Writing

I have corrected over 10,000 IELTS essays over the last 10 years. The following is a list of the main kind of errors I have discovered with students essays. You can use these to avoid making some of these common errors. Over time, I will add some illustrative examples to make these points clearer. ielts-writing-common-mistakes-task-response ielts-writing-common-mistakes-cohesion-coherence … Read more

Task 2 of the IELTS writing exam is similar for both academic IELTS exam and general  IELTS exam , and candidates are assessed according to exactly the same criteria. The task requires candidates to write an essay of over 250 words in 40 minutes. How to Score well Clearly understand the requirements of the task Able to paraphrase key words in the … Read more

Writing task 1 (complaint letter): You recently bought a piece of equipment for your kitchen but it did not work. You phoned the shop but no action was taken. Write a letter to the shop manager. In your letter – Describe the problem with the equipment – Explain what happened when you phoned the shop – Say what … Read more

It’s very important that when you get your task you work out the purpose of the letter you need to write. You need to focus on this purpose throughout the letter in order to score well for task achievement. You can make the purpose of the letter clear by stating it in the introduction. For … Read more

Don’t copy the words from the task introduction for your own introduction. You should paraphrase the words from the task (rewrite it using some different words). If you do this these words will not be counted towards the minimum 150 words you need to write, and it will make a bad first impression with the examiner! … Read more

You need to rephrase the given words more. Avoid taking too many risks with word choices. Errors with spelling: Errors with word choice: Errors with word endings: Errors with “s” word endings: Errors with spelling: Categories do not need capital unless they are proper nouns. You cannot always directly copy working from the diagram. Errors … Read more

Errors with sentence structure: Errors with past tense verbs: Errors with articles (a, an, the) you can do a quiz here: https://www.ieltsanswers.com/IELTS-Grammar.html The is used to refer to one specific thing like the government, the  Internet, the best way to learn Don’t use a/an with uncountable nouns  Errors with punctuation. Passive form needed [“be” + past … Read more

Try to put your response to each question in its own paragraph. Avoid unnecessary repetition of information. Poor topic sentence Try to write topic sentences that introduce the key point of the paragraph and also send a signal to the examiner about which bullet point you are addressing. As an illustrative example lets imagine the … Read more