This week’s IELTS tip is to help you improve your IELTS essay writing skills and in particular the introduction. The introduction is important in two ways. It is the first thing the examiner reads: get it right and they like you, get it wrong…. As importantly, it matters to you: if you get it right, you can write a good essay; if it goes wrong, you are unlikely to.
So how do you write a good introduction? There are various approaches which I shall describe in my essay writing course. One thing every introduction needs to do, however, is to identify the question. Whatever you do, however, you must not repeat the wording of the question, as the examiner will cross it out and you may not then write enough words.
Here’s the tip. In an exam it is often very difficult to think of how to change the words in the question. The question is after all written in perfect English. It’s actually quite simple. When you write your introduction, do not look at the question, this way it is almost impossible for you to repeat it. You may use some of the same words but that is no problem. All you need to do next is to read the question after you have written the introduction to make sure you have included all the key points.
For more on this have a look at IELTS essays – answering the question.
