Follow These Tips to Master the Essay Writing Task of the IELTS Exam
If you’re reading this article, you probably know much more about the IELTS test. I won’t bother you with detailed information about the IELTS. But, you should know that you will be interested in four different English skills, i.e. Writing, Listening, Speaking and Reading in the IELTS exam Singapore. You will be taking the Listening, Reading and Writing parts all on the same day, one after the other, without any breaks in between them. Without wasting more time, I want you to work on the tips I am mentioning here that might be handy for you when it comes to the writing part.
1. Understanding the Question
Understanding a question is like winning half the battle. Focus on the question carefully and identify its type - whether it is a discussion, an opinion, a solution to the problem or combination of everything. Identify the key elements in the question and understand what the question wants. Avoid writing on a general topic, or you'll end up scoring no more than a band 5 score. Thus it is necessary to pay attention to each detail mentioned in the question else you're a goner.
2. Map Out Your Ideas
Always take 5 minutes for brainstorming the ideas which you are about to scratch down in the paper before you commence writing. For this, you can take a pencil and jot down as many as various aspects and perspectives, related to the particular issue in the essay. It is seen that candidates who pan out their ideas well before writing to score more than those who don't. This ultimately saves a lot of time and help pen down an essay in a more efficient manner.
3. Familiarity With the Common Topics
IELTS Singapore administered by Jamboree Education is one of the top institutions for IELTS coaching that provides several writing practice questions to familiarize you with the format of the test. This helps in widening your vocabulary as well. Make sure you are reading enough newspapers or magazines, this helps in adding more new words to your dictionary. Always remember that your preparation can go into vain if you don’t execute your plans well on the test day itself. So, present your answer with a clear thought process and meaning.
4. Address Your Personal Opinion
Experts say that employing your ideas in your writing can be a plus point when it comes to scoring. Take the essay question as it is asked by one of your colleagues and then phrase your piece as if you're giving an opinion to it. Always try to support your essay with relevant examples to make it more clear for an examiner to understand.
5. Time Management is the Key
As we all know, the test is time-bound, so make sure you complete your essay within 40 minutes. For this, you should work on your time management skills during IELTS preparation. Managing time on the test day can bring out the best essay you might have written in your life before. So, you can plan your essay test like this.
l Not more than 5 minutes to plan your essay
l Try to complete your essay within 35 minutes
l Keep 2-3 minutes of spare time for proofreading
This way you can efficiently write your essay with a lesser chance of making grammatical or spelling mistakes.
6. Try to Make Crisp Paragraphs
Many candidates describe the whole topic in a single paragraph. Pretty bad idea though! Never do that, it can cost you a significant amount of marks. Here I’ve mentioned a specific structure that is considered best for essay writing in the IELTS test Singapore. Have a look at it!
Structure of an Essay
l Introduction
l Body Paragraph 1
l Body Paragraph 2
l Conclusion
Always remember to break down your ideas into different paragraphs. Explain each idea separately, this helps examiner in getting a clear-cut idea of your writing. An essay with 4 paragraphs is considered ideal to achieve a high band score.
7. Complete Your Answer at Any Cost
Many candidates leave their answers incomplete because of the time constraint. You should know that you are taking the IELTS exam to help examiner grade you based on your English skills. And, if you leave your essay incomplete, they can't judge you. The result will be a low score, it is as simple as that. If you're running out of time, you can end your essay by formulating points and describing then in 3-4 lines, this way you can put ideas to your content of your essay. Trust Me, leaving essays with only bullet pointers is a bad choice.
8. Grammar, Spelling, Punctuation & Formal Language matters in the Essay
Use of proper grammar, writing correct spelling and knowledge of punctuation matters a lot in the essay writing task. You need to be more careful regarding this thing. This can be handled well but the main issue is the language tone. In this era of Whatsapp, Facebook and Messenger, it is quite common among people the use of shortcuts while expressing their thoughts. Keeping yourself out of its influence you should use a formal tone while drafting your essay. Using an informal tone might offend the examiner which is going to cost you with your band score.
Acing IELTS with self-preparation won't just be enough. So, don't take the IELTS exam for granted and practice at the last moment. However, you can enroll yourself with IELTS Singapore. It is run by Jamboree Education and is one of the best IELTS preparation classes in Singapore. They provide full practice tests, model answers, time-based test analysis with some of the best experts on-board.