IELTS Focus blog. Tips and advice on getting Band 7+

How to write an IELTS opinion essay

December 5, 2019May 28, 2019 by Ray IELTS Focus

IELTS opinion essay: structure, model answer and analysis.

There are 5 types of essay in IELTS writing task 2 and a common one is an opinion essay.

So how do you know if it is an opinion essay?. You will need to study the instruction words. These words tell you what you should write about. This should be the first step to take before you even begin to plan. Analyse the task and especially the instruction words so you do not go off-topic or write another essay altogether.

Here are 2 essay tasks below, which one do you think is the opinion essay?

What’s the difference between ‘affect’ and ‘effect’?

December 3, 2019May 19, 2019 by Ray IELTS Focus

Using vocabulary precisely in IELTS is very important for getting a high score in lexical resource. Affect and effect are often used incorrectly even by native speakers!

Let’s look at the difference between these and how can they be used in a sentence accurately.

They are not exactly synonyms, they are homophones, which means they sound the same but are spelt differently. There are some exceptions when affect can be used as a verb or effect used as a noun, but generally speaking, these are the rules below:

Affect is a verb – Effect is a noun

IELTS Writing Task 1: Using prepositions correctly

July 30, 2019April 12, 2019 by Ray IELTS Focus

How to use prepositions in IELTS writing task 1 academic.

It is very important to get prepositions right in this part of the exam. I often see prepositions mistakes when I am marking task 1 reports and this is a particular issue when describing dynamic data.

Word count for IELTS writing tasks

August 14, 2019March 11, 2019 by Ray IELTS Focus

What is the ideal word count for IELTS writing?

This is a common question many IELTS candidates have but there seems to be misinformation out on the internet about word count in the IELTS writing section.

In fact, you can actually lose marks if the writing is under word count. Here are some examples of what I have heard about the word count in IELTS essays and writing task 1.

True False Not Given: Useful technique

July 30, 2019February 26, 2019 by Ray IELTS Focus

TFNG: Changing the statements into questions

True False Not Given and Yes No Not Given questions are some of the most challenging for IELTS candidates. However, there is a technique you can use to successfully answer these questions which is to change the statement into a question. Actually, the IELTS reading test is really about how good your vocabulary is, such as your ability to understand synonyms and your paraphrasing skills.

What’s more important? grammatical range or accuracy?

September 10, 2019February 21, 2019 by Ray IELTS Focus

Let’s take a look at grammatical range and accuracy in IELTS writing.

Many IELTS test takers think that they need to have a wide range of grammar for a high score in grammatical range and accuracy in the writing section. This is only partly true. If you have a wide range of grammar but it is not accurate then it will not score very high.

My advice is to focus on accuracy rather than range at the start and when you get confident with accuracy you develop your range of grammar. You need to think of the reader when writing and essay. If you are just trying to impress the examiner then you are not considering the overall coherence of the essay. Keep it concise and simple. Of course, if you have a consistently wide range of grammar with good accuracy then you are well on the way to a Band 7 or more.

IELTS Speaking part 2 Structure

July 30, 2019February 8, 2019 by Ray IELTS Focus

Give your talk a structure to help you achieve a higher Band score.

In IELTS speaking part 2, you have to talk for 2 minutes on a particular topic. The examiner gives you a cue card with 1 minute preparation time to make notes.

It is important to have a structure in this part of the speaking as 2 minutes is actually a long time to talk non stop, even I would find that a challenge!

The way to make this easier is to structure your talk. Remember that you really need to develop your speech like you are telling a story. This is very important for a higher band score.

Giving effective examples in IELTS essays.

July 30, 2019January 8, 2019 by Ray IELTS Focus

How to write specific examples in IELTS essay body paragraphs.

In writing task 2 it is very important to be able to extend your ideas and explain your main points with examples in IELTS essay body paragraphs. This can be done with supporting points and most importantly, specific examples. This is necessary to get a good band score in task response and helps with the overall cohesion of the essay. By using examples the examiner can clearly see how you are developing your main idea in the main body paragraphs. However, the examples given must be specific to the task question and your main idea and they should also be clear, easy to follow and concise.

7 model answers: IELTS writing task 2

August 27, 2019December 9, 2018 by Ray IELTS Focus

ielts model answers writing task 2 — A model answer for each type of IELTS essay

An IELTS essay is a ‘discursive essay’ where you may have to discuss an issue, give an opinion, explain the advantages or disadvantages, write about problems or causes of problems and give solutions. There are 5 variations to an IELTS discursive essay. In this blog post, there are 7 model answers for IELTS writing task 2. These are based on essays my students have written with help from me to correct them and make them more concise and clear.

IELTS academic writing task 1: Table on consumer expenditure

July 30, 2019November 9, 2018 by Ray IELTS Focus

Model answer and analysis of a table in IELTS writing task 1.

Tables sometimes show up in IELTS academic writing task 1. In some cases, they are in a double task such as a pie chart and table or a bar graph and table. In this lesson, we have a table on its own with a lot of data. This is taken from Cambridge IELTS 7, page 30, it is a popular example of a table for IELTS teachers.

Before writing anything you will need to analyse the task. Take around 4 minutes to plan, look at the categories, the countries, the year and the highest and lowest statistics. The grammar tense is important to get right too, you can see below that the table shows data from 2002, so I will write in the past tense.