30 days to a better IELTS writing

It’s ok to make mistakes as long as you learn from them. Constant practice is useless if you keep on repeating the same errors. This is extremely crucial in writing like spelling and grammar errors. The most common mistakes that people make are the subjectverb agreement, tense consistency and prepositions. Analyze your mistakes and review them.

30 DAYS TO A BETTER

IELTS WRITING

MIRACEL JUANTA

30 DAYS TO A BETTER IELTS WRITING

MIRACEL JUANTA

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7 HABITS OF HIGHLY INEFFECTIVE IELTS TAKERS 4

IELTS WRITING MAKEOVER #14 51

IELTS WRITING MAKEOVER #31 105

IELTS WRITING MAKEOVER #47 156

IELTS WRITING MAKEOVER #62 211

THE 10 BEST BOOKS IN IELTS EVER

What are the best books for IELTS? I have summarized some of the books that I use in teaching IELTS Amazon has great deals on both new and used IELTS books Go now and avail of discounts

1.Barron's IELTS with Audio CD: International English Language Testing System

5.Cambridge IELTS 6 Student's Book with answers: Examination papers from University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations (Cambridge Books for Cambridge Exams)

6.Common Mistakes at IELTS Advanced: And How to Avoid Them

7.Cambridge Grammar for IELTS Student's Book with Answers and Audio CD (Cambridge Grammar for First Certificate, IELTS, PET) 8.Check Your English Vocabulary for IELTS: All you need to pass your exams (Vocabulary Workbook)

9.Cambridge Vocabulary for IELTS with answers and Audio CD(Cambridge Vocabulary for Exams)

10.New Insight into IELTS Student's Book with Answers

Surf Amazon now and get your target IELTS band score! :) If youhave other recommendations, feel free to post your comments

RESOURCES FOR IELTS TAKERS

If you are planning to take the IELTS and looking for moreinformation about IELTS, here are some posts that I have writtenabout it

1 Best Books for IELTS

- a summary of effective books in IELTS that can be used in testingand teaching

2 TOEFL or IELTS

- a comparison of IELTS and TOEFL, guides the test taker on whattest to take

3 7 Deadly Sins in Speaking

- highlights the common mistakes people make in the IELTSSpeaking test

7 HABITS OF HIGHLY INEFFECTIVE IELTS TAKERS

Why do people fail the IELTS? There are tell-tale signs that they will fail the IELTS However, these mistakes can be avoided so that they will achieve their target IELTS band score

1 Not having a study plan

Some people can get really complacent about the IELTS It’s not just about luck You gotta have a plan IELTS is all about discipline

It takes consistent practice to reach a high band score Even if you’re too busy, you should map out your strategy Devote at least one hour a day to study

2 Not following directions

IELTS takers fail the IELTS not because they’re incompetent They think all directions are the same and so they go right in to answer the questions Not! The golden rule in IELTS is: Follow All Directions The most common error that they make is in the Yes/No/Not Given type They answer True/False instead Another usual mistake is they answer the complete word when only a letter

is necessary So, don’t forget to read the instructions at all times

3 Lack of time management

In the IELTS, time is your greatest enemy A lot of IELTS candidates are unable to finish the four modules Task completion is essential to getting a high band score That is why it’s important to budget your time well Quick thinking is a skill that you should develop You have to listen, read, write and speak fast

4 Panicking

This happens a lot to IELTS takers especially in the Speaking component When they’re stumped with a difficult question, their mind goes blank (crickets chirping) What to do? Good preparation

is the key When you’re prepared, you focus more easily Have a bag of tricks where you can pull out any expression for every question

6 Committing the same blunders again and again

It’s ok to make mistakes as long as you learn from them Constant practice is useless if you keep on repeating the same errors This is extremely crucial in writing like spelling and grammar errors The most common mistakes that people make are the subject-verb agreement, tense consistency and prepositions Analyze your mistakes and review them

7 Thinking negative thoughts

If you think you will fail the IELTS, then you will fail the exam Worrying about the test will get you nowhere The IELTS exam is

not that difficult if you know how to approach it So be confident andalways think positively

If you have other questions about the IELTS, feel free to makecomments or email me If you want more tips about English, pleasesubscribe via email ■

IELTS WRITING MAKEOVER #1

Last week, I launched the IELTS Writing Makeover Series Here'sthe first essay from Yaoq that I did a makeover

Some people believe that visitors to other countries should follow local customs and behavior Others disagree and think that the host country should welcome cultural differences Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Tourism is welcomed in most of the countries It brings not only thebenefit to the country's economic, but also the culture exchanging

Admittedly, culture differences are still widely spread though ourlifes Some of the differences reside deeply because of historical,regional, and climate reasons, which could still reflect the wisdomfrom our ancestors These can not be vannished and have to berespected and protected

For the visitors, to experience these differences could also be one

of the attractions for their journey Some westen visitors could always learn a few Chinese greeting words like "Nihao" after their travel from China Then when they have a chance to meet their Chinese friends or bussiness partaners in their countries, using these words would definately show a warm welcome, and could help instantly remove the distance from each other On the other hand, some places are even characterized by its strong and indigous local customs which may have hundreds of year’s history

To follow these customs may even help to expand the understanding of this country and bring new idears to our present

life, the examples here are not scarce, taking a glance at fashion,you may find some exotic elements across different cultures.

Overall, every country has its own culture, when visitors find out the culture differences, try and feel it This might inspire the creativity for their own lives, and the happiness from this might be worthy of memorizing for ever

4-POINT CRITIQUE

TASK ACHIEVEMENT

You were able to cite good reasons and specific examples about the Chinese culture The main points have substantial supporting details The introduction should be made longer Your word count is

242 which is short of the 250 word limit

COHESION AND COHERENCE

It’s good that you have an introduction and conclusion You also have made effective use of transition words such as on the other hand and overall Improve your introduction by having a minimum of three sentences Your introduction should include a thesis statement which gives your point of view Your paragraph structure needs improvement They should be equal in length Some paragraphs are long and the fourth paragraph has two main points which you can discuss in a new paragraph You can further improve your organization by using the famous 5-paragraph essay Have two main points discussing the advantages and one point discussing the disadvantage

LEXICAL RESOURCE

You have a good variety of words but there were some words thatwere used inappropriately Economic should be economy Cultureexchanging should be replaced with cultural exchange Thoughshould be changed to through Vanished should be replaced withtaken away Memorizing is more appropriate with lessons Thebetter term is remembering The phase “try and feel it” should beparallel and be changed to “they should try and feel it”

GRAMMATICAL ACCURACY

There are a lot of misspelled words such as lifes, vannished,bussiness, partaners, definately, idears, indigous, year’s, westen,for ever Make sure you proofread your work You can use the AutoCorrect function of MS Word There are minimal grammar errorsand you were able to use the correct tense and subject-verbagreement

-Do you want to join the next makeover? Read more about theIELTS Writing Makeover

IELTS WRITING MAKEOVER #2

I got another essay for the IELTS Writing Makeover from mymailbox This was submitted by Bahar from Turkey and here is herTask 2 essay:

Studying the English language in an English-speaking country is the best but not the only one way to learn the language.

Learning a foreign language is a good qualification for people intoday's world Knowing a foreign language has always been adistinguishing feature either at school or at work Because it is themost widespread spoken language through the world, English is themost demanded language in today's world Every people have theirown ways to learn English Some of them start learning it at school,some of them try to learn it by taking tutorials, some of them go toEnglish courses while some prefer to learn it in an English-speakingcountry No matter what the learning method is, I completely agreewith the idea that studying English in an English speaking country isthe best but not the only way to learn the language

First of all, in order for us to learn English, we have to learn the grammer first Schools or courses always teach grammer first In order to speak English, grammer should be learned to some extent Like any other subject, of course, a teacher can teach a subject to some extent The rest depends on the student's own efforts, studiousness and enthusiasm in learning English After having a grammer background, the learner may build up his/her vocabulary skills by reading books, papers and magazines in English Similarly,

listening the news in English or watching movies in English willhighly likely improve one's listening skills considerably I rememberfrom my own experiences that I improved my reading and listeningskills by reading and listening in English

The best way to learn English has always been to learn it in anEnglish-speaking country The reason is that when an Englishlearner goes to an English-speaking country, he/she will be exposed

to English converstaions every time This exposure will surelyresulted in improving English skills especially listening and speakingskills significantly Another advantage of learning English in anEnglish-speaking country is that the learner can practise a lot in ashorter time To give an example, I learned English in my homecountry, Turkey I managed to learn it in a long time However, mybest friend preferred to learn English in England Both of us knowEnglish now, however, she learned it more quickly and correctlythan me

Eventually, there are many ways to learn English but the best way is

to learn it in an English-speaking country

4-POINT CRITIQUE

TASK ACHIEVEMENT

You were able to give good arguments about studying the Englishlanguage You were able to elaborate with concrete examples Yourtotal word count is 392 words Now that's a very big number Theideal number is from 250-265 If you write too much, you maycommit more mistakes and you might run out of time You shouldspend a maximum of 40 minutes for this task.

COHESION AND COHERENCE

You used a couple of transition words such as first of all, similarly,however, etc The introduction was done very well but theconclusion should be made longer with at least 3 sentencessummarizing the main points of the essay Improve the organization

of your essay with the 5-paragraph essay format: Introduction,Advantage 1, Advantage 2, Advantage 3, Conclusion

"highly likely improve one's listening skills considerably." Eventuallyshould be replaced with other transitions words such as "to sum up,

in conclusion, to conclude."

GRAMMATICAL ACCURACY

There were minimal grammar errors noted Revise the followingmisspelled words: grammer and conversations Remove the "ed" inthe phrase "will surely resulted" In the expression "she learned itmore quickly and correctly than me", it should be "than I".

If you want your essay to be the next project, check out the details

of the IELTS Writing Makeover

Tags: IELTS, writing

IELTS WRITING MAKEOVER #3

The next IELTS Writing Makeover is from Elif Here's the rest of his essay.

TOPIC: Successful sports professionals can earn a great deal more money than people in other important professions Some people think this is fully justified while others think it is unfair.

In the last two decades, some sports professionals have beengranted lots of Money because of their unique talents However,some people think high amount of Money should be given theseprofessionals due to wonderful impacts in the world, others believe

it is not necessary to give a great deal money for just kicking theball

As well as I mentioned above, sports market has a great impact onpeople from all over the world For instance, football, according toAmericans it means socker is been watching by lots of people.There is a big commercial market, that's why it is so common thatprofessionals earn good Money They can sell t-shirts and sometools about the team Furthermore; it is a speacial talent whicheveryone can not be born with Especially, Brazilian footballers aremore popular than others Eventually, lots of young people leadthese famous professionals and try tol ive as them Even if thereason is being popular, it is a good exercise for their health

On the contrary, many people do not want them to get a highamount of Money Fistly, not only sports are precious in daily life,but alos science has a high value We need inventions which cureour illness' or simply our life Therefore, it is obviously seen thatscientists have to be supported more than sports professionals.Secondly, they make people lazy This system provides theimportance of money and popularism, and also shows people howthey can make Money easily But the world is not simple as theydisplay us Lastly, I deeply beleive people need inventions morethan sports and sports programmes Governments do not allowpublic to think deeply about politics and our entire life problems,such as crime, economics ■t is not fair to give a lot of Money for

just some special sports in case they bring high advertisementrevenue

In conclusion, ther might be different opinions But the importantthing is at least giving the same value for other extremely importantprofessionals like doctors, scientists and academicians because ofthe role in our future

4-POINT CRITIQUE

TASK ACHIEVEMENT

You gave a balanced perspective of the different views about sports professionals The body contains concrete examples The

introduction could be improved by placing the word "however"between the two clauses

COHESION AND COHERENCE

A number of transition words were found to show relationshipsbetween sentences and paragraphs They are utilized effectively toshow sequence, opposing views and summary of main points

LEXICAL RESOURCE

Vocabulary is varied, however, there are some words that need to

be modified Drop "as well" in the phrase "as well as I mentionedabove" "lead" should be replaced with "follow" "popularism" should

be changed to "popularity"

GRAMMATICAL ACCURACY

Your tenses are consistent and correct subject-verb agreement wasused There are a couple of spelling errors: socker, speacial, tol live,fistly, alos, beleive, ther It's unnecessary to capitalize money

"sports" takes a singular verb Add an article "the" before the word

"public" Remove the apostrophe in "illness"

IELTS WRITING MAKEOVER #4

Today's IELTS Writing Makeover is from Mohamed His essay

is about retirement for old people Read the following essay and my makeover.

Firstly, many corporations believes that it is better for them to havesomeone who is old but has multiple years experience to run theirbuisness However, this cannot be applied to many working fields.Although such senile people may have more experience than otherworkers, yet they cannot produce as much effort as a youngeremployee Nevertheless, it is scientifically believed that the humanbrain loses a fair percentage of its efficancy at a certain age Thismay cause older people to have less concentration and thereforless job output

Secondly, hiring an old person to do a certain job for a long period

of time can be unfair to young people who have potential ofbecoming even better in performing the same job using all thetechnological advances we are witnessing nowadays Seniorcitizens may face more difficulties applying such technologicalbreakthroughs to work than younger ones, since they are morelikely to perform their work in a bit of a traditional way

Another good point about having a certain age for retirement, is thatolder people who have been working for most of their lives deserve

to get some rest at some point In other words, it would be veryunfair for a working man or a woman to waste all their life working in

a non-stop pattern their should be a time where they are allowed torest This is why many people nowadays are looking forward toretire, especially with the hectic life style we all are living now

All in all, I think that it is better to have a defined age for old people

to stop working This way they get a chance to rest, and enjoy apeaceful life, and also give the way for new blood to get theiropportunity to prove their true capabilities

4-POINT CRITIQUE

TASK ACHIEVEMENT

You were able to introduce the topic well and you also summarizedyour essay You gave substantial arguments why old people shouldstop working You used concrete examples to illustrate your points

COHESION AND COHERENCE

You have a good number of transition words such as firstly,secondly, however, nevertheless, etc Paragraphs are wellorganized

-Did you like this makeover? Do you have problems with writing? Get

an IELTS Writing Makeover here

Tags: IELTS, writing

IELTS WRITING MAKEOVER #5

I received an e-mail from Ramesh Here's his letter:

Dear Madam

I am a candidate who is going to take up IELTS in October I had come across your website and really appreciate your service you do for people like me I have sent a letter (see below), could you please make your comments for it Thanks in advance.

yours sincerely

Ramesh

QUESTION: YOU HAVE RECENTLY MOVED INTO A NEW FLAT UNFORTUNATELY, YOU LOST SOME MONEY THE OTHER DAY, AND CANNOT AFFORD TO PAY NEXT MONTH'S RENT WHEN IT IS DUE.

WRITE A LETTER TO THE LANDLORD EXPLAINING THE SITUATION AND THAT YOU WILL PAY AS SOON AS YOUR PARENTS SEND YOU THE MONEY ALSO, MENTION THAT THERE ARE SOME PROBLEMS WITH THE FLAT.

I am your new tenant who recently moved into your "7M Atlantic Gardens" flat Please do not misunderstand me for the message I

am going to give in this letter I missed my last month's salaryduring a bus travel My pocket was picked in the crowd, hence I amsorry to say that I will not be able to pay you the next month's renttimely

I therefore request you to excuse me for this inconvenience Since I

am out of money even for my own expenses, I had asked myparents to send some money When I receive the money, my firstpreference would be to pay your rent

One more information I would like to add is about two problems inthe flat The air condition unit is not functioning properly Although it

is working , chillness is not been enjoyed out of that Secondly a tap

in the bathroom needs replacement The handle of it is very rusty, itmight hurt me anytime Rest everything is fine in the flat and I amactually enjoying my stay

I hope you understand my current financial position and excuse me

to pay the rent a bit delayed and also hope that you will look into therepair works in the flat Thanking you in Advance

yours sincerely

Ramesh

COHESION AND COHERENCE

Add more transition words to link your paragraphs Improve theorganization of your letter In the first paragraph should be yourpurpose for the letter The second paragraph should describe thesituation and supporting details The third paragraph should be theproblems with the flat The last paragraph should have the plan ofaction on your part as well as the landlord

LEXICAL RESOURCE

There are some awkward sentences that need to be changed Instead of saying "my pocket was picked", use "my wallet was

stolen" Say "my rent" instead of "your rent" The first sentence inthe second paragraph is too wordy Simplify by stating "I'm sorry forthe inconvenience." Replace "one more" with "another" Change

"chillness is being enjoyed out of that" to "it isn't cold enough."Replace "excuse me to pay the rent a bit delayed" with "bear with

me for the delay in the rent"

IELTS WRITING MAKEOVER #6

Today's IELTS makeover is from Nino He wrote an essay on Task 1 of the Academic Module.

QUESTION:

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task Write a report for a

university lecturer describing the information in the graph below.You

should write at least 150 words

The diagram describes process of gathering weather information fro the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, which has after to deliver up-to-date weather forecast via TV, Radio or recorded announcement

The main sources for incoming information are satellite, radar and drifting buoy After receiving certain data by means of above mentioned technologies Meteorology bureau has to make analysis and produce forecasting

In order to held analysis and forecasting process meteorologists have to make use of satellite photo images Also they are making observations over radar screen and synoptic chart As soon as any changes are reflected on those photos, screen and charts changes

have to be done into the information that should be produced

Before the information is delivered to the society the Bureau has torefine all the data via computer programme The computer has therole of an information manager, as it is final source of all collectedmaterials

Via computer reliable forecast is received by television and radiostations as well as it could be broadcast as recordedannouncement

4-POINT CRITIQUE

TASK ACHIEVEMENT

You were able to write a 150-word essay You were able to describespecific details of the weather gathering process

COHESION AND COHERENCE

Since you are describing a process, you should use transition wordssuch as then, next, first, second, lastly, etc Five paragraphs is toolong for this task Use 3-4 paragraphs with the last paragraphsummarizing and restating the description of the graph that includesthe variables

LEXICAL RESOURCE

Vocabulary is quite varied and concrete words were appropriatelyused.

GRAMMATICAL ACCURACY

Insert an article "the" between "describes" and "process" Remove

"after" in the phrase "which has after to deliver" There were somemisspelled words such as "fro" and programme "To held" should be

"to hold" Place a comma after "society" Insert a comma after

"above mentioned technologies", "forecasting process", "also" and

"via computer"

Do you need more information about the IELTS Writing Makeover?Find it here

IELTS WRITING MAKEOVER #7

Another Task 1 essay came from Hanane who is taking the IELTS

on July 23

The map below is of the town of Garlsdon A new supermarket (S) is planned for the town The map shows two possible sites for the supermarket.

Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

You should write at least 150 words

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examplesfrom your own knowledge or experience

The map shows the town of Garlsdon, its countryside and the possible sites for opening a new supermarket.

The first possible location is S1 witch is located outside the county but relied to it by a railway ,so it would be easy to shoppers from Glarlsdon centre to access it there is also a relevant main roads and the site is 12km faraway from Hindson ,so shoppers could come from Hindson too.

the main advantage of this location is that is situated countyside so car parking is availeble.

In contrast, the second possible site is making the supermarket in the town centre S2,just in the middle of the main industry and close

to housing , this is the ideal location for Glarlsdon population and there is also main roads and raiway linking the site to Cransdon and Bransdon wich are 25 km and 16 km faraway respectively.

The advantage of this location is that it target almost 45.000 population However, the main desadvantage is that it would be difficult to parck cars.

To sum up , both sites has advantages and desadvantages , but S1 would most probably suit better customers from Garlsdon , Hindson and Cransdon.

4-POINT CRITIQUE

TASK ACHIEVEMENT

The essay is more than 150 words You were able to compare thetwo sites and give the advantages and disadvantages of each

COHESION AND COHERENCE

You used a variety of transition words to show relationshipsbetween paragraphs such as "in contrast", "however" and "to sumup" Improve your organization by reducing the number ofparagraphs to four (Introduction, Location 1, Location 2,Conclusion) Paragraphs should be balanced

in agreement include: "both sides has", "there is also main roads",

"it target" Capitalize all beginnings of the sentence Insert "it" between "that" and "is situated" Reverse the position of "better" and

"customers" "Easy to shoppers" should be "easy for shoppers" Drop the article "a" and "relevant" in the phrase "there is also a relevant main road" Insert a comma before "too" Your grammar

foundation is weak so I suggest that you get a grammar refreshercourse

-Need help with your IELTS writing? Find more details here

Tags: IELTS, writing

IELTS WRITING MAKEOVER #8

The next essay is from Andrea She writes about children learning other foreign languages.

SCHOOL CHILDREN SHOULD NOT BE FORCED TO LEARN OTHER FOREIGN LANGUAGES AS THEIR ABILITY DIFFERS

DO YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE?

Nowadays, because of technology and media development, theboundaries in the world are disappearing Every day most and mostpeople can visit or work overseas Getting it is easier if you handleanother language besides your native language

This is the main reason because in this time is almost mandatory tolearn two or more language in order to improve your skills in aglobalized world Hence parents should encourage their children tolearn more than one language since they are at school Learningdifferent tongues is easier when you are a child than when you are

an adult person because the brain gets things faster That´s why isimportant that parents do not be afraid because forcing theirchildren to learn a different language

The last decade the growing of internet and another media is amazing and our sons are more and more interested about that We can focus this fact like an excuse to learn English If your children don't like foreign languages and are not interested about them, you