Isn't it better to start writing from Writing Task 2 in #IELTS? 📝📈

There are two writing tasks in IELTS and two opinions as to which it's better to start with in the exam. Some IELTS tutors recommend starting with Writing Task 2 because it is worth more marks.

I am not one of those tutors. I think it’s better to write Task 1 first - it is the first task for a reason. And the reason is it can serve as a warm-up for Task 2 or as a bridge between the long, tiresome Listening+Reading section and Task 2 (which is indeed worth more marks and is therefore important to get right).

My main recommendation though is try both approaches and choose the one that works for you. Different strategies work for different people.

Me - I would never write Task 2 before Task 1. What about you - which approach works best for you? What about other exams?❓

Are you sick and tired of writing for exams? Do you want to find your voice and share your message? Then this course - one of my favorite courses to teach - is exactly what you need. 🌻

"Write for real: Blogging in English" is a course for people who want to share their passions and want to write for real readers. 🌻

🌻 What will you write?
Social media posts and stories, something like this https://vk.com/iralutse?w=wall-47977221_10703 or this https://vk.com/iralutse?w=wall-47977221_7735 or this https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2021/03/at-risk-of-incurring-curse-from.html

🌻 How is this writing different from writing for exams?

Writing for exams is often artificial. You probably don’t care about the topic and only write because you have to. It's an annoying nuisance to get rid of on the way to a certificate. Your only reader is your teacher who doesn't care about the topic either and whose sole purpose for reading your answer is correcting your mistakes.

When you write for real readers, however, you need to keep them hooked and to make your writing enjoyable to read.

When you write for real readers, they will stop reading if:
- your writing is too wordy or verbose;
- you are writing to show off your idioms not to communicate a message;
- beat around the bush and don’t get to the point;
- you use fancy words but don’t give any real information;
- your piece is too formal, dry, and boring.

🌻 What will you learn to do in this course then?
- hook your reader and keep them engaged;
- communicate your idea effectively;
- write concisely and precisely;
- use stylistic devices;
- try out different types of posts
and more.

To hell with writing for exams - it’s time to find your voice and write for real!

💌 Find out more about the course in the product denoscription and message me to sign up.

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Perhaps, my richest course in lexis and speaking... Starting Season 4! 🖤

My "House of Cards" project is a speaking + lexis course based on this TV show and geared towards exam prep. All of us watch TV shows anyway, so why not make the best of the experience? 📺

Here is how it works:
- I prepare a worksheet with IELTS/GRE/CPE lexis and exercises for each episode;
- you watch, learn, check, and practice;
- we meet for an online speaking session to activate the lexis and discuss the episode (including IELTS/CPE speaking tasks).

You can combine the pleasure of watching a TV show, boosting your speaking skills, and preparing for exams! How cool is that? (Very cool!)

Ever since I first launched this project, I've been asked the same question over and over again: "Why did you choose House of Cards?"

Here are my five reasons:

1. Excellent language.
The noscript is a perfect mix of formal and not too formal vocabulary. The formal, fancy words will come in handy in exams, while the informal, everyday expressions will come in handy in casual communication.

2. Food for thought.
The show raises a lot of philosophical and profound topics like deception, promises, power, perseverance, decision-making, problem-solving, you name it.

3. Cliffhangers.
After each episode ends, you are irresistibly tempted to watch the next one. On the one hand, you run the risk of binge-watching. On the other hand, you can train your willpower.

4. Unequivocally fascinating relationship between the two main characters.
It’s definitely not the kind of relationship I see in real life or other shows a lot. Can’t say more due to spoiler risks.

5. Irrefutably brilliant acting by the two lead actors Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright.

Convinced? Intrigued? Tempted? Join the course! 📺

📅 Summer 2022: Thursday 10:00-11:30 msk (One season of this show is 13 episodes.)
🤘🏻 Level: C1++

💌 Message me to sign up or ask questions.

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A short but epic micro-course "Teaching IELTS writing" - just two sessions 💃💃

💃 Session 1: Writing Task 1
- The panoply of types
- What to teach for each
- Assessment criteria
- Sample answers for different scores (including answers written by me)

💃 Session 2: Writing Task 2
- Garden-variety essay questions
- Understanding the topic
- The structure of any essay
- Assessment criteria
- Sample answers for different scores (including answers written by me)

💃 A little bit about IELTS and me:
- IELTS prep experience: over 10 years;
- IELTS taken: three times (academic);
- Scores: 8.5, 8.5, and finally 9;
- Writing score: 8.5 (two times!);
- I don't have any lifehacks, but I do have a profound understanding of the exam (and hundreds of checked essays).

Price: 2500 ₽ for both sessions or 1500 ₽ for one session.
Time: Monday, 14:00-15:30 MSK
Dates: Monday 27 June, Monday 4 July

‼️ There will be no recordings, but you will get pdfs of the presentations and sample answers.

💌 Pm me to sign up.
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One thing we work on in my "Write for Real: Blogging in English" course is writing concisely. 📝

I want to share some wordy examples from my student's answer and suggested rewrites.

1️⃣ "Write with a profi. I could spend ages writing on my own and producing bad and poor pieces."

We have two words here that mean the same thing: bad and poor pieces. Let's delete one immediately. And here is what we get: "Write with a profi. I could spend ages writing on my own and producing poor pieces." No meaning is lost.

2️⃣ "... professional coaches who guide us with tools and techniques to develop strategies for improving our writing."

This part has too many verbs and nouns. Let's delete some and also group verbs with verbs and nouns with nouns. And here is what we get: "... professional coaches who help us improve our writing with special techniques and strategies." No meaning is lost. Clarity is enhanced.

3️⃣ "It would be disingenuous to suggest that there is only cohesion that can make or break a story."

"There is" weakens the sentence as it distract the attention from "cohesion." Let's make "cohesion" the subject. And here is what we get: "It would be disingenuous to suggest that only cohesion can make or break a story." No meaning is lost. Focus is enhanced.

💜 By writing concisely, you not only make your piece shorter - you also enhance clarity and focus. Isn't this what we want?

Breaking news about IELTS: the writing section will now be at the start of the exam (about time!)! 🥳🥳🥳

Source: https://blog.myieltsclassroom.com/ielts-test-format-change-2022/
(I can't recommend Shelly and her podcast enough - make sure to subscribe! 💜💜💜)

A glimpse of what we did in "Write for Real: Blogging in English" today. 🌼🌼🌼

We talked about the importance of precision in writing. Take this sentence: "I recently moved into this apartment." The idea "recently" is not very precise - everyone will imagine a different "recently." Now let's try to change it for something more precise and see how it can make a difference to the accompanying ideas.

1. "I moved into this apartment two days ago."
= my apartment is probably a mess; there are unpacked boxes everywhere; my fridge might be empty as I don't know where good grocery stores are and/or I didn't have time to go; I haven't even seen my neighbors.

2. "I moved into this apartment a month ago."
= there might be a couple of boxes unpacked, but on the whole, the apartment must look like an ordinary apartment; I know where grocery stores are, but I might not know where some less important stores are; I might not know some bus routes; I must have seen my neighbors by now.

"Recently" has none of these supporting ideas because it's not precise - and this is just one word. Imagine a whole text of words which have or don't have any supporting ideas. With the help of more precise choices, you can communicate exactly what you want to communicate.

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Writing helps people process events and feelings.

Written by a student who wanted to remain anonymous, this piece helped them process some of their memories. I loved it so much I thought it deserved a much wider readership than just me. 💜

https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2022/06/metal-crosses-that-will-never-be-found.html

A glimpse of what popped up in my "Writing Through Reading" class today. 🌼🌼🌼

There are mistakes that are good mistakes - because they teach you. I want to share an example of one good mistake a student made. Can you spot it?

"This inevitably leads to adding to the footprint and begets the waste. The latter is, undoubtedly, textiles which environmental footprint is exacerbated considerably by intersecting with other polluting industries."

And the answer is: it must be "The latter is, undoubtedly, textiles WHOSE environmental footprint is exacerbated considerably by intersecting with other polluting industries." Yes, whose. "Whose" is used as a possessive relative pronoun for both animate and inanimate objects. Be brutally honest, did you know that? Anyway, you do now.

Find out more here: https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/whose-used-for-inanimate-objects#:~:text=Which%20and%20that%2C%20the%20relative,beginning%20of%20a%20question%3A%20while%20%22

A glimpse of what we did in my "Writing Through Reading" class last week. 🌸🌸🌸

We talked about the difference between coherence and cohesion (there seems to be little else I talk about in my sad life). Look at these two paragraphs - which is lacking in each?

1️⃣ The fashion industry is the second most polluting industry. This means that zippers cannot be recycled and are therefore a significant contributor to reduced biodiversity. Additionally, significant amounts of microplastics are believed to be poisonous to baby seals.

2️⃣ The fashion industry is the second most polluting industry. Greenhouse gases and chemical dyes pollute the earth. When clothes are washed, they emit significant amounts of microplastics into the ocean. Marine life dies. Unsold clothing items create a lot of garbage.

Answer: The first one lacks coherence. The second one lacks cohesion.

Then I asked my students to rewrite the second paragraph, adding cohesion. Here are two rewrites:

1️⃣ "The fashion industry is the second most polluting industry. Thus, greenhouse gases and chemical dyes pollute the earth. For instance, when clothes are washed, they emit significant amounts of microplastics into the ocean, consequently, marine life dies. Moreover, unsold clothing items create a lot of garbage."

This was written by a student who joined the group one class ago. What do you notice about this cohesion? It's the same, it's faulty, it's mechanical.

2️⃣ "The fashion industry is the second most polluting industry, which damages the environment in multiple ways. One of the most noticeable impacts is the emission of greenhouse gases and disposal of chemical dyes, both of which pollute the earth. Additionally, when clothes are washed, they emit significant amounts of microplastics into the ocean, thus having a detrimental effect on marine life. Another damaging factor is the garbage created by unsold clothing items."

This was written by a student who is a member of two of my writing groups. Cohesion is natural an unnoticeable. 💙

If you have trouble distinguishing between - or building - coherence and cohesion, make sure to read my huge but useful post:
https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2021/10/enough-has-been-said-about-cohesion.html

A good question from my "Writing through Reading" group. 🌼🌼🌼

It's about comma splice - the thing I talk about when I don't talk about cohesion.

Here is a sentence from my student's essay: "There is a possibility that people will need to colonize other planets and, consequently, that some funds have to be invested in this research now." Isn't there a comma splice here? "Consequently" is used in the middle of the sentence.

No, no comma splice. We have the conjunction "and" to join the sentences! Adverbs (like "consequently") indeed don't join sentences. But conjunctions do. This would be a comma splice: "There is a possibility that people will need to colonize other planets, consequently, that some funds have to be invested in this research now." But the original sentence isn't.

🌼 My long-read about comma splice: https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2021/09/comma-splice-must-read-for-thus-and.html

🌼 My student's IELTS essay: https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2021/04/ielts-writing-task-2-researching.html

A glimpse of what popped up in my "C2 Proficiency Writing" class yesterday. 🌼🌼🌼

And what popped up is, of course, coherence and cohesion. Look at the beginning of the paragraph. What do you think will come next?

📝 "However, I would not go so far as to say that memories are the determinant part of life. One important issue is that what one remembers can change under the influence of various factors, like personality itself. "

What should come next is how personality can be a factor that influences what one can remember. Now look at the student's paragraph. Is there coherence in what she wrote?

📝 "However, I would not go so far as to say that memories are the determinant part of life. One important issue is that what one remembers can change under the influence of various factors, like personality itself. Even siblings can recall events differently. For example, I would compare our family trip to the sea with a breath of fresh air, while my brother - with eating a rotten fish."

The correct answer is no. What we expect is the explanation how personality can be a factor that influences what one can remember, but what we get is the differences in the memories of the writer and her brother. Look at my re-write:

📝 "However, I would not go so far as to say that memories are the determinant part of life. One important issue is that what one remembers can change under the influence of various factors, like personality itself. Even siblings can recall the same event differently. For example, while an optimistic and upbeat person might compare a family trip to the sea with a breath of fresh air, a more pessimistic and grumpier one - with eating rotten fish. This happens because people's personality can cause them to focus on different aspects of the experience - and thus to remember them better."

OK, now we see how personality might affect memories because "optimistic/upbeat/pessimistic/grumpy" describe personality + we have a clear explanation.

If you haven't read my huge post about coherence and cohesion, make sure to read it by clicking the link:
https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2021/10/enough-has-been-said-about-cohesion.html

Why are IELTS writing tasks so unnatural? 📈

They are aren't - they are exactly what you will be doing when if you study abroad. This is something I talked about with my student Nikita when we met two days ago. He is now doing a Master's Degree at The Technical University of Munich and he got admitted all on his own - without any agencies or consultants.

Two years ago we recorded an interview - an insightful one - about his application process. Here are some questions we talked about:

- Tell us a bit about your academic background. What degree did you get in Russia and what degree are you getting now?
- Is it possible to apply for a master's degree that is not directly related to you bachelor's degree?
- What if there is a gap of several years between getting your bachelor's degree and your application?
- How long did it take you from the very first step to arriving in Germany?
- What was your very first step?
- How did you look for programs?
- How many programs would you say you should apply for? How many did you apply for?
- What are some things you should pay attention to when you check university websites?
- What's the next step after choosing your programs and checking the requirements?
- How long did it take you to prepare for IELTS? Your IELTS score is 7.5. What scores do universities normally require?
- What kind of paperwork is involved?
- Writing a motivation letter. Will the same one work for all your program choices? How long did it take you to write your motivation letters?
- Is it a good idea to google how to write a motivation letter? Why not? What should it include? How important is it?
- Is education free in Germany? Did you apply for scholarships? Did you get them?
- What else do you need to take into account in terms of finances?
- Are you happy? Have you realized your dream?

My main takeaway: be logical, plan everything, don't doubt. 💜

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93IC2DL5r4o

The last run of my short but epic mini-course "Teaching IELTS writing" in the near future. It's just two sessions - all you need to know to take your first steps in IELTS teaching. 💃💃

💃 Session 1: Writing Task 1
- The panoply of types
- What to teach for each
- Assessment criteria
- Sample answers for different scores (including answers written by me)

💃 Session 2: Writing Task 2
- Garden-variety essay questions
- The structure of any essay
- Understanding and developing the topic
- Assessment criteria
- Common mistakes
- Sample answers for different scores (including answers written by me)

Find out more and see feedback in the product denoscription below:
https://vk.com/market-47977221?w=product-47977221_5648169%2Fquery

A glimpse of what we did in my "Writing Through Reading" class this week. 🌼🌼🌼

A lot of people have trouble writing in academic language. So I took some sentences from the article the students read as homework and "translated" them into simple or informal English. And the students had to "translate" them back into academic English. Have a look at some examples and try your hand at this too:

1️⃣ "Dweck calls the first type a fixed mindset and the second type a growth mindset, and believes that our mindset calls the shots about what we do when we are in a pickle throughout our lives."

Original: "Dweck refers to these as fixed and growth mindsets respectively, and believes that our mindset dictates how we tackle problems throughout our lives."

2️⃣ "Overall, the writers of the story had a hunch that the ballpark figures for the size of the ego-depletion thingy should be upgraded. They later wrote, "actually, we think that ego-depletion is an actual thingy which is similar to being mentally tired."

Original: "Overall, the report’s authors concluded that estimates for the size of the ego-depletion effect should be revised down. They later wrote, “for the record, we think that ego-depletion is a ‘real’ phenomenon analogous to cognitive fatigue”."

3️⃣ ‼️ Your turn. How would you make this sentence more academic?
"Our results may be in the habit of going down if we’re challenged time and again, but if we have enough motivation, our piggy bank of willpower suddenly seems a lot bigger."

I've found that this course - a writing course based on articles from "New Scientist" - has worked superbly. And you can join a new group in September! 📅

Find out more and message me to sign up.
https://vk.com/iralutse?w=product-47977221_5061302%2Fquery

https://iraluts.blogspot.com/2022/08/ielts-writing-task-1-making-of-sugar.html

I want to share a great IELTS Writing Task 1 answer written by my former student Anna Skopina. The task is a process denoscription from IELTS 16 Test 2 - making sugar from sugar cane.

With process denoscriptions, students usually have two problems: 1. The answer is either extremely short (= not fully developed) or extremely long (= with many irrelevant or even made-up details); 2. The denoscription is mechanical and the stages are marked with same type of cohesive devices (first, then, in the next stage etc).

Anna's denoscription is well-balanced and contains a range of cohesive devices, especially ones to indicates stages and sequences. Try to notice them as you read it. (Click the link below to do so.) 📝

🍁🍁🍁 Sometimes I think inversion is the root of all evil...

Here is what a student wrote today, "There are two positive aspects of being motivated by others' approval. Firstly, no sooner do people receive the words of appraisal, than their brains start to produce dopamine, the hormone of pleasure." Oh where do I begin.

One popular IELTS and Proficiency writing/speaking tip seems to be "Use inversion. More inversion. And then some. It's such a high level structure that the examiners will go 'wow' and immediately give you the highest score." Admittedly, it is a high-level grammar structure. But grammar is not just grammar - it has meaning. Inversion is an emphatic structure, which is used to add emphasis. Saying "Not only do I like apples, but I also like pears," doesn't make sense because this sentence doesn't require emphasis. If you use inversion in sentences that don't need emphasis you are demonstrating lack of language awareness, so all your effort is in vain.

Back to the student's sentence. "No sooner ... than" is usually used with the past perfect. And it's usually used on narrative styles, not in academic essays. "No sooner had he entered the room than he was bombarded with questions," is a good sentence. But in a sentence about dopamine, "when" or "as soon as" will do.

This was a sentence from my "Writing Through Reading" class, which is based on articles from the New Scientist magazine. I started this course in February, and since then I have only seen one inversion in all the articles we've read. Inversion is the kind of structure that you really need very rarely. It's good, but you need it when you need it.

New "Writing with New Scientist" group in September! 🍁📅

https://vk.com/iralutse?w=product-47977221_5061302%2Fquery

A glimpse of my "C2 Proficiency Writing" class today. 🌼🌼🌼

So most exams have more or less the same assessment criteria - with some differences in wording, but with the same meaning. C2 Proficiency has one criterion though that IELTS doesn't have at all. So we analyzed the similarities and differences:
- CPE Content = IELTS Task Achievement/Task Response
- CPE Language = IELTS Lexical Resource + Grammatical Range and accuracy (CPE combines two IELTS criteria into one - do you think that's good or bad, btw?❓)
- CPE Organization = IELTS Coherence and Cohesion
- CPE Communicative Achievement = no matching criterion in IELTS! ‼️

Why doesn't IELTS have "Communicative achievement"? Because all the tasks in IELTS, unlike CPE, are the same "genre."

Communicative achievement is a pain in the neck for many students. But if you want to spend the next year studying and practising it, welcome to my C2 Proficiency Writing group - Thursday 10:00 MSK. 📅

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When it comes to writing, the most fundamental thing to understand is your target reader. 📚

When I teach writing for exams, I often ask my students, "Who is your target reader?" Most of the time they reply, "The examiner." While it's technically correct, this understanding of the target reader is not helpful.

It's much better to imagine the following target readers when you write for IELTS or C2 Proficiency:

✅ IELTS Writing Task 1 - investors, corporate executives, business owners, policy makers;
✅ IELTS Writing Task 2 - policy makers, political / social / economic analysts.
(With both tasks, imagine that these people make decisions based on your answers.)

✅ C2 Proficiency Writing Task 1 - teacher, tutor, professor (who will read your answer no matter what);
✅ C2 Proficiency Writing Task 2 Article, Review - magazine and newspaper readers (whose interest you need to engage, otherwise they will stop reading);
✅ C2 Proficiency Writing Task 2 Report - your superior, e.g. your manager or the local council, or your peers, e.g. your colleagues (both groups will read your report because they need the information they asked you to provide);
✅ C2 Proficiency Writing Task 2 Letter - newspaper or magazine editors, directors of international companies (who are interested in what you have to say, but they are busy people working with a lot of information).

These target readers, albeit imaginary, will help you choose the appropriate style and relevant content.

Be brutally honest, what reader do you keep in mind when you write for exams - the examiner or the imaginary readers outlined above?❓

"Irina, don't you get bored of correcting people's grammar when you check their writing?" ❓

I was interviewing a potential student for a writing group the other day and she asked me, "Irina, don't you get bored of correcting people's grammar when you check their writing? People must be making tons of mistakes. It must be annoying to correct all of them."

No, I don't get bored or annoyed. More importantly, it's not what I focus on when I read people's writing. I read for ideas. Ideas are the most important thing in a piece of writing, so I focus on such questions as: Are you answering the question? Is it clear what you mean? Is it interesting to read your piece? Are you telling me something I already know or am I going to learn something new?

Correcting grammar takes almost zero effort - machines can do that pretty well already and will soon be able to do that superbly. But the questions above take some mental work and are much more vital. And they are the foundation of writing - they are the reason for you to write and for the reader to read your work. And it's just as true for writing in a foreign language as it is for writing in your native language.

It's a huge misconception that when we write in English, we write for language. We write for ideas - in IELTS, in CPE, in Creative Writing, in Blogging, always. 💜

PS: I was interviewing the student for my "Write for Real: Blogging in English" course. We are starting on 17 September. 💌

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What is the correct place for the overview in Writing Task 1 (academic)? ❓📈

I get asked this a lot. There are two possible places - and both are "correct." Some people write it right after the introduction, while others put it at the very end of the answer. I always write the overview at the end because I believe it is more logical (and easier) to summarize the main trends after you’ve described them in detail. Besides, when the overview is at the very beginning, the answer ends very abruptly.

Even though I have a good answer to this question, it always makes me cringe. It makes me think that a lot of people treat IELTS as ЕГЭ - one and only one thing is correct, and that thing is defined by experts. In IELTS, however, several things can be correct. One IELTS criterion uses phasing "logically organized" - but this can be achieved in different ways.

Let's go back to the overview. Is it logical to write the overview before the main body? Yes - you are preparing the reader for what's coming. Is it logical to write the overview as the last paragraph? Also yes - you are summarizing everything you've written. How about writing your overview as the third paragraph out of four? It's highly unlikely to be logical.

In short, in IELTS, something is correct not because someone told you so, but because it's logical. 📊