#IELTS processes: a common mistake (and how to fix it) 🧋

Here is a simplified text for the task above. Can you spot the mistake?

"The water first goes into a filter and then into a large tank with water softener and chemicals. After this, it is directed into a pump, from where it is forced into electric heaters. In the next stage, the water is sent into a special carbonation container."

The mistake I often see in IELTS process denoscriptions is that substances simply travel from place to place (or from tank to tank)—and nothing happens to the substance but movement. Until, suddenly, by the end of the answer, the substance miraculously turns into something else in some unfathomable way.

How to avoid these travel-like denoscriptions?

1️⃣ Turn the names of places or containers into actions verbs.

- The water goes into a filter >> The water is filtered.

- The water goes into a carbonation tank >> The water is carbonated.

2️⃣ Add a purpose to the place.

- The water goes into a mixing tank to be blended with coloring, syrup, and flavor.

- The carbonated water is then directed to the next tank so that it can be mixed with coloring, syrup, and flavor.

This task is sometimes problematic even for higher levels because the answer tends to be very short, around 160-170 words. My answer is 214 words long. Would you like to see it? 🧋

#ieltswritingtask1

Giving away three one-to-one consultations with me for free

Because I want to give back to the community 💜

For a chance to get a one-to-one consultation with me for free, just write a message to me explaining why you need it @iraluts. 💌

In your message:
- Introduce yourself;
- Explain what kind of help you need and/or what questions you have;
- Explain why you think I am the right person to help.

I will choose three people who I think I can help the most. 💜

Important:
- Word count limit: 100 words.
- Deadline for accepting applications: Saturday, 14 June 11:00 Moscow time.
- Messages with sloppy formatting will not be considered.

📅 All meetings will take place on Zoom, on Sunday, 15 June, between 11:00 and 15:00 Moscow time (precise time to be decided together). One meeting is 30-40 minutes.

💜

#IELTS Writing: Simplicity or complexity?

I often recommend IELTS writers aiming for 7.5+ to add complexity to their writing—complexity of both ideas and language.

And I often take flak for that. Many IELTS trainers and examiners recommend otherwise.

But let's drill deeper into what simplicity and complexity might look like in an IELTS essay. Compare the two excerpts below.

Topic: It is the responsibility of schools to teach children good behavior in addition to providing formal education. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

1️⃣

"First and foremost, the ideas of what constitutes good behavior vary widely. As a result, the behavior that is taught at school might be different from what parents teach at home. For example, teachers might discourage any questions in class. However, parents might encourage asking questions because they believe this improves creativity."

2️⃣

"First and foremost, the ideas of what constitutes good behavior vary widely. As a result, what is included in the curriculum or the code of conduct might be in conflict with what the student’s family believes to be appropriate. For example, teachers might enforce discipline in class by discouraging any questions or deviations from the laid-out procedures. A child’s parents, however, might encourage questions and rule breaking because these are considered to be signs of creativity and free thinking in the family."

Do you honestly believe the first answer would get a higher score than the second one?

I see quite a lot of writing that is similar to that in the first excerpt—there aren't any mistakes in it, and the ideas are good, but it's just ... too simple. So, yeah, I believe in complexity, guilty as charged.

At the same time, complexity mustn't come at the expense of meaning, style, and readability. Writing something like this is probably not the best idea:

3️⃣

"First and foremost, the ideas of what constitutes good behavior vary widely, resulting in a situation when the tenets encapsulated in the curriculum or the code of conduct do not cohere with the dogmas the student’s family not only believes to be appropriate but also tries to intrench indelibly. For example, teachers might enforce discipline in class by discouraging any questions or deviations from the laid-out procedures, while a child’s parents might encourage inquiry, probing, and anarchical demeanor owing to the fact that these are considered to be signs of creativity, ingenuity, and fecundity in the family."

Complexity is better than simplicity, but balance is king. 👑

#ieltswritingtask2

Another podcast! 🥳🥳🥳

Ever since that awesome podcast in Ad Astra School, I've been dreaming of being on another podcast. My dream has come true—I've been invited!

By whom, you ask?

Please welcome Maria Polukhina—a book club host, a teacher trainer, and a prominent member of the Russian ELT community.

Maria has a beautiful American accent (and you know my penchant for American English) and is a goldmine of idiomatic language (which she uses naturally and to convey all the right shades of meaning). 🇺🇸💜

Surprisingly, she hasn't joined any of my writing projects yet (outrageous, I know)—but I believe she'll get there because she is an avid reader. And reading is the gateway to writing.

You can find out even more about her on her vibrant and super-useful Telegram channel: https://news.1rj.ru/str/mari_languages.

To find out even more about us, about learning, reading, writing, or something else, drop us a line about what you would like us to cover in the podcast. Question? Topics? Concerns? Write a comment or dm me @iraluts. 💌

And stay tuned! 💜

IELTS WRITING RECAP 2024

Enjoy 🎉

📄 DIYORBEK'S IELTS

IELTS essays: under-explaining, over-explaining, and balance. 👑

I often see two extremes in #IELTS essays: under-explaining and over-explaining. Extremes are no good. Balance is king. 👑

Who is the judge though? Your reader. The trick is to be able to read your reader's mind. As usual, let's look at some specific examples.

Topic: In some parts of the world, many famous people are regarded as ‘role models’ and they are having an increasing influence on the young. Is that a positive or negative development?

1️⃣ Under-explaining.

"First and foremost, famous people present carefully curated personas to the public. This means they might not reveal the whole truth and misrepresent what it took to achieve success. As a result, younger people often put enormous effort into pursuing what they cannot accomplish anyway, wasting their time and facing disappointment."

The ideas are clear. But the reader is likely to be left with a nagging feeling, "Nice. But tell me more."

2️⃣ Over-explaining.

"First and foremost, famous people present carefully curated personas to the public rather than their real selves, thereby imposing unrealistic ideals on the public. In fact, many even hire PR teams who are responsible for the image presented publicly and who plan what to post or how to spin a certain fact. This means celebrities might not reveal the whole truth and thus misrepresent what it took to achieve success. They might, for example, speak about hard work, resilience, determination, and commitment on their way to top accomplishments while failing to mention their friends or relatives who introduced or recommended them to the right people. As a result, younger people often put enormous effort into pursuing what they cannot accomplish anyway, wasting their time and facing disappointment. Instead, they could have pursued goals that would be more realistic with their abilities, being more likely to succeed."

The ideas are all good and valid. But the reader might think, "OMG, I get it. Did you really have to write so much to say this?"

3️⃣ Balance.

"First and foremost, famous people present carefully curated personas to the public rather than their real selves, thereby imposing unrealistic ideals on the public. This means they might not reveal the whole truth and misrepresent what it took to achieve success. They might, for example, speak about hard work and resilience, while failing to mention their friends or relatives who introduced or recommended them to the right people. As a result, younger people often put enormous effort into pursuing what they cannot accomplish anyway, wasting their time and facing disappointment."

The ideas are the same. I told the reader a bit more and removed ideas that, while valid, are not absolutely essential.

See my full essay in the book shared above. ❤️

#ieltswritingtask2

Thanks for having me!!! 🌸❤️💡

How much can you learn from one sentence?

When it comes to writing, you often here that you need to learn from reading. It is true, but you need to know what to look for.

What can you find in this sentence?

"It’s also true that a sea of laptops changes a place’s vibe, from chatty community hub to co-working space (insufferable, as discussed); no doubt the ratio of we laptoppers to other punters must be as carefully calibrated as our behaviour."

I find at least three things for my students to practice: a metaphor, parentheses, a semi-colon. (Actually more, but let's stop here for now.)

What we do in my "Writing with..." courses is we learn to notice writing techniques and to then implement them.

If this is something you would like to do, how about my summer mini-course "Writing with The Guardian"?

"Writing with The Guardian" is a writing mini-course based on articles from The Guardian. It is geared towards the C2 Proficiency exam (or CPE) articles but is also good for a variety of non-fiction and creative non-fiction types of writing.

📝 Who is the course perfect for?
- people who have taken CPE and want to stay in a good writing shape;
- people who want to take CPE some time in the future;
- people who blog, write copy, or write for pleasure - and those who want to.

📆 July 2025 schedule: Thursday 10-11:30 Moscow time

📝 More about the course: https://vk.com/market/product/writing-with-quotthe-guardianquot-47977221-10225379

📝 Student's article from this course: "Who’s Talking? Finding a Human Voice in the Age of ChatGPT"

💌 @iraluts

The summer season of my legendary Creative Writing Club is open! 🌸

It’s perfect for people who want to unleash their creativity and have fun writing in English.

📝 Here is how it works:
- I prepare inspiring creative writing exercises;
- We meet on Zoom for some pre-writing practice;
- We write on our own over the following five days;
- We share and review each other’s works on a collaborative Google doc;
- We meet again, and the cycle is repeated.

📝 The nuts and bolts:
- There will be four sessions meeting weekly on Sundays, 6-27 July, 11 am Moscow time. One session is around 45 minutes.
- Not participating in online sessions is OK as long as you keep in touch, write, and review other people’s work in time.
- If you join, you have to write one work and review one participant’s work every week.
- The project is free, but if you don’t write or review other people’s work by the deadline, you’ll have to leave.
- Our project chat will be on Telegram.

💌 To join, write a comment with a creative ending to this phrase: "On that fateful day, when the warm weather was returning to the city like ... ." Then message me @iraluts. If your answer is creative, you're in.

When you message me, please introduce yourself properly. My name is Irina Lutsenko - I want to know yours. Nameless subscribers and people with nicknames or aliases won't be admitted.

PS: This project is in no way helpful in IELTS prep. If anything, it might be detrimental. ‼️

📆 Enrolment closes: 5 July, 23:00 Moscow time.

Testimonials and stories from previous seasons:
https://vk.com/market/product/creative-writing-47977221-1461432

IELTS Speaking: Taking advantage of forgetting something

In your IELTS speaking test, you might forget a specific detail, like, say, a number or an actor's name. This is not something to worry about—it's totally normal to forget things if you are speaking spontaneously, especially in stressful situations.

If you do, you can say "... this actor, I forget his name, ... ." Or you can treat this moment as an opportunity to use a cool lexical item.

Here are some words that will come in handy if you can't name something quickly.

1️⃣ I can't remember (the name) offhand. / I can't give (an example) offhand.

2️⃣ I can't give (an example) off the top off my head.

3️⃣ (His name) is on the tip of my tongue, but I just can't remember it right now.

4️⃣ I'm blanking on (the name) right now / I'm drawing a blank on (the name) right now.

5️⃣ (The exact number) just slipped my mind for some reason / because I'm a bit nervous right now.

6️⃣ I'm really bad with names. (So the name just slipped my mind.)

Say one of these, relieve yourself of the burden of remembering, and keep speaking.

Any other phrases? Share in the comments.

IELTS Writing Task 2: When clutter affects Task Response

What do I mean by clutter? Useless chunks of text that don't contribute to meaning: repetitions, over-explanations, and the like. Clutter can affect clarity and readability, but it can also affect Task Response. How? As usual, let's compare.

Topic: "In some parts of the world, many famous people are regarded as ‘role models’ and they are having an increasing influence on the young. Is that a positive or negative development?"

The two paragraphs below are the exact same length—114 words. Which one has better Task Response?

1️⃣

Even when celebrities are completely honest and talk about their genuine values or beliefs, they talk to extremely large audiences – that is thousands or even millions of people on different social media channels and platforms. This doesn't allow for such crucial components as personalization or nuance, so values or beliefs promoted might not be individualized or suited to particular circumstances. This might lead to situations where an overall positive behavior, one that typically brings about beneficial outcomes, might be negative or even detrimental for a specific young person who chooses to imitate the behavior or acquire a certain habit blindly and without careful consideration due to the admiration they have for the famous person.

2️⃣

Even when celebrities are completely honest and talk about their genuine values, they talk to large audiences, which doesn't allow for personalization and nuance. This might lead to situations where an overall positive behavior might be negative for a specific young person who chooses to imitate it blindly due to the admiration they have for the famous person. For example, a celebrity might advocate for animal rights and promote a vegan diet. This diet, while generally an ethical and healthy choice, might lead to severe health consequences or lack of understanding among peers. It is thus best that young people rely on advice from mentors that are close – family, friends, and teachers or coaches.

The first version contains a lot of clutter. And maybe clutter is not a mistake per se. But see how it gives me less space to develop ideas in depth? It suffocates my argument. In the second version, I have space to expand my argument because I have no clutter.

See my full essay in the Writing Recap 2024 book in the last pinned message.

#ieltswritingtask2

A workshop for IELTS instructors on how to make the most of IELTS model answers

Giving students IELTS model answers is certainly a great idea, but you can't just hand them the answers and say, "Look. These are good. Do the same thing." You need to make sure the model answers help your student develop their skills.

In this workshop, I'll share a whole host of meaningful activities you can do with model answers (both W1 and W2). Each activity is aimed at a certain goal and tailored to a specific task or assessment criterion.

All the activities are based on my extensive IELTS taking, teaching, and writing experience:
- IELTS 9 x2, Writing 8.5 x3
- IELTS prep experience: over 10 years
- Answers written: over 200.

Price: 2000 RUB

When: Friday, 18 July, 11-12:30 Moscow time

Place: in real time on Zoom, camera must be on, some participation is expected

❗️ You will get the pdf of the presentation, but there will be no recordings!

Why don't I record my sessions?

If I decided to make a recording, I would have to ask you to mute yourself and switch off your video, or you would want to do that yourself. But I expect participation and questions. I don't want to be a talking head, nor do I want to speak into silent black boxes on the screen. I want to be a real live person and expect the same in return. (And don't get me started on potential privacy concerns of the participants.)

💌 @iraluts

IELTS 20 Test 1: New York

These streets will make you feel brand new Big lights will inspire you 🎵

My full answer for this task is, sadly, behind the paywall at: https://boosty.to/irinalutsenko

Some comments:

1️⃣

New York districts are called boroughs—that's a useful lexical item for you.

2️⃣

Do people live in Manhattan or on Manhattan? Both—because Manhattan is a borough and an island. People live in boroughs but on islands. In my answer, I wrote "in."

3️⃣

I know "hundredfold" is on the fancy side, but I went ahead and used it anyway. It's not often that we get to use any "-fold"s other than maybe "twofold" or "tenfold."

Any other questions or suggestions for this task? ❓

#ieltswritingtask1

My creative writing projects have to their inevitable end—and what an end it was! 💜

We had a meeting with a real published writer—Margo Gritt, the author of collections of short stories Вторжение and Чужеродные! We picked her brain about the process of writing, editing, and publishing. Here are just some insights:

1️⃣ The editor is not your enemy. They are your friend—their goal is to help you.

2️⃣ Writing intuitively is all well and good, but writing consciously is even better—being able to know and to explain every writing choice you make.

3️⃣ Reading your text out loud helps you to ensure that your text has a rhythm.

The meeting was arranged by the wonderful Irina Kireeva—an avid reader, a book club host, and the person responsible for all my reading over the last couple of years.

And the post card in the post is by the wonderful Anna Skopina—the artist behind the beautiful images on my socials, on my presentations, and in my projects.

And it will come as no surprise that one major source I get inspiration from is the wonderful people in my life. And the second major source is: I get inspiration inside. 💜

You? Share your sources in the comments.

Should my partner stop trying to kiss me after kissing our cat? Should it be off limits if I am grossed out by this? 😼

Well, you be the judge.

"You Be the Judge: Debating with The Guardian" is our brand new short, light, summer debate club based on dilemmas posed by The Guardian readers.

📝 What will you do?
- discuss trendy and hype topics
- debate on practical real-life situations
- work on your argumentation skills
- practice cool advanced vocabulary, like "off limits" and "grossed out."

📝 The course is perfect for you if you want to:
- boost your speaking with fresh new vocab
- engage in deep, meaningful conversation
- get better at building an argument and defending your point of view
- debate on current dilemmas that generated a lot of buzz - and that you might have faced in your life! Like...

❓Should others make accommodations for you if you have a vegan or a gluten-free diet?

❓Until what age is it OK for parents to track their children with location-tracking apps? Would you allow your spouse to track your location?

❓If your flatmate works from home full-time, should they pay more of the bills?

📝 Deets:
- Course duration: one month (4 classes)
- Classes: 60 minutes or 90 minutes, in real time on Zoom
- Homework: none!!!
- Price: 5,000 rub a month (four 60-minute classes) / 7,000 rub a month (four 90-minute classes)

📆 Summer 2025 schedule:

- Tuesday 11-12:00 Moscow time (60 minutes)
- Friday 13-14:30 Moscow time (90 minutes)

Course instructor: Mariia Botina - a huge enthusiast of all things English with an awesome American accent and a bunch of qualifications:
- 5-year teaching degree with honors
- 11 years of teaching experience
- Exchange program in the US: Wheaton College, MA, 2015-16
- CPE, TOEFL, TKT

Perfect for the summer - low prep and maximum practice!

To sign up dm me @iraluts 💌

And what about that cat kissing dilemma? Would you be grossed out? Should it be off limits? You be the judge and share in the comments! 😼