Students' questions

1. Is it ok to use quotations by famous people in my task 2 essay?

I wouldn't recommend using quotations. Unless you have thousands of them in your head, it's unlikely that you'll remember a relevant one. The examiner is likely to judge a quotation as 'memorised language'.

2. How do examiners know whether I'm using 'memorised language'?

All of the language in your brain is memorised, so I should explain this properly. The examiner would be impressed by a memorised phrase like "greenhouse gas emissions contribute to global warming", if the question asked you to explain an environmental problem. However, examiners are not impressed by the kind of phrase that students think they can use for any question e.g. "This is a controversial issue that has led to heated debate among people on both sides". Can you see the difference?

3. Can you help me with apostrophes (e.g. student's or students')?

You really need a grammar website for help with that. Try this one.

4. Should we use different language in the speaking and writing tests?

You can use some less formal language in the speaking test. Here's an example.

Comments

[Zeynep]

Dear Simon,

I got my results.. and I am so happy
L:5.5,R:6.5,W:7,S:4.5,O:6
This was my 2nd attempt. First time I got L=5.5,R=5.5,W=5.5,S=5,O=5,5
I was expecting slightly higher in speaking but anyway, I needed a band 6 to apply for master education and I got that.I did just a lot of writing and reading(one month), and I followed Simon's advice. I'm so glad. Just wanted to say thank you for your website. Using your writing techniques I lifted my writing score from 5,5 to 7.

Thanks

Zeynep

[orhan]

you said above that you just did a lot of writing and reading... please share your writing experinece with me... I desperately need writing practice but I dont know how to improve my writing namely, what resourcs did you benefit from? I shall be waiting for you reponse.... Saygilarimla....

[orhan]

I apologize for forgetting to write your name...Zeynep...

[orhan]

Dear Simon, I need your help about writing task 2 as usual...What do you think about how I can improve my writing task 2, especially in terms of ideas as I have difficulties about lack of ideas... At the same time some people say that I must do practice most... Whenever I began to write any essay I meet lack of ideas and then I leave writing... Currently, I try to read many essays from different resources... is it enough for me ?

[Vita]

Dear Simon,

I have a very important question about Writing Task 1.

When I started to prepare IELTS, my sister, who has more experience, told me that we shouldn't write anything that the given information doesn't show. Something like the causes or predictions. So I have been following this rule.

Today while I practiced the Writing Task 1 in Cambridge IELTS6 Test4, I struggled to put it in the structure that you taught us.

1. introduction
2. overview
3. details
4. details

Because, there are two bar charts showing different information. It reads strange that I mentioned overall trends from each chart in paragraph 2 and wrote details in latter paragraphs. The focus jumped from the top chart to bottom chart, then back to the top chart, and then back to the bottom chart again.

Then I discover an article online relating this problem:
http://www.examenglish.com/IELTS/ielts_writing_task1_How_to_respond_to_2_data_sources.htm

The structure is good but the instructor is encouraging students to write the causes!! "Baby-boomers" is totally not a given information. Now I'm totally confused, was my sister wrong regarding this issue?

I'm sorry for my long description. However, there are 2 main points of my question.

1. Do we allowed to write things that aren't showed by the given information?
2. How to write essay when given 2 data sources like the mentioned practice in Cambridge IELTS6?

Thank you very much!
Vita

[Zara]

Hi Simon
I want to achieve band 8 in writing and need your guidance about some very basic grammatical issues. Can you please advise me how can i rectify these mistakes as i know that you are penalised more if you commit basic mistakes. My issue is appropriate use of articles and i feel really confused as to where i should use 'the' and sometimes i'm unable to identify that singular countable nouns need a determiner. Can you please suggest some website where i can gain more information about this area.
It would be great to hear from you.
Regards

[Kim]

Hi Simon,

I am little bit confused with the use of Sale and Sales. Please tell me which sentence is correct and where and when do we use sale or sales?

1) Sale of coffee and tea increases.
2) Sales of coffee and tea increase.

Thanks
Kim

[Zeynep]

Hi Orhan,

I just follwed Simon's lessons and did all of Cambridge writing task 1 exercises, and developed ideas and wrote main paragraphs for writing task 2. You said that you have difficulties about improving ideas, my advise is that you should know common topics like education, crime, tourism, advertising etc. Also you need ideas and good vocabulary.if you are preaperad to all of these common topics, you will get a good result. Good luck to you.

[orhan]

Thanks Zeynep...good luck to you as well....

[Monica]

Hi Simon,
I am confused about the example u gave about the 'memorised language' as in the example,

'The examiner would be impressed by a memorised phrase like "greenhouse gas emissions contribute to global warming", if the question asked you to explain an environmental problem. '

Could you explain this more specifically?

Thank you!

[ZeynepS]

Dear Simon,

Next month I will sit an IELTS test for academical purpose. However, although I have been reading through your blog, I still feel too inexperienced at some points.

My concerns are mostly about writing. And here is my question;

Even if it is the academic module, is it fine to give personal examples?

For instance, there is this topic "It is generally believed that some people are born with certain talents, for instance for sports or music, and others are not. However, it is sometimes claimed that any child can be taught to become a good sports person or musician. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion."

For this topic, I first gave an example of Mozart as a child prodigy, and then explained my failure to get painting as a hobby and my really bad skills for it. Is it fine to write so much personal examples? Or is it better to write it in a more formal way?

Thanks a lot!

[Harpreet]

Hello Simon,

I have benefited a lot from your techniques esp in listening though I have less time to prepare
I got L 7.5 R 6.0 S 6.0 and W 6.0 with overall 6.5 General training.

Please tell me what I can do to achieve 7 in all four modules as I need atleast 7 in all. In reading I was expecting 8 or plus. Please help me what strategy I should adopt to improve.

Thanking you in anticipation.