The Writing Lab

IELTS

WritingLab video shorts

Welcome to WritingLab shorts- a new service in which I provide short videos to help you with your IELTS preparation. This page contains short videos where I talk through an exam strategy for the IELTS exam. Each video will be different as they tackle a particular part of each of

IELTS

Upgrade your knowledge of lexical resource

What is lexical resource? Lexis means the stock of words used in language. It is the totality of your vocabulary items. In others words, the vocabulary you choose to use to express your ideas. In the IELTS exam, lexical resource is one of the four marking criteria that specifically focuses

IELTS

IELTS essay feedback

I recently asked students to send me their essays. I wanted to read through their essays and provide individual and detailed feedback. The intention behind this was to provide more learning materials for your IELTS preparation. Reading through other student essay's is an incredibly useful revision strategy and one I

IELTS

IELTS Writing Task 1- Job application letter

The good thing about this task is that you might be more familiar with it than some of its counterparts (like a complaint letter, or letter of advice), but we still need to go through how we write it for the IELTS exam. What you will gain by reading this

IELTS

IELTS Writing Task 1- Letter of advice

Part of your General IELTS writing exam involves writing a formal or informal letter. This article instructions and informs you on how to produce a letter of advice. A letter of advice is likely to have you helping someone with a particular problem. The problem could be various things, such

IELTS

IETLS Writing Task 1- Letter of complaint

Part of your IELTS writing exam, if you are sitting for general, involves writing a formal or informal letter. This article covers: * essential information about the exam * what a formal letter is * explaining the IELTS complaint letter task * exam tips * common phrases for this task * IELTS sample question * Model response

IELTS

How to paraphrase in Task 1 Writing

Paraphrasing is something that can be overlooked by students. It is however, an essential skill for the academic task 1 and 2. Being able to paraphrase well is also incredibly useful for IELTS reading and IELTS listening. By choosing to read this, you will learn: 1. The essentials of paraphrasing

IELTS

IELTS Essay Structure

This post covers the structure for IELTS essay writing Task 2 (Academic) I wanted to revisit the structure and make this as clear as possible. By knowing the structure and how to apply it, it sets you up for success. Having the structure etched into your brain also means other

IELTS

Speaking practice- 'House' topic

The speaking test is an opportunity for you to really show off your English. Keep the conversation flowing and hold up your own speaking part, and remain on topic. Avoid too many pauses and elongated pauses. You might naturally pause because you're speaking, but you don't want longer pauses. Avoid

IELTS

Knowing the essay question

It's important to be able to identify what the essay question is and what they are asking you to discuss- because you want to answer it correctly! The problem is, is that some of the way the questions are articulated makes them sound similar, i.e. a discussion essay might

IELTS

How to sound natural in your writing

Sounding natural when you may not already possess a level of fluency takes some practice. When it comes to the IELTS Writing exam, the examiners look for natural sounding writing. Why? Because if you sound natural it shows a level of confidence and ability. Sounding natural implies you know the

IELTS

Vocabulary for IELTS Writing

Vocabulary is a crucial factor in your IELTS exam to secure a high band score. Without varied and interesting vocabulary, you run the risk of sitting in lower band score. General vocabulary If you want to extend your vocabulary on the whole, these websites are useful. 1. Visuwords- really great

IELTS

IELTS Task 2- Problem Solution Essay

This article explains and shows you how to reach a band 9 on your writing task 2 with a problem and solution essay. In my library of IELTS content, you will find articles on all of the task 2 essay types. What is the problem solution essay? The problem solution

IELTS

What's the difference between General Training Writing and Academic Writing Task 1?

The IELTS exam in its entirety has quite a few layers and it has the propensity to feel muddled when learning how the test works and what is required of you. This article clarifies any clouded understanding concerning the writing test between General and Academic for task 1. This article

IELTS

A simple IELTS summary

It's easy to forget the nuts and bolts of all four sections of the IELTS exam, when you're trudging through IELTS revision. You might be struck with thoughts like, 'hold on, is that the same for the general and academic exam? How long is the exam again? How many parts

IELTS

How to use idioms to your advantage in your IELTS speaking test

Idiomatic language are sometimes misunderstood. People can perceive them as being lazy or too informal, or suggest a lack of otherwise vocabulary. But this isn't true. Idioms are a great way to connect to someone who may not share the same language. Idioms show that you actually have a broad

IELTS

Essential tips for your IELTS speaking test

This post will explore the essentials of how to pass your IELTS speaking test. There are a number of things you can easily do to ensure you have an interesting, and in-depth conversation to get you to the upper tier bands. Lets go over some of the essentials first: * The

IELTS

General Reading Practice- Choosing a title

For this IELTS task, you choose the most appropriate title from a list, to match with specific parts of the text. Main skills: Identifying what the passage is about- breaking it down and knowing the main ideas throughout Differentiating between details and main ideas Tips: Look at the different titles

IELTS

IELTS Reading- Sentence completion

IELTS Reading Practice: Sentence completion The test * In the reading test, candidates are required to complete a sentence * In this type of task, you are given sentences from the reading with a gap- you may have to fill it with words taken directly from the reading * Some tasks ask you

IELTS

General Reading Practice- Short answer questions

This article provides non-fiction samples to reflect the sort of tasks you could get in your IELTS General Training Reading exam. These samples are not taken from the official IELTS websites, but individually sourced to give you an array of text types. The answers are at the very bottom, but

IELTS

General Reading Practice- True, False, Not Given

General Reading Sample Task- Identifying information (True, False, Not Given) In your IELTS exam, one of the most common questions is a true, false or not given, based on a passage you are provided with. There are ten question types in total and you could be assessed on any of

IELTS

IELTS Writing Task 1- General Test

This article is based on writing an informal letter for the GT exam, writing task 1. What makes an informal letter, informal? * Much of the level of formality or lack of, will depend on who it is addressed to. If it is your friend, this is a clear signal that

IELTS

IELTS Essay Writing Tips

Yesterday was my first live IELTS Q&A! I have spent this morning making some reflective notes about it. A concern from students was about the essay questions; understanding them, essay strategies and they key differences between them. This article revises what the essay types are, how to answer them

IELTS

IELTS Speaking Tips

Let's do a quick recap of what the speaking exam consists of before we get onto intonation. IELTS speaking exam recap * There are three sections to the speaking exam * Section 1- A brief introduction and short Q&A * Section 2- Individual speaking on a specific topic. You will have 1-2

IELTS

IELTS Writing Task 1- Academic Test

IELTS Writing Task 1 Sample I came across a post from someone on Reddit, who shared a question they found difficult. I understood why and wanted to share a post on how to tackle this. Let’s say you don’t get a graph, bar chart, pie chart, line graph,