all the time every saturday guys so it's
like you have to take a couple minutes before you start writing to look at this graph to understand
what these numbers are telling you what do these numbers represent is it representing money is it
representing people is it representing products right like you have to know what these numbers
are or you're not going to write about them correctly yes exactly and if you you have written
lots of practice essays and if you get a chart or a graph that looks a lot like one you've written
it's so tempting to sort of assume it's the same essay and write it but this one's different and
maybe it's expenditures you know money spent instead of people and this can destroy your score
because you're not describing numbers correctly and you're writing about the wrong thing
yeah exactly so if you use words incorrectly like aubrey said this can also impact not just your
vocab score but your task score because you're not reporting the numbers correctly just like
aubrey said i just repeated what you just said too all right two different ways that is for me
too sometimes because people learn differently so every time one of us repeats i think that might
be really helpful because you know you restate it another way and there may be listeners out there
oh now i get it now i understand right totally uh all right so let's get into that first sentence
aubry can you read that first section okay so the first sentence was their overall trend overall the
number of nuts and legumes plunged while the amount of the other three categories climbed
the problem here guys is that on this chart what really plunged and climbed was the amount of money
spent on those foods right so this is inaccurate to say the number of nuts and legumes purchased
plunged because maybe not maybe you're buying more expensive ones and you're actually buying more but
so you know it it's actually about the money the money spent right we don't know the costs
nope no so yeah guys um this mistake uh reporting incorrectly in the overall trend
would bring it down to at most a five for task achievement because this overall trend
it's present but it's wrong right you're not describing stuff correctly so
um we can't just say the number does this the number does that like what is the number
uh we have to think about this and you can't just say the number all the time because it's not gonna
always be correct um all right what is the next mistake aubry okay so for the second
one the sentence was regarding meat beverages and produce in 2010 the quantity of drinks
began remarkably declined with about 30 euros so i'm guessing you guys hear something's off that
sentence didn't make sense to you now i can see the vocabulary the student is trying to use
which is a very high level way to describe the way these numbers are changing to say
remarkably declined or markedly markedly declined right noticeably these are high level words but
if you use them incorrectly suddenly the meaning of your sentence is totally lost
so let's let's be clear here what we're describing this is actually a question in um three keys
ielts and it has um four different types of uh consumables right um nuts legumes meat drinks
and produce which is fruit and vegetables um and those four categories it uh it's reported the
the amount spent the number of euros spent on each of these things over time right so that's what we
are trying to describe here so what is the mistake contained in this sentence what is incorrect about
this there's a grammar mistake right began remarkably declined it should be declining
um what is another mistake in here the same as the original mistake right that
we're still describing the quantity of drinks being purchased right when
actually it's the quantity of money that was spent right the expenditures is what declined
this is such an easy mistake to make i see students making this mistake all the time like
the amount bought that's also not exactly correct because you're still saying like the the amount
of this product people bought not how much they spent right that's two totally different types
of numbers um okay i believe there's one more sentence that we can learn from opera yes so
the sentence was regarding meat beverages and produce in 2010 oh this is the same sentence
i just realized i put the same sentence but with the second problem so this last one this is where
it's the grammar error that we're going to talk about right categories marked with about again so
we have remarkably declined and then the rest of the sentence said whereas the other two categories
marked with about 60 euros so again a grammar issue where the student is trying to use markedly
to mean noticeably impressively impressively right dramatically increased and this is a very high
level word but again used incorrectly here doesn't make sense and lowers your vocabulary score
and we're missing the most important piece of information right like is it a noticeable
increase or decrease there it's not clear i'm assuming decline because that's what he said in
the previous clause but it's not clear so i want to point out something the student is doing very
well though this would be the first sentence in a body paragraph and he has a great transition
slash topic phrase in the beginning regarding meat beverages and produce in 2010 this is something a
lot of students do not remember to do guys at the beginning of every body paragraph in your task
one essay you need to have a transition phrase turning to regarding to as to and then the topic
of that paragraph which is the group of numbers you will write about in that paragraph right
and then you dive into the first noticeable number highest lowest whatever you're talking
about in that paragraph so i want to say that this person's doing that yes very well and yeah so we
just need to take an extra minute to proofread i believe the student would be able to identify
issues after getting some feedback now this person can proofread their own essays and be like okay
i need to add this word or this is not correct yes exactly and if you want to hear a fix for the end
of that sentence you could instead say whereas the other two categories reported 60 euros for
meat and 70 euros for fruits and vegetables right and this is another thing to keep in mind i know
we mentioned this a lot but i still i'll see students just say the same word produce over and
over and over and over think of different ways to say that right even saying fruits and vegetables
those words might be a little common but it's better than saying produce time and
again totally totally that's a really good point um one last way guys to make sure that you are
meeting the requirements for a high task achievement score
is to make sure that every number in your essay is identified and necessary so for example here
by saying um 60 euros for meat and 70 euros for fruit and vegetables why are those numbers
important right you need to label every number in there or else the examiner has to look back
at the question and be like why are you telling me this you don't want to make the examiner look
back at the question right so the grammar has to be correct the vocab has to be correct but then
the ideas have to be correct as well meaning you can only report the most important numbers and you
have to tell me very directly why these numbers are important right that original sentence should
just say marked with about 60 to 70 euros can we don't understand what you mean what category
the examiner would have to look at to the chart to make sure those are correct and might have a
hard time finding them because the category is not labeled you want it to be so clear and easy for
the examiner to see exactly what you're talking about and yep your numbers are correct in order
to get that seven or higher for your task score exactly um the simpler the more simple the better
guys um the reader should never have to stop reading to think about what you're saying before
any of your writing letter task one task two it all has to be so direct that the reader is
has no trouble understanding what you're saying and why you're saying it yes okay enough about
that um aubrey thanks for talking about writing today um and what do we want students to do what
is that ielts contest to guess you guys we want you to share the podcast go to alliersenglish.com
to sign up to be an ambassador and you enter to win fun prizes the more people you share it
with so go today exactly guys we'll be announcing the winner at the beginning of 2022 so you still
have time all your singlish.com ielts contest all right aubry uh have a wonderful day bye
you