Southeast Asians Can Suffer from Synonymania Too!

Synonymania : A vocabulary condition that strikes many IELTS candidates. 

Symptoms: In the writing task, the victim will consistently try to use less common words over everyday

Apples are Red. Similarly, Spaghetti is Pasta.

Wait? What?

In the last blog, we looked at a candidate who was right on the verge of being where he needed to be, but carelessness like using "for example" with unrelated examples was still plaguing him. He gets yet another look in this video.

A Great Example of an Unrelated Example

This response to an essay posted on IELTS Tips and Tricks here on Facebook is a classic example of some of those last hurdles students need to get over to get a high overall band score.

Be careful with mixing in hedging (which is generally a good thing to do) alongside very strong declarative statements.  See this essay's introduction as an example. 

The Gold Medal IELTS Final

In the final of our contest matching Team Myanmar versus Team World,  our two candidates answer this question:

In some countries, young people are encouraged to work or travel for a year between finishing high school and starting university studies. Do the advantages of this practice outweigh the disadvantages for young people who decide to do this? Give reasons for your answers and include any relevant examples from your own experience or knowledge. 250 words+

After Receiving My Feedback, the Candidate gets Worse

Another of Ali's essays was reviewed just a few days before this, and I was interested to see if he had made any improvement.   

I later learned he'd written this one several weeks before the posting. 

Again: Every Word Matters

Another essay from Brazil, and like the previous Brazilian from earlier this month, the biggest issue is not analyzing the quesiton thoroughly. What does she miss?

Music Bringing People Together: Positions Presented but Inadequately Supported

I love questions about music. What keeps the essay at below a 7?

Don't Jump Directly to Your Example, particularly when it is Jason Statham

Many candidates find great relief in learning that they are actually advised by some to support their positions with made-up fake examples. They are so eager to get to that part of their paragraph were they can feel comfortable in just making up whatever they want that they jump there after their topic sentence.

Um.. No.

Common Mistake: Swinging for the Fences with Your Vocabulary - Life Cycle of a Big Fish Named Salmon

Pictorial presentations? Aquatic medium?

Discuss Both Views - Another Example of Not Addressing all Parts of the Question

I knew this would likely be missing from the answer when I read the question.

I said I wasn't going to explain how to do Task 1, and then did.

 A question like this one is dangerous because it contains just enough information that it is possible to describe all of it. Is that a good idea? Ask the 800 pound gorilla.

Back to Brazil! Every Part of the Question is Important!

Back to Clara and Belo Horizonte.

Even if you write a well-written essay, you need to remember to include all parts of the question in your answer.

A Task 1 Entry from the 9/9/6 club.

I use this term "9/9/6" club to refer to candidates who score highly in reading and listening, but below a 7 in writing.

We can see why.

Why use this "Some People Believe" nonsense if it is your belief too?

If I were asked my opinion on an issue and presented two views on that issue, if I agreed with one of them, I would simply STATE that opinion and ignore this 'some people' nonsense. 

Phallic Island - One of the Classic Two Maps from Cambridge IELTS

Even though I've assigned this task to my students many times, I think this is the first video review of someone on Facebook.

I'm sorry, neither the report nor the commentary is all that coherent, but I'm catching up on a month's worth of reviews I haven't archived here at the Temple.

Should you Take the Unpopular Side of a Discussion? YES!

I decided I wanted to write a task two tonight after reading the question that you see below.

As it turns out, I actually misread the question. Initially, I thought it was asking should

we be concerned about this? When actually it says “why should we be concerned about

this?” Well, as you'll see in my response, I question the question itself, which on the

whole, is not a wise thing to do in the IELTS writing paper. 

See, I have noticed a growing number of questions appearing that seemingly are

answerable on one side only -  that is, 95-99% of respondents are going to answer it

Brazilian? I would have though this from a native English speaker.

The second of the two videos from the previous blog post was from a writer in Brazil by the name of Carvalho, and it was the first time I'd reviewed an essay from that country.  There was a second Brazilian, also named Carvalho, in the queue of essay waiting marking, so I felt obliged to review hers too.

THe lack of grammar and vocabulary errors are similar to what one might see from an NES. However, that doesn't assure a good score on  the IELTS. See this video to hear why.

Anyways, the only problem with this essay is plain bad ideas.

Too Busy With Work Assignments, RL Teaching and your Ukulele to Speak the Word of IELTS?

At work, I've started up a company website, designed new recognition programs for our best students, overseen losts of changes and problems, but...

It's been the ukulele more than anything else that's then taking up my time. I love playing music , and I've got some new toys to help me process these weird numbers I come up with. Consequently, I haven't been doing much volunteer essay correction. It's sort of low on my list of personal priorities right now.

The Internet and Education (again!) - A GT Advantages/Disadvantges essay from a likely member of the 9/9/6.5 Club

I was helping the author of this essay via email and he just stopped writing me... as there are so few examples of the GT Advantages/Disadvantages type of essay at the Temple, I thought it would be helpful to the students at large to see n example of someone whose English level is quite good, but is stuck at a 6.5 in writing - because he followed the rules.

Project Pankaj Comes to a Successful Conclusion... For this Pankaj.

One thing I have as a professional IELTS instructor: job security. Well, the bulk of my hours in paid employment these days is going towards the management side, not teaching, but even then, I can say with certainty that there will never be a shortage of people who need help with the IELTS test.

For this fine young man, who inspired the name 'Project Pankaj', his journey with IELTS prep is at an end...

Nervous you Won't Think of Something to Talk About in IELTS Speaking? FAPP! FAPP! FAPP!

I'm not CERTAIN the following is actually good advice.  It is, however, something that candidates consistently feel better knowing that they have in their pockets going into test day.  I'm talking about a pre-set structure on which to build your talk during the speaking test.

In the short video below, you will see me endorsing the idea to my students in class.  I describe it as a house on which you can place your language.  Each

Good Luck to Salvi, whose test is today, and this is the last feedback she's going to get

Gosh, I really hope I'm not too negative; I should be encouraging, right?

You may not always like what you hear from the Temple.

Salvi, you said your test was on the 4th. That's now today where I live (I dunno where you're from ).

One of the Most Common Problems : Good points made but not supported

I think I explain it well enough in the video...

Why is it so difficult to get a "7" in the Writing Tasks?

Why is it so hard to get that seven? 

When I first read tonight's essay up in the garage, it seemed to have supported its arguments, it flowed well, had complex sentences, and theren't weren't too many grammar errors at first glance. A Band 7 essay, I thought.
 
Then I took a closer look at it.

 
One of the main problems was one that many people have: he wrote a "generic task two" without regard to the exact type of question that he was answering.  If this had been a "to what extent do you agree or disagree" question, it would have received a higher mark in task response. In Band7, there's the requirement in TR that says "maintains a consistent position throughout", and you need to do that differently in a "give your opinion" essay than you do a agree/diagree or adv/disadvantage essay. 

A little closer attention to some of the most basic rules of grammar, capitalization and punctuation, then the very good complex sentences might have carried it.



So, to answer my own question, it's hard to get a 7 because if you make a big mistake in any ONE of the marking criteria, and get a 6, you'll need an 8 in one of the other three to make up for it.

Do We Have to bring up the pressure of exams, long working hours and the advancement of technology into every essay?

From the garage:

Some people say that parents should encourage their children to take part in organized group activities in their free time. Others say that it is important for children to learn how to occupy themselves on their own.
Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

People have different views about whether children should participate in group

TASK ONE MANIA!!

Oh, we've been having fun at the IELTS Temple...

It started when I got some new software and a 2-part question.

WHAT CAN YOU MAKE OUT OF THIS?

What can you make out of this?

NO! Not that!  THIS! A Task One line graph. A famous one!

How To Support Your Ideas in Task 2

Look up there at the top of the blog! In the pages toolbar! Where it says Slides *NEW*. That's where you can find the .ppt versions of workshops and talks I do.

Like the one from last night.

Causes/Solutions , Opinion to Extent, Positive/Negative Development - Catching Up

With a Discuss Both Views question, you can't CHANGE the reasoning behind one view!

What's the difference between these two possible beginnings to a discussion essay and how that ?

1. Some people believe that tourism should be banned in certain areas, while others believe... 
2. Some people believe that to protect local culture, tourism should be banned in certain areas, while others believe... 

 The difference is in what you need to think about before you begin writing.  In #1, during your pre-writing brainstorming, you'll want to think of reasons

9/9/6.5 Club - Pankaj's Struggles to get to Where he Should be.

Pankaj B was not the first IELTS candidate I had come accross whose English must've been really good (I'm an English teacher by trade, I should acknowledge that you can't determine someone's real aptitude without a placement test - which in some ways, the IELTS is). Here now was this guy who was so depressed, not understanding what went wrong, while everyone else was in awe of his Facebook post with his double-9's  in reading and writing.

IELTS Elvis shows up to turn Pankaj's TO What Extent essay into a song!

Coming on Thursday, 11 July

A couple weeks ago, I delved into the essay-is-a-song analogy and took it about as far as I could. With the writing competition on my mind, We did about 30 minutes on "how to write a poem/song out of nothing ".
Well, as it turns out, there's still more in the bucket! This time, it came out of a business English class I was teaching, and because I had

The 9/6.5 Club - Why You Shouldn't Be Trying to get a Band 7 in Writing

I'm only talking to some of you right now. 

If you've taken the IELTS before and received  8.5's or 9's in the receptive skills (reading & listening), an ok score in speaking (7+) and a 6 or 6.5 in writing, you're in the 9/6.5 Club.

If you've posted your extremely disappointing results on Facebook and been inundated with CONGRATULATIONS! and requests for "tips" in reading and listening, you're in the 9/6.5 Club.

If you followed the advice of tutors who proscribed a particular structure that you should always use, one that was supposed to get you a 7 and it didn't, you're in the club. 

If you're getting 9's in some skills, an 8 overall and simply don't understand why you're stuck at a 6.5, welcome. 

You really don't have the same problems that your peers do. In part, your problem is that you know TOO MUCH English and are trying to use as much of it as you can. Another part of your problem is the same that half of all native-speaker university freshmen face when they enter tertiary education: they don't know how to write a simple essay. 

If your name is Pankaj and you live in Delhi (or New Delhi), it's now Project Pankaj PLUS... 

We'll start with Mr Gaharwal, whose recent writing score went DOWN from his previous test. 

That can't feel good. I sort of run out of steam and start falling asleep at the end of my commentary. I hope you get something from this and I'm open to any additional questions you may have. Gotta get in the shower and off to work. Got some English to teach.



As I note in the video, this question SHOULD HAVE included the line "and give your own opinion". It didn't. Use better sources.

How to Improve Your IELTS Listening Score through understanding your mistakes.

How do you improve your score in the listening paper of the IELTS?

Well, the best way is to spend hours and hours listening to diverse materals like TED talks, movies, podcasts and various other ways of hearing natural voices - the way English is naturally spoken by native English speakers, like you'll hear in IELTS listening.

But that takes a lot of time.  Aren’t there any tips or tricks? Some short cut I can take. 

Breaking the Mold (for the most part) - Another Essay from the Nigerian Museums Guy

About a week ago, I wrote a blog with the click-baity title: Trying to get a 7 when you could get an 8. It got lots of views, and it contained advice which isn't for every IELTS candidate. In fact, it's probably not good for most, as most can't get an 8 because of their level of English.

I was pleased to see the guy I was writing about drop some of the structural aspects that were holding him back.

The Rare Direct Question Essay! And the Even Rarer Goal of Band 9!

You don't see it very often.

Gender equality?

No, not that!

A very rare type of Task 2 question. They are called "direct questions". Sometimes, direct questions are paired with another type of question, such as a best way or advantage/disadvantage, to create a two part question.  It is rare that you see them all by themselves.

The Task Two Blues - Joko Sings the "Almost got an 8 in TR Blues"

Okay, this was one my weirdest ideas yet. It started with a realization I had about the structure of an IELTS Task 2 essay and how most modern songs are structured.

The first line of a verse is like the topic sentence of a paragraph. Each subsequent line of the verse plays a roll just as the sentences do in an essay. The whole thing is held together by a theme - the equivalent of the clear position throughout called for in band descriptors.

Causes and Solutions: Trying to get a 7 when you could get an 8.

My degree happens to be in sociology with a comparative cultural emphasis. At uni, I studied the cultures of different regions and  countries and learned how their particular development as societies shaped their values and approaches to life.

When I read and analyze students' IELTS essays, I can’t help but notice how culture influences how a person answers questions. As much as the trinity of IDP/BC/Cambridge does what they can to create questions which are answerable by people from all over the world, they don’t always do as good a job as they might. For instance, in one of the official books, there is a question about gap-year students, meaning students who take a year off between high school and starting university to work and travel abroad. When I present this question to my students here in Myanmar, they look at me aghast. Because of the culture, economy and other aspects of growing up in a least-developed country, the idea of young people doing this is completely foreign. They have never heard of such a thing!

I think the role of museums in a society is similarly very culturally subjective and different from place to place. 

Watch the video for details

Think of Your IELTS Writing Task 2 as a Song

Are you familiar with a Venn Diagram? It shows how groups of particular characteristics overlap each other. When I made this video, I thought that the idea that Task 2 was like a song was the most brilliant thing I’d thought up in weeks. When in reality, I understand my target audience was more like this->

Think about it. An IELTS essay is made up of paragraphs, each of which should have a particular purpose and message; a song is constructed in verses which serve the same role. 

Bar Graph Over Time - Looking for Trends and Comparisons, not Just Highe...

Support Your Support! Advantages Outweigh Disadvantages - Younger Population

Next up in our series of student essays, is one from an author we heard from just a few days ago.  She made an apparent improvement right away!

Good!

A Very Good Essay - Except for Answering the Question

This was submitted via the Temple's new Submit Your Essay For Feedback page located in the tabs
above.

This is an excellent model of an essay that uses a wide variety of sentence structures with just an occasional slip, shows good collocation with very few unnatural word combinations and is structured somewhat well.

It's weaknesses include not really having clear topic sentences, a couple of unsupported conclusions and spending too much time talking about things which don't really address the question.

Who Am I? Your IELTS Gurus! Jeopardy Template

Who Am I? Your IELTS Gurus! Jeopardy Template

Writing Task Opening Lines: Misconceptions About Paraphrasing the Question

"What a waste it is to lose one's mind.
Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful.
How true that is."
How former US Vice President Dan Quayle
infamously paraphrased the slogan of the UNCF:
A mind is a terrible thing to waste.

 PARAPHRASING THE QUESTION

 

Does every sentence in your response to an IELTS writing paper count the same towards your band score? 

It should, but it doesn't.
The importance of first impressions aside, let's look at how to start an essay.

Addressing the task in TR requires that you show you understand the question, and that starts in the opening line. The CC criterion requires an essay show "progression" and that starts at the beginning.  Then we get to Lexical Resource, and that's where I think the misunderstanding starts regarding "paraphrasing the question". 

Of course, every IELTS expert has somewhat different advice about how tobe gin an essay. Here's some advice from Chris at IELTSadavantage:

The mental processes required to paraphrase will also help you to fully understand the question and this is one of the reasons I tell my students to begin all of their answers in the writing test by paraphrasing the question.

I completely agree with the first part of that advice. In fact, quite seperately, it's part of the advice I give in my video about the "to what extent do you agree"

I'm a Mean Teacher - and the IELTS is a Mean Test

I’m a bad online mentor when it comes to informal IELTS coaching.  Twenty-five years of provoking people, ruthlessly engaging in pointless internet fights, and making fun of things that others find oh so serious has led me to take an approach to this whole free IELTS mentoring hobby of mine that, unfortunately, annoys some and infuriates others. I've driven people off the Tips and Tricks group. I've had advice flatly rejected. I've even been a cause in people deciding not to do the IELTS at all. Crushing dreams because I point out you misunderstood the question.

Then there are those who understand my sense of humor. There’s no greater reward for me personally

It Goes Without Certainty - follow up with explanations of practice exercise

As with learning any skill, developing the ability to craft an IELTS essay requires that people learn a wide variety of micro-skills at different stages along the way. We've been talking about a micro-skill: the use and mis-use of certain "set phrases", specifically those which express certainty. Learners make typical mistakes with them that an expert sees made again and again. 

It Goes Without Saying, Be Careful With Expressions of Certainty (updated with video)

It goes without saying

It is needless to say
It is undoubtedly true
There is no denying
Without a doubt
Of course

These are standard connecting phrases that are used to express certainty in academic writing. I see them frequently in IELTS essays, but more often than not, they’re used incorrectly. These expressions are actually quite dangerous because they are just begging for the writer to make an unsupported conclusion.

In some previous video feedback, I’ve been pretty severe in my condemnation

Trying to Reach a 7 When You Should Try for an 8

Very little draws as much buzz and attention at the IELTS Tips and Tricks page as when a candidate posts some remarkable test results. This happened the other day with the results you see in the pic.  The double 9’s in the receptive skills of reading and listening are remarkable. Generally, a score of 38 out of 40 or better is needed to earn Band 9.

I’ve had students in my classroom over the years who could do this during practice tests. 38+ every time while their classmates averaged in the mid-20’s. Then when it came to writing practice, it was not unusual for them to produce essays that were not that much better than the norm.  Like this person, they were stuck at the 6.5 plateau.

I am of the mind that what a candidate needs to do to get past that barrier differs depending on where you are in the rest of your skills.  There’s loads of advice out there on the internet aimed at helping the average candidate who is around a 6 in each category write a Band 7 essay.

That’s not the same advice that a Band 9 reading/listening candidate should be following.

The former group needs to tighten up.  Using strict outlines and structures as well as utilizing certain connecting words and phrases at key points in the essay is the way to go for them.

The latter candidates, like this guy, need to loosen up. They need to let their natural English come out without worrying too much about structure.

He wrote a "Best Way" essay back in March. One of two essays he'd posted before his test. Neither of them were given feedback. Here's 22 minutes for him.

The Worst IELTS Advice on YouTube

It was just going to be a little project, but then Dimple drew me in.

The cat broke the video up into two natural parts...

How Many Types are There? Tips and Strategies: TO WHAT EXTENT AGREE/DISAGREE

NOT AN EASY TASK

 

This guy says there are only FOUR.
that's a low number.  From woxy.co

How many types of Task 2 questions are there?

Ask an IELTS expert how many different types of Task 2 writing questions there are and the answer would usually be 5 (Discuss Both Views; Agree/Disagree; Advantages/Disadvantages; Problems/Causes/Solutions; Two-Part Q's). If you ask an IELTS student who claims to be serious about study, and they cannot answer that question at all, then they have a serious lacking in their knowledge of the test.

You should not approach an agree/disagree question in the exact same way as you would a discuss both

The Final Playlist! Two-Question Essays - (Marriage costs)

On his way out, Brother Joko noticed that although we got the stained glass in over a week ago, no one had yet put up the final open pane in the ceiling of the Task 2 chambers!

I don't think I would be too off in saying that many IELTS students have a fear

Phones and Work Lead to Health Problems & Climate Change

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Okay, I'm being sarcastic, a bit, but in that statement we cover: 

• modern technology 
• work
• health
• the environment

Those seem to be the "Big Four" when it comes to the general topics that you'll find most often on IELTS Writing Task 2 questions. Of course, there are lots of others, but those are the four, or permutations thereof, that seem to crop up quite frequently. I'd guess maybe half the Task 2 questions that I've come across include at least one of those elements.

Consequently, having a full toolbox of topic-related vocabulary on those four would be an excellent thing for a test candidate to have.  I'm sure you've got

THE TASK ONE CAFE: Hilarious IELTS Video with Tips on Overviews and Handling Difficult Tables

It started off as just a means to...  You'll hear. The story of the origin of pizza-charts and the menu simile takes a good chunk of the video.

My continued to devotion to emphasizing the overview in Task One writing is on full display here in this video project that took many hours to get even halfway right. If you'd like a really in-depth analysis of Task One, check out my 3-part lecture on the topic herE. 

IELTS Speaking: When to be an Actor on Stage.

A random post on Facebook inspired me this morning.  Maybe I can pass on that inspiration to you as well.

 It started off with a very self-aware, but somewhat self-conscious plea for help. 

3 Discuss Both Sides Essays: Exams as Assessment, Teaching Children, Career Success

Are exams the best way to assess students question:

Issues: Repeating yourself

Tips and Essay Corrections: Discuss Both Views and Give Your Own Opinion

This lesson? …presentation?... extended feedback report? I’m not sure what to call it, will be coming to you in two parts. The first half contains tips on what to think about when writing a Task 2 essay of the “discuss both views and give your own opinion” variety.

The second part is actually three parts, correcting the essays of three students who I found on the Facebook page “IELTS Tips and Tricks”.

Honestly, both halves were created in part just to test out new methods of using media and my computer in hopes of creating IELTS materials that are

The Self-Correction Technique of Guided Feedback

One major advantage that classroom teachers have over online teachers is the ability to interact with students directly, and help them correct their own mistakes on writing tasks. Immediately. Directly. Face-to-face.  Try to get the students to understand what they are doing wrong for themselves. One way to do this is through the self-correction technique. This is what I usually do in class.

When I return writing tasks (IELTS or general English) to my students, they come with little letters above the words or phrases, codes to tell them what type of mistake that there making. Is it a missing word?(mw) Is it a lexical, a word choice, error?(wc) Is it a grammar error?(gr) Spelling?(sp) Then, I insist that the students don't just look at it and put it away, that they do their best to correct their own mistakes, and then ask me,  "Hey teacher, is this right now?" or, "I'm sorry teacher, I don't understand what I did wrong here. Please help."