4 tips on preparing for the IELTS Writing test

Hello, everybody.

Welcome to my second video

in my miniseries of IELTS test tips that I’ve created

alongside We Love IELTS,

Cambridge’s platform for those

who are preparing for the IELTS test.

And today I’m giving you my four best tips

to achieve success in the writing paper.

Before we get going,

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So let’s begin

by recapping on what the writing paper consists of.

There are two tasks

in both the academic and general training test.

In task one of the general training test,

you have to write a letter in response

to a problem or situation.

However, in task one of the academic test

you have to describe some visual information,

such as a diagram or graph.

Then, for both tests in task two,

you must write an essay,

though the topics will be different.

Okay, now we’ve covered the structure of the paper,

let’s move on to my tips.

So my first tip is to know the marking criteria.

Just think, wouldn’t it be great

if you knew what the examiners were looking for?

Well, I can tell you that now.

Examiners use four criteria to assess your writing.

Task achievement for task one,

or task response for task two, coherence and cohesion,

lexical resource,

and grammar range and accuracy.

And you can download the assessment criteria

from the IELTS website.

Occasionally some of my students have told me

that the assessment criteria is

a bit difficult to interpret sometimes.

If this is the case for you,

I’d ask your teacher to give you some good examples

of the four criteria just to make it a bit more real for you,

or another good way of seeing

how the criteria are applied is to download

example examiner comments from the official IELTS website.

Additionally, the IELTS practice tests all come

with sample answers at different levels.

My next tip is to use formal writing conventions.

In the academic writing test,

task two is always a formal piece of writing,

and task one can be a formal piece of writing as well.

So to complete successfully,

especially task two, I’d recommend learning

about and using formal writing conventions.

Although there are many different formal

writing conventions,

the four areas that

my students particularly struggle with are always,

use the full form rather than contractions.

For example, use has not instead of hasn’t.

Use appropriate punctuation.

For example, don’t use exclamation marks

or ellipsis and use single question marks.

Avoid overuse of figurative language.

For example, idioms or metaphors.

And use the passive instead of the active where possible.

For example, it has been built by the government.

Of course use these conventions correctly wherever possible

in your next piece of writing,

or you could take a previous piece of writing

and then upgrade it

by using any new formal writing conventions

that you have learnt.

My third tip is to connect your writing.

With my students,

a problem that I regularly see in their IELTS writing is

that their ideas don’t quite connect together.

They can use some really good language,

however without any flow.

Have a look at this example.

A common consensus would be to talk to the school counsellor.

They can help you identify problems.

They may not be someone you know,

but they are trained in this area.

You see?

It’s just lacking some rhythm and flow to it.

But now look at it when we connect it a bit better.

Having said that,

a common consensus would be to talk to the school counsellor

who can help you identify your problems.

Although they may not be someone you know,

they are trained in this area.

Do you see the difference?

Although most of the language is the same,

with just a few connecting devices,

it reads much better.

I’ve used a transitional phrase here, a relative pronoun here,

and a conjunction here.

In doing this,

I have also created some subordinate clauses

here and here.

So those are just four examples of connecting devices,

but there are also many,

many, many more out there for you to use as well.

And so, on to my last tip, plan.

My old boss used to always say, those who fail to plan,

plan to fail.

While I’m sure it’s not true for absolutely everybody,

doing a writing without planning it first can be dangerous.

Your ideas might not link.

You might repeat yourself.

You might not answer the question.

Simply, there are many things that can go wrong,

so I would always recommend

planning before doing an IELTS writing task.

It could be a very simple plan,

like simply just a list of points you’re going to make

in each paragraph.

However, remember,

the writing task is only one hour long so don’t spend

too much time planning.

The key is finding what type

of plan works for you in the time available.

Okay, let’s recap.

So there we go.

I really hope these tips help you when preparing

for your IELTS writing test.

Don’t forget, for more test tips and resources,

check out the We Love IELTS website.

The link is below the video.

Also, as mentioned before,

don’t forget to subscribe if you haven’t already,

and I’d also love to hear your tips.

If you have any other tips

or advice on how to prepare for the IELTS writing test,

please comment below.

But thanks for watching

and I’ll see you next time for more IELTS tips.