Archives for December 2019

Happy New Year: 2020

Hi guys,

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year and hoping that this coming decade will bring you all you desire.

Below you will find useful links to help you prepare for your IELTS test. Click to open and start learning:

IELTS Band Scores Explained: A Must Read Page

Useful Links & Resources

How to Prepare IELTS: Video Tutorial

Liz’s Android App Quiz: Test your knowledge of IELTS with my IELTS app quiz

Band Score 8 Tips from a successful IELTS candidate in 2019

Band Score 8.5 Tips from a successful IELTS candidate in 2019

Top Results: To give you motivation and inspiration

Ideas for Essay Topics E-book: Sample Chapter

Coming in 2020

This year I will be releasing my “Grammar for IELTS Writing Task 2” E-book.

This e-book will cover all aspects of grammar that you struggle most with and provide you with lots of sample sentence structures to help you improve your grammar score. There will also be grammar exercises to help you build accuracy.

I’ll post a sample chapter of this e-book soon. I hope to have the e-book ready for purchase in either March or April this year. It is already written but needs formatting and final edits.

Again, my best wishes for this new year and new decade to all of you preparing for IELTS and your family.

All the best

Liz 🙂

Tips from a Band 8 IELTS Candidate

Below are tips from a successful IELTS candidate for getting band 8 overall. For the purpose of anonymity I have called her Annie.

Annie’s Result

  • Listening = 8.5
  • Reading = 8.5
  • Writing = 7.5
  • Speaking = 8

Computer or Paper Test Tips

Choosing the test format (Paper/Computer) wisely: I was weak in listening and no matter what I couldn’t score beyond 7.5 in my practice tests. While I was taking my practice tests on computer, I realised that I had no opportunity to highlight the text or make notes for reference. It was the same case with reading. My writing and typing speed were relatively same. So, I opted for paper based test and it was the best decision as evident from my listening and reading scores. Although I lost quite a lot of time in editing my essay on paper and I feel I could have scored band 8 through typing, listening and reading were my priorities. 

Listening Tips

Like Liz and other tutors reiterate, answers often appear as synonyms. Learning alternative ways in which the same thing is expressed and practicing to identify the synonymous language is extremely helpful. If you’re unable to do so while listening, note down the words used and come back to it while answering. It happened to me twice or thrice and the notes helped me. The key is to stay with the audio and not get lost if you miss something. Recheck the word fit into the answer sentence before you finalize the answer. This eliminates undesired mistakes in tenses, singular and plural, spelling etc. 

Reading Tips

Patience is the key. It’s important to develop stamina to sustain your focus required to complete all sections. Keyword search is the most effective way of targetted reading covering only required parts. When I felt stuck, I chose to answer easy questions first and the quick wins kept me going. Especially in ‘True, False, Not Given’ type, the strategy that aids decision making is crucial. For example, a statement is false if there’s a clear contradiction, a statement should be marked as ‘Not Given’ if relevant information is totally absent. The last two passages are actually informative, sometimes fun to read. If you look at passages with an intention to make sense out of the content instead of just answering, you can connect the dots and derive the answers with much more ease.  

Writing Tips

The biggest mistake I made is to change my stance mid-way. After I wrote the first paragraph, I felt I was able to get adequate points on the other side of motion. I lost time in erasing and re-writing. Even if it means spending good amount of time, identify your stance clearly so you’ll spend rest of the time strengthening your content. We’ll never be able to practice all possible essay questions or preempt our topics, but we can always carry a skeletal structure around which the essay could be developed. Needless to say, an essay with good range of vocabulary is a definite winner. That said, do not force fit words. Throw in a few words to make your essay look smart and that’s just about it.

Speaking Tips

I was quite confident about the speaking test. In fact, I did well in first two parts. Part three was a shocker and I struggled to express my views about the topic. What you need to remember while answering is that you’re not judged based on your choices. You may either like or dislike something and the idea is to express what you feel with clarity in thought. This acknowledgment then made me more comfortable and eased me during the rest of the conversation.

That is all from my end. Annie.

Message to Annie: Thank you so much for sharing your tips. I know many people will benefit from them and be inspired by your results 🙂 Liz.

More IELTS Candidate Tips

Click below to read more tips from successful IELTS candidates:

How I scored Band 9 in Speaking

How I scored Band 9 in Reading

How I scored Band 8.5 Overall

How I scored Band 9 Overall

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How many Sentences for an Essay Introduction

IELTS Writing Task 2 Academic & GT Essay Introductions

Hi guys, here are model answer introductions and essential tips for Tuesdays lesson on writing task 2 introduction paragraphs. I hope you find this lesson useful 🙂

1) How long should the introduction be?

Most essays will require only two sentences for your introduction paragraph. You will need to write a background statement and a thesis statement. There is no need to write more. It won’t help your score to add more to the introduction. Your introduction should usually be between 40-60 words. Below are details of the content of an introduction paragraph.

2) Background statement:

This is the first sentence of your essay and it paraphrases the essay question. This is the way to introduce the issue or issues given to you by IELTS because that is what your essay is responding to. Paraphrasing is a way to avoid copying directly from the essay question by using your own sentence. For example:

Essay Question: The government should allocate more funding to teaching sciences than on other subjects so that the country can develop. Do you agree or disagree?

Background: It is often thought that in order for the country to progress more funding ought to be allocated to teaching sciences instead of other subjects.

As you can see above, the background statement contains exactly the same information but written differently. It is an easy sentence to write if you practice your paraphrasing skills. You can find a useful page on paraphrasing here: Paraphrasing Background Statements and examples of background statements here: Background Examples

3) Thesis Statement

Your thesis statement will introduce your answer or your opinion. It is the second and final statement needed in the introduction. It shows the reader the direction you plan to take in your essay. Furthermore, it is important that you write this carefully and clearly because it will impact both Task Response and also Coherence and Cohesion which together count for 50% of your marks.

The thesis does not need to be detailed. It is possible to split it into two sentences if you need more space, but mostly it will be one sentence only. For example:

Essay Question: The government should allocate more funding to teaching sciences than on other subjects so that the country can develop. Do you agree or disagree?

Thesis Statement Agree: I completely agree that focusing on science subjects at school is essential for a country’s future.

Thesis Statement Disagree: In my opinion, funding should not focus on the sciences but should rather be allocated to maths, technology and languages.

Thesis Statement Partial Agreement: While I agree that the sciences do need extra funding, this should not be at the expense of other subjects which are also crucial to a country’s development.

As you can see above, each thesis statement is simply written and presents a clear opinion. Do not try to create a complicated thesis statement. Your opinion and having a clear position is more important.

Short thesis statements

Yes, it is possible to write just a few words: “I completely agree with this position.” or “I strongly agree with this opinion.” However, I personally prefer to showcase more language skills with a slightly longer thesis statement as shown above.

Below you can see a full introduction for a one sided approach:

It is often thought that in order for the country to progress more funding ought to be allocated to teaching sciences instead of other subjects. In my opinion, funding should not focus on the sciences but should rather be allocated to maths, technology and languages.

4) Giving Your Opinion in IELTS Essays

Yes, you need to give your opinion if the instructions ask for it. Using the words “this essay” does not represent your own personal opinion. If you are asked for YOUR opinion, you need to use I or MY – failure to do this will result in a lower score. See this page for more details: How to give your opinion

5) More Writing Task 2 Tips

You can find more IELTS writing task 2 tips, model essays and lessons on this page: IELTS Writing Task 2 . All main sections of this website are access through the RED MENU BAR at the top of the site.

High Band Score Essay Techniques: Advanced Lessons

If you are struggling to hit band 7 or you need more help understanding how to write a high band score essay, get my Advanced Writing Task 2 lessons which you can find here: Liz’s Advanced Lessons.

You can also find a useful e-book about Ideas for Essay Topics. Containing over ideas for over 150 essay topics. Ideas are presented as vocabulary exercises to help you improve your range and accuracy in English.

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6) How to Write an Introduction

Here is a useful video tutorial I made some time ago which helps you understand more about writing an introduction paragraph:

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Essay Introduction Practice 1

Hi guys,

Below is an essay question that is common to get in IELTS writing task 2 Academic & GT tests. This is your chance to post your introduction and compare it to others. Writing the introduction is the easiest part so use this lesson to practise.

Essay Question: The government should allocate more funding to teaching sciences than to other subjects so that the country can develop. Do you agree or disagree?

Answer

The answers to this lesson are now available.

CLICK HERE: MODEL ANSWER & TIPS FOR INTRODUCTIONS

Remember: you need to have a background statement and a clear thesis statement. Always aim for clarity rather than aiming to impress. Avoid errors and keep your meaning clear. Keep it under 60 words.

All the best

Liz

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