Essay Writing in IELTS

How Can You Score High in IELTS Essay Writing

The IELTS Writing Section:

The IELTS is a standardized exam for measuring your English language skills and your ability to utilize vocabulary in the best possible ways. The IELTS contains measures which tests your ability on Hearing, Listening, Speaking and Writing. The Writing section or the essay writing section is crucial as it thoroughly evaluates your zeal to use and execute your knowledge of the English language. The essay writing section contains two tasks in which you have to write responses to a given situation. You get a band score on a scale of 9. The band score of 9 is segregated into:

  • 3.6 for report writing
  • 5.4 for essay writing

The essay writing section assesses your ability to organize and demonstrate your idea in the most crisp and concise form possible. Your evaluation is based on your correct or faulty usage of English language. The essay task may also check your ability to compare and analyze given data to form the essay. One of the tasks will ask you to form an opinion about a given argument or position.

Format of the IELTS Writing Section:

There will be two tasks to complete in the writing section. These two tasks differ according to the module of testing you choose. You can select either the General Training Writing or the Academic Training. Let us discuss the different tasks in two different forms of testing in the following:

    • Academic Training: There are two essay tasks in the Academic Training section. The first task of the writing section is to interpret and explain, and correlate data and information provided in graphs, charts, tables or diagrams. The minimum word count for this task is 150 words. The second task requires you to frame an essay based on a topic, argument or issue raised by the task. The essay must have at least 250 words. The issues cover matters of general interest that assesses the test takers’ understanding skill.
  • General Training Writing: This writing section contains two tasks. The first task is to write a letter in response to a given condition, difficulty or situation. The letter may vary in tone between formal, partially formal or informal. The second task requires you to write an essay of not less than 250 words, upon a given outlook, issue or a standpoint. The quality of the essay might rather be more personal than the essays in the Academic Essay writing section.

How Do You Score High in the IELTS Writing Section?

The ideal score band of the writing section is 7 and above. You have to write a response or a summary, connecting the points of reasons, tangibility, evidence, logic and substantial proofs in order to get a high score band. Here are a few tips to score high in the Essay Writing section:

    • Regularly read journals and magazines concerning subjects of general know-how. Religiously read the newspaper and bulletins every day.
    • Maintain a habit of writing responses and essays as you will not have enough time during the exam to construct and frame your essay.
    • Alternatively, you can note down the points you like to include in your essay on a separate paper. Place these points accordingly and then start writing in the order you organized your points.
    • Examine your own essay or request a tutor or course teacher to evaluate your essay as that will give you an idea of including crucial details that will help you to score high.
  • The tone of your essay should be specific and should concern specifically about the topic of the essay.

Links for Sample Essays:

In order to clear your concept about the essay writing section, below are some links to sample essay responses. Follow these links and understand the format of the essay section:

From the above discussion, you get to learn about the essay section of IELTS, its format and the question types. The essay writing section requires you to be focused and concentrated in jotting down responses based on your natural and general observation of events and consequences around you. A good writer has a thorough knowledge of current affairs and concerns. Hence, to ace this section, it is highly recommended that you have a good base in matters of general interest.