IELTS Essay writing tips. 3 things you should do to secure your Band 7.5

now what for you you're a good chopin i never chopped down because it look at the dance they're good hello everyone my name is landry the trusted ielts tutor welcome to the ielts multi-step program today we're going to be touching on something that is quite quite important in the writing process for the ielts proofreading i've discovered that 7 out of 10 test takers who write the ielts usually fill the writing section just because they did not take time to proofread their work so today's video is one that you definitely want to watch and the video is divided into three different sections so watch out for the timestamp for those three different sections so that you can fast forward or rewind to the section that is quite peculiar to you before we begin i'd like to take us into a definition of what proofreading is and i'd like to take the liberty of reading that directly from a scholarly website what do we have here proofreading is the final stage of the writing process when the paper is evaluated for mechanical correctness such as grammar punctuation spelling omitted words repeated words spacing and format so that is the basic definition of proofreading as it applies to the ielts and that's what we're going to be facing today and what we're going to be analyzing how to go about it like i said earlier this video is going to go in three sections and the three sections are first the definition of proofreading which we've done now the second thing is why should we proofread and then finally we're going to go to the structure of proofreading and by structure of proofreading i mean how do you actually approach the task of proofreading your written work in the ielts there's a definite structure for it which i will share so do stay tuned to this video and watch till the very end because you don't want to miss any part of those tips why should you proofread why is it important for you to profit why is it necessary for you to proofread there are three basic reasons why proofreading takes a very important space in the ielts writing the first reason is this mistakes will definitely reduce your writing band what do i mean by that the more mistakes you have the more errors you have in your ielts essay report or later the lower your band score would be now i'm not talking about the overall quality of your writing you might be a good communicator you might write a very good essay you might write a very good letter a lot of ambitious vocabulary all the dots all the t's um crossed and all the eyes dotted and then you go ahead and you have a lot of errors a lot of avoidable errors inside that piece of writing what you will have is advanced score that is reduced and that is not commensurate to the effort that you've put in it that's the first reason why you should prac why you should proofread because mistakes will definitely reduce your overall band score in the writing section the second reason why you should proofread is because errors are made because of speed remember the ielts is a timed test so you have 40 minutes for your writing task due and 20 minutes for your writing task 1 which means that you are most times or most likely rushing through that task in rushing through the task there are a lot of mistakes that could come up there are a lot of errors that could come up for example as syntas takers write the word the t-h-e as t-e-h not because they could not spell v not because they do not know the correct spelling but because they were in a rush and when you're in a rush our brain seems to deceive our eyes so your brain tells you that you're writing the word che and then your eyes would see that you're writing ceh but what your brain will record or record or register would be t h e so because there's a tendency for us to make mistakes when we're in a rush we definitely need to take a second look and if possible a third look at our piece of writing before we submit and the final category or the final reason why we should proofread our work is because of errors that stem from uncertainty most times when you are expressing yourself in the ielts when you're expressing your ideas when you are expanding your opinion when you're but trusting your views we come across words we come across expressions that we want to use to say what we mean to say but we're not so sure about we're doubtful of the meaning of those words we're doubtful of the usage of those words we're doubtful of the spelling of those words the point when you are writing in the ielts is not when you are fixing that because most times when you're writing your only concern is to get down your ideas is to get down your thoughts you're not concerned about how correct they are you're not concerned about how unsure you are you just want to just get it down now because we cannot be hundred percent sure when writing a 250 word essay of all the words that we've used there are going to be errors that would stem from our uncertainty errors that would stem from our doubt these errors are there the best time for you to correct those errors to review those errors to address those errors is when you are proofreading so ladies and gentlemen these three reasons tell you or show you how proofreading is an integral part of the writing process in the ielts i've seen test takers who wrote essays that would originally automatically go to a band aid and they ended up scoring a 6.5 or band seven and then when you look at that seo when you look at that report or when you look at the letter you will discover that errors it is riddled with errors errors that affect the overall quality of the writing that they have submitted you do not want to fall into that trap you do not want to be one of those people who would go and feeling bad for having putting who having put in so much effort into a writing piece and then getting a score that is not commensurate to the effort or to their level of skill in communicating so what do we do how do you go about proofreading what exactly is proofreading what does it entail as it relates to the ielts this is the part of the video where we'll deal with that so what is the structure for proofreading when you're going to proofread in the ielts it is different from you just taking an essay and reading it word for word no you must start with the end in mind you must have a desired goal you must have a desired aim in proofreading so what are your aims in proofreading three things three things basically should be the focus of your proofreading process in the ielts first is your overall structure you're profiting your work to address the structure of your writing the second thing that you're proofreading there is your vocabulary your word usage did you use the correct words did you spell them correctly did you repeat too many words those are the things you're checking on the vocabulary and finally grammar so three things that are the focus of your proofreading process your overall structure your vocabulary and then finally your grammar and those three things must be taken one after the order the first thing you're starting with when you want to do your proofreading process is checking the overall structure what do i mean by overall structure remember in the ielts one of the most important marking criteria is your coherence and cohesion coherence means that everything in that writing piece is relevant it is logical it is related to answering the question or the task that has been set for you while cohesion means how well linked together is every part of your writing are the sentences are the words linked properly are the sentences properly linked are your paragraphs properly connected in checking your overall structure in the ielts reading and in ielts writing sorry in checking your overall structure what are the things that you should look out for if you are checking a task one writing piece let's say a report or a letter what are you checking the first thing that you're checking in your overall structure for writing task one is to check if your introduction contains an overview sentence an overview sentence is a sentence that analyzes or summarizes the main trends in that particular visual information that you've been given be it a graph a chart a diagram or a map does it have an overview sentence in your introduction does it have a description of the task in your introduction does it have two or three following paragraphs that address specific elements of the question your first paragraph your first body paragraph is addressing the main trends or the major details in that visual information or in the data provided the second paragraph or the second body paragraph is addressing what the comparison and the contrast that are relevant that you have identified in that writing and then you might have a third paragraph if you feel or if you need to buttress or you need to address some more details and ensure that for those body paragraphs that are specifically dealing with different sections of the of the writing they do not repeat unnecessary information and then you have a conclusion that also restates your overview or summarizes or just concludes by summarizing all the major trends that is for checking the structure for writing task one academic writing for checking the structure for general training writing task one what are you checking your introduction must contain an introduction of yourself that's the writer of the letter and a description of the task or a statement of the purpose of writing the letter basically what you are doing there is rephrasing the question and then the following paragraphs should respond or should be direct responses to the prompts that are listed in the question for general training writing task form it usually looks like a speaking part to cue card it has specific prompts that determine the structure or whatever you're going to write in that letter for your writing task too how do you proofread or how do you review the overall structure your introduction should be an executive summary if you need more light on this and if you need more information on this please visit our throw over videos that we have on this channel and you will see where we dealt specifically with the writing in the ielts and where we shared the writing structure and we went ahead to also even illustrate how to apply that structure to writing an actual essay the videos are there watch them subscribe join our channel and you are in for a world of value now to go back to what i was talking about in reviewing the overall structure for the intro for the writing task 2 you're checking your introduction to be an executive summary what's an executive summary it contains what it contains all the major information that is going to be uh expanded later on in the essay it must have a thesis statement that states your stand specifically and that gives the reasons for your stand you should also have a structure statement that tells us exactly what you're going to be doing in the essay for example this is an example of a thesis statement and a structure statement in the introduction of a particular ielts writing task too so let's say for example the question says that many people believe that zoos should be shut down as they are mismanaged while others believe that zoos have a positive impact in society discuss what views and give your own opinion here's what my introduction would look like i could start off by saying that animals are an essential part of the planet earth and we must as a matter of fact preserve them for many people they have the view that zoos are places where animals are kept are irrelevant or unnecessary in the society due to the high level of mismanagement while others believe that zoos should be an essential part of society as they preserve wildlife for future generations personally i'm of the opinion that zoo should be kept open as they not only preserve wildlife but also generate income in this essay i will examine both views and also provide my own opinion supported by reasons and examples to illustrate full stop that is the structure of an introduction in the ielts so what are you looking at in the following paragraphs in the ielts if you're checking for structure you're checking your topic sentences the first sentence of each paragraph should be checked what are you checking there you're checking if your topic sentences um carefully or perfectly captures the essence of the main message in that paragraph and what do i mean by that your topic sentence should contain the main point that you're going to develop later on in that paragraph that way you'll be able to quickly quickly just by reading your introduction the first sentence of each of the paragraphs you'll be able to quickly determine if your essay has this perfect structure that responds to the question that has been set in the task and that is what you do when you're checking your structure the final thing you're taking in your structure is your conclusion you must conclude well in the ielts you must end your essay on a very good note and how do you conclude you you summarize the reasons that you stated in the essay and then you go ahead and you probably make a prediction or you make a recommendation just to end it on a very strong note the next thing that you are checking when you're proofreading your work in the ielts is to check for vocabulary lexical resource is the third most important criteria for assessment in the writing section of the ielts which means that your vocabulary must be top-notch when you are checking for vocabulary what are you checking actually your spellings you're checking if your spellings are correct your spellings should be correct you're checking if the words that you have used are the appropriate words now people use a lot of ambitious vocabulary but are not appropriate in the context in which they've been used an example is these two words amount and number while they are both synonyms they cannot be used interchangeably in some context you cannot see the amount of peop the amount of people who like football no it would be the number of people number there is the appropriate synonym for the word amount for that concept of identifying or counting units of the people who like football your words must be appropriate that's the only way that they can be effective effective vocabulary means using the right words that say exactly what you mean to say your words must be appropriate you're checking for that also too when you're checking your vocabulary and the final thing that you're checking is you're checking to see if you do not repeat words repetition of key words or concepts in the ielts will reduce your scores so what do you do when you look through your work and you see that a particular word is repeated over and over again you have that word twice in paragraph one three times in paragraph two three times in paragraph three definitely there's a problem you need to do what find alternative ways of expressing that concept or just change the word completely or you just paraphrase paraphrase paraphrasing means expressing concepts or words in your own words you break it down into phrases you break it down into sentences that say exactly what that word is saying without repeating that particular word those are the three things that you're checking for your vocabulary spelling appropriate words and then repetition or repeated words for grammar what is the final area or the final area of focus for your proofreading exercise what are the things that you're checking now grammar is a quite peculiar area because if you're making errors in grammar chances are that you don't know better so how do you correct things that you do not know the correct version of here's a tip i have for you please when you're checking for your grammar errors ensure that you change the things that you can the ones that you do not know are errors the one that you couldn't you cannot identify that are errors leave them you're probably going to miss them in the first place so why kill yourself over that but you see the ones that you can change the things that you can identify to be errors do make an effort to change them if you were going to write an essay and make 10 errors before and you go ahead and you proofread and you reduce that number from 10 to 6 or from 10 to 5 you've done a good thing that way it means that if you were going to get a band 6.5 before you would probably be landing at a band 7.5 or a band 7 which is not a bad thing so one checking for grammar errors what are the peculiar things that you must focus on verb tenses this is a non-negotiable area that you must you must review your tenses words that have to do with time are one of the most significant pitfalls that test takers have in the ielts are you using the appropriate tenses to say the things that you want to say if you're writing a writing task one chances are that you're writing you're using the past tense because the visual data given to you usually occurs in the past i'm not saying that this this is applicable for every question it's a case-by-case basis but most times seven times out of ten is usually going to be in the past tense use the appropriate tenses check check check to see if your tenses are aligned check to see if your tenses flow check to see if your tenses are appropriate another area that you should check for when you're checking for grammar errors or grammar mystics is number number has to do with what's singular and plural a lot of us make mistakes when it comes to singular and plural in the ielts and we do not know and when i say we do not know it has to do with singular and plural as it relates to verbs not to nouns singular noun boy singular plural noun boys singular verb go singular verb goes plural verb go so you would see that the rule is reversed for verbs while for nouns the plural nouns take s for verbs the singular verbs take s and not the plural verbs this is something that if you know you have a challenge in it please do read up on it and just review so that when you are there be intentional about checking for those errors all of that areas are quite uh important for you to check when you're checking for grammar errors prepositions words like on off to four by at in underneath these these um expressions are expressions that really drop a lot of challenge for a lot of test takers so check if your prepositions are correct check for your commas most importantly check the first sentences of all your paragraphs where you use connectives connectives like to begin with connectives like on the other hand connectives like furthermore ensure that you put a comma after you use those connectives i've seen a lot of people make mistakes in this area and no matter how beautiful your essay is you're definitely not going to get a really good score if you're making basic mistakes like this check for your commas check for your punctuations and if you do know that you have a problem with punctuation what do you do be intentional about how you use them please it's very very important for you to identify these errors and also change them and one other area of grammar that is not quite common but people make mistakes for is word order how did you order your words someone just wrote a letter for me today and they said something like brand zest soup the zest brand soap yeah so we were talking about a company called zest and that company manufactures soap and then the person went zest brand soap and i told them that that expression is wrong zest so simple why do you have the word brand there okay and when you have the word branded would you put that before zest or you put it before soap these are the questions that come up when you are talking about word order are you using the words in the appropriate order that they should be ordered are you using the words in the appropriate order that they should follow when you want to express yourself for adjectives there's a word order for adjectives but i'm not going to go into that grammar class now so that i would not bombard you with too much details so there you have it those are the areas that you should focus on when you are proofreading and that is the format or the structure of your proofreading start by checking for errors in structure that's the overall structure of your writing piece check for errors and structure then from there move on to errors in vocabulary word usage and then from there move on to errors in grammar all of this should be done in five minutes or less which means that your 40 minutes task for your writing task due is not 40 minutes spent writing an essay no what you basically have for that 40 minutes duration for that essay is five minutes to do what to brainstorm to look at the question jot down your points 30 minutes to write the actual essay and then five minutes to proofread if you do not proofread you're setting yourself up for failure in the ielts and this is a definite fact that i am telling you because as someone who has gone through thousands of written pieces in the aisles i've discovered that proofreading seems to be one of the major challenges that a lot of test takers have in the ielts so proofread if you do not want to be one of those who would be a testimony or who would be an illustration in mr landrieu's class as those who did not take that instruction i'll take it again when you're proofreading you start from the overall structure then you go to the vocabulary and then finally you land on the grammar please one last tip when you are proofreading your work ensure that you try to do what vocalize what you can see on your paper how do i mean when you're looking at your essay do not just skim through it with your eyes assuming or believing that you will catch all the errors no um 75 percent of the time our ears will catch more errors than our eyes will so when i say vocalize do i mean disturb the people beside you no i do not this is me vocalizing is the final stage of the writing process if you can read my lips you would see me actually forming those words but the sounds are not coming out but you know what my ears can actually hear that sound that i am vocalizing that way my ears will be able to catch if something there does not sound right and you see that expression it doesn't sound right it might actually be a lifesaver for you in the ielts do not just rely on your eyes alone to catch all the errors also join your ears to the mix and then you have a better chance of identifying errors catching them and then reviewing them on the last note when you're profiting your work you're doing two things the first thing you're doing is you're correcting errors the second thing you're doing is you're improving your work so when you're checking for vocabulary this is when you can now see some words that you've used before and then you go oh no i can use ambitious or better vocabulary to express this and then you change it you erase it or you cross it out and then you write the correct or the new improved version of that word on the top of it or you erase it and you write it where it should be can i come again way again next time uh i remain landray and i'm your trusted ielts tutor who has been giving you tips and strategies that are ensured to improve your chances of success in the ielts and this is the station this is the channel to be if you intend to ride the ielts just once and get the desired score that you need for either your immigration process or for your study process do do do practice remember there's no way that all of these tips and strategies will benefit you if you do not take some time out to practice and use it on your own because as they say practice leads to perfection and i look forward to seeing you on the positive side of success for the ielts when next you join us thank you [Music]

Channel: PrepClass IELTS TV

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Id: tZYSl-HSBvc

Length: 26min 32sec (1592 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 23 2021