This post outlines everything you need to know about IELTS Writing Task 2 — from the basics, to a sample essay.
Author: Sieon Lau, Senior Editor, ClarityEnglish
IELTS Preparation: How to do well in IELTS with stress management
Research by Dr Sian Beilock shows stress management is key to improve IELTS band scores. Sieon Lau suggests three ways to achieve this.
IELTS Reading: Time management is the key
In this post, you will learn how best to manage your time in all three sections of the IELTS Reading test.
IELTS Listening: Knowing your IELTS level
Sieon Lau gives a short guide on how to use the IELTS Score Calculator to predict your current IELTS level and create your study strategy based on your result.
IELTS Reading: Retaking the test
In this post, Sieon Lau talks through the process of retaking the IELTS test and three useful suggestions on how to prepare for your re-sit.
IELTS Reading: Seven FAQs
You may have read one of our posts about nine commonly-asked questions for the Listening module. In this post, I am going to discuss some frequently asked questions raised by candidates about the Reading module.
IELTS Writing: the problems with too many words
For some candidates, it’s very tempting to write as much as they can in the one hour given in the Writing section — they want to really showcase their range of vocabulary and their ability to write long sentences. But do long essays really get you a better band score?
IELTS Reading: The three sections in GT Reading
Certain tasks in IELTS are more predictable than the others. For example, we know that in the Listening module there is always at least one part related to education and academic knowledge. The Reading module in General Training also features topics that are fairly predictable, and there is no reason to not prepare well for them.
IELTS Preparation: Understanding the task types
There is clear evidence that learning the various task types in IELTS is the quickest and most effective way of improving your band score. We recently conducted research on over 100,000 British Council candidates using Road to IELTS (our official IELTS preparation product) to do just this. We found that after using the program for just six hours, candidates’ scores in the Reading module activities improved by, on average, 64%.
Clearly, in six hours there can be no significant change in their level of English; their improvement came from learning how to answer the questions. This can be achieved in a relatively short period of time.
IELTS Writing: Writing overview sentences
“In Academic Writing Task 1, it is very important to start by providing an overview of the data. If you don’t do this, you will lose points.” — Simon Cockell, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman
In this post we will look at what this means, and how you can use your data overview to get your IELTS Writing test off to a flying start.