IELTS General Writing

DAY 1

On the first day, you should make efforts to know about the test and to understand how it is marked. The MarvelIELTS website has a lot of sources where you can look for all the required information and sample papers.

Look up and download public band descriptors. Those are a public version of what criteria the examiner uses to mark your essays. They are really useful to analyze your writing. Try and understand what the examiner is looking for.

See the sample papers, get a descriptive idea of what happens in the test. And then there's more information and other sites to visit to read and do tasks as well.

DAY 2

It's essential to know your level of English at the moment because that will give you an excellent idea of the sort of score you might get on the IELTS test. Go to the Marvel IELTS site, where you can get a completely free Mock test to determine your current level.

Look at grammar and vocabulary practices for a chart describing academic writing tasks so it could be a pie chart, a bar chart, or a line graph. Those are three very common types of tasks.

Once you've done all that, you must move on to grammar and vocabulary practice. Attempt a writing test, and analyze your writing in the piece. This will help you get some idea of what writing is like.

Here are some ways to improve your grammar and vocabulary:

• Reading, lots of reading
• Using grammar books
• Speaking with native English speakers
• See blogs or watch videos
• Doing practice tests
• Use Cambridge IELTS books

DAY 3

Describing a process diagram, which shows you how something is manufactured or made, is one of the types of things that you get in task one.

For describing a process, since we're not interested in the people who are doing the work, we're more interested in what is being made. So it is often written in a passive voice and simple present tense.

If a lot of olive oil is produced in Italy, I think it's fair to say that the sort of processes that are happening now, it's okay to write them in simple present tense and passive voice, but do double-check because it's always possible that they will use an old process. So, for example, how the Egyptians made the papyrus or something like that, take grammar tests to make sure you understand how to use the present passive.

DAY 4

Sometimes the question is one map, sometimes it's a two map question, and again, we'll be looking. So you'll be thinking about those and again doing some of that grammar practice required for making comparisons between two maps.

DAY 5

Then on the last day, it's a matter of pulling everything together that you've done for the past four days, which further gives you a chance to practice writing and analyze and correct your work. Once you've written your essay and report, you'll have several questions that you can work on and contemplate your writing to help you improve for the next time.

DAY 1

We know that task 2 is an essay. But what kind of essay?

Well, It's an argumentative essay, where you have to discuss a problem and a solution, your opinion perhaps. You might be asked to what extent do you agree with something? Or Some people think this; what do you think? You may be given a description of some problem and asked to describe the solutions.

Try to read the model answers for the Writing Task. Then, practice Task 2 and analyse it. It's once again all about getting more information about the task, so you feel confident when you go into the test center.

DAY 2

You should know how the test is assessed. There are four areas that the Examiner is marking you on, and they are:

• Coherence and cohesion - your essay's logical flow and cohesion and how your essay is linked.
• Adherence- the relevance of what you're writing about
• Grammatical range and accuracy- the lexical resource of yours and how well do you use it
• Vocabulary - the range and kind of words used in the essay. Therefore, build your academic vocabulary

Practice Coherence and Cohesion. Use formal academic style vocabulary while speaking with each other, and on day two of this particular program, you'll be working on these two aspects in particular. Now, let me give you an example about building your academic vocabulary for IELTS preparation:

So you're asked to browse the site that has the academic word list, which you can probably tell by its look.

It's named a list of academic words, and they're broken down into what's known as sub-lists. So, for example, the sub-list 1A has the ten most common words that come up in formal academic writing, and there are so many lists and so many exercises.

This is just one exercise on the 1st sub-list, a matching exercise, but you can do various other things on this site. It helps you with word building and developing your vocabulary.

For example, the World Economic crisis depicts the economic and financial situation of the world, et cetera. So, this kind of information and Practice is available in the academic word list. So visit the site and Practice.

DAY 3

On the third day, focus on Improving your grammatical range for Writing Task

Practice writing a Task 2 essay and go through examples of the types of essays you might get in task two. Make a note of the important things like reasons, relevant examples, etc. Write at least 250 words.

DAY 4

Focus on improving your lexical range, using pronouns to improve cohesion, Finding ideas - brainstorming

Work on improving your lexical resource and world-building. It also helps you build, develop coherence and cohesion by using pronouns. I think many people are habitual of using linking words like, despite, whereas, secondly, finally, that are used to signpost the essay's direction and link our ideas.

But using a pronoun instead of repeating a noun portrays a high-level approach towards the essay. Something like this means representing the idea in the previous sentence, giving you a better practice on that slightly higher level of coherence and cohesion work.

Another thing for day four is that many students in my classes find it difficult to find ideas when they haven't thought much about the topic before. So we've put in some ideas for you too to go through which can help you.

Practice developing ideas for these essays.

DAY 5

Practice writing a timed essay. First, analyse your essay with the help of a checklist for writing tasks 1 and 2. Next, spend 40 minutes writing your essay and then start analysing it.

There's a long checklist for you to read and mark the questions that you've attempted. Then, read your essay, and contemplate whether you have been able to work towards the improvement and progress you've made so far since day one.

But using a pronoun instead of repeating a noun portrays a high-level approach towards the essay. Something like this means representing the idea in the previous sentence, giving you a better practice on that slightly higher level of coherence and cohesion work.

Another thing for day four is that many students in my classes find it difficult to find ideas when they haven't thought much about the topic before. So we've put in some ideas for you too to go through which can help you.

Practice developing ideas for these essays.

Here are some marvelous tips to help you ace your IELTS exam

• READ! Reading helps you to get good at writing as much as anything else. Be an active reader. Try to comprehend what you're reading. Don't be a passive reader.
• Don't just read an article and think, "Oh well, I've done my reading for the day!" but try to ask yourself questions about the content, find useful vocabulary expressions, and note them down for future reference.
• Ask yourself at the end of the read:
  
  Did you agree with it? If it was an article in a newspaper or News Journal, would you agree with the writer? Do you think it was well written? Did you consider it interesting? Asking these questions will help you train better for your IELTS writing as well as reading test.
• Keep vocabulary records: this will help you with the IELTS speaking test as well. Everyone keeps vocabulary records in different ways. You can make lists or use mind maps, and you can do it subject-wise. Anyway, that's useful for you.
• Remember that a good vocabulary record is not mere words in English and their translation into your language, but they are also important to record the parts of speech, for example, whether it's a noun or a verb. Whether it has another word that goes with it, or perhaps it has a preposition after or before it? Whether there is another word that completes it and goes very strongly with it. All of this can be recorded, along with writing all the parts down.
  
  So write the Word family as well as try to build your vocabulary.
• Be critical of your writing, introspect what grammar or spelling mistakes you often make, and write them down. Then, try and eliminate those particular mistakes in the test itself.
• Use spell-checker and grammar checkers when you're studying at home
• I'd suggest that you write your essay then leave it for some time because I find that if I've written something, I can't see my mistakes, so go and have that break.
  
  Have a short walk or a piece of chocolate. Listen to some music and then come back and then study your essay. Look at the things that you can correct yourself in.
• Make a list of words you spelled incorrectly. Work on grammatical errors and make notes on them.
• Use the Public Band Descriptors (from Day 1) to analyse your essays in Task 1 and 2. For example, did you write a clear overview for Task 1? (Band 7). Did you write your position clearly for Task 2? (Band 7)
• And each time you write, use the public band descriptors to analyze your essays and then look at what they say.