Hi All, I wanna share with you guys some experience on how to get band 7.5 writing
This isn’t, in fact, my weakness. But this skill is difficult to self-study. You need to go to English center where there are teachers who are willing to check your writing. Here are some suggestions I can think of, it maybe can’t help you out. But do your best, you will be fine.
1. Before writing an essay, you must know its basic structure. I love Academic writing Practice for IELTS by Sam McCarter. If you target 7+, stick with this book, really HELPFUL. Besides, you should find essays written by band 7+ achievers to see how they develop their essay topics and try to learn good structures and vocabulary from their writing such as 199 Academic IELTS Writing Band 8 (available on App Store)
2. Many like starting task 2 first, but in my opinion, you should do the test in order, i.e. task 1 first, then task 2. This will give you the confident feeling that you ALREADY HAFL WAY COMPLETED.
3. Don’t waste too much time on Task 1. Learn all specific writing structure for each type of task 1. In the real test, you just have to apply that structure with new data and suitable verb tenses. Read sample essays and take note good structure to have a wide range of academic structures for task 1. You should also have your own templates for task 2, that will save much of your time in the real test. For example, you may prepare the introduction for a cause & effect essay like: "The issue of ……….attributes to one of the thorny ills prevalent in the modern society. Despite the versatility/variety and complexity/intricacy of the factors, I would pore over/demonstrate some of the most striking/profound ones and offer the alternatives afterwards. "
You then can use this template in almost any essay of this kind, for instance "The issue of overpopulation attributes to one of the thorny ills prevalent in the modern society. Despite the versatility and intricacy of the factors, I would pore over some of the most striking ones and offer the alternatives afterwards. "
4. You must complete both tasks. I don’t care how difficult the test is, I don’t care how little time you got. You MUST complete your test at any cost. If you don’t, you will be penalized very heavily.
5. Again, practice writing. Do both 2 tasks in one hour. You can focus only on task 1 or task 2, but before the test, you should practice writing both tasks to familiar with time limit.
6. Practice makes perfect. In writing, this statement is completely true. But it is better if there is someone to check writing for you and you can learn from your mistakes.
7. Writing requires wide academic vocabulary. You also have to buy a vocabulary book to work on and enrich your vocabulary.
8. Avoid all informal ways of writing. There are some rules of writing you should follow. For example: no abbreviations, no 1st and 2nd pronoun or possessive (I, you, me, my, your), except in conclusion where you have to state your opinion.
9. Each body paragraph has to include: topic sentence, supporting sentences (2-3 sentences), development sentences (evidence: example, experience, data). In many languages (English included), there are many ways to develop a body paragraph, which results that topic sentence is not the first sentence. But you are advised to put topic sentence at the beginning of each body paragraph. Don’t be creative in this case.
That is all I can think of. I hope you will be lucky in your exam and what I wrote will help you in one way or another. But REMEMBER, to reach success, you MUST make an effort. You should have a clear motivation and a strong will to overcome difficulties. When I did practice tests, I was exhausted. But no success comes easily. Practice is the only way to gain success. Don’t just wait for lucky break, it will never come if you don’t know how to grab it.
P/s: I've tried many times to attached the template I used for task 2, but in vain. Anyone can show me how?
