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November 2009

IELTS advice from Band 9 achiever – Part 5, Writing tips.

Today I am sharing with you some good tips that Debashis used in his IELTS Writing exam. There is one clarification though, before we move on – not many IELTS test centers allow using pencils for the Writing tasks. The one Debashis took his test in, in the UK, obviously did allow pencils, however in my experience the majority of test centers make people use pens in the Writing section.

IELTS Writing – General tips.

Key points – Write in pencil if possible (easier to erase for corrections), and carry a good stock of words to avoid constant sharpening. Use a good stock of words, and minimise spelling mistakes.

1. I carried a red pen with me for annotation, but decided to WRITE THE LETTER AND ESSAY IN PENCIL, as it is easier to erase a line. Carry a good supply of pencils and erasers to avoid having to sharpen them. I took the ones with ‘press-down tips’, basically a long piece of graphite inside a plastic coating, which is clicked to enable a nib to emerge each time it erodes.

2. Needless to say, have a good stock of words and minimise spelling mistakes (click here to read how).

3. What are the factors that make a person look beautiful? These will be the same elements that will make your letter and essay appear beautiful. The four components are :

(a) skeleton (structure)

(b) muscles / fat (content)

(c) skin (wrapping)

(d) balance (harmony)

If any one factor weakens, the overall appeal falls. Someone with lustrous skin may lose attraction if they are too thin or large. A muscular person will have less charm with sagging skin.

Finally, individually beautiful parts that fail to integrate will make your construction appear piece-meal, like a Picasso painting, or someone with flawless Nordic skin on one half of her face and beautiful Mediterranean skin on the other!!

IELTS advice from Band 9 achiever – Part 4, Reading tips.

In this post you will find some really good tips that helped Debashis get Band 9 in his IELTS Reading exam. Enjoy!

I carried a red pen with me, which was invaluable.

Key points – Scan the ‘reading sections’ and ‘questions’, and decide the sections you will answer first. After picking a section, read the questions relating to it in detail, then read the section in detail. While reading, underline and annotate them with key words in bold red for easy reference. Quick referencing is vital.

1. We received 4 reading sections. I rapidly scanned through all 4 sections and questions to identify the easier sections, and then tackled them in that order.

2. After selecting a section, I read it’s questions in detail, underlying key words in a red pen, and summarising it in 2-3 words in bold red next to it. For e.g. if the question was “how many times did the explorer Captain Scott return to England after his first trip”, I would write next to it in red “RETURN UK > 1st ?”. This helps in quick referral to the question when studying the main body.

3. I then went back to the reading section, studying it in detail, and annotating it with my red pen. For e.g., if there were ten paragraphs, I would write in bold red what the paragraph related to right next to it. This assists in quickly determining the likely paragraph a question relates to. I further underlined the possible answers, a task made easy as I could rapidly and readily read questions from their red summary in 3.2.

OVERALL – I found this module easy, as though I did not get time to practice, I am accustomed to reading large reports. I finished half-way through, and then proceeded to check my answers, twice. I noted with satisfaction that I did not need to change a single answer on revision. I got grade 9.