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Before we begin, there is something else you need to know. In the recent post about the difference between formal and informal writing styles there was a mistake. Although it was caught and fixed almost immediately on the website, the erroneous version was sent to your emails before we could stop it. To clarify, the words “children”, “many” and “much” are formal equivalents of informal “kids”, “a lot of” and “heaps of”. My apologies, if the previous email confused you.

And now to the common mistake in the IELTS Writing test. As you may know, there are 2 tasks, Writing Task 1 and Task 2, and for both Academic and General Training modules Task 1 is shorter (150 words) than Task 2 (250 words). Often people decide to write the Task 2 first, before writing Task 1. No problem so far, but we are getting to the really important bit.

It is essential that you pay attention to the Answer Sheet and write your answers in the right places. There are 2 marked spaces on the Answer Sheet that you get in the Writing test, one says “Task 1″ and the other says “Task 2″. To avoid confusing the examiner who will check your work, you need to make sure that the the essay is written under “Task 2″ and the report (for Academic) or the letter (for General Training) – under Task 1.

If worse comes to worst and you’ve mixed the two spaces, don’t panic. First, finish writing your tasks – wherever you’ve started to write, don’t worry about the wrong places, just take care of the contents and the paragraphing as usual. After the Writing test is over you can ask staff at the test center to affix a note to your work explaining where each task is. It will help the examiner locate the right task and your score won’t suffer.

Good luck with your exam!

Many of you have asked me about the difference between formal and informal writing in IELTS and this tells me that it’s a common problem. So here is what you need to know about the styles of writing in IELTS.

If you are preparing for the Academic IELTS module, both Task 1 and Task 2 in the Writing test are formal. For General Training candidates, Task 2 in Writing is always formal, and Task 1 can be formal or informal.

As you know, Task 1 for GT module is a letter, and if the topic asks you to write to someone you know, that is an informal letter – as opposed to writing to someone you don’t know, which is formal.

The difference between formal and informal styles is mainly in the vocabulary. Informal words are the ones used in everyday conversations and formal are used in books, contracts, business letters and essays. If the task requires formal writing – avoid using informal vocabulary. If the task requires informal writing, such as a letter to a friend, avoid using formal ‘heavy’ words.

Apart from the vocabulary in formal writing it is best to avoid words like “I”, “you”, “we”, unless you are expressing an opinion. For example in an essay instead of writing “You would find it difficult to get a job without proper qualifications”, write something like “One would find it difficult to find a job without proper qualifications”, or you could write “Finding a job without proper qualifications would be rather difficult”.

For those of you who don’t live in an English speaking country and don’t speak English on daily basis it will be difficult to tell the difference between formal and informal vocabulary, which is why I compiled this short list of words. You could memorize it and use in your writing while practicing – this way the chances you will use the correct word in the exam increase.