In the first 2015 post I’d like to continue with our IELTS series of posts we started last year. In this one I look at Writing Task 2. I’ve put together a list of tips which I normally give to my students during and IELTS preparation course. Usually the list is a final product of the course during which at different stages we brainstorm various exam tips, and it is used as a revision or consolidation.
You can revise all the tips with the student before the exam to see how much they remembered, and then compare the brainstormed list with the one here. You can also try using the DOs and DONTs at the beginning and then as a reference throughout the course.
You can download the list in pdf here: dos and donts.
I hope you find the tips useful. If you would like to add any, please comment below, or Contact me directly. For more IELTS-related posts, click here. Follow the blog on the right hand side to receive the latest posts by email.
teflreflections 
really I’m interested at learning English, I’m doing my degree nowadays.. Then I want do my master… So I need to do IELTS exam…
Interested in* 🙂
Good
I am really glad with the tips and this tricks I really do follow and expects more such tips
thank you
Reblogged this on welearnhere.
I m Mitul .my English is not good .I know some words but when I talk that time can’t use word .so I want to learn but how to easy .
thank you very much for this valuable information..
thanx for the usefull tips and hope for more such tips
and what should be the maximum length of an essay!!
There’s no word limit, Jaseem. You can write as much as you want. Because of the time, it’d be difficult to write more than 350 words, though.
Do you allow me to share it on my facebook wall?
Sure, Redha. Go ahead. Please link to the post and acknowledge the author, though.
Hello, its the first time that I ve had a really good advice about how to write a good paragraph, I ve taking for three times the FCE in Northampton College Booth lane.Personally I dont recommend English as a foreign language in that place.I am study now for my own…………
Thank you very much indeed for your help.
Kind regards
Natalia Maude AR
Thanks a lot for the tips.
Hi Marek,
Just to let you know that we’ve shortlisted this blog post for this month’s TeachingEnglish blog award and I’ll be putting up a post about it on tomorrow’s TeachingEnglish Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/TeachingEnglish.BritishCouncil, if you’d like to check there for likes and comments.
Best,
Ann
Hi Ann,
Thanks for nominating me again! I’m flattered 🙂
Best,
Marek
If we are not allowed to use abbreviations like don’t ; then how you categorise won’t because will not is wrong?
Won’t is an abbreviation, so you should write will not. Hope this helps
Reblogged this on ELT iCenter.
Thanks for reblogging, ELTiCenter.
Thanks for this Marek. It’s a great visual, I’d like to show it to students in class if that’s alright? Partly because it’s succinct and partly to show that I’m not the only one who says these things. 🙂
Nice one. Sure, I don’t mind at all. Let me know if you come up with other tips that could be added to the list. And please write again after you’ve shown it to them – would like to know what they thought and whether it was useful.
In fact, I used this page (and the matching Task 1) page just a couple of hours ago as a checklist for a student who is writing the IELTS tomorrow. He’d already read your page, and found this table clear. He could check off quite a few of the items as things he had already thought of. This gave him a bit of a confidence boost, so thanks again!
Thank you very much for your valuable tips
You’re welcome, Kaniz.
Great article, I’ve linked to it on our blog: http://www.imlearningenglish.com/blog/ielts-writing-task-2
great,thanks for all the materials,n we’ll wait an other brilliant hints. Writing is my weak point
I did not get the exercise very well can you explain to me again
I hpe I can do it
This page is very helpful for learning English
l like your tips,great help to me
Helpful tips
Great tips, not just for IELTS, I’m going to print this out and give it to all my CAE/CPE students too. Thanks a lot. Going to reblog.
Thanks. Hope your students find it useful 🙂
Actually, it would be great if you maintained your attention to IELTS standards by saying “DON’T writer FEWER than 250 words,” rather than saying “less” in the middle of that thought. ==Prof. Ravenscroft, PhD in English Composition.
Apologies. I’ll need to correct it. Mind you, soon ‘less’ with countable nouns might be seen as standard and acceptable. It seems that more and more people are using it. Also interesting to note that there’s a similar trend in Spanish and Polish.
useful tips
Reblogged this on EFL Education and commented:
Excellent tips for teachers and students.