The IELTS Writing test: a common mistake
Before we begin, there is something else you need to know. In the recent post about the difference between the 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 in 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 spaces, 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!
Get a self study book, for Academic click here, for General here.
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Pingback by Tweets that mention IELTS Writing: a common mistake | IELTS-Blog -- Topsy.com — May 14, 2010 @ 5:11 am
Is it true if we add a quote in the essay, our mark is considerably increased?
Comment by Anna Lee — May 14, 2012 @ 7:04 pm
I think that the thing they mentioned, “the 4cs” is a very good example
Comment by A — September 20, 2012 @ 6:20 am
Thanks dear your advises are great
Comment by Academy Of Languages — October 21, 2018 @ 2:32 am
May be … If quote is related , increase score band
Comment by Jay Patel — June 24, 2019 @ 1:55 am
Thank you so much
Comment by Satinder — November 5, 2019 @ 8:57 am
Hello sir. I did the same mistake that I had written task 2 answer in task 1 answer sheet and task 1 in task 2 sheet. Eventually, staff came with red pen to fix the problem. I’m worrying about the upcoming consequences.
Comment by Rajashekar Reddy Gangula — January 21, 2021 @ 5:10 am
This mistake is quite common, many test takers mix up the answer sheets for task 1 and task 2. If the staff member marked task 2 / task 1 correctly, it should not affect your score.
Comment by Simone Braverman — January 21, 2021 @ 4:25 pm