General Writing IELTS Task 1 - Letter writing - Introduction

As the General IELTS is becoming more common among employees working for organisations and for immigration purposes, here is some information especially for them.

TASK 1 LETTER WRITING.

You will always get a letter to write in Task 1 of the General IELTS examination.  The letter could be formal or informal and you need to be able to adjust your writing style and tone accordingly.

You have to write at least 150 words, if you write less than 150 words you will start losing marks.  On the other hand, if you write too much you may lose marks as you will probably make more mistakes.  Try to keep to a maximum of 175 words.

The instructions will tell you who to write your letter to and there are THREE bulleted points that you must fully address.

There are generally two types of letter that you will come across in Task 1, either an informal letter to a friend or a formal letter asking for assistance from an organisation, writing to a magazine or newspaper, applying for a job, letter giving advice etc. 

How do you start a informal letter?

In an  informal letter the language is friendly and shows a clear relationship between the writer and reader such as: "Hi Bob, how are you? We haven't been in contact for such a long time!  How is your family? etc.

On the other hand,  a formal letter would be direct and to the point.  Expect to start with something like "I am writing in reference to...."; "Could you please...."

IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 - getting started

IELTS ACADEMIC WRITING TASK 2

Before we start, let’s review what was mentioned in the introduction for IELTS Academic Writing Task2:

1)      You must write at least 250 words

2)      Approximately 40 minutes to write the essay

3)      Understand the question asked

4)      Understand all parts of the question/statement

5)      Brainstorm ideas

6)      Plan your essay
7)   Four to five paragraph essay

8)      Write essay

9)      CHECK your essay!!

Ok, let’s have a look at a question.  Analyse the question first of all and think what you have been asked to do.

Some people say that governments need to do more to prevent damage to the environment. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

1. Understand the question: This question specifically asks for your view on whether governments need to do more to protect the environment.  DO NOT talk about climate change, global warming etc as the question is asking what governments need to do.
2. Plan: What is your position in this essay? Have a look at the following approaches and decide which is most appropriate for you:

•     Agree: governments need to do more and give reasons to explain your ideas
•     Disagree: governments do not need to do more and give reasons to explain your ideas
•    Both sides: discuss that governments are doing things which is not enough and that they could  do more

The following is an essay structure for the first argument (agree with the statement).

INTRODUCTION

•   A lot of damage done to the environment by manufacturing industries.
•   Terrible consequences on the planet. 
•   In my opinion, governments must do more to prevent this.

BODY PARAGRAPH 1

•   Governments should force pollution taxes on polluting companies.
•   Encourage companies to change their polluting practices.

BODY PARAGRAPH 2

•   Tough penalties for polluting companies.
•   Hold companies responsible for the damage they cause.

BODY PARAGRAPH 3

•  Governments should educate about harmful effects to the environment.
•  Increase awareness and people will respond and take action to prevent damaging effects.

CONCLUSION

•  Highlight previous points already stated.
•  Climate change a result of damage.
•  Serious effects for everyone around the globe. 

 Now you have a plan on how to write this essay.  Why don't you try writing this essay and posting it on the blog. Let's try some peer-to-peer checking for this essay.

Good luck!
 

IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 outline

For writing Task 1, you have 20 minutes to write the essay and you must write at least 150 words. 

 The essay is marked on four categories:

1.       Task Achievement

2.       Coherence and Cohesion

3.       Lexical Resource (vocabulary)

4.       Grammatical Range and Accuracy

Let’s explore these in a little bit more detail.

1.       Task Achievement: Did you address the task, did you answer all parts of the questions, did you write 150 words, and is your essay set out in paragraphs with a clear introduction, body paragraphs and a clear conclusion.  Is there a clear overview of the main trends? 

2.       Coherence & Cohesion: Your information must be set out logically and that your ideas connect (using a range of connectors) and flow, clearly stating which direction your essay is going.

3.       Lexical Resource: Here is your ability to use a wide range of vocabulary to explain exactly what you mean.  You should be able to use a good range of vocabulary without having to repeat your vocabulary over and over again, for example: number, figure, percentage.

4.       Grammatical Range and Accuracy: You have to be able to demonstrate your grammatical ability by using simple and complex grammatical structures and your sentences as error-free as possible.

Before you even start writing consider the following:

IELTS Academic Writing Tasks Overview

IELTS test format

Academic writing Task 1

 

There are 2 writing tasks for the Academic and General tests. Total time is 60 minutes.

For the Academic IELTS exam, writing task 1 is 20 minutes and you have to write 150 words. You should aim to write at least 150 up to a maximum of 175 words.

You are given a table, graph, picture or some kind of visual information in which you need to write a report explaining the details in written form. Your ideas and explanations must be coherent and cohesive as you will be marked on these. Also grammar, vocabulary and most importantly if you have given an overall statement to the question are taken into consideration in your writing.

Academic writing Task 2

In the second writing task you have to write at least 250 words, the range should be between 240 and 275 words.

A topic is presented to you and you have to write about it. There is no right or wrong answer to this but you do have to produce an essay that follows a cohesive and coherent argument.