what if I told you that you could avoid 90 of the most common mistakes in IELTS
writing after watching this video sounds hard to believe right for this video I asked the former
IELTS examiner to share his experience with us and almost all the mistakes he mentioned
can be avoided if you know what they are it's Asiya so let's get started [Music]
when I have that conversation with a friend of mine who used to be an IELTS
examiner he said that very often someone who obviously could write well in English
in fact Scott badly simply because they had no idea what they were supposed to do
ielts writing is a tricky section the first mistake is not starting the band descriptors
list all the requirements used to mark your answers you can download them for free at
ielts.org not reading them very carefully is a big mistake because they give a very good idea
of what we have to do and what the examiner is looking for going back to the task descriptors
in both tasks reading band 5 the format may be inappropriate in places what this means is
that the essays you're asked to write in IELTS are precisely that s is they're not nodes or reports
that can include number sections or bullet points for example you can't include something like this
instead you need to write an essay divide it into paragraphs and not a number of small paragraphs
but four or five paragraphs with several sentences in each usually four like in this sample essay
keep in mind that academic IELTS is used as a measure of your ability to successfully study
in English General training measures your ability to successfully function in an English-speaking
environment and for that reason includes not only formal English but also less formal such as Task
1 letters where you are writing to colleagues or friends indeed your level of formality is
important which leads us to another mistake we might make using the wrong tone in task 2
no matter the IELTS version you are taking keep it formal avoid slang and informal words like a bunch
of folks say a number of and people similarly avoid idioms to call the shots or to pocket the
dough are just two examples they are very informal say to make decisions to receive the revenue
here is an example of formal writing perfect for your task 2 and sing some of the most common
reasons for self-employment are the income and lifestyle that it may provide unlike employees
whose responsibilities and income are determined by their employees people who work for themselves
are free to implement their ideas as quickly as they can and they receive all the revenue here we
use formal and neutral words and more formal grammar the wrong tone is most noticeable in
general training task 1. if you're asked to write a letter of complaint to the manager
of a store where you received bad service you must write formally so don't start off with
I'm not happy with that microwave oven I got from your place the other day try something like I am
writing with regard to an item I purchased at your store in North Street on Saturday the 5th of May
but in informal style is perfect if you're writing a letter to a node friend
I've been meaning to get in touch for ages but life here has been a bit hectic I'm on the go
from morning to night in IELTS writing how you respond to the task is important what the examiner
is looking for is clarity how well can you develop your answer to the task and at the same time make
your point of view clear one fundamental mistake is therefore not making your position clear
I think this should be a vital part of your IELTS preparation the most common essay types
being discuss both views and give your own opinion and the to what extent do you agree directly ask
for your opinion the best advice is to State your point of view in the opening paragraph just after
outlining the essay question let's take this topic as an example once children start school teachers
become a more important influence on children's intellectual and Social Development than parents
to what extent do you agree or disagree let me show you an introduction with a clear position
or opinion it has been said that teachers rather than parents have a greater impact on how young
children develop conceptual and social skills in this essay I shall argue that although teachers do
play an important role I strongly believe that a great deal of learning also occurs at home
here my opinion is clear from the beginning but it's not extreme rather I have a balanced opinion
here is a funny thing it doesn't matter what your opinion is as long as you have one The Examiner is
only interested in how you develop your answer and this includes of course explanations and examples
if you are Amy high and I know you are don't make the mistake of not developing ideas with
good examples by good I mean not only relevant to the topic but also using examples that are part of
your experience and knowledge they're always more convincing and genuine than let's say examples
taken from surveys or academic studies compare this in our family we were encouraged to talk
about our school day with our parents and they were always around to help out with our homework
or a recent survey published in the United States concluded that only 23 percent of parents help
their children with homework I know it may be tempting to invent some research to prove
your point but from examiner's point of view the first example is stronger my advice is to
generally avoid fake statistics in my courses you can learn how to write each answer sentence
by sentence how to develop your ideas express your opinion and meet all the requirements if
you're interested you can check them out in the description okay what can go wrong during the test
here there are two main issues where candidates can make mistakes and the first is bad planning
and timing one test two tasks 60 minutes it even says on the question sheet spend
not more than 20 minutes on task 1. but let's be honest for the vast majority of us writing
150 words in just 20 minutes and then over 250 words in the next 40 minutes it's tough
and this includes planning both tasks before writing because without a plan you are unlikely
to get a high score for your task response and coherence or organization of your answer
and you should always spare a minute or two at the end to check over what you've written to
correct any silly mistakes what often happens in the test is that test takers spend too much time
on task one and then their push to finish task 2 which inevitably pulls their score down don't make
this mistake practice writing in time conditions and make sure to leave enough time for both tasks
and remember that you can do your task 2 first and then answer your task one my friend ex-examiner
shared with me that he used to see a lot of mistakes in essay structure often students
only write three paragraphs for example essays with no conclusion or only one body paragraph
and the idea is to write for the introduction followed by two body paragraphs and a conclusion
many times paragraphs are too long and include too much information this is also a mistake remember
that each paragraph should start off with the main idea followed by supporting points and examples
oh yes and don't make the mistake of not leaving clear spaces between your paragraphs
for example in this essay paragraphs are not obvious it looks like one long text
you can leave Spaces by indenting which is starting the first line of the paragraph
further from the margin it can also leave a blank line between paragraphs
there are some other mistakes that are worth mentioning and the first is how we connect ideas
within sentences and between paragraphs and that's the second task requirement coherence and cohesion
some of us love using connectors whenever we get a chance some don't use them much at all
but both are mistakes try to find a balance there is no need to use them in every sentence let me
show you an example so please pause the video and read it do you like it it's over the top
an excessive number of connectors I counted seven but don't leave them to bare minimum
either in this version it's up to us readers to supply all the connectors between the parts
connectors should be there to help the readers see where you're going so here is the best
version I've cut linking words from seven to four enough to make my points clear and to help
the examiner easily follow my argument another mistake consents vocabulary and I'm calling this
vocabulary Choice copied or borrowed don't get me wrong I'm not talking about cheating in your test
when I say coping I mean using words and phrases from your question in your answer especially in
the opening paragraph instead of paraphrasing using synonyms using your own words you know
until quite recently examiners were instructed to subtract any copied phrases from the total
word count so that was in the days when you could be penalized for not writing at least 250 words
so you can imagine that from time to time it meant a point less in task response bad news
so don't start with something like in this essay I shall discuss how once children start school
teachers become a more important influence on children's intellectual and Social Development
than parents find your own words in this essay I shall compare the relative effect of
both Educators and parents on academic and Social Development in young school children in the belief
that it is the classroom that has greater impact and borrowing the examiners do notice when a test
taker uses what could be called memorized phrases especially overused and old-fashioned phrases
let's have a look at one example people say that education begins at home
education begins at home is a set phrase and if you use it in USA it may be seen as memorized
be careful even when you're quoting someone for example the famous one child one book
one teacher one pen can change the world from the speech given by Malala yousafzai
it's beautifully said but it's not us who said it so paraphrase it a teacher can have a positive
lasting effect on a child even with a minimum of resources what else should you learn before your
exam well question types in Task 1 and task two if you are not absolutely clear about the types of
questions you may get in your exam there is a good chance that you won't answer the question fully
take for example the discuss both views and give your own opinion type
you cannot only look at one side of the argument if you do you're probably heading for a band 5
in task response in my courses we'll work through all the question types and study
how to answer each of them meeting all the requirements so you could achieve a higher
score and these courses are linked in the description and if you'd like to find out
what mistakes annoy IELTS examiners most in IELTS speaking section check out this video
and thank you so much for watching me today good luck with your preparation and your exam