5 ways to boost your IELTS Writing scores

We at Career Care meet students preparing for IELTS from all over the world. It is interesting to observe that, some of the mistakes in the Writing section are similar. The cultural background of the students doesn’t matter much. Based on our observations, we have shortlisted 5 ways to boost your IELTS writing scores. These tricks can work for anyone.

1. Use correct paragraphing

Appropriate paragraphing is an essential aspect of writing. In our classroom coaching sessions, we have observed that most of the students end up writing too many or too few points in a paragraph. Such essays create 2 problems. First, the examiner cannot understand your piece of writing. Second, he or she cannot determine whether you have understood the task. We recommend the following structure of the essay for the students.

• Introduction

• Body Paragraph 1 | Explain first side | 2 points + 1 example

• Body Paragraph 2 | Explain second side | 2 points + 1 example

• End | Summarise the points and give an opinion if asked

2. Put your points and explanations in the correct order

One of the most important parts of writing with coherence is an organization of the ideas. Proper organization of the ideas help people paint a mental picture. It helps in understanding and evaluating an idea. So students can organise ideas can be based on many criteria. Following are a few important ones

Organization by Grouping

Ideas in writing can be organized by grouping them into relevant groups. Such grouping helps the reader paint a mental picture of what is being described.

It is interesting to visit foreign countries. You can meet new people. You can eat different kinds of food. It is expensive. You can see the way other people live.

In the above paragraph, all ideas are relevant to the main idea ‘It is interesting to visit foreign countries’. But, the idea ‘It is expensive’ opposite to the main idea.

Organization by Time

Time sequence or chronology explains an important role in writing or reporting events. It gives a factual account of incidents in a way which can be easily understood and examined.

I had a terrible Sunday. First, I woke up an hour late because my alarm clock in mobile failed as mobile was discharged. Then, I was in such a hurry that I burned my hand when I was making breakfast. After breakfast, I rushed for the Soccer practice. I feel that everyone should play soccer in life. As I reached the bus stop, I realized, I had forgotten my wallet at my desk. I sprinted back home and collected the wallet. I had to wait for 20 minutes as bus frequency on Sunday is comparatively rare. By the time I reached the ground, my friends were almost halfway through the practice. My coach was angry. After practice, on my way back, I first went to the supermarket to buy groceries and then to laundry to pick up my clothes.

While, reading the above paragraph, the sentence, ‘I feel that everyone should play soccer in life’ distracts the attention. Other sentences build a nice account of the unfortunate Sunday of the author.

Organization by Order of Importance

It is very important to recognize the order of importance while discussing events, logical ideas, consequence, or lists. This arrangement allows a reader to rate the important points at the start.

There are many ways to learn a new language. The best way is to talk with native speakers. One way is to spend a lot of time watching television and listening to the radio. Another way is to take classes at a language school or university.

If ways of learning languages are arranged in order of importance, it is very easy to recognize best practices to learn a new language.

3. Give correct examples

Examples from Knowledge:

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 75% of Indians are likely to catch Dengue during monsoons.

Above example is acceptable as it has verifiable statistics with a reliable source of information.

Indians are likely to catch Dengue during monsoons.

This statement is a sweeping generalization which means all Indians may catch Dengue while it is a very distinct possibility.

4. DON’T worry too much about hi-fi vocabulary

In IELTS, avoid repetition of the words instead of worrying about hi-fi vocabulary. To give an illustration, ‘increase’ is a word which is used and repeated many times in speaking as well as writing. But, you may recall many synonyms such as gain, expand, extend, elongate, enhance, grow, hike, rise etc.

At the same time, it is important to use words precisely. This aspect insists upon the apt usage of the words and hence requires you to study familiar words well.

For example, expand and grow are used to indicate ‘increase in all directions’. Whereas grow is preferred for living things while expand for non-living.

• The trees grow.

• The business expands.

In classrooms, I usually talk about the fact that Canada or USA or any other country, where you wish to immigrate, is not search for ‘next Shakespeare’. They are looking for regular people who can sustain in an English-speaking environment. So, don’t worry too much about it.

5. Ensure correct usage of tenses

While writing an essay due attention must be paid to the tenses. Though many tenses have similar applications, you should use how to use them well.

These steps have been helpful to our students to score a guaranteed 7+bands on IELTS.