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Design&layoutbyIELTSBlog.com Web:http://www.ieltsblog.com

IELTSBlog.compresents:

HowtogetahigherIELTSscore
bybuildingapositiveimageintheexaminersmind

ThisseriesoflessonswaspreparedbyDonnaMillenespeciallyforthereadersof
ELTSBlog.com I .ThelessonsarebrilliantandwilldoamazingthingsforyourIELTS
coreifyoustudyandimplementthem. s

Youwilllearn:
Lesson#1: ositive,psychologicalimpressiononyour Howtocreateap
IELTSassessors.

Lesson#2:HowtowriteaTask1reportthatwillimpressyourassessors
(AcademicModule).

Lesson#3: rthatwillimpressyourassessors HowtowriteaTask1lette

(GeneralTrainingModule)

Lesson#4: linfluenceyourassessors HowtowriteaTask2essaythatwil

positively(AcademicandGeneral).
esson#5

L : testscoreby HowtoimproveyourSpeaking
connectingwithyourassessor.

Lesson#6:HowtooptimizeyourperformanceintheListeningandReading
tests.

DonnaMillen,coauthoroftheCentreforEnglishLanguageintheUniversityof
SouthAustraliasIELTSonTrackseriesofbooks(ieltsontrack.com)talksabout
whatmaycreateapositivepsychologicalimpressiononassessorswhomaybe
scoringtheWritingandSpeaking(interview)componentsofyourIELTStest.

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Lesson#2:HowtowriteaTask1reportthatwill
impressyourassessors(AcademicModule).

BeforebeginningLesson#2,hereisashortsummaryofwhatwelearnedlastweek.

SummaryofLesson#1.

owerto: IntheIELTSWritingandSpeakingtestsyouhavesomep

i essionthatyoumakeontheassessor
b ychologicalimpressionintheassessorsmindofthesortof
nfluencetheimpr
uildapositive,ps
personYOUare.

IntheIELTSWritingtestyoucanimpresstheassessorby:

wellorganisedway
turelyandwithprecision
presentingyourwritingneatlyandina
writingsentencesthatexpressideasma
avoidingbabyishsimpleexpressions.

IntheIELTSSpeakingtestyoucanimpresstheassessorby:

behavingasanequal
e afriendlyandopenway
t thingsaboutyourlifeandculture
xpressingyourpersonalityin
ellingtheassessorinteresting
(whenitisrelevanttodoso).

owletsmoveontoLesson#2.
Importantbackgroundissues

eforelookingspecificallyatthisweekslessononIELTSAcademicWritingTask1,
etsexploreoneortwoimportantbackgroundissuesintheWritingtest.
B
l

Dontbecomeaclockvictim

TheIELTSAcademicWritingtestputseverycandidateunderagreatdeal
oftimepressure.Candidatesknowthattheyhavetorespondtotwo
tasksbywritinga150word,andthena250wordanswerinonlyone
hour.Undersuchconditions,itiseasyforcandidatestoseethemselves
aspowerlessclockvictims.

WhatisanIELTSclockvictim?

andidateswhospendtoomuchtimeeithercountingwords,clockwatchingorbeingover
nxiousabouttimecanbedescribedasclockvictims.
C
a

Cutdownonwordcounting

Avoidlosingtimebycountingwordstoofrequently.Instead,workouttheapproximate,
averagenumberofwordsyounormallywriteonaline,countthenumberoflinesyouhave
rittenandmultiplythemtogether.AfullIELTSAnswerpagehasabout20lines.Ifyou
ormallywriteabout10wordsoneachlineyouwillwriteabout200wordsonafullpage.
w
n

WhattodotopreventfeelingsoanxiousintheIELTSwritingtest

To youneedto:
canincreaseyourabilitytocontrolthis
helptomanagefeelingsofanxiety
seeyourselfinamorepositivewaysothatyou
challengingwritingtestsituation.
beco ebetteratorganisingyourwrittentext. m
OW? H

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CreateasuitabletestpersonafortheIELTSwritingtest
Itisimportantfortesttakerstocreateasuitabletestpersona(asortoftestidentity)with
whichbothtomanagetheirtestperformanceandtobuildtheconfidencetoconnect
positivelywithandmakeapositiveimpressionontheassessor.Beingapanickytesttaker
isnotasuitabletestpersona.

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Whatmightbeasuit
maginethiscontext:
abletestpersonafortheIELTSAcademicWritingtest?

Youareworkingwithasenior,universitylectureronsomesocialresearch.This
lecturerhasaskedyoutopresentthemwithabriefreportonsomedataandto
givesomeoutlineviewsonasocialissueasbackgroundmaterialtobetakento
atwoday,academicseminaroverseas.Thelecturerisflyingoverseasforthat
seminaratlunchtime.

Timeisimportantalsointhisimaginarycontext,butitisimportantinthiscasebecauseof
yourcolleaguesschedule,soyouarehelpingsomeone.Alsoanacademiccontextisa
professionalcontextinwhichyouwouldbeexpectedtowriteinamature,considered,
clear,preciseandprofessionalmanner.

Thisprofessionalandacademictestpersonaisamoresuitableoneforyouto
imagineyourselfinthanjustbeingatestcandidate;itestablishesamuchstronger
enseofrelationshipbetweenwriterandreader,andthisgivesyourwritingastronger
ocialpurpose.
s
s

ButImtakinganIELTSlanguagetest,notworkingforauniversity.

erhapsthisiswhatyouarethinkingrightnow.Perhapsyouthinkthisideaofa P
professional,academictestpersonaisalittlebitcrazy.

OK,thenthinkaboutitthisway.Evenifyouarenottryingtodoso,ornotawareofdoing
so,almosteverythingyouwritetoanotherpersoncarriesanimpressionofYOUwithinit.
If,forexample,yourwritingisdisorganised,looksmessy,isoffthepoint,offersinaccurate
information,thenallofthesefeaturestellthereadersomethingnegativeaboutYOU(the
writer)asaperson.

ThereaderstartstoimaginewhatYOUarelikefromhowyouwrite,notjustfrom
whatyourlanguageislikegrammatically.Thismeansyourwritinghasthepowerto
influencetheimpressionyoumakeinmanydifferentways.Soyouneedtotryto
ommunicatepositiveimpressionsofyourselfinyourwriting. c

Howelsecananxietyorpanicbemanaged?

Planningbeforewriting
OftencandidatesreceivetheirIELTSwritingtestpaperandthenbegin
writingtheiranswersalmostimmediately.Why?

Becausetheyaresoscaredoftime.

Aprofessionalperson,incontrast,learnshowtoplanandmanagetimeinthemost
effectivewayinordertoachievethegoalstheyhaveestablishedforwriting.

Planningisessentialtoaprofessionalapproachinworkinglife.Ifyougotomeetabusiness
lientyoupreparethenightbeforesothatyouareclearaboutwhatyouwanttoachieve c
andthebestwaytoachieveit.ThesameistrueinIELTSWriting.

OneofyourprimegoalsistogetabetterIELTSscorebybuildingapositiveimpressionin
theassessorsmind.InIELTS,planningtime(even23minutes)iseffectivebecauseit
elpsyoutodevelopasystematicandwellorganisedanswer,andthiscreatesa
rofessionalimpressionofYOUinthemindoftheassessor.
h
p

Imaginethis:

Let sa twopeopleofthesame
Eng sh
s yyoudidsomeresearchandmadeavideorecordingof
ritingtask1BUT:
planningtheanswer
li levelansweringthesameIELTSW
onepersonspentabout3minutes
theotherspentnotimeplanning.

Myguessisthatwhenyouplaybackthevideooftheonewhodidntplan,itwillshowthat
hiscandidatestopstothink,orstopstocrosssomethingout,moreoftenduringthe
thanthecandidatewithaplan.perhapseven3minutesmore!
t
twentyminutes

Inotherwords,itmaybejusttestanxietywhichcausesyoutothinkthatevery
ossiblesecondhastobeusedaswritingtime.Itmayalsobeamistaketobelievethat
hebestTask1answersarefromcandidateswhohavewrittennonstopfor20minutes.
p
t

areabo
riting
Someonewhoplansandorganiseswellisshowingthattheyc
beingsystematicaboutorganisingthecontentofwhattheyarew
ut:

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helpingthereaderoftheirworktoreaditaseasilyaspossible.

hisactofplanningdemonstratesanimportantbasicvalidationofthereaderwriter
elationship,whichisimportanteveninalanguagetestsituation.
T
r

CreatingagoodimpressioninyourWRITING
ACADEMICWritingtask1

AcademicWritingtask1involvesrespondingtoagraph,chart,tableorotherdiagram.The
assumptionisthatyouarewritingasortofsummarisingreportwhichdrawsoutand
compareskeyfeaturesandpresentstheminaclearandprofessionalmanner.

Tobuildapositiveimpressioninthemindoftheassessortherearemanythingsyoucando
whenchoosingthelanguagetousewhilebuildingyourTask1response.

7TipstoWritingaSuccessfulReport

1.Takecarewiththeaccuracyofinformation
Whatever lly
ndlookat ely
thematerialanddatapresentedtoyouinTask1,youneedtostudyitcarefu
eachcategoryornumbercarefullysothatyoureportonthemaccurat
hydoit?Accuracycreatesagoodimpressionofyouasa iter. professionalreportwr
a
W

2.Writeaboutthemostimportantpatternsandtrendsnotabouteverything
hydoit?Anappropriateselectionofkeyinformationshowsevaluationskills,andthisis
professionalstyle.
W
a

3.Avoidshoppinglistwriting,whichmeansjustlistingobviousfiguresoneafter
another.In t stead,trytoidentifykeytrendsandcompareandcontrastpatterns,don
justrepeatlistsoffacts
hydoit?Comparing/contrastingshowsmorematureevaluationofmaterial,whichis W
moreprofessional.

Remember,too,thatlanguageusedtoconnectideasatthebeginningofasentencecan
signalthiscomparativewritingnicely.
Forexample:Similarly,Conversely,Anexceptiontothistrendis,Comparedto,
Thispatternchangedfromto.)
(

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4.Dontmakepersonalcommentsaboutthestatisticalmaterial
Whydoit?Beingprofessionalwhenyoureportondatarequiresyoutobefactualand
objective.

5.Useasystematiclayout
Haveanintroductiontoyourreportonthedataandincludeinitperhapsaverygeneral
statementaboutthemostdominanttrendinthedata.Createandarrangeother
paragraphslogically.
Whydoit?Rememberintermsofyourtestpersona,anacademiccolleaguemightnot
aveverymuchtimetoreadyourreportandneedstofindandclassifyreportinformation
asily)
h
e

6.Useaprofessionalwritingstyleandformaltone
ThisisnoteasytoachieveifyourlevelofEnglishisnotveryhigh.Neverthelessitisstill
possibletoshapeyourtone(whichmeansyourattitudetothecontentthatthereadergets
romyourTask1writingandhowappropriatethattoneisbothtothegenre(type)of
riting,andtotheexpectationsthatthereaderhasofareportofthistype.
f
w

Youcantrytoachieveanappropriateformal,professionalreportstyleby:
avoidinglazylanguageexpressions(egetc,orandsoontheyarenot
professional,areusedmoreinspokenlanguage,andsuggestthewriterdoesnt
careenoughtofinishasentence

properly)
avoidinginformalexpressions(egalot,wasOKtheyarenotprofessional
enoughforareports

tyle)
avoidingrepetition(tooboringandmakesthewritersoundverylimited.Use
appropria esynonyms,orreferencinglanguage(egthis,itw ossible)

t hereverp
avoiding(wherepossible)overuseofgeneralexpressionsthatlack
precision(egthing,do,is,big,nice)

7.Reducesimplegrammarmistakes
Ofcourse,anyonetakingtheIELTStestislikelytomakenumerousgrammarmistakes.
However,somemistakescreateamorenegativeimpressionthanotherswhenread
byanativespeaker.Ifyoucanreducethenumberoftheseyoucanhelpapositive
impressiontospreadtootherpartsofyourwriting.

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4TypesofGrammarMistakesThatAnnoyanAssessortheMost

MistakeType#1VERBTENSE

a)Talkingaboutthedata

UsuallyIELTSTask1susedatafromparticularyeardates.YoumustusethePASTtense
whendescribinginformationfromthepast.Similarlyiftheinformationisaboutthefuture,
useappropriateFUTUREtenseforms.

b)Talkingabouttheactualgraphordiagramyoucanseeinfrontofyouonthetest
paper

YouusethePRESENTtenseformstosayThegraph/chart/tableshows/indicates/
reportson.becausethegraphitselfisalwaysthesameandalwaysinthepresent.

MistakeType#2SUBECT/VERBagreement

InEnglish,wesay:Thegraphshows;Thestatisticsshow;Thepopulationofthe
hreeAsiancountries t ischanging;ThenumberofpeoplewhositIELTSisincreasing
theheadnounspopulationandnumbercontroltheverbagreement); (

MistakeType#3WORDFORMSAdjective/Noun/Adverb
andidatesneedtocontrolandmanageeffectivelytheEnglishwordformstheyuse. C

Lookatthese4 s: example

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eissome Ther oubtful d aboutthed ounform d

The thefiguresis
at ( n ee ed)
accuracyof
a X doubtn
doubt (Xa oubtful ) djectived needed
Itisdoubtfullythatthefiguresareaccuracy(XXadjectivesdoubtful&
accurateneeded)
increased Thepopulation rapidduring2000 (Xadverbrapidlyneeded)

Insimpleterms,errorsthatrelatetobasicrulesofEnglishgrammarleaveamore
negativeimpressionthanotherkindsofmistakesbecausetheassessormayassume
thatyoulearntaboutthesebasicruleswhenyouwereyoungandhavehadplentyoftime
tolearntousethemcorrectlysincethattime.
So,ifyoustillmakethesebasicerrorsyougivetheimpressionofbeinglikean
immatureschoolchild,evenifyourownnativelanguagecausesyoutomaketheerrors
becauseitsverbsystemismuchsimplerthantheEnglishverbsystem,oritstranslated
wordformsarelessvariedthanthoseinEnglish.Theassessorformsanimpressionofyou
fromyourwritingandisntinfluencedbysuchcomplexitiesasfirstlanguageinterference.
heIELTStest,remember,isbasedultimatelyoncomparingperformancewithanative
nglishspeakerequivalent.
T
E

MistakeType#4SentenceBOUNDARIESandOMISSIONSfromsentences

Candidatesneedtobuildsentencescarefullyandrespectwhatasentenceisandwhatthe
partsofasentenceare,otherwisethereaderhastokeepreadingandrereadingthe
them.Thisleavesanegativeimpressionontheexaminer sentencestotrytounderstand
because:
a)itisfrustratingandboring,
b)itdamagestherelationshipbetweenwriterandreader.

Lookatthese2examples:

1)Thefiguresshowthefoodpreferencesofmenandwomentheyareintwotables.
. 2)Thetableshowsthepopulation.IntheAsiancountriesrosealotinthetenyearperiod

fteryoureadeachexampleabove,itisdifficultnottorereadeachofthembecausethey
unicateeitherclearlyoreffectively.Nowlookattheseimprovedversions:
A
dontcomm

Example1

otables. Thefiguresshowthefoodpreferencesofmenandwomen.Theyareintw
OR,moresimply,
otables. Thefiguresshowthefoodpreferencesofmenandwomenintw
R,evenmoresimply,
ablesshowthefoodpreferencesofmenandwomen.
O
Thetwot

Example2

ThetableshowsthatthepopulationintheAsiancountriesrosesignificantlyintheten
arperiod.

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ye
O
Accordingtothetable,thepopulationintheAsiancountrieswentupmarkedlyinthe
tenyearperiod.
R

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Remember,alltheseexamplesrepresentjustasmallsampleofpossiblegrammatical
orothererrorsinlanguageuse,buttheyareonesthatmaysignificantlyaffectthe
psychologicalimpressionthatyouranswerhasontheexaminer.

Tosummarise

WiththeIELTSAcademicWritingtestTask1itisimportantto:

trytobeaconfidentmanageroftimenotaclockvictim.
p
c
lanbeforeyouwritetohelpyouranswertobewellorganised.
reateanIELTStestpersonafortheWritingtestthathelpsyoumoreeasilytosee
yourselfaswritingforaprofessionalpurposetoanacademiccolleague,notasapanicky
testcandidate.

YoucanhelptocreateapositiveimpressioninWritingTask1if
goriesofinformation
you:

ticsorcate
skilfully
areaccuratewhenreportingstatis
selectandcomparekeyinformation
resistmakingpersonalcomments
c alstyleandtone
r marmistakesthatassessorsmightthinkarefromyourearlydaysof
reateaprofession
educethosegram
learningEnglish.

Inthenext,shorterlessonIlllookatcreatingapositiveimpressionwhenwriting
yourresponsetoIELTSGeneralTrainingTask1.

opeyoulljoinmeforLesson#3.
2009DonnaMillenandieltsontrack.com

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