How to Improve Writing in IELTS Task 2
I have been teaching IELTS since 2007, and thousands of students have settled in the whole world by securing required bands in IELTS. Among the four skills- listening, speaking, reading and writing, writing is challenging to an unusual extent. While teaching the topic, “How to improve writing in IELTS Task 2 which is same both for GT IELTS and Academic IELTS, I teach some golden tips to my students.
Dear aspirants of IELTS, keep in mind that nothing is impossible in this world. The main thing to get success is positive mindset, and if you have then this blog will help you in achieving everything that you desire for. IELTS writing task 2 is nothing for you to master.
IELTS experts have suggested following four main areas of IELTS writing:
- Task response (TR)
- Lexical resource (LR)
- Cohesion and coherence (CC)
- Grammatical range and accuracy (GRA)
From own personal experience, I am sharing 13 practical tips helping you to solve every puzzle of IELTS writing task 2.
So, be ready to grab them one by one:
Understand the task
First of all, it is essential to understand the topic; what the task is about, which things are necessary to beautify your task. How your task is related to others and how to manage all thoughts about the topic. By this method you can analyze about the different dimensions of the topic.
This is the direction of our journey of writing task 2. No matter how impressive your writing style is, without understanding the task response, you cannot crack the nut of IELTS.
Outline is Mandatory
Outline is the backbone of the task 2. Many aspirants of IELTS consider that outline is not necessary. They think that they have limited time to complete their task, and they would not want to waste their time for making outline.
While outline is a point which keeps your task on the track. When you have outline, your thoughts will not waver keeping you on the track to reach at the ending point. By outline you can point out all discussion in a sequence.
Share your best in the beginning: paraphrasing
It is essential to start with your best. If you have three paragraphs, first of all it is good to write your best paragraph in the beginning. After it, write your weak paragraph in the middle and write your second strongest paragraph in the last. It looks better and examiner appreciates this style of writing.
Actually, you know that the first paragraph needs paraphrasing of the topic and your point of view or stance about the whole topic. For example, if the examiner asks about agree or disagree, you can announce after paraphrasing (rewrite of the text in different words for more clarity is called Paraphrasing) that I agree from this viewpoint and will prove my point in the following paragraphs.
Focus on expression and use of formal Language
The way you write to express your ideas by using formal language for task 2 is called your expression. Some students may use informal language, but they will have to face the music.
Use variety of sentences
In the category of grammatical range and accuracy, your focus should be to use compound and complex sentences, not just simple ones. According to requirement and demand of the questions, you can use simple sentences, but compound and complex sentences will take your writing to 7.0 bands or more than that even.
So, do a lot of practice to be a master of advance level sentence making. This tip of writing in IELTS can boost your grades than your expectations.
Remember collocations
Collocations play vital role in IELTS writing task 2. Collocations are the combination of two or more words which are naturally used to glamorize the writing. It polishes your sentence and examiner’s impression will also effect on that.
Never use contractions in IELTS Academic writing
As it is formal writing, the use of contractions e.g., it’s, I’m, they’ll etc. is not allowed in IELTS writing task 2. Even nouns should not be used in contracted form, e.g., instead of ma’am, write madam which is a formal word.
Clarity of ideas with cohesion and coherence
Cohesion and coherence are the techniques through which you can adorn your task. When you have clarity about the sentences and make it in a manner, it will ultimately make a good sense with respect to IELTS writing task 2.
Proper punctuation is essential in IELTS writing
Punctuation is a tool used to make a sentence understandable as well as whole paragraph. The use of punctuation plays a requisite role for writing IELTS task 2. Punctuation makes a sentence clear and concise.
Most of the aspirants do common mistakes in punctuation which are highlighted below:
- Misuse of apostrophe
- Wrong use of quotation marks
- Misapply of comma
- Use of semicolons like commas
Have mastery in cohesive devices
Cohesive devices are also called linking words or connectors, used to make good sense for sentences. Aspirants needs good command on cohesive devices.
Furthermore, it is also important that cohesive devices are used in a limit. If aspirants use a lot of cohesive devices in their writings, the result will appear in low bands.
Get feedback from expert mentors
Feedback is a method through which aspirants evaluate themselves as possible as they can. Taking feedback from expert mentor polishes your writing skills. Because evaluating is the process through which aspirants improve their writing skills as well as improve minor mistakes in the text.
Practice IELTS writing daily
Consistent writing makes you better. If you do not know anything; write. Write even your yesterday’s activities. By practicing daily, you can improve your writing gradually.
Follow Instructions for IELTS writing properly
Instructions play vigorous role while IELTS writing. Time management, words limit and basic knowledge award you good bands in IELTS Writing task 2.
To sum up all if anybody is thinking that “how to improve writing in IELTS Task 2”, above all of these factors will definitely help IELTS aspirants to get high bands in IELTS writing task 2.
