Honestly, I didn't have a lot of time to work on Writing as I only had one month to study. I spent about three weeks of that time on Reading and Listening. I spent the last week entirely on Writing.
As this was my first attempt, I had to watch a lot of YouTube videos to understand the format and here are some things I that helped me,
- Planning is the key, spend 3-4 min on planning for letter and 4-5 min for essay
- In the test, read bullet points at least twice to understand them completely and don’t shy away from adding relevant details that are in given in the bullet points
- Write the letter for the reader, imagine you are the reader and put in all the information that a reader may need. For example, at the end of a formal letter, you could write “I look forward to hearing from you. My mobile number, as well as email address, are provided in my business card enclosed in this letter.”
- Keep it simple and what I mean by this is that do not clutter the paper with lots of ideas. For example, for advantage disadvantage question, choose at the most two pros and two cons and elaborate on them
- Although I have regularly been journaling since junior high school, I am terrible at spellings and so I made a list of words that I couldn’t get right when I was practicing and I looked at that list 3 days before the exam and practiced writing them for about 8-10 times
- Print sample writing answer sheets and practice writing on them. The answer sheet consists of 16 lines on the first page and 24 lines on the second page. Based on my handwriting, I counted how many words would approximately fit in one line and came up with a rough plan so that I don’t have to worry about the word limit in the test. For example, when writing a letter, I knew the first two paragraphs need to be 5-6 lines and the third one (last one) needs to be 8 or more lines.
- I didn’t use any uncommon or “fancy” vocab in the test. I focused more on if there was a smooth transition from one line to another and from one para to another.
- Think the whole sentence in mind before putting pen to paper as it will save time erasing the unwanted words
- I read somewhere online that spending time checking what has been written will increase the band score by 0.5 and so I did that. Although I had an urge to add a few more lines to my essay, I stopped and spent the last 10 min on checking my letter and essay and sure enough, I was able to spot and correct around 10-13 mistakes, most of them were grammatical mistakes and a few were spelling errors. I highly recommend spending the last 10 min to check for spellings, commas, plural and grammar. If time permits, check if repeated words can be replaced with synonyms.
I am sharing my notes with a hope that it will help at least a few people!
Formal: No Previous Communication
Example: Complain to agencies such as government or university
Opening: Dear Sir or Madam,
Ending: Yours faithfully,
Faithfully yours,
Semi-Formal: Previous Communication but formal relationship
Example: Student to teacher or tenant to a landlord
Opening: Dear Mr./Mrs.(Last Name),
Dear Dean (Last Name),
Dear Dr. (Last Name),
Ending: Yours sincerely,
Sincerely yours,
Informal: Close Relationship
Example: friend, relative or classmate
Opening: Dear (First Name),
Dear (First name and First name),
Ending: Best wishes
Warm wishes,
Best regards,
All the best,
Love,
Cheers,
Yours truly,
Yours lovingly,
Helpful sentences when writing a letter
1st para (for Formal and Semi-formal):
· I am writing to inquire about..
· I am writing to inform you..
· I am writing to let you know that ...
· I am writing in connection with…
· The purpose of this letter is to...
· My intention in writing this letter is to ask you...
· I regret to inform you that I can no longer continue …
· My name is **** ****, current student of this university.
· I am *** *****, currently working as a *** in the US. I have learned about your advertisement, through a local newspaper…
· My name is ** **, I am the tenant of Unit 90. I am writing this letter to inform you about a rather unpleasant situation that occurred last night.
· My name is *** ** and I have been a customer of this bank for ** years now. On this occasion, I am writing to request a personal loan of $**.
· I am writing in response to the complaint I received from *** regarding ***. I would like to apologize for any inconvenience caused.
· I am a frequent customer of your online shop and have always been quite satisfied with your service. However, on this occasion, I am writing to complain about the following situation.
Middle Para (for Formal and Semi-formal):
· Let me explain my situation, …
· The trouble started ** months ago when …
Last Para (for Formal and Semi-formal):
· Would you kindly...
· I would appreciate if ….
· Under the circumstances, I would like to request you to…
· Please let me know if this is possible. If not, I will make other arrangements for…
Ending Sentences (for Formal and Semi-formal):
· I hope to hear from you on receipt of this letter as this situation must be urgently resolved.
· Thank you for your consideration.
· I look forward to hearing from you at the earliest.
· Thank you kindly in advance.
· If this is not possible, I completely understand and would like to once again express my gratitude for one of the kind opportunity to me.
· I look forward to hearing from you. My mobile number as well as email address are provided in my business card enclosed in this letter.
· I hope to get your approval on this. I am looking forward to receiving your response soon.
1st Para (Informal):
· I hope you and your family are all well.
· How have you been? It’s been a long time since we have been in touch.
· Thank you so much for offering to help me in this difficult time for me and my family. If the situation wasn’t serious, I wouldn’t be taking leave at such a busy time at work.
· I hope this letter finds you well. I was so excited to receive your wedding invitation. I am so happy for you and **, you too make the perfect couple. Unfortunately, I’m writing to let you know that I won’t be able to make it to your special day.
Middle Para (Informal):
· The reason is, as you know, …
· Just wanted to let you know…
· The reason I cant come to your birthday is …
Ending Sentences (Informal):
· Hope to hear from you soon!
· I can't wait for you to come!
· You can call me if you need anything.
· Hit me up if you need an extra pair of hands.
· I can't wait to catch up with you and see all the wedding photos!
· Thanks again for being so kind and offering your support. Please do not hesitate to contact me anytime.
