IELTS - Writing - For Band 7 or Above.

[Akhil Soni]

new results of 27 October test

consistent with 7 bands in writing, I was expecting more this time
but not happy with speaking, I was expecting 8 or so bands in speaking and 9 in listening



Overall Band: 8.0
Listening: 8.5
Reading: 9.0
Writing: 7.0
Speaking: 7.0

Bc or idp

 

[MaryNguyen]

new results of 27 October test

consistent with 7 bands in writing, I was expecting more this time
but not happy with speaking, I was expecting 8 or so bands in speaking and 9 in listening



Overall Band: 8.0
Listening: 8.5
Reading: 9.0
Writing: 7.0
Speaking: 7.0

As I remember, you have got speaking band 8 several times. Did you perform well this time?

 

[H0peAndFa1th]

Bc or idp

BC

As I remember, you have got speaking band 8 several times. Did you perform well this time?

yes I have got 8 once, but got 7.5 many and 7 many times, But in last two test speaking examiner was the same, a nice elegant and sophisticated lady, so may be she has higher expectations, this 27th test was way better than 13th, I am unable to relate 7 bands in both tests, there was at-least 1 band difference in performance, maybe its bit higher but I was dead sure about 7.5 in speaking and writing,

beware guys, these examiners are just not awarding bands easily.

 

[Akhil Soni]

Cansha and hope, a big hug and thanks to both of you. I owe a lot to both of you. Cansha specially you have been an angel in my life who have helped me cross this line eventually. My scores.. L8, R9, w7, s 7. 5...

 

[H0peAndFa1th]

Cansha and hope, a big hug and thanks to both of you. I owe a lot to both of you. Cansha specially you have been an angel in my life who have helped me cross this line eventually. My scores.. L8, R9, w7, s 7. 5...

congratulations mate, see you over there, your efforts are commendable.

 

[Heyfonsi]

guys.... I desperately need help.... I took thrice.... Writing is killng me.... 6.5, 6.5 and now 6.... I tried something different this time.... I am lost now.... @ H0peAndFa1th.... Help me out... And somebody please send me ace the ielts... anwarshanid@gmail.com

 

[Heyfonsi]

@cansha and @H0peAndFa1th ..... Help me

 

[cansha]

Hi H0peAndFa1th & Cansha,

I have taken the test on 3rd Nov18 andmy score is : L8.5 R6.5 W6.5 S7.0
I am surprised by my results. Previously I have never got less than 8.5 in reading. Also writing is still 6.5 in spite of leaving no stone un turned. I dont think IELTS examination is fair..its total biased.

Hey ... the reading score definitely looks terrible. That means you got 10 wrong on reading test which to me looks improbable. Sorry about the writing score as well. Even if you were to consider remark for writing j have not seen scores increase for reading much. Not sure what happened there.

 

[cansha]

new results of 27 October test

consistent with 7 bands in writing, I was expecting more this time
but not happy with speaking, I was expecting 8 or so bands in speaking and 9 in listening



Overall Band: 8.0
Listening: 8.5
Reading: 9.0
Writing: 7.0
Speaking: 7.0

Consecutive 7 in writing is good. I think you can consider that you were good for 7.5/8.

 

[cansha]

Cansha and hope, a big hug and thanks to both of you. I owe a lot to both of you. Cansha specially you have been an angel in my life who have helped me cross this line eventually. My scores.. L8, R9, w7, s 7. 5...

Hey heartiest congratulations. Your score looks awesome!!

Thanks for your kind words. But in the end its all you. Your hard work, willingness and courage to get feedback in open forum, taking it positively and last but not the least not giving up and translating it in to a good performance in exam.

All the best for your next steps! I’m there if you need any help.

 

[cansha]

@cansha and @H0peAndFa1th ..... Help me

Hey. Happy to help. But for that we need to look at your current essays. Post one here.

Also, go back a few pages (if not to start of the thread) and read reviews of some previous essays and make sure you’re avoiding common mistakes on essays. All the best!

 

[vmsanthosh.chn]

Now you know.
Just take a look around websites that teach ielts. They all have some differences in structure, approach to essay questions, viewpoint about how is clear or balanced... Even the two ex-examiners that are Simon and Mat Clark have differences.
Cambridge, IDP and BC claim that all examiners must be under training and retraining, I believe that. But what do they train?! I believe it's general criteria, and so examiners apply their own views on those basic requirements. They are humans, not machines.
Not to mention it might be a scam. Hope that's a myth.

Tips from one ex-examiner's blog - "Communicate" with your examiner, don't try to "impress" them. Write from your heart, as if you are trying to pass a message to someone. They should understand your points and nod with you, agreeing your ideas while reading. Avoid copying words from someone else, they can easily figure it out and laugh at you which can impact your band score. Crisp, concise, honest and simple words but with good linking words, is what they are suggesting.

 

[cansha]

Tips from one ex-examiner's blog - "Communicate" with your examiner, don't try to "impress" them. Write from your heart, as if you are trying to pass a message to someone. They should understand your points and nod with you, agreeing your ideas while reading. Avoid copying words from someone else, they can easily figure it out and laugh at you which can impact your band score. Crisp, concise, honest and simple words but with good linking words, is what they are suggesting.

apart from the second line "write from your heart .... " agree 100% with the rest. Agree 50% with the second line IELTS does has some peculiarities in terms of how the introduction should be for example. So need to use some brain with the heart

 

[cansha]

Hey,
Please help me improve my writing.

Online, people write product reviews and opinions about services. Is it a good thing or bad thing?

Owing to breakthrough inventions, Inventions are not relevant to online shopping really. Secondly, stop using phrases like this to open the essay. Do you follow ieltsliz see this link http://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-tips-sentences-to-avoid/ Your sentence is similar to second sentences. Such sentences kill your essay on IELTS
online shoppers' reviews and detailed opinions about various items and services are often found on diverse websites. This is a positive development which can be advantageous for both consumers as well as companies.

Okay overall the introduction is a little weak. So, I know introduction for one liner essays is difficult to write as you can not follow formula of writing a paraphrasing line in introduction. But, this topic is honestly not that difficult. I think personally I would take first two lines to explain about online shopping and some websites where people write reviews say give examples like Amazon, Yelp, Tripadvisor etc. That enriches your essay straightaway. Also, when you give your opinion give a glimpse of your essay if possible which will evoke the interest of the reader.

A good reason to publish product experiences on the internet is that buyers can know more about unaware wrong word choice items which they are going to purchase from online stores. Bad phrasing on two counts. First the sentence is long without adding any value. Do not write long sentences as preface straight come to the point. Second if you read the sentence it sounds more like you are writing an essay with a topic. Why should we write online reviews? Is that the essay topic. See your point is a good one. But phrasing not so good. An example of a better sentence could be

Online reviews for newer products have proven to be a boon for consumers as they are able to read experiences of other people before making a decision whether to buy the product or not.

Now see here you are addressing if it is a good or bad thing. And it goes with your intro line it is a good thing for consumers. Not saying above line is the best one. It's an example. HIT ON YOUR POINT.

In other words, I so wish you had read my previous reviews. I would suggest go back some 15/20 pages and start reading those reviews. I highly discourage using this phrase every again in your essay. It absolutely murders your own essay. Think about it. You are making an argument and in next line you want to support it. And you say in other words. As a reader I'm thinking oh he is just repeating what he said but in some different words and there is no new information!! Do you want examiner to feel that way?

since a number of sellers nowadays advertise their products wrongly on several shopping sites, such reviews will allow shoppers to acquire proper information about accurate quality and quantity of any products or services. As a result, they will be able to do shopping wisely and would not be attracted from innovative and attractive advertises which only show the information that people want to see.

I like the supporting argument you made with false advertising brought in. But the beginning was not so good. Also, an example at the end would have just added more meat to your essay.

Another point to consider is that the overall product sales of organizations can also be improved by such online reviews and comments. Same as above. Seems like you are addressing Why to write an online review? There is a difference. Hope you understand my point.

This is to say that when company owners read their customer's opinion about their services and item, they will be able to know that whether their products have significant impacts in the local community or not. Good point

Such virtual platforms even allow them to enhance their services if consumers are not satisfied. How?

Therefore, such modern aspects of providing personal opinions on the internet Always I capital in Internet often play a predominant role in ameliorating one's annual profit.

I'm surprised to see no examples in such topic. You had the world to take examples from. Like you could say online reviews of airlines help them improve services. or give an example of say some hotel / restaurant where reviews on yelp matter.

To summarize, online reviews and opinions are a must not only for consumers but also for sellers. This is because such practices will inform reliable information about products and help company improve their services and sales.
Word Count: 262

The conclusion is weak again. This is not on target as far as the topic goes. Question again is not whether online reviews should be written or not. Question is they are being written now tell us if this is good or bad. Are you addressing that? Read the question and respond to question.

Okay so the good points - I don't see big issues in terms of English or Grammar. I think your biggest weakness is task response. And again in that the issue is not that you don't have good points. Issue is that you're not making most of the points you have.

My suggestion is read your previous essays again. And analyze for yourself how good are you on task response. Self awareness is paramount.

All the best!

 

[cansha]

Please review.

Some people say that in all levels of education, from primary schools to universities, too much time is spent on learning facts and not enough on learning practical skills.

Do you agree or disagree?

Ans : There is an ongoing debate as to what should be the focus of education. While some people believe that learning facts is more important, others stress on practical skills. In my opinion, the purpose of education should be to focus on the theory and facts of the subjects, and not on practical skills.

Ok decent intro. Nothing great but not bad either. Your stand was unexpected. I think most people would have argued for practical experience. So., I guess it already makes your essay interesting.

Firstly, I believe that the purpose of school and university education is to provide the theoretical and factual foundation which would provide the underpinnings of a person's learning. Although practical skills are important, they can be picked up easily once the theoretical foundation has been laid properly, since it is then only a matter of applying the knowledge to real world problems.

Secondly, education is not meant to create a workforce ready for employment. Even though the high cost of education necessitates that due importance be given to practical skills that would help with employment prospects, education is meant to broaden one's horizons and teach one critical thinking skills.

Lastly, I would give the example of my learning of database technologies in university. While I did not delve too deeply into a practically useful database system, I was taught how to design database systems, the common issues faced in doing so, and how the underlying systems worked. This provided me with a basic understanding of databases that I could utilise to understand the working of any database system out there. I believe this is more useful than having narrow but practical experience in a single database system.

In conclusion, I believe that schools and universities are right in not spending too much time on learning practical skills, which I believe are secondary to picking up theoretical and factual knowledge.

I actually have no words. I have never seen someone write so clear, concise and with such good flow and such an easy language. This is your second essay and its very similar to first in all these points. I never have to read your essay twice and as I'm reading it I know all the points you are making.

Okay now to point a few things which I won't say I don't like but something for you to consider. The structure firstly, secondly, ... has been killed to death in IELTS so may be think of something else. BUT it woks here totally.

Again this is not something I have ever done. Make arguments in first two paras and have one big example in last para. It is definitely odd compared to essay structures taught everywhere but honestly I can't find any fault with it. Not sure how examiners would treat it.

Only place where your essay may score less is lexical resources because you don't use less frequent words. But, honestly do not chase that.

In my book I don't see a reason of this essay not getting 7/7.5. 8 may be difficult given how they have been marking essays.

Editing the post to add this. See the link http://ieltsliz.com/ielts-writing-tips-sentences-to-avoid/

Liz argues not to use broaden horizons line on essay. But I think here the line was not unnatural. But, still something to ponder over and may be find different ways of saying that.