Avoid these 5 common mistakes in IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 The introductory paragraph in IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 is a short part of your report that tells the reader “what the visual information in the question shows”. This is a paragraph that you can easily and quickly put together! However, there are a…
Avoid this BIG mistake in your Task 1 report A student has written the following sentence in their IELTS Writing Task 1 report: “The trends demonstrate that if the government invested in sporting activities, youngsters would not turn to crime.” This candidate would lose marks in Task Achievement simply because they have given their personal…
On Task 1 of the IELTS General Training, you’re supposed to write a letter. Let’s look at a sentence in a candidate’s letter addressed to his/her boss in IELTS General Writing Task 1: “I’d be heaps grateful if you gave me the company car tomorrow.” This IELTS candidate would lose marks for their inappropriate tone.…
Let’s look at this sentence from a candidate’s Academic Writing Task 1 report: “The graph indicates the proportion of students who attended university between 2000 and 2005.” This candidate would lose marks because they are not familiar with what the word “indicate” really means, AND how it should be used. “Indicate” means to show something…
Let’s look at a sentence from a student’s IELTS Writing Task 2 essay: “People who smoke suffer from many diseases.” This candidate has written a sentence which is grammatically correct; however, they have “over-generalized” an idea. Certainly, not all people who smoke suffer from many diseases! This over-generalized statement could lead to a lowered band…
The importance of COLLOCATIONS Collocations are particularly important when writing IELTS Task 2 Essays. The following is a sentence from a candidate’s essay (Writing Task 2). The student’s idea is clear but not accurately expressed: “There are a number of disagreeing views on free education at university level.” Can you guess which word should be…