IELTS Academic Writing Course: Task 1

Useful advice for success in any IELTS writing exam.

Considering your use of contractions is an easy first step to improve your formal writing style, something needed for both IELTS academic writing tasks 1 and 2.

• If it can’t be read it can’t be marked!
• Use simple lettering
• Avoid cursive writing unless it is clear.
• These letters are commonly confused:

  
  

  • a, o, and u
  • n and r
  • m and n
• Practise, practise, practise writing by hand and within the time for the task.

By the end of this lecture you will have an in depth understanding of what paraphrasing is, how you can practise it and why you need to do it.

Here are some tips for paraphrasing:

• Use synonyms to make your writing more interesting and to demonstrate knowledge of range of vocabulary.
• Use a variety of time phrases. 
• Change the word order.

Examples

Modern technology is changing the lives of people around the world.

Nowadays, people across the globe are able to live very different lives thanks to technology.

These two examples both have a similar meaning but use the following tricks to avoid repetition:

• synonyms for the key words and time phrases, 
• a change in the word order

How to practise paraphrasing:

• Use a thesaurus or word processor.
• Use model questions and practise paraphrasing when writing answers.
• Use model answers to identify paraphrases used by others.

You can use Google Drive or Thesaurus.com to identify useful synonyms.

Why do we need to use paraphrases?

• Helps you to broaden your English usage and understanding.

• Encourages critical thinking.

• Demonstrates an ability to acknowledge the work of others.

A quick guide for timing of your IELTS academic writing tasks. This is based on weighting of the two IELTS academic writing tasks and suggests splitting your time accordingly.

After this lecture you should have a clear understanding of what task 1 involves.

After this lecture you should have a clear of how to write a paraphrase sentence in task 1. 

• Demonstrate an understanding of the essay requirements.

• Use synonyms to restate the essay question.

Example scenario

The graphs below give information about computer ownership as a percentage of the population between 2002 and 2010, and by level of education for the years 2002 and 2010.

Example paraphrase

The bar charts show data about computer ownership, with a further classification by level of education, from 2002 to 2010.

N.B. A good paraphrase sentence is essential for getting a Band 7.

Watch the lecture titled paraphrasing for more on how to paraphrase effectively.

After this lecture you should have a clear understanding of paragraph 2 the overview.

By the end of this lecture you will have learned about the different language you can use in the 3rd and 4th paragraphs of task 1.

This is the method I always recommend to students - 3 techniques to remember which can save you time and increase your IELTS band.

A key part of improving your IELTS academic writing band is to look at different ways of expanding your vocabulary. This video shows you how to start using a variety of word forms for talking about graphs and charts.

To go the opposite way in a trend, we also need to cover the movement down. This lecture builds on previous vocabulary and provides nouns and verbs for a downward trend. 

The next technique mentioned for dealing with task 1 data is the language of extremes. This lecture guides you through making these sentences and how to do it for a strong IELTS score.

To add another dimension to your data analysis, surprising points can help you to improve your IELTS band. This lecture details language to help you with them.

Stand out from the IELTS crowd and use language to show surprising points from the data given to you in task 1. Not many students do this - here's how to do it well!

Let me guide you through the first steps to answering a free task 1 practice question - this is how I would start!

This follows on from the previous video lecture on the example question about computer ownership.

One thing you should do before leaving!