General tips for the IELTS Writing Task 1 and Task 2 papers

Today, we're going to look at some specific tips relating to both the IELTS writing tasks.

General tips for Task 1 IELTS Academic Writing

You have just been told that it is time to start writing and you turn over the page ......

DO NOT START WRITING.

The first thing you must always do - without exception - is study your task. You need to have an idea of what it is about.

MAKE A PLAN! With a good plan, your writing will happen far more easily.

For a bar graph, pie chart, table or graph

• Check to see if it mentions any months/years - is it in the past, present and/or future? Why do you need to do this? This will determine which grammatical tenses you will need to use.
• What's the highest, lowest, most, least, biggest, fastest.....make sure you cover everything.
• Check if there are any figures - what are they? Dollars, pounds, metres, miles, percentages - make sure you mention what they are.
• Only write about what you see. For example, if you see a chart about four countries who recycle goods in a certain way, make sure you don't start writing about how great it is to see goods being recycled, or how more countries should be recycling, etc. Never write about anything you simply cannot see on the task in front of you.

For flow charts

• Identify the beginning and the end of the process, and how many stages there are.
• Make sure you cover each step of the process.
• Try to vary your vocabulary to what you see on the process chart, as long as it is relevant, and also use different grammatical tenses if relevant, and also the passive voice to give variety in your writing.

You must write an overview for Task 1 Academic Writing.

General tips for Task 1 IELTS General Training Writing

A lot of candidates taking IELTS General Training may not have written a letter in a very long time. It is really important to brush up on your letter-writing skills!

You have just been told that it is time to start writing and you turn over the page ......

DO NOT START WRITING.

Read the task and make sure you understand what you are being asked to do. There is no point doing a task that tells you to write a letter of complaint to your professor if you are going to write a letter as if you were writing to your best friend. You need to know if you will be writing a formal letter or an informal letter.

• You need to mention all three bullet points - do not forget this! Use a separate paragraph for each of the three bullet points, that way you know you've covered them all.
• Always start and finish your letter with Dear.......Yours sincerely/faithfully etc....ALWAYS!
• If the task asks you not to write your address (and it always does), then DON'T write it. You won't lose marks.....but why would you want to waste your limited time?
• Make sure you don't spend longer than 20 minutes on Task 1 - that time should include reading, planning, writing and checking! And just as important - do not write more than around 175 words!

General tips for Task 2 IELTS Writing

As with Task 1, read the question carefully and then make a plan!

There are different types of IELTS Writing Task 2 questions, and you need to fully understand what type of question you are going to write about.

The five most common IELTS Writing Task 2 questions are:

1. Opinion - you are asked to agree or disagree with a topic, therefore you need to know whether or not you mostly agree or disagree.
2. Advantages and disadvantages - you need to write about both the advantages and the disadvantages.
3. Problem and solution - The question will come in two parts. The first is about the problem, and the second will be about resolving it. Make sure your solutions relate to the problems you have mentioned.
4. Discussion - These types of IELTS questions ask you to write about two opposing opinions AS WELL AS your own opinion. Do not forget to write about your own opinion in this kind of question!
5. Two part question - make sure you answer both parts, and try to answer them equally.

If your question asks you about the advantages and disadvantages of a particular topic, you wouldn't write about what you agree or disagree with, so make sure you know the type of question you are dealing with.

As with Task 1, only write about what you have been asked to write about.

You must write a conclusion for Task 2 IELTS Writing.

Make sure you don't spend longer than 40 minutes on Task 2 - that time should include reading, planning, writing and checking! And just as important - do not write more than around 275 words!