IELTS Advice: expose your weaknesses

In last Sunday's lesson I suggested that you identify and work on your weaknesses. It's not always easy to identify your own weaknesses, so here are three tips to help you to expose them:

1. Break each part of the test into smaller tasks. For example, you could spend time working on multiple choice questions in the reading test, idea generation for speaking part 2 (see yesterday's lesson), trend descriptions for writing task 1, or main body paragraphs for writing task 2. If you practise "small pieces" of the test, it's likely that you'll discover which "pieces" are problematic.
2. Put yourself under pressure. Some people only discover their weaknesses on the day of their real IELTS tests. A good way to create this kind of pressure at home is to give yourself less time than normal. For example, you could try to write a task 2 essay in just 30 minutes, finish a reading test in 50 minutes, or do a full listening test with no breaks (i.e. fast forward the recording every time there is a break). Going too quickly will expose your weak points, and then you can go back and analyse them.
3. Ask a teacher. If nothing else seems to work, you'll need to get some feedback from a teacher. Ask your teacher to identify the main weaknesses that are stopping you from getting a higher score.

Note: Be careful with point 2 above. It's fine to test yourself or "go too quickly" occasionally, as a way to expose weaknesses, but you should spend most of your time preparing slowly and carefully.

Comments

[Zain]

Can we start a sentence with coordinating conjunctions, like: and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet ?
please answer.

[Mojo]

@Zain

On google books, there are sentences which begin with: and,but,yet,or,nor. They much more common in fiction.

No statistic for "so", but presumably similar.

Simon sometimes does this. For example: But is time.../Or just take....

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2018/03/ielts-reading-try-this-time-experiment.html#comments

In the IELTS exam itself, it might be safer to avoid beginning sentences with coordinating conjunctions, as this usage could be too dramatic, theatrical or emphatic for academic writing.

"For" as a conjunction meaning "because" is rare in modern English, and marked formal in some dictionaries. It can sound stilted, so safer to avoid this usage in the IELTS exam.

https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/for

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=_START_+But%2C_START_+And%2CBut%3Aeng_fiction_2012%2C_START_+Nor%2C_START_+Or%2C_START_+Yet%2C_START_+If%2C_START_+However%2C_START_+Although%2CAnd%3Aeng_fiction_2012&year_start=1960&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2C_START_%20But%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2C_START_%20And%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CBut%3Aeng_fiction_2012%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2C_START_%20Nor%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2C_START_%20Or%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2C_START_%20Yet%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2C_START_%20If%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2C_START_%20However%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2C_START_%20Although%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CAnd%3Aeng_fiction_2012%3B%2Cc0

[Raju]

There are basically 5 or 6 types of task 2 problems and they are….

1. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
2. Discuss both views and give your opinion.
3. What are the drawbacks and suggest solutions?
4. Discuss advantages and disadvantages
5. Do the merits outweigh the demerits?
6. Is this positive or negative advancements?

Now, how can I organize those essay problems? Where I should give my opinion and where I should not?

I need a brief outline to arrange my essay problems. Simon’s links are highly required.

Thanks.

[DaNang]

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2018/01/ielts-writing-task-2-confused-about-question-types.html

[Jen]

Hi Simon,

Can I use it.

the numberS of students in class A and class B were equal at 20 in 1990.

[DaNang]

@Jen

The phrases "number of men were equal" and "numbers of men were equal" hardly come up at all on Google books.

The phrases "were equal numbers" and "had equal numbers" do come up:

https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=%22were+equal+numbers+of+men%22

https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=%22had+equal+numbers+of+men%22

So I would suggest:
There were equal numbers of students (20) in Class A and Class B in 1990.
Class A and Class B had equal numbers of students ...
Class A and Class B both had twenty students in 1990.

[DaNang]

https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&ei=2onAWqniCMb88gX557uoDQ&q=%22had+an+equal+number+of+men%22&oq=%22had+an+equal+number+of+men%22&gs_l=psy-ab.3...246947.250713.0.252962.4.4.0.0.0.0.248.445.0j1j1.2.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..2.0.0....0.mnYsZMFR0_I

[Jen]

@DaNang: thank you so much ^^

[Klaus]

PARAPHRASING

Just to check my understanding: paraphrasing is often needed to:

1) To avoid copying the question in Task 1 and 2
2) In Task 2, to avoid repetition in the conclusion of phrases in the introduction (thesis).

Apart from the above, it is fine to repeat key words from the question, as Simon does here (repeating "recycling" ten times):
http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2017/11/ielts-writing-task-2-recycling-essay.html#comments

Also, there is no general requirement to paraphrase absolutely everything.

[Raju]

@DaNang

Shall I give my opinion though opinion is required or mention in task 2 problem?

[DaNang]

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2013/05/ielts-writing-task-2-when-to-give-your-opinion.html

[Zain]

Thank you @Mojo :)