Hi to all of you IELTS students who are looking to take your IELTS exam in the coming weeks or months. Below is just a quick summary of writing tips for Tasks 1 & 2 Academic Writing essays. I hope you find it useful and please don't hesitate to drop a comment, or even better, book a class with me so I can tell you more and get your score up to at a Band 7.0 

IELTS- ACADEMIC WRITING TASK 1:

DESCRIPTION OF: LINE/MULTIPLE GRAPH, BAR/TABLE/PIE CHART, DIAGRAM, MAP

DURATION: 20 MINUTES

WORD COUNT: 150 WORDS MINIMUM (IDEALLY: 180 WORDS, NOT OVER: 200 WORDS)

ESSAY PLANNING:
• SPEND 5 MINS ON PLANNING
• 25% OF MARKS ARE FOR ‘TASK ACHIEVEMENT’
• IDENTIFY THE MAIN FEATURES
• COMPARE THE MAIN FEATURES
• ANSWER THE QUESTION APPROPRIATELY
• 25% OF MARKS FOR COHERENCE / COHESION
• ORGANIZE IDEAS INTO A LOGICAL ORDER
• SEPARATE PARAGRAPHS FOR EACH PART OF YOUR ESSAY
• LINK EACH PARAGRAPH APPROPRIATELY

ESSAY STRUCTURE:
• PARAGRAPH 1: INTRODUCTION
• PARAGRAPH 2: OVERVIEW
• PARAGRAPH 3: 1st MAIN FEATURE
• PARAGRAPH 4: 2nd MAIN FEATURE

JUST 3 MAIN THINGS TO DO:
• SELECT THE MAIN FEATURES
• WRITE ABOUT THE MAIN FEATURES
• COMPARE THE MAIN FEATURES

IELTS- WRITING TASK 2

5 ESSAY QUESTION TYPES:
• OPINION- AGREE / DISAGREE
• DISCUSSION ESSAYS
• PROBLEM SOLUTION ESSAYS
• ADVANTAGES / DISADVANTAGES ESSAYS
• DOUBLE QUESTION ESSAYS DURATION: 40 MINUTES WORD COUNT: 250 WORDS MINIMUM (IDEALLY: 280 WORDS, NOT OVER: 300 WORDS)

USEFUL INFO:
• WRITE AT LEAST 250 WORDS IN 40 MINS IN A FORMAL STYLE (<250 WORDS= < BAND 5.0!)
• TASK 2 CONTRIBUTES TWICE AS MANY MARKS AS TASK 1
• IT'S HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO DO TASK 2 FIRST

A 5 STEP STRATEGY OF MAIN THINGS TO DO:
• ANALYZE AND IDENTIFY THE QUESTION TYPE
• PLAN YOUR ANSWER
• WRITE THE INTRODUCTION
• WRITE 2 MAIN BODY PARAGRAPHS
• WRITE CONCLUSION

3 MOST COMMON MISTAKES:
• NOT STATING AN OPINION
• GIVING ARGUMENTS FOR BOTH VIEWS
• NOT SUPPORTING YOUR OPINION WITH CLEAR REASONS

WRITING TASK 2 PLANNING
• DECIDE ON YOUR OPINION
• DO YOU AGREE/DISAGREE WITH THE IDEA IN THE QUESTION?
• DO NOT CHANGE YOUR OPINION MID-ESSAY!
• GENERATE IDEAS
• TRY TO COME UP WITH AT LEAST 2 IDEAS TO SUPPORT YOUR OPINION
• VOCABULARY • PARAPHRASE, USE SYNONYMS, PARAPHRASE, USE SYNONYMS…. REPEAT!

ESSAY STRUCTURE:
• INTRODUCTION (2-3 SENTENCES, 40-60 WORDS, 5 MINS TO WRITE)
• PARAPHRASE THE QUESTION, GIVE THESIS (OPINION) STATEMENT, OUTLINE STATEMENT
• GIVE YOUR OPINION AND GIVE 2 SUPPORTING REASONS

MAIN BODY PARAGRAPH 1- TOPIC SENTENCE, EXPLANATION, EXAMPLE
• OUTLINE 1st REASON FOR VIEW
• EXPLAIN THIS IDEA
• GIVE EXAMPLE / EXPAND THE IDEA

MAIN BODY PARAGRAPH 2- AS ABOVE
• OUTLINE 2nd REASON FOR VIEW
• EXPLAIN THIS IDEA
• GIVE EXAMPLE / EXPAND ON YOUR IDEA

CONCLUSION
• SUMMARIZE OPINION AND GIVE KEY REASONS- LINK IDEAS TOGETHER, SUM UP YOUR ARGUMENT

That's it from me for now, good luck with your studies!
Take care....
Mark.