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