In IELTS Task 2, should I explicitly agree or disagree when I have a “To what extent do you agree?” question?
This is a good question we received from a member of our private Facebook group and an IELTS examiner gives their advice I would recommend that you explicitly agree or disagree in these types of question. The main reason why I say this is because it is easier. High users of English (Band 8/9) are able to partially agree and say why. Lower users of English usually struggle to do this and meet all the points on the criteria. So, let’s imagine...
Linking words and why they matter in IELTS writing
Coherence and Cohesion in the IELTS writing criteria has a few parts to it. Here we are going to look at one part, linking words and common mistakes, because they are really important here. They make your sentences fit together and guide the reader. If you can't use them properly then you will lose marks. We see a lot of candidates make mistakes with them and when you read a sentence with poor linking, meaning becomes surprisingly difficult. We highlight some...
10 reasons why IELTS writing is so hard
There are a number of reasons why IELTS writing is where most people struggle. The IELTS examiners that work with us came up with these 10 reasons. People don’t write very much anymore so it is skill we are losing. Teachers avoid teaching writing and set it for homework. They think they should focus on speaking in class and so writing gets neglected. This happens pretty much from school age. Students don’t think they need to practice it. They are...
Misunderstanding IELTS and getting the score you need
This post comes from a question we were asked about doing an IELTS preparation course. They said that they had joined a 3-month IELTS preparation course in India to get Band 7. They got band 6 after 3 months preparation. They did a Full IELTS writing with us and we showed them why their writing was Band 6.0 and what they needed to do to get higher marks. The biggest problem that this person faces is that their English level is...
How to write an Academic IELTS Task 1
This is arguably the most difficult part of the Academic exam and it is also where a lot of candidates lose marks. They lose marks because they miss a few key things. 1) The overview. The overview is where you highlight the TWO main features of the data that you are presented with. There are always two. The overview is also in the marking criteria and if you don’t include one, you are capping your Task Achievement score at Band 5. ...
An interview with an IELTS writing examiner.
We received over 50 questions from people for this interview. A lot of people asked similar things so we tried to put them together to cover everything. Most came from our private group on Facebook “IELTS writing and speaking support”. Feel free to join. The list of questions What do you think is the biggest challenge for IELTS candidates in writing? Why do so many people get 6 or 6.5 in writing? Why are there so many IELTS teachers stating different...
How long will it take to go from Band 7 to Band 8 in IELTS?
7 to 8 is a big jump. You need to increase your score in all the 4 skills. You have probably already got a higher reading and listening score but it is the speaking and writing that will be more difficult. If you live in an English-speaking country, work in English, live with English speakers, etc then you are probably looking at 6–8 months. However, this means that you are actively studying English, going to classes 3 hours a day...
IELTS Task 1 and the Band 4 cut-off points in Task Achievement
So many people get affected by this and they have no idea. They go into the exam, think that they did really well and then get awarded 6 or 6.5. One of the main reasons for this is the cut-off points in Task Achievement. No idea what they are? Keep reading. Something that a lot of IELTS candidates don’t know is about cut-off points. There are parts of the criteria that stop you getting higher marks. These are highlighted in the...