IELTS Writing

Master IELTS Writing Task 1 (General/Academic)

Many IELTS aspirants aiming high bands for Canada PR Express Entry or Australia PR get stuck due to low score in IELTS Writing Task 1 & 2. Also aspirants have notion that they will be judged on vocabulary, grammar, and spelling only. Well, there is so much to do in order to give your score a boost in this section.

Let me first help you with Task 1.

To master this section and achieving bands of 7+ one needs to portray these skills in this task –

• Clearly understand the task structure and the right approach expected according to different variety of Tasks 1 generally asked in the IELTS Exam
• Most Important! Your writing should not digress from the Main Topic. Write only on the Topic, I repeat…only on the Topic
• Manage time wisely and plan the letter structure effectively
• Transition between ideas, sentences should look logical and natural
• Right tone and Clear purpose should be easily visible in the response
• Better the vocabulary, higher chances of scoring a better band
• Work on Grammar Range and Accuracy. Word usage should be relevant
• Practice! Practice! Practice! And identify your common errors made in Task 1
• Take help of experienced IELTS Faculty or coaching institutes to understand how to avoid these

Aspirants writing IELTS Academic will need to respond to a data set, map, tabular information, process diagrams etc. and aspirants writing IELTS General will be tested on Letter writing (formal, informal). Task 1 be it general or academic is quite predictable. A certain style to attempt this set will easily fetch you good score.

About the IELTS Writing Task 1

1. Word Limit of 150 words at-least
2. Time Limit of 20 Minutes
3. Please be aware that this task is 33% of total writing section score
4. Specifically you will be tested on: Task Achievement, Coherence & Cohesion, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy having equal weightage i.e. 25% each in computing your final score for this task 1.

Let us go in details for each type:

IELTS General Exam Writing Task 1

In this section you will be given either formal or an informal letter to write. Difference between these two will be the tone of language and right vocabulary usage. For example, you will only use first name while addressing a letter to your friend ‘Dear Smith/ Dear Ankit’ and not ‘Dear Mr. Ankit’. Also in informal letters you have to avoid use of formal words like however, therefore, hence. These are some minor differences between the two styles of letter.

How do you identify whether you have been ask to write a formal or an informal letter?

Here is a tip. Look out for word like – write a letter to your ‘friend’ in the task statement. Otherwise it will ask you to write a letter to an ‘authority’ i.e. civic authority, school warden, class teacher etc. This one will be a formal style of letter writing.

• Task Achievement: Simply stick to the topic in the task statement. Do not go haywire. Time and space are limited. Utilize judiciously to only cover the topic.
• Lexical Resource (Vocabulary): First & Foremost, use words on which you are 100% confident. Do not just write new words to showcase your range. Range of words and its right usage will only boost your score. Else it is just a waste to portray half knowledge. WORD CHOICE IS CRITICAL! It is not only about one single word.

Your skill on Lexical Resource can be showcased by use of phrases or combination of words like – extremely critical, almost impossible, and highly considerate.

• Do not repeat words in the write up. In one sentence, if you have used ‘hazardous’ once in a statement, use another word like ‘detrimental’ in another sentence to show your range. This will impress the examiner.
• It is not advisable that you pick and use the same words mentioned by the examiner in the IELTS Exam Writing Task 1 statement. This will fetch you negative marking.
• Use topic related lexical resource i.e. if you are writing something related to science or medical profession – use words like disease, cure, heal, prescription etc.
• Grammatical Accuracy: There are various elements to this. Correct usage of nouns, articles, verbs, subject-verb agreement – verb according to a singular subject and a plural subject, tenses, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, types of sentences – Have you used a variety of sentence structures? How often have you used compound structures?

These all are very important and if you are successful in showcasing your grammar range across above elements, you are through. But only use if you are confident. Simple clarity in your sentences wins over complexity brought in by incorrect usage of all these styles.

IELTS Writing Tip: To save time in structuring your letter in the examination hall, keep it in your mind before you attempt during the exam. This will be lot easier if you practice with a set structure during your preparation time.

You may refer to this technique if you like:

1. Greet to whom you are addressing the letter
2. Most Important (Coherence & Cohesion): Split your write up into 3 paragraphs completely and independently fulfilling the task 1 requirements.
   1. Each paragraph should have its own purpose.
   2. There should not be overlap in the content of each para.
   3. Each paragraph to have approximately same number of word count.
   4. Information in these paras should be sequential and connect the flow to progression of thoughts

If you need more support in how to split up paragraphs into 3….how to begin with right statements for each para, you may subscribe to CareerCarta’s IELTS Writing Module.

1. Concluding Statement
2. Valediction or Complimentary Close

 IELTS Writing Academic Task 1

This will primarily involve writing a short report based on the graphs, charts, process diagrams in the form of visuals.

These visuals might look complex at your initial glance. But keep in mind that you are not being tested on Data Interpretation. You are being tested on your language skills. Don’t spend your time doing unrequired calculations. It tests how well you can write a report with your English language and nothing more than this.

Tips: Spend 1-2 minute in understanding the graph and reading the introduction part of this task. And while you respond rephrase the introduction about the visual with key features only. Do not directly copy and paste.

In this as well a set structure will help you save time during the examination. You can refer to the below structure. But it is always suggested that you split your write up into 3 or 4 paras depending upon the visual. You need to decide before you start attempting. There can be either 3 or 4 paras.

Para 1 – Describe the Graph in your own language rephrasing the original description stated in the task.

Para 2 – This should be the overview without any numbers or quantitative facts. Talk about the trends, differences between charts across years or anything important feature of the visual.

Para 3 – This should have details with a bit of numbers. All the above features need to be discussed with numbers.

Para 4 – Can have additional para with another set of detail with numbers.

In academic writing, it is better to use words like elucidates, illustrates, Depicts, fluctuating trend etc. Also use words like once, so that, rather, though, unless, provided that, until, whereas, who, whether, while, which etc. These are common to general IELTS task 1 as well.

I hope this article has given you a detailed idea on how to attempt Task 1. Connect with us for personalized support and improvement in IELTS Band. Write to connect@careercarta.com

To read about IELTS speaking section details click here: https://careercarta.com/ielts-speaking/

To read about IELTS reading section details click here: https://careercarta.com/ielts-reading/

To read about the difference between academic and general IELTS click here: https://careercarta.com/difference-between-academic-and-general-ielts/

To read about the strategy and resources for the IELTS click https://careercarta.com/ielts-exam-overview-strategy-format-resources/

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• IELTS Writing
• IELTS Writing Academic
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