How do you write a conclusion for an IELTS academic part 1? There is no one answer to that question but I am going to give you some ideas to think about. I am also going to give you an exercise based on a piece of writing sent into me by one of my subscribers.
You don’t have to write too much. A sentence is enough. It can even… Continue reading
This is the first in a series of posts about how to write an IELTS essay. In this one I sit in front of my webcam and tell you a story. For me, this can be a great form of teaching and understanding ideas. It’s a story I tell all my “real” students in my “real” classroom and I try to tell the story in exactly the same way I… Continue reading
Here is a quick post of a link to useful site for describing graphs for academic task 1. In a way it is quite limited as it only gives you the trend-based language for time graphs, but the way it does this is excellent as it shows you how to use the vocabulary. Here are some reasons why I recommend this site to you:
In academic task 1 it is important to learn how to read a chart and a graph. This is because the instructions always tell you to summarise and select and report on the main features of the graphic. Many candidates make the mistake here of including as much detail as possible in their report. This brief tutorial gives you a sample task 1 report and some tips on how to… Continue reading
Grammatical range and accuracy is perhaps the most misunderstood grading criterion in IELTS writing. The clue is in the name: it is not enough to not make mistakes (accuracy), you also need to use a variety of grammatical structures (range). Too often candidates focus only on the mistakes.
Accuracy is not a simple idea and it can be though about in 2 ways.
How… Continue reading
What is “lexical resource”? In a word it is vocabulary and it matters for IELTS writing because it is one of the 4 grading criteria which affect your band score. Here is an explanation of what to do and not to do to improve your band score. There are 4 key areas to look at:
This means that you need to use different words and… Continue reading
This article looks at coherence and cohesion in IELTS writing and give examples of common mistakes that IELTS candidates make using them. Understanding these mistakes should help improve your IELTS writing and your band score.
Paragraphs need to have a clear, central topic and be used logically. If your writing does not have paragraphs or the paragraphs are confusing, your coherence score will be no… Continue reading
This article has a downloadable tutorial on how to make your IELTS essays more coherent. At first sight it may look complex but in fact it need not be. More than that, it is a skill well worth learning: not only will it improve your band score, it will also make the writing process easier. It is a win-win situation… Continue reading
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