VIDEO: 3 Easy ways to get the vocabulary you need

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IELTS Writing 130 | The difference between a Band 7 and a Band 9 essay

This article will clarify the differences between an essay scoring at Band 7 and an essay scoring at Band 9. The explanation of these differences will help you to reach a higher score for Task 2 of the Academic Writing category of the IELTS exam.

Firstly, it’s vital to understand the expectations of the examiner who will score your essay. There are clear differences in criteria that determine a Band 9 from a Band 7 essay. A Band 9 essay answers the essay question in full and offers a well-developed response. The essay is perfectly cohesive and paragraphed, uses a range of language, expression and accurate structure. A Band 7 essay aims to respond to the question although the answer could be more fully developed. It attempts a cohesive structure and logical flow but there may be some omissions of connectors. A Band 7 essay shows a sufficient scope of language with occasional redundancy, errors in word selection or minor grammatical mistakes.

Let’s take a look at two examples of the first paragraph of essays that respond to the same question of Task 2 of the Academic Writing component of the IELTS exam. The first one scored in Band 7:

Should wealthy people be obliged to share their financial success with poor people by supporting health services and education, or is this the responsibility of the poor to improve their own standard of living?

I believe that wealthy people should be obliged to share their wealth with poorer people. But they should not have to support health services and education only, but other areas if they prefer.

First of all, we cannot avoid people which are poor. As an example, we see homeless in the train station, at the bus stops and asking us for money. Rich people have extra money and therefore, they should give some help to people with no housing and money.

Secondly, many people now are not finding jobs or although they are working, they are not having enough money to pay for his houses or flats especially in city-living which has a high cost of living now. For example, people living in London are working at low income salaries but the cost of living is so higher in contrast. Therefore, it is difficult for these people to have extra money for extra things.

In the introduction, the writer addresses the first part of the question but doesn’t respond to the second part regarding the poor taking responsibility for its own standard of living. There is a punctuation error and some redundancy using the word but. In the second paragraph, the candidate provides a topic sentence and example. The example is quite vague – there is no reference to a specific train station or how rich people could give money to the poor. Instead of using a synonym, the writer uses the word money three times.

The second paragraph is slightly better as the example provided is specific. It refers to London and illustrates the contrast between the cost of living and purchasing power. However, the errors in tense, wrong possessive adjective (his instead of their) and basic, repetitive language will keep the scoring of this essay to a 7.

Let’s turn now to an example of an essay that would have most likely scored a Band 9:

Income and equality is an issue that has plagued civilisation since the beginning of time. Whereas, some societies strongly disagree with “every man for himself” others believe in helping their neighbour. The following essay will cover European approaches using real world examples to support arguments.

plagued civilisation – collocation.
Whereas, – more advanced grammar structure.
“every man for himself” – correct use of idiomatic expression.
helping their neighbour – not exactly an idiomatic expression, but a stylistic way of referring to helping out others.
The following essay … – Signals to the examiner the direction we will take the essay.

Wealth distribution for social ends such as healthcare and education is seen as a basic societal right in Denmark. There are also tremendous benefits for levelling the playing field. For example, a recent study by the University of Copenhagen showed that when the rich were forced into sharing their income amongst the economically challenged, over 70% of the wealthy reported feeling a higher sense of wellbeing afterwards. Therefore, although it is undoubtedly contentious, there are tremendous benefits for rich and poor alike to participate in wealth sharing endeavours.

Wealth distribution – collocation.
social ends – eloquent manner of expression and also less common than other expressions.
economically challenged – variation of language – not consistently using “the poor”.
“levelling the playing field” – appropriate use of a specific idiomatic expression.
rich and poor alike – more sophisticated way to express “both”.

Secondly, evidence from history shows that laying the responsibility with the poor to improve their lot is clearly an erroneous policy. In most humanitarian governmental bodies, scientific reports have proved countless times that the initiative must start with external assistance. For instance, a pilot study showed that when poverty stricken individuals where motivated by more than just themselves i.e external mentors, they had a success rate three times higher than self motivated candidates. Thus, experts generally agree that the most effective humanitarian assistance involves helping one to help themselves, which underscores the common expression “no man is an island”.

laying the responsibility with – sophisticated grammatical structure.
“improve their lot” – very appropriate idiomatic expression because it’s strongly related to wealth.
erroneous policy – more sophisticated than saying “wrong policy”.
humanitarian governmental bodies – topic specific vocabulary.
…. success rate three times higher than self motivated candidates – comparison grammar structure.
“no man is an island” – yet another idiomatic expression from a famous English poem.

To conclude, it is clear that when the rich share their wealth -albeit under duress- they stand to benefit. Furthermore, when the poor gain direct support the help given has a multiplier effect, therefore both actions should be strongly encouraged

-albeit under duress– a very sophisticated way of saying forced.
multiplier effect – collocation.

Each paragraph starts with a topic sentence that clearly defines the writer’s opinion and main ideas. Complex adverb clauses – starting with Whereas and While – are well-structured. Instead of repeating the word obliged, the writer uses synonyms such as required and have a duty to offer a variety of language. The examples in the first and second paragraphs are very specific and clearly develop the main idea.

To conclude, manage your time so you can plan a clear outline, your main ideas and use a variety of language and accurate structures to put together a succinct argument that fully answers the question.

If you want to improve your vocabulary, and start learning more topic specific vocabulary, using Ted Talks and gap fill exercises, then download this massive jumbo PDF of IELTS materials.

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IELTS Success 129 | Joe Jumps to 7.5 in the Writing

In this podcast Joe C shares how he used two score boosting resources for his exam prep.

The first resource was this Online IELTS course where you get plenty of feedback and improvement (includes 8 IELTS essay checks!). The course is probably the fastest way EVER to learn how to get ideas and structure your essay. Find out more about this online IELTS course here: http://ift.tt/1d93w5U

His second tool used for IELTS success was this book. First he downloaded it, and eventually bought it -because it was so good!

Then he did 10 exercises every day for about 3 months!

Joe is a real talker and was a little annoyed when the examiner was cutting him off during the speaking exam, however, I explained that they have very little time, and want to ask you as many questions as possible.

I also shared how these resources can help you get used to the exam, and how listening to mock speaking exams, and mimicking them will improve your fluency. I also shared a great podcast just full of IELTS speaking questions, so you can listen and then answer, and get used to the speed of the speaking exam. You can also get a jumbo sized pdf full of IELTS materials, including around 20 IELTS Speaking cue cards, for free, here.

Have a listen then tell me your thoughts in the comments below.

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VIDEO: Why these essays got Band 8 and these got 6.5

The post VIDEO: Why these essays got Band 8 and these got 6.5 appeared first on IELTS podcast.

IELTS Writing | 128 Extend your essays and improve your vocabulary

Using Lists to Improve the Length and Vocabulary of your IELTS Essay

Among the requirements in your IELTS essay or IELTS Writing Task is the word length and among the criteria for its assessment is vocabulary. We know that sometimes we can find ourselves just short for words, and in an exam, we often don’t get much opportunity to present a better range of vocabulary. Well, here is one way to hit two birds with one stone. You can help improve your essay in both counts by simply using … lists.

Now lists can help a lot with your IELTS writing task but you need to take note that it should be used to extend not the introduction nor the conclusion part of your essay, but to extend the length of the body of your essay. Introductions should present a clear idea of your discussion so this should be brief. Putting lists there would make it too long and it could make it appear vague or unclear. Conclusions, on the other hand, should bring a clear-cut closing of the idea of the whole essay and should not be too long either, which may cause the point to be lost instead. It is in the body of the essay that the lists should be applied because it is what needs to be expanded to provide support on the main idea of your essay.

If you need a guide for writing essays, and feel you would improve with some honest feedback about your essays, then you should get your essays corrected here.

There are four ways to present lists that are outlined here. They are through the use of certain punctuation marks, symbols, and ordinals which we often see and use in our everyday documents:

1) Use of commas
We often use commas, to create a pause in between our speech or thought in oral and written communication. However, commas are also very useful in presenting lists. Below are some examples:
· Traffic congestion charges are becoming increasingly common due to their effectiveness, other measures have had less impact.
In the second sentence a list is added which will boost your lexical resource score by including topic specific vocabulary.
· Traffic congestion charges are becoming increasingly common due to their effectiveness, other measures have had less impact, such as cycle lanes, pedestrianised zones, and time zone limits.· A home gym should have a lot of specific equipment to work and develop each muscle group.
In the second sentence a list is added which will boost your lexical resource score by including topic specific vocabulary.
· In order to work and develop each muscle group a home gym should include a stretch band, dumbbells, a stability ball, an elliptical machine and a treadmill.

By including a list with topic specific vocabulary terms you will also be boosting your lexical resource score considerably.

BONUS TIP:
Try to orientate your answer to a topic you know very well, for example, if you have a question about climate change and you are a doctor then structure your essay around the health dangers of climate change.
Likewise, if you are a software engineer, you may structure your essay around computational technology currently being used to identify erratic weather patterns.
This way you can use all YOUR topic specific vocabulary from your OWN profession.
For a whole pdf of IELTS Materials and bonus tips for improving your writing, then check out this free download.

2) Use of semi-colons
Semi-colons are used in place of commas, in lists where the items listed already have commas in them. Let’s look at the following examples:
· The department heads who received recognition were: Dr. Guillen, Immunology; Dr. Hill, Neurology; Dr. Moreau, Opthlamology; Dr. Ricci, Pediatrics; and Dr. Garcia, Cardiology.
· According to recent surveys, the best places to visit for vacation are Paris, France; Rome, Italy; New York, U.S.A.; Queensland, Australia and London, England.
· Among the top 100 best-selling books in Amazon today are Night by Wiesel, 3rd; Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury, 27th; and Love You Forever by Munsch, 84th.

3) The use of ordinal numbers
The use of ordinals helps a lot in giving the reader an idea where you are exactly in your presentation of items in your list. It clearly gives the picture on what part of the list the item being given is positioned. This is also very useful when the items in the list must follow a certain order. See the examples below:
· Follow these steps in preparing a crepe:
First, combine flour, milk, eggs, butter sugar and salt in a blender.
Second, puree until the mixture becomes smooth.
Third, heat a non-stick pan over medium heat.
and so on.

· Things to remember to have a proper tennis serve: First, assume the platform stance or the pinpoint stance; Second, hold the racquet with a continental grip; Third, remember these words, “loose drop, swing up and pronation”; and so on.
· Among the most worthwhile activities that could be done on the internet these days are:
First, be able to research about almost anything in the world;
Second, be able to create blogs and podcasts and share your gifts to the world; and
Third, be able to connect to old friends and loved ones even from the farthest ends of the globe.

NB: This final method is less for IELTS essays, however, it’s valid for improving your general written communication skills, and more suited for work and everyday environments.

So now you know how to present lists in your essay. But how exactly can this help your performance for the IELTS writing task?

Again there are two benefits that you can derive from creating lists. First is it provides the opportunity to make your essay longer. When you provide a list, as you add to the items in the list, then the better chances you have of increasing your word count.

Second is it provides the opportunity to present a wider range of vocabulary. In a list, you may have items that are words that are commonly used. These words can be expressed using another word that may be more complex or less often used but with a similar meaning. All you need to do is replace the common ones with their more complex synonym. A bit of advice, though, it would help a lot to read many documents in English so that you can be introduced to new words and understand well how they are correctly used in a sentence. And also keep a dictionary handy, a new word encountered will be useless, if you don’t look up its meaning.

So, practise using lists in your essays. Practise each type of developing lists as mentioned above. Practise using uncommon words. Read more documents (in English) to enhance your vocabulary and make sure you look up the meaning of unfamiliar words. Just do this over and over and as many times as you can, and it will surely better your chances of improving your performance and getting a higher band score for your IELTS Writing Tasks.

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127 – Mock IELTS Speaking Exam – Questions and tips.

In this episode you can hear IELTS speaking exam questions and practise your response.

 

You will also learn a lot of tips to help you improve.

 

Here is the speaking cue-card:

Describe where you want to retire.

• Why is this where you want to retire?
• What memories or activities do you want to do once you retire?
• Is this place real?
• Is there a favourite food you will have supplied here?

 

Follow up questions:

Is the cost of retirement too expensive?

Should you be able to retire as a young adult?

Did you lose any money from your retirement when the economy fell?

How much do you want to save up for retirement?

How much does the average person in your country save up for retirement?

Is retirement difficult in certain countries or areas?

 

|Download | Stitcher | iTunes |

If the IELTS Speaking exam makes you nervous or you just want to improve your fluency, have a look at the IELTS Speaking Confidence Course here.

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