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+