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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
30 views107 pages

How Not To Fear IELTS Writing-Preview

Uploaded by

ronymunshe01
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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HOW NOT TO FEAR

#goodvibesonly
IELTS WRITING
Become A Fearless IELTS Writer
What This Book Offer

1
100% Self Preparatory Guide- You Don`t
Need the Help of any IELTS Tutor.

Sentence Templates to Write High


mindfulness. Band Answers in Less Possible Time.

Shortcuts and Strategies to Score a High


Band Regardless of Your Skill Level.

A positive vibe is a
healthy emotional state
that you have complete
ANYONE & control over.
EVERYONE Hiliquiam reictasperum volutem. Volectur? Ibus esequam facium ilit

CAN WRITE modioneceped eos nonsers picilit labores de poritat quo offictas

S
WITH THE TEMPLATE
quas ex ex elenda cuptatus voloratur si quis sum laborestio deliae
nos voluptate corios ium, conecae rrovid unto optatint etur solupta
volupta tustio dolum nihil is consedit prat hitatia corrum, quo

HERE
temolup taquiat iatiaepturia dellignates volliqu iduciam estrum
ipiendi dolum faccat ento bla plitiur.

Equi occulli aspictotate consedior autem es modis ime enestor modis


eat quia coraten totas dendusda voluptasi con re porrovi duciend

For students anditiorem asitat rernat dipsani nitiame volorio soluptatur?

with the target band 6.5-7.5

Academic IELTS
IELTS HELP Study Guide

Author : S. A. Chowdhury
cerca trova
1
Web : www.ieltsg.com
Email : targetband8@yahoo.com
I`ve been practicing with a number of IELTS official guide books
which are designed by prestigious publications like Oxford, Mac-
Millan. Mahmud Mustafo
Uzbekistan
What I’m impressed by this guide is that tricky techniques which
doesn’t make learners stress out spending loads of hours And I
hardly ever seen all those techniques in any official guides !!!

You know, this is really a MUST HAVE book for every single IELTS
candidate !!!

WHO
SAID TAKE A LOOK

WHAT
I got my desired bands (overall(6.5) with 6.5 in writing) because
of this book. This guide helped me a lot to understand how to G. Pal Dhiman
achieve higher bands in writing. When i first appeared in the IELTS
INdia
exam I got overall 6.5 with 5.5 in writing and I felt pity, afterwards
I go through the guide and began to read the tips for writing. I
got 6.5 in writing because of this excellent book.

When i got my result, I was first astonished because I only expect-


ed 6.0 bands in writing but after seeing 6.5 in writing and overall
6.5; I was over the moon.

This book is a treasure for the IELTS learners.


Rayhanul Islam
I am an IELTS trainer certified by the Cambridge University, work- Qatar
ing in Qatar. I use your book for teaching and find it very useful
for my students.
contents AT A GLANCE
01

TABLE 1

The simple & painless tactic of interpreting a table


How can I write the introductory paragraph in just 1 minute?
Sentence templates to write about a table description.
The 3 punch formula to write the full table report.
02

PIE CHART 32

The amazing 3 step shortcut to describe any pie chart


The easiest way to write about a pie chart.
Knockdown the quick introductory part.
Things to consider while describing a pie chart.
03

BAR CHART 44

An idiot`s guide to explain a bar graph with a lightning fast speed


Start with 4 queries and use it to write the full report
“Plug and Play” formula to describe any trend of a bar chart
Templates to let you write about data comparison and contrast
CONTENTS
03
04

LINE GRAPH 62

The shortcut menu to write about a line graph


What language should you use for a very good line graph interpretation?
Phrases to describe any kind of line movement.
How to stop repeating the same language?
05

83
MULTIPLE CHART

The ultimate recipe for writing a spontaneous multi-chart report


How to put your knowledge together to interpret a compound chart?
What things should be included in a combined chart report?
How to make comparison between two data chart?
06

PROCESS DIAGRAM 92

Key ingredients to explain a process diagram with fun


4 points that lead you to write about any process diagram.
Key structure of a process diagram report
How to maintain the flow or coherence of the report?

111
07

MAP

Amazing clues hidden in a map that help you to describe it easily


The two main types of map that may appear in your IELTS test.
Common features of any map that are useful to describe it.
3 steps to write a map report more efficiently.
CONTENTS
03
04

LINECRAFT
GRAPH
08

137
YOUR TASK-2 ESSAY
How to confront the IELTS task-2 essay writing challenge
How to let the question help you to write the essay?
How to brainstorm ideas and develop an outline?.
Basic things you need to write a very good essay.
09

DISCOVER QUESTION TYPES 148

The very first thing you should do when you look at the question
Main types of Task -2 essays appear in the writing test.
How the question lays clue to identify the distinct type of the essay?
How categorizing the task leads to a high and score?
10

NO IDEA NO PROBLEM ! 162

How to come up with great ideas to start writing your essay?


How to discover some realistic ideas that`ll help you to answer the question?
How to select keywords from the question to generate tons of relevant ideas?
The common mistake for why students fail to achieve a high band score.

169
11

GREAT MIND DISCUSS IDEAS

How to write a perfect balanced argument essay?


Simple structure to organize ideas into sentences.
Quickly write a introduction with the plug & play template.
How to easily pen down your thoughts into impressive sentences.
CONTENTS
03
04

LINE
TOGRAPH
207
12

BE OR NOT TO BE
How to craft an opinion essay? (It`s surprisingly easy..)
Be careful how you present your opinion in the essay!
How to write the body paragraph from just one simple idea?
Generating ideas are depressing. Here’s how you create (task specific) ideas.
13

NO PROBLEM NO QUESTION 235

A surprisingly simple way to write a problem-solution essay


Why “problem” is the heart of any task-2 essay?
The particular approach of writing a problem solution essay.
It`s is not a guesswork. This one little mistake can make your essay mediocre.
14

WRITE IN SIMPLE WORDS 253

Fail-proof guide to write a direct question essay


Here`s the only 1 thing you must do to write an excellent essay.
Simple 4 steps to write a marvelous direct question essay.
Ask this one question to come up with tons of “ideas” to answer the task.
15

BONUS CHAPTER 273

The amazing lazy man`s way to write a high scoring IELTS essay
The universal formula (sentence templates) to write any essay introduction
How to start form a sentence and end in writing the whole body paragraph?
How to generate topic sentences for body paragraphs from rough ideas?
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
BEHOLD
THIS IS
THE
PREVIEW VERSION.

TO FIND THE

FULL VERSION
CLICK HERE.

7
IMPORTANT
READ THIS FIRST

Dear Candidate,

If you are looking for some lifeless to-do-lists about


how to preapre for the IELTS writing test, “How Not To
Fear IELTS Writing” is not for you.

If you think that IELTS writing takes a long term


preparation….”How Not To Fear IELTS Writing” is not
for you.

But if you are looking for the real... the genuine...


the most effective “bag of tricks” with practical
demonstration that will save your long and painful
hours of preparation.. this will be the most rewarding
information you’ll ever come across.
Look: I spend almost 10 years of testing, applying,
succeeding, failing while teaching in large classroom,
one to one couching, online training, tutoring small
groups-you name it….in order to cumulate the best
effective method to teach IELTS writing…that I penned
down in this book.

And there are tutorials in this book - ideas in this book


-that I have never had the opportunity to reveal before
the world ! As you are about to learn, they will give
you the “instant” ability to write for the IELTS test -
that otherwise might have taken a lifetime of waiting
for you to walk through.

And more...this book is dramatically different from


anything you’ve ever read because it’s more of a lazy
students` high scoring “practical guide” to learn IELTS
writing than any other IELTS preparation book.

Give me a few days. Study this guide. I promise, your


skill of writing will never be the same again.

S A Chowdhury
3
Line Graph
Step By Step Formula
To Write About a Line Graph

4
How not to
F E A R I E L T S
W R I T I N G
4
HOW TO

H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
DESCRIBE A LINE GRAPH

“The Easy Shortcut Menu of


Writing Everything You’ll Ever
Need to Write About a Line
Graph.”
A PROVEN TEMPLATE
TO COME ACROSS
A VERY GOOD LINE
GRAPH INRERPRETATION.
I want you to look at this picture and guess for a second what
does the man in the picture is showing us:

I just don’t know. Neither do you. And nobody else knows either.

5
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
I n s igh t

Perhaps, he is showing us the


increasing profit of his company over
the last 10 years.

Perhaps, he is showing us how the


average temperature of the world
changes during the last 100 years due
to global warming.

I think I’m trying to make a point here.

Listen: the man in the picture is


presenting information in the form of a
LINE GRAPH.

And listen: line graphs typically show us trends represented by the


direction of the lines.

But what is trend? You ask.

A trend is a movement of data in a general direction over time.

This direction can be upward or downward or they can remain stable.

And do you know what you need to write so far when you describe a
line graph ?

Yes, you need to describe these upward, downward or stable TRENDS


and compare them.

If you still can’t imagine what it is, I’ll go on to step by step guideline
for writing about a line graph.

All you have to do is turn on the next page a look at the graph
representing temperature of Sydney form Thursday to Wednesday
between 12 to 18 October 2016.

6
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
The chart below shows maximum temperature forecast for Sydney (12-
18 Oct`06).

36
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25
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Thu Fri Sat Sun MOn Tue weD


12/10 13/10 14/10 15/10 16/10 17/10 18/10

First, write an introductory sentence to introduce the subject


matter of the line chart.

And you know that you can always write a quick introduction by
my universal formula:

Which is :

01. Introductory expression The line chart indicates

02. Terms of measurement the temperature

03. Topic of the question projection of Sydney

04. Time expression for seven days in October


2006.
7
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
So, here is our introduction:

The line chart represents the temperature projection of


Sydney for seven days in October 2006.

You can just use the sentence below to write an overview about
any line graph (just change the topic: the temperature of Sydney
with your task topic).

It is clear from the chart that the temperature of


Sydney fluctuated a great deal during this time.

As I said earlier when describing line graph, you should


describe the main stages of the trend.

What I mean by STAGES is upward trend, downward trend or


stable trend.

Look at the illustration below to learn some useful phrases for


describing these stages of trend.

Dropped sharply
Increased gradually Fell rapidly
Rose slowly Declined dramatically
Climed dramatically Slumped/Plummeted
Shot up/Soared/Rocketed
Dropped slightly
Fell gradually
Declined minimally/Slowly
Increased gradually
Rose slowly

Stabilized
Levelled off
Remained same

8
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
What you can see in the above illustration is that there could be
normal or rapid upward or downward trend in a line graph.

To describe a normal upward trend you can use :

increased gradually
rose gradually

Whereas, to describe rapid or sharp upward trend you can use:

increased sharply
rose gradually
climbed dramatically
shot up/soared/rocketed

Now, PAY ATTENTION. Did you hear what I just wrote?

I said: “rose” which is a past form of the verb “rise”. I`ve also
used “increased” instead of “increase” – all are past form of
verb.

Why I did so?

Because, the data in a line chart typically appear in past time


frame. What I mean is you are living in the year of 2018, anything
beyond that would be a past incidence, like: 2006, 2010, 2012 etc.

Now, what if the data appear in a future time frame, like: year
2030, 2050 etc.

It is very simple.

If the chart indicates any future data, just add the following
expression:

projected to (rise sharply)


forecast to (drop rapidly)
expected to (remain constant)
predicted to (drop slightly) 9
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
And so on..

Now, let me remind you, when describing a line graph, you need
to describe trends.

Come closer. Pay attention here.

When I say “trends”, that means you need to be able to write


some sentences about trends in your description.

How you`re going to do it?

Do you remember what I said in the bar chart section?

Here’s a little something which I think is remarkably revealing


the art of writing about trends:

increased slightly

went up slowly

f luctuate sharply

F r o m (t i m e ) t o (t i m e ) Subject rose dramatically

declined sig nif icantly

dropped greatly

went down gradually

By using this structure, you can write:

1 From Thursday to Friday, the temperature of Sydney


rose slowly from 31 degree Celsius to 33 degree. 10
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Well, when you write that, there were a few things you should
consider for writing the next sentence.

First, you`ll not write the next sentence by using the same
structure in a high scoring report.

In fact, you`ll use different structure like this:

sudden increase

rapid jump

dramatic rise
f r o m (t i m e ) t o (t i m e )

significant growth

sharp decrease
There Subject
was a
steep drop

large fall
b e t w e e n (t i m e ) t o (t i m e )

marked decline

gradual reduction

slight f luctuation

So, you can write:

2 There was a slight variation of the temperature from Fri


to Sat.
11
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Now, let`s write these two sentences (1 & 2) together and see
what comes up:

From Thursday to Friday the temperature of Sydney


rose slowly from 31 degree Celsius to 33 degree.
There was a slight variation of the temperature
from Friday to Saturday.

Guess what look`s so odd here?

Yes you`re right. It`s the repetition of time frame: Thursday to


Friday & Friday to Saturday.

It’s just that damn boring repetition again and again.

Anyway, if you want to get rid of this repetition, I am going to


reveal a secret.

Why don`t you use certain connectives like:

From the point/day/month/year onward or a day/month/year


later.

Confused?

I`ll show you how to do this.

Look how I write the above 2 sentences in a new format:

From Thursday to Friday the temperature of


Sydney rose slowly from 31 degree Celsius to 33
degree. From this point onward, there was a slight
variation of the temperature.

Or

From Thursday to Friday the temperature of Sydney


rose slowly from 31 degree Celsius to 33 degree.
A day later, there was a slight variation of
the temperature. 12
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Let me give you another twist. What about writing the first
sentence in a different way? Like:

At the beginning of the week the temperature of Sydney


rose slowly from 31 degree Celsius to 33 degree.

Trust me, the wording of this sentence contains a crucial


element related to writing about line graph.

Here is what I mean: each line graph will have a beginning and
ending.

So, why don’t use “at the beginning” when writing about the first
trend. That`s exactly what I`ve done in the above sentence.

You’ve got this fact.

Now, let`s write the next sentence of our line graph description
using a different formula.
increased suddenly

jumped rapidly

rose quickly

f rom (t ime) to (t ime)


went up sharply

claimed consistently

Subject
decreased steadily
bet wee n (t ime) to (t ime)
dropped smoothly

fell continually

went down stably

varied gradually 13
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
By using this structure, we can write:

The temperature dropped steeply from Saturday to


Monday.

The temperature shot up sharply from Monday to


Wednesday.
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Thu Fri Sat Sun MOn Tue weD


12/10 13/10 14/10 15/10 16/10 17/10 18/10

You`ve written last two sentence of your description. Let`s put


them together:

The temperature dropped steeply from Saturday to


Monday. The temperature shot up sharply from Monday
to Wednesday.

Did you find anything wrong?

It`s when you put these sentences together, it becomes


monotonous, repetitive.

Listen, I`m trying to give you basics of writing sentence about


trends using formula or structure. 14
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
You see: When you put these sentences together, it becomes
repetitive.

IT CAN`T BE TOLERATED.

You need to spice it up a little bit to get a high band score.


However, you will have to at least do a little work to get it done.

Here comes your creativity.

Let`s use a little bit of imagination and put together all the
sentences we make by using different structures.

Like this example:

At the beginning of the week the temperature of Sydney


rose slowly from 31 degree to 33 degree Celsius. A day
later, there was a slight variation of the temperature.
From Saturday onward until Monday, the temperature
dropped steeply from 33 degree to 23 degree
Celsius. Again, the temperature shot up sharply from
Monday at 23 degree to Wednesday at 33 degree.
36
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27

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23
22
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Thu Fri Sat Sun MOn Tue weD


12/10 13/10 14/10 15/10 16/10 17/10 18/10
15
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Don’t you just get what this is all about?

If you use FORMULA in your report writing, it will give you heads
up and let your creative juices flowing.

These formulas will live inside you, mutate while you write and
give you an instant boost that will serve you well the rest of your
writing.

I`m afraid that`s we have come to the end of writing the actual
report.

Here is the full report:

The line chart represents the temperature projection of


Sydney for seven days in October 2006. It is clear from
the chart that the temperature of Sydney fluctuated a
great deal during this time.

At the beginning of the week the temperature of Sydney


rose slowly from 31 degree to 33 degree Celsius. A day
later, there was a slight variation of the temperature.
From Saturday onward until Monday, the temperature
dropped steeply from 33 degree to 23 degree Celsius.
Again, the temperature shot up sharply from Monday at
23 degree to Wednesday at 33 degree. (95 words)

YES. You`re right.

You can see the full report finish with only 95 words while you
suppose to write 150 words (at least) report.

But, you`ll lose marks if you write less than 150 words.

And after describing all the features of our line graph, we can
barely go beyond 100 words.
16
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
You know what.

The IELTS exam organizers are aware about this problem.

That`s why you`ll always find more than one lines in a line graph
so that you can extend your answer by describing each of them
and meet the 150 words requirement.

Look at the example below:

The graph below shows the differences in wheat exports in millions


of tonnes over three different areas.

Write a report for a university lecturer describing the information


shown below. Write at least 150 words.

30

25

20

15

10

0
1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990

Australia Canada European Community

In this example, there are 3 lines representing 3 country`s wheat


export. You can write about individual country`s export trends and
also you can compare among them.

That means, you can write a lot- probably more than 150 words-
gives you plenty of room to fulfill the word limit.

Anyway, shall we proceed?

Let`s get started with the introduction:

“Introductory expressions + Terms of measurement + Topic of the


question + Time expressions” 17
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Let`s put the formula in action:

01. Introductory expression The line chart indicates

02. Terms of measurement the yearly wheat export

03. Topic of the question of three different countries

04. Time expression from 1985 to 1990.

Here comes the full introduction from above formula:

The line chart reveals the yearly wheat export of three


different countries from 1985 to 1990.

As I keep saying, always write an overview after writing the


introduction, you can write it with ease following my previous
suggestion:

It is clear from the chart that the wheat export of three


countries fluctuated a great deal during this time.

Well, anyway, we`ve finished writing the introduction and


overview.

The next important thing is writing the description.

As I said before, you can write about each of these three country`s
export trends and finally make some comparison.

So, the first thing you can talk about is wheat export trend of
Australia, then Canada and then European community.

While these things get done, you can compare among these 3
different trends.

18
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
But, this road is very long.

You can at best write about 2 among 3 countries and you`ll go


beyond 150 words and will have no time to write the task-2 report.

That`s why I believe the best way to write a line chart report is to
write about different trends and compare them at the same time.

In fact, in my opinion, this is the best way to write your report as


you are touching every single trends and comparison within your
word limit.

This approach may seem difficult. But don’t let that scare you.

And I want you to be able to avoid the FEAR while you write.

So I want you to keep your full attention what I am saying next.

The very first thing you must come to realize is that you can
always start the first sentence of your description with “at the
beginning”.

At the beginning, around 15 to 20 million tons of


wheat was exported from Australia, Canada and European
community.
30

25

20

15

10

0
1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990

Australia Canada European Community

Do you notice what I say here.

I could say, “Australia export starts from 15 million ton in


1985, Canada`s export starts from 17 million and for European 19
community this figure was 19 million”.
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
But, I just use the range -15 to 20 million tons- where all the
export figures fall down.

Now just write about what happens in the next year:

A year later in 1986, the export had increased in Australia


at over 15 millions but it had decreased over other parts of
the world.

30

25

20

15

10

0
1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990

Australia Canada European Community

Why you are not astonished?

The answer is easy.

You see, I`ve written about the export trend of Australia along with
2 other countries in a single sentence.

But, that was not the end.

I`ve also represented a comparative picture of export trend of


these 3 counties in this single sentence.

That`s a lot to score a high band, I promise.

What`s next. Just tell Now just tell what happens in the following
year:

From this point on there was a steady decline of export


from Australia and by 1990 the export has come down to
about 10 million tones. 20
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
You see. I just skip the next three years (1987, 1988 & 1989) and just
jump to the end year of 1990.

In fact, I`m going to do the same for other two countries. For
European Union it is like:

Over the same period, the European wheat exports


increased significantly. It started just under 15 million
tones in 1986, reached a peak over 20 million in 1990.
30

25

20

15

10

0
1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990

Australia Canada European Community

And for Canada it is like:

From 1986 onward, however, there was a fluctuation of


export in Canada. From 1986 to 1988, the export
shoots up from just over 15 million to 25 million,
dropped dramatically in 1989 to less than 15 millions and
then rose rapidly to 19 million in 1990.

It’s as simple as that.

Now, pay attention to what I just write about Canada.

You can use this same sentence structure in any line graph.

For example, you can use the same structure for writing about the
previous line graph (temperature forecast for Sydney).

For your better understanding, let me give you a side by side


comparison.

21
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
This is what we wrote about canada:

From 1986 onward, however, there was a fluctuation of export


in Canada. From 1986 to 1988, the export shoots up from just
over 15 million to 25 million, dropped dramatically in 1989 to
less than 15 millions and then rose rapidly to 19 million in 1990.

This is where we replicate from Syndey:

From Friday onward, however, there was a fluctuation


of temperature in Sydney. From Friday to Saturday, the
temperature level up to around 33 degree Celsius, dropped
dramatically in Sunday and Monday to less than 25 degree and
then rose rapidly over 33 degree on Wednesday.
36
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Thu Fri Sat Sun MOn Tue weD


12/10 13/10 14/10 15/10 16/10 17/10 18/10

You see: It`s a kind of universal sentence template. That`s why,


any serious candiate who like to score high in the IELTS, would jot
down this part on a paper. And you need to do the same.

You`ll also need to read and write it again and again to make a
neurological blueprint in your mind so that that you can come up
with an instant writing instinct during your exam.

Last but not least, I`d like to show you how the full report comes
out:
22
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
full report Line G r a p h

The graph below shows the differences in wheat exports in millions


of tonnes over three different areas. Write a report for a university
lecturer describing the information shown below. Write at least 150
words.
30

25

20

15

10

0
1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990

Australia Canada European Community

The line chart reveals the yearly wheat export of three


different countries from 1985 to 1990. It is clear from the
chart that the wheat export of three countries fluctuated a
great deal during this time.

At the beginning, around 15 to 20 million tonnes of


wheat was exported from Australia, Canada and European
community. A year later in 1986, the export had increased
in Australia at over 15 millions but it had decreased over
other parts of the world. From this point on there was a
steady decline of export from Australia and by 1990 the
export has come down to about 10 million tonnes. Over
the same period, the European wheat exports increased
significantly. It started just under 15 million tonnes in
1986, reached a peak over 20 million in 1990.

From 1986 onward, however, there was a fluctuation


of export in Canada. From 1986 to 1988, the export
shoots up from just over 15 million to 25 million, dropped
dramatically in 1989 to less than 15 million and then rose
rapidly to 19 million in 1990. (178 Words)
23
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
E X ER C I S E li ne graph

The graph below shows predictions about the number of


people who will study three major world languages between
2020 and 2030.

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the


main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Students of three world languages, 2020-2030

800
Number of students (millions)

700

600

500

400

300

200

100

0
2020 2022 2024 2026 2028 2030

English Spanish Mandarin

24
Map
Step By Step Formula
To Write About The Map

7
How not to
F E A R I E L T S
W R I T I N G
25
HOW TO

H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
DESCRIBE A MAP

“Amazing clues hidden in a


map that help you to describe
it with ease.”
DISCOVER EXACTLY
WHAT TO WRITE &
HOW TO WRITE
ABOUT A MAP.
Let me tell you a true story.

China- as we know this country today-has thousand years of


proud history.

There was a great military mastermind living in this country


around 200 years before the birth of Jesus Christ.

I`m telling you about a General called Han Xin.

Why Han Xin was great?

In 205 BC, this great Chinese general led his army to a position
near the camp of his enemy, the army of the kingdom of Zhao.
26
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
I n s igh t

Here`s the map to show you the scenerio:

Xin started from the left on the map, with around 30,000 (red &
green) infantry and stationed his army in the black circle, with the
Tao river behind.

On the other hand, Zhao army claimed to have 200,000 soldiers (100
times more than Xin`s), built a base camp in the yellow rectangle and
enjoyed a good laugh watching their tiny enemy line up along the
river.

Then almost immediately the army of Zhao attached the Han Xin`s
army. With their backs in the turbulent water of Tao river, Han Xin`s
men fought so fiercely they overwhelmed the army of Zhen, put them
to killed their king.

The strategy Han Xin gave rise to a saying, “fighting a battle with
one’s back facing a river”. In such a situation, either you fight to the

27
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
last breath, or you die at the mercy of your enemies.

For the next five millennia, Chinese military leader have


subscribed to the same strategy that told their armies, in effect,
“We have no Plan B. We fight or die”.

This story reminds me:“The IELTS candidate who anticipates the


failure, and prepares for it...will fail.”

Remember you are always responsible for your decisions-


whether you take your IELTS preparation seriously or not.

That`s why I put this story at the front of this chapter.

There is another reason of putting this story first- to give you an


idea:

“How to read a MAP.”

Occasionally, if IELTS Task 1 question ask you to describe a MAP,


there are two types of map that you might see:

The
1 first type of shows the SAME site at two different point
of time.

There would be a number of changes from the earlier to


the later one - like new roads may appear, one building
may replace another.

Your job is to describe the changes that took place at


different period.

The
2 second types of map provide SEVERAL possible
construction sites or location for a proposed development
project such as an airport, school or super market. 28
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
You need to write advantages and disadvantages of each
location.

This is the only type of Task 1 question where you must add your
OWN OPINION.

Saying that means you should not write any personal opinion
in describing a table. pie chart, bar chart, line graph, process
diagram or any multiple charts.

And so on..

Coming back to the report writing about a map-you`ll find just


two types of information in the question booklet:

1 A brief description of the map in the box

2 A legend that explains what certain features and symbols


on the maps mean.

And you need to write your report from this little information by
using your observation power.

Hard, isn’t it?

Bear in mind that I didn’t write this book to make you feel good
inside or to just point out what you should do or what you should
not do like many “how to” blogs or books available in the market.

Instead, I give you the truth about all types of questions and
HOW you need to THINK and WRITE the answer about them
with practical demonstration, so you can lead you to a high band
score. 29
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
So, here you are !

Good job.

Now, listen. I`m going to show you the first type of map below:

The maps below show the village of Stokeford in 1930 and in


2010. Summarize the information by selecting and reporting
the main features and make comparison where relevant.

Write at least 150 words

Before I start discussing how to write about this map, let me put
you forward some conventional wisdom.

You`ll find 4 types of common features in any map:

1 Buildings - for residential, industrial, recreational, official,


community service purposes
30
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Trees
2 and Forests

3 Roads, bridges and railway lines

4 Open Space Facilities- Airport, Park, playground, stadium.

You need to describe about these features in your report.

To do this, you need to say where these things are in the map by
giving the precise location of these features.

You can use ‘north’, ‘south’, ‘east’ and ‘west’.

The maps may include a compass to show direction (North/


South/East/West).

If the map doesn`t show you where the North is, assume that
North is at the top of it.

So, you can guess:

“To the west of” as “To the left of” ..


“To the north of “ as “Above the” ..
“To the South of “ as “Below the” ..
“To the East of “ as “To the right of” ..

You can also give a relative location of a feature compare to


another feature.

You can use following PREPOSITIONS on this regard:

Behind: The supermarket is behind the stadium


Next to: The supermarket is next to the stadium
In front of: The supermarket is in front of the stadium

31
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Inside : The Cineplex is inside the supermarket

Across: A medicine shop was across the street from the


hospital.

In the middle of: A small island lies in the middle of the


lake.

Following phrases are also useful to describe the position of


features in the map:

To be (Verb): The town hall is in the center of town.

Lie: The supermarket lies 20 Km east of the park.

Is located: The student accommodation building is located


on the east of the university campus.

Can be found: A cineplex can be found on the top floor of


the supermarket.

Stand: The theatre house stands across the main street.

No more wisdom. Let me talk about the basic structure of writing


a map report:

1 Paragraph 1: Introduction and Overview

2 Paragraph 2 : Striking features of the first map

3 Paragraph 3 : Comparison between the 1st & 2nd Map

& finally conclusion.

32
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
p a r ag r a p h 1 Introduction & overview

First, write a sentence that describes what the maps show in


your own words.

Look below two examples of introduction:

This report will refer to two maps that show how the
village of Stokeford changed over the years between
1930 and 2010.

The maps show the changes that took place in Stokeford


over a period of 80 years from 1930 to 2010.

You can write an introduction about any maps given to you by


just changing the bold words in above examples.

Need a demonstration. Here`s one:

Question:

Look at the maps below showing how the town of Harborne


changes from 1936 to 2007, and summarize the information by
selecting and reporting the main features. Make comparison
where relevant.

Answer (Introduction):

This report will refer to two maps that show how the town of
Harborne changed over the years between 1937 and 2007.

Or

The maps show the changes that took place in Harborne over
a period of 70 years from 1937 to 2007.
33
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Very simple. Right?

Next, write an overview that summarizes the overall changes


shown on the two maps.

Can you tell me what would be the overall change for an area
after a certain period of time?

Well…

1 It may become larger and more developed.

And..

2 land use pattern may change.

That`s why you can use following phrases in your overview:

a more residential area


a more rural area
an area with a better integration of facilities and
transportation routes
a hotel or a resort with additional facilities
a town with better infrastructure.

All these are typical example of spatial changes.

In our example case, the perfect phrase would be “a more


residential area”, as we can see MORE housing in the map of 2010
than of 1930 one. So, we can write:

It can be clearly seen that, over the years, Stokeford had


became a more residential area from a farming village.

34
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
p a r ag r a p h 2 Features of the 1st map

This paragraph for Map-1 will be quite short because it should be


a simple description of how the village was in 1930.

Here you need to say something about the important features


(house, road, building) of the map by referring their location.

As you can see the in 1930 map, most striking feature is


farmland. So, you can write :

In 1930, there were large farmlands in the eastern and


western part of Stockford.

Apart from farmland, there are other facilities like post office,
primary schools shops and large house.

So, tell something about them.

35
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Post office:

Post-office was located at the center of the village along the


main road.

Primary School:

A primary school stood across the road from the post


office.

Shops :

Shops could be found next to the post office.

Large House:

A large house lies to the east of the village.


36
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Now, let`s align these sentence with some connecting device:s
like “moreover”, “in addition” etc.

In 1930, there were large farmlands in the east and west


side of Stockford. Post-office was located at the center
of the village along the main road. Moreover, a primary
school stood across the road from the post office. In
addition, shops could be found next to the post office.
Also, a large house lies to the east of the village.

p a r ag r a p h 3 compare two maps

In the second body paragraph, you will need to describe what


had changed between 1930 and 2010, as well as describing how it
was in 1930.

Because, the question asks you to ‘make comparisons where


relevant’ so here you`ll need to describe how the village changed
from 1930 to 2010.

What could be the possible change of a map features.

Well, certain site could be redeveloped to give it a modern look.

On the other hand, certain site may be completely replaced for a


new purpose.

You can use following phrases on this regard:

Redeveloped/Modernized and converted to/Replaced


by/Changed into

Let`s see how it works..

37
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
We can see a large house of 1930 map is replaced by a retirement
home in 2010.

So, we can write:

The large house was redeveloped and converted into a


retirement home.

You can also notice completely new features in the new map.

Like, you can see new streets in the later map that didn`t exist
before.

You can use following sentence structure to write about new


features:

One interesting development had been the construction of


new ...
or
Another change had been the construction of new....... 38
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Just fit this formula in the map:

One interesting development had been the construction of


new streets connected with the main road.

or

Another change had been the construction of new streets


connected with the main road.

You can also include following sentence to make it more detailed:

In addition to that new roads were accompanied by a small


number of new houses.

You`ll also find some facilities in the map get larger over time.

In that case, you can use following structure to describe the


change:
39
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
(something) expanded and it was much bigger than the old
one.

So, you can write:

The primary school had been expanded and it was much


bigger than the old one.

Last but not least, you`ll find some features remain unchanged.
Use following structures to tell about those features:

Interestingly ... remain unchanged

Interestingly, post office was the only building that remains


unchanged over 80 years.

Likely ......remained same

Likely, the bridge over the river and the main road remained
the same.
40
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
full report Comparing Two m a p s

The maps below show the village of Stokeford in 1930 and in


2010.

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the


main features and make comparison where relevant.

This report will refer to two maps that show how the village
of Stokeford changed over the years between 1930 and
2010. It can be clearly seen that, over the years, Stokeford
had became a residential area from a farming village.

In 1930, there were large farmlands in the east and west


side of Stockford. A Post-office was located at the center of
the village along the main road. Moreover, a primary school
stood across the road from the post office. In addition, shops
could be found next to the post office. Also, a large house lies
to the east of the village.

(Continue to the next page) 41


H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
full report C om pa r i n g T wo m a p s ( C o n t i n u e d )

In 2010, the large house was redeveloped and converted


into a retirement home. One interesting development had
been the construction of new streets connected with the
main road. In addition to that new roads were accompanied
by a small number of new houses. The primary school had
been expanded and it was much bigger than the old one.
Interestingly, post office was the only building that remains
unchanged over 80 years. Likely, the bridge over the river
and the main road remained the same. (186 Words)

Wait.

I`m not finished yet.

Now, listen. I`m going to discuss another type of map


that may appear in your test where you need to discuss
advantage and disadvantage for proposed sites on a map.

Here is an example in the next page.


42
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
The map below is of the town of Canterbury. A new school (S) is
planned for the area. The map shows two possible sites for the
school.

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main


features, and make comparisons where relevant.

Write at least 150 words.

You probably can guess now what would be the structure of this
report. There is no mystery in it:

1 First you write the introduction

2 Second you write about the location, advantage &


disadvantage of the first site

Third
3 you write about the location, advantage &
disadvantage of the second site

4 At last you write a comparative overview about these sites.


43
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
So, let`s write the first paragraph.

p a r ag r a p h 1 i ntroduction

Here is your easy introduction:

The diagram shows a map with two potential locations


for a proposed school.

You can just copy this sentence while writing introduction about
any question.

Just change some words according to your question. Like,


instead of “two”- you can write “three” and in the place of
“school”- you can write “leisure centre”.

p a r ag r a p h 2 about the 1st site

In this paragraph you need to explain :

1 Location
2 Advantage & Disadvantage of the 1st proposed site.

Let`s write it.

Location :

The first site (S1) is located in the countryside) to the


north-east of the town center.

Advantage & Disadvantage:

You can always sort out the advantage or disadvantage of any


tentative site under following categories:
44
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Environmental
Financial
Pollution- noise, water, air, land
Health and safety
Social
Convenience
Inconvenience
Time
Aesthetics
Ecological

If you think a bit about the site one (S-1), you`ll see that it is
located in the countryside that could be encircled by greeneries-
long away from the busy life of the city- that will give the school
an appreciation of tranquility (Aesthetics).

In a word:

The site would be very attractive for locating outside the


hustle and bustle of the city.

You`ll also see the S-1 is located near the Sturry residential area
which is another advantage.

Therefore, you can write:

The site would be easily accessible to the student coming


from Sturry, which is only 5 kilometers away.

When you look at disadvantages of this location, you can think


that students coming from Chartham, which is 7 kilometres away
- would be able to reach the school by taking the main
main road and crossing the pedestrian town center –which is
certainly time consuming and difficult. 45
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Beside this transportation problem, the construction of school
buildings would require chop down of many trees located in the
countryside.

So you can write about these drawbacks as below:

The environmental destruction causes by the construction


of the school, and the awkward location for students coming
from Chartham would be major disadvantages.

p a r ag r a p h 3 about the 2nd site

You`ll write about the same things about Site-2 in this paragraph,
which are, once again:

1 Location
2 Advantage &
3 Disadvantage

Let`s do this.

Location:

Location S2 is in the town center surrounded by housing area.

Advantage:

You can see that S2 is surrounded by housings and have almost


same distance from other residential areas like Sturry & Chartham.
46
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
The site (S2) is also located in no traffic zone that means no
motor car is allowed in the area.

These two observation boils down to the following sentence:

It would give easier access for students coming from any


area of the town and would contribute to less car
pollution as it is located in no traffic zone.

Disadvantage:

Only shortcoming of site-2 could be a part of traveling to the


school should be made by without any motorized vehicle.

So, we can write:

Traffic restriction would make travel arrangements


difficult for some students.

p a r ag r a p h 4 Compare both sites

At last, you can give your personal judgment of which site is


better than others based on the essence of your above mentioned
merits and demerits.

For example, you can write:

Overall, building the school in S1 would combine the easiest


access for all students with low environmental impact.

Done!

Now, enjoy the full report below where I`ve used some linking
devices (underlined) to maintain the natural flow of writing:

47
H
#gOoWo dNvOiTb eTsOo n
full report PRO S & C ONS OF PROPO S ED S ITE S

Fl
The map below is of the town of Canterbury. A new school (S) is

E yA R I E L T S W R I T I N G
planned for the area. The map shows two possible sites for the
school.

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the main


features, and make comparisons where relevant.

The diagram shows a map with two potential locations for a


proposed school.

The first sit (S1) is located in the countryside to the north-


east of the town center. The site would be very attractive
for locating outside the hustle and bustle of the city. Also,
the site would be easily accessible to the student coming
from Sturry, which is only 5 kilometers away. However, the
environmental destruction causes by the construction of the
school, and the awkward location for students coming from
Chartham would be major disadvantages.

(Continue to the next page) 48


H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
On the other hand, second location (S2) is in the town
center surrounded by housing area. It would give easier
access for students coming from any area of the town and
would contribute to less car pollution as it is located in no
traffic zone. However, traffic restriction would make travel
arrangements difficult for some students.

Overall, building the school in S1 would combine the easiest


access for all students with low environmental impact. (162
words)

Well

That`s the end of our lesson about IELTS writing task-1.

Now, listen. I`m going to discuss about IELTS writing task-2.

49
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
E X ER C I S E m ap

The diagrams below show the transformation of the area


around Tumbledown between 1995 and 2010.

Summarize the information by selecting and reporting the


main features and making comparisons where relevant.

50
IELTS Writing Task-2
Step By Step Formula
To Craft Your Perfect Essay

8
How not to
F E A R I E L T S
W R I T I N G
51
CRAFT YOUR

H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
TASK-2 ESSAY
“How to Confront the IELTS
Task-2 Essay Writing
Challenge?”
WHAT MATTERS IS
WHERE YOU WANT
TO BE NOT
WHERE YOU ARE.
Is ignorance the problem?

The truth is-candidates can`t write the IELTS Task-2 essay or


confront it, or make a good score- is simply that they don’t
know enough about the topic.

The same thing applies to you.

You can stumble upon a unexpected essay writing topic in the


task-2.

After all, if that’s the case, all you’ll need to do is bite your finger
in the exam room and try to figure out what to write until 60
minutes get over.

So, the thing is- ignorance is really the problem. 52


H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
I n s igh t

The challenge is that we don’t always think what you need to think
about-while we write an IELTS essay.

But, here`s an interresting fact.

The reason we don’t think right isn’t that you don’t know about the
task-2 question topic.

The reason is that we over complicate it inside our beautiful mind.

The challenge, then, isn’t to think simply.

The challange is to engage our mind in a way to fertilize it for


spontaneous writing ideas.

But, how to fertilize your mind.

Here is a better way..

You know: Most people who are very good in a personal conversation
“freeze up” when it comes to transferring their ideas to the written
word.

And remember, you have just 40 minutes to spend on your essay.


If you want to write a good scoring essay in this limited time, you
need to chase certain rules:

1 You do not over-think: You need time to write-not to think.

2 You do not get creative : You need skills-not creativity because


the later kills your time

3 You make your massage as clear as possible: Your views must be


clear, relevant and well supported enough to understandable by
the examiner.
53
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
4 And ... you stick to proven method of writing essay which
I`m going to disclose here in a few minutes.

Look. If you want your essay to be more effective, you need to do


3 things only:

1 Analyze the question


Structure
2 the essay
3 Make error free sentence

Let me show you how you can do these things.

first thing analyze the question

Your first duty is to identify what the question asks you to write
about.

Most of us will agree that reading the question first is the best
way to spot all topics to write.

The problem is that we`re terrible at it.

That`s our pre-judgment problem. We place our judgment on the


question which fails us to understand it.

And we do the same thing when we read about anything.

Spoiler alert: You don`t have a lot of time to think in your IELTS
exam- you need to write something before the time is over.

So, focus on your writing is the best thing you can do. But:

How?

54
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
I give you a simple solution.

Question lays clues. Find these clues and you`ll know what you
need to write about.

To do this, just underline the important part of the question.

Look at this example:

Nuclear power is far too dangerous. Therefore, countries should


ban its use and concentrate, instead, on developing alternative
sources of energy such as hydroelectric power, wind power and
solar energy.

To what extend do you agree or disagree with this statement?

You can find 3 clues from the underlined part of the question.

Nuclear energy:

1 is dangerous
2 should be banned
3 alternative energy source must introduce instead of
nuclear power.

Next, just ask - WHY question about these clues:

1 Why nuclear energy is dangerous?


2 Why ban it?
3 Why alternative source?

55
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
You see- to think about the question critically, you need to ask
question.

So, what should you do with our example questions?

The first thing you do is to find out why nuclear energy is


dangerous- it could be for accident or disaster.

If you have some knowledge on world affairs, then you can


immediately link this idea with two major shocking world events:

Disaster: 1986 Catastrophic Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant


disaster that occurred in former Soviet Union.

Accident: 2011 Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident in Japan.

All these events remind you the universal truth about nuclear
energy:

An accident in a nuclear plant may cause a major disaster resulting


in thousands of casualties and releasing high amounts of radiation
into the environment.

Or what about radioactive waste disposal problem of nuclear


power plants- if not disposed properly, it could become a major
threat for public health.

Goody, But what`s next?

What you do next is to find the answer of: why ban nuclear
energy. The answer is simple-

......to prevent mass casualties and radiation resulting from an


accident or radioactive waste disposal.
56
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Ok, now let`s say you have the first draft of ideas “why avoid
nuclear energy”.

Next, you carefully go over the last clue- why introduce


alternative energy such as hydroelectric power, wind power and
solar energy.

It seems to us this alternative energy options act like solution


here.

And when you spot any solution in the question, try to explore
the pros and cons of it.

It`ll give you more ability to write about the essay topic- give you
a good number of midi-content for your essay.

Now, let`s roll on by making a list of the benefits (pros) of


alternative energy.

And you know what. All benefits (pros) and demerits (cons) of a
solution fall under four broad categories:

1 Social
2 Cultural
3 Economical
4 Environmental

Let us press on. Think about some benefits of alternative energy:

Social
Cultural
Economical: Hydro electricity, solar and wind power
generation need no fuel-which is cost efficient. 57
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Environmental: No air & water pollution for zero
emission.

Now, let`s jot down some demerits:

Economical: Expensive. Higher maintenance cost of


alternative energy plants makes the whole sale electricity
price higher than fossil fuel plants.

Environmental: Need large areas of land, damage


the environment that can affect the ecosystem ( for
example, in case of a hydroelectricity plant).

A long memo.

But, you can see, now you have far more ideas than you can use
in your essay.

It`s the time for you to decide whether you go for or against
the statement- should countries ban nuclear energy and start
developing alternative energy options.

If you think that the world should ban nuclear energy, you must
write an AGREE essay. If you think the opposite-you must write a
DISAGREE essay.

second thing structure the essay

Do you still feel the same feeling when you start to read this
chapter?

You feel more confident. Right? Because, I`ve just filled your
mind with lots of writing ideas.
58
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Now, your only job is to get your massage clear to the examiner.

Remember, writing is not yelling.

Writing is not tricks.

Writing is an impressive, meaningful communication of facts.

And, what I have just taught you makes you better from being a
deadlock person in the exam room.

Check this out: There are few different types of task-2 essay;
like- Agree/Disagree Essay, Discussion/Opinion Essay and
Problem/Solution Essay.

In fact, you need to identify what type of easy appears in your


IELTS test before you put your pen on the paper.

Because...

You should follow different writing structures for different types


of essay.

Do not be afraid of this.

I`ll explain you how to identify different essay types and how to
approach them in your essay.

In this book, I`ve included separate chapters for these issues.

59
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
l as t t h i n g write error free sentences

Is it really this simple?

You jot down ideas, fix an essay structure and then just write
your essay.

If it`s that easy, why many people fear the IELTS writing part
most? Look:

Can I be painfully honest with you for a moment?

Worldwide official data shows that average test takers get the
lowest score in the writing section comapre to reading, listening
and speaking ones.

It’s unexpected.

And after knowing this fact, I can almost guarantee you begin to
FEAR the writing section now.

Granted, you might be part of the minority who’s always getting 7


plus band in writing part- you`re really and truly brilliant.

I mean- if you’re smart, it’s relatively easy to write about


anything.- you think of some ideas and compress them into
sentences and finish your easy-peasy essay- that`s it.

For the rest of us though-writing a Task-2 essay is a nightmare.

Most of us can come up with bulk of ideas to write but can`t just
put those into faultless sentences.

The fact is, the examiner will never know about your great ideas
unless you tell her.
60
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
What I mean is, if you can produce ideas in your mind, why hide
your massage behind some faulty sentences?

It`s not because you`re dumb in English.

It`s because you haven’t found the right strategy yet.

And if you ever want to learn these strategies, I`ve include a


bonus chapter for you in this book.

The chapter is called “The amazing lazy man`s way to write your
high scoring IELTS essay”.

Here I promise:

If you cannot write error free sentences to express your thought,


I`ll make you a master writer by the end of this book.

I`ll share with you cool knowledge most people are privy to make
your writing easy and painless.

Yes, I did.

61
Balanced Argument Essay
Step By Step Formula
To Craft A Balanced Argument Essay

11
How not to
F E A R I E L T S
W R I T I N G
62
GREAT MIND

H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
DISCUSS IDEAS
“How to Write a
Perfect Balanced Argument
Essay?”
ANY ARGUMENT WILL BE
WELCOMED MORE IF YOU HAVE
GENTLE TOUCH THAN IF YOU
ARE AGRESSIVE.
I`ve literally gone through hundreds of sources about writing
while I write this book for you.

And that is when I find suggestions like this (in most of the
cases):

“Take five minutes to pre-write, twenty minutes


to write, and five minutes to revise”?

If this strategy works for you,

Great.

However, in my experience, many IELTS candidates does not


follow this strategy.

63
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
I n s igh t

They just jump to write and have trouble in organizing their ideas.

Don`t worry if you experience the same. I`ll show you the exact
structure to organize your ideas in an essay.

However, by using my structures, you will know exactly where to start


writing, what to write, how to write- without getting lost.

Remember, an expert level essay explain itself as it goes along.

In order to write a great essay, you must convince the examiner with
examples and reasoning, use a little foreplay in the introduction and
show your final deal in the conclusion.

If you want to do so, you can follow this simple structure or formula
to write about any type of balanced argument essay:

1Intro. : Make it clear that both point of view will be


discussed.

2Body 1 : First point of view with examples and reasons +


Opposite View + Refute

3 Body 2 : Second point of view with reasons and examples

4 Body 3 : Opposite argument with examples + Your view

5 Concl. : Summarize main points + Give your opinion

64
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
For a top scoring candidate, this structure, of course, come to
almost second in nature.

If you practice your essay writing by adhering to this structure,


after a time, you can write without being concise that you are
following so.

Structures, however, are merely the start.

They are the mechanics of a essay. Real essay writing only starts
here- it is getting your massage clear that counts.

I remember the first high school 250 words essay I ever wrote- A
Journey by Train.

I knew as little about the essay writing as any high school


student- that is- a good essay has 3 parts- Introduction, body
and conclusion.

Yes, 3 parts-that`s the basic structure of an academic essay.

Now listen, you know what is the hardest part of writing an


essay? It`s getting started- writing the introduction.

And do you know what is the most often missing ingredient in


an essay introduction? It`s the message doesn`t tell the examiner
what she can expect from the rest of your essay.

Many candidates spend most of their 40 minutes time on


compiling the introductory paragraph. But often, what comes
after the introduction is the most important part of your essay
-the body, which has been overlooked by spending too much
time in writing the introduction.
65
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Saying that, you`ve to spend minimal time in writing your
introduction which takes me into the next discussion.

wr iting i n t r o d u c t i o n

Your introduction is very important because it gives the


examiner their first impression of your writing ability.

Your approach to writing an introduction will depend to a


certain extent on the type of task.

For instance, you should follow a unique way to write your


introduction for a balance argument essay that would be
different from a problem-solution essay one.

Whatever the approach, one of the things you need to do in the


introduction is to define what you understand by the task and
how you intend to approach it.

Now, listen.

There are two parts in a balanced argument question. This


means, in the introduction- you should try to:

Identify one side of the question (Some people think…)

Show the other side of the question (Others argue that)

Make it clear that both idea will be discussed (both issue..


will be discussed)

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H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
However, If you copy the question word for word, you`ll be
wasting time as the examiner will just ignore that part of your
answer.

Therefore, one way to avoid copying is to write it using different


sentence structure.

Let me explain how you can do this by an example:

“Some people say that the best way to improve public health is
by increasing the number of sports facilities. Others, however,
say that this would have little effect on public health and other
measures are required.”

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Here`s how I write the introduction:

Although it seems reasonable to improve public health by


building lots of sports facilities, this is not always as easy as it
sounds. As far as the question of healthful living is concerned,
it may not be possible to improve it by only the support of
sports facilities. It often takes other measured to get a result.
In this essay, the both of these arguments surrounding the
issue of public health welfare will be discussed.

This introduction makes certain that all the points of the


question will be covered in the essay.

Many IELTS candidates fail to include this statement in their


essay which can lower their band score.

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H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
By the way, in writing an introduction, it is not bad to follow
some structure or formula to save your time. I say,

“If it works!”.

Let`s discover the structure I follow while writing the above


introduction:

1 Although it seems reasonable to ........... this is not always as


easy/viable as it sounds.

2 As far as the question of ...,,,,,,,,, is concerned, it may not be


possible to improve it by only... It often takes other
measured to get a results.

3 In this essay, the both of these arguments surrounding the


issue of ............... will be discussed.

Now, let`s plugin this formula for writing introduction of an


another balanced argument essay:

“It is becoming increasingly popular to have year off between


finishing school and going to university.”

What are advantages and disadvantages of this?

1 Although it seems reasonable to take a gap year before


starting tertiary studies, this is not always as viable as it sounds.
2 As far as the question of students’ development is concerned,
it may not be possible to improve it by only taking a year off from
studies. It often takes other measured to get a result.
3 In this essay, the both of these arguments surrounding the
issue of year off will be discussed. 68
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Now, let me ask your verdict about the above introduction where
I`ve used the aforementioned structure.

It works! Isn`t it?

It really is this simple.

This example shows us that we can adapt a well written


introduction to some other essays and make it successful too.

It is my hope that you may be able to do the same with the


examples I am sharing with you in this book and thus through
them make your own essay introduction even better.

After writing the quick introduction, next thing you do is begin


the main discussion of your essay- in your body paragraphs.

Here I`ll reveal the secrets of writing the high-band body


paragraphs.

writing b o d y p a r ag r a p h s

For back of every successful task -2 essays is the idea or point


you come up to answer the question.

It`s the whole purpose of your essay-whether you touch every


point the question asked-to make your examiner want to read
the same thing you want her to read.

How can you make her feel like you?

By writing descriptive body paragraphs.


69
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
But, don`t shatter all your thoughts here and there in your
description. The examiner may think:

It`s a random orgy of ideas!

In good academic writing, each body paragraph should have a


logical structure to it.

Sentences should not be isolated, but each sentence should


follow on logically from the one before it.

They should all build into a united paragraph. What I mean is -


the basic building block of your paragraphs should be pairs of
sentences or sets of sentences that are reasonably connected to
each other.

You see:

It`s the job of a good writer to make things easy for the reader
and your job is to make things easy for the examiner.

In order to do so, you can start your body paragraphs with topic
sentences. Topic sentences act like a: Theme of a paragraph.

They are like sign posts in your composition to signal the reader
that you are going to discuss a particular aspect of the question.

You can then build the paragraph by using pairs or sets of


sentences which develop a logical argument.

Anyway.

You can follow this structure to write your first body paragraph:
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H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Topic
1 (First point of view of the task)

2 Example

3 Reasoning (Why this example support the view)

4 Opposite view (Counter-argument of the topic)

5 Refute

I know what you are thinking at this point:

You may claim-it`s easy to outline like this but it`s hard to write
something on this structure.

So, let`s see whether it`s easy to write something on this


paragraph structure by a practical demonstration.

Let us have a look on our question again, which is:

“Some people say that the best way to improve public health is
by increasing the number of sports facilities. Others, however,
say that this would have little effect on public health and other
measures are required.”

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

If I write the 1st Body Paragraph for this task, it would be


something like this:

1 Topic : Firstly, sports facilities can contribute to a better


public health by providing the scope of physical exercise.

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H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
2 Example: For example, the existence of jogging tracks
facilities, athletic fields, basketball hall or football ground
in residential areas would trigger the residents in doing
some exercises.

3 Reasoning: With increasing physical exercises, it is


expected that people will have less disease then others who
do not exercise at all that in turn can improve the health of
a large portion of the society.

4 Opposite view: Some might argue that increasing number


of these facilities does not mean that more people will
attend.

5 Refute: However, increasing sports facilities can, at least,


generate interests among the people in leading a healthy
lifestyle.

Remember, in the idea generation section, we`ve come up


with the idea that sports facilities like Parks, Playgrounds,
Gymnasium can provide opportunities for physical exercise.

That`s our first point of view about the task which I just write
down in the 1st body paragraph. This is the first sentence of this
body that we call TOPIC sentence and it is as I write it:

Sports facilities can contribute to a better public health by


providing the scope of physical exercise.

That`s the rule of a topic sentence- to put a clear picture- that


you are going to argue in the paragraph.

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H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
But you should`t forget to mention, when possible, a clear cut
example to support your view or topic.

And that`s exactly what I`ve done next:

For example, the existence of jogging tracks facilities,


athletic fields, basketball hall or football ground in
residential areas would trigger the residents in doing
some exercises.

But, giving an example is not enough.

You need to give reason why your example resonates with your
topic- why should the examiner think that this example is
appropriate to support your view.

You can spot this in the next sentence of the example:

With increasing physical exercises, it is expected that people


will have less disease then others who do not exercise at all
that in turn can improve the health of a large portion of the
society.

So, from the topic to example to reasoning the “logic” comes like
this:

Sports facilities can improve


public health.

These facilities provide opportnities


for physical exercise.

physical exercise prevents diseases


& thus improve public health.
73
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
So, the claim (topic) is- sports facilities improve public health,

But, how?

The example is- by providing opporniunites of physical exercise.

But, how physical exercise can improve public health?

The answer (reasoning) is- by preventing many diseases.

However, you`ve to reveal the other side of coin as well. Like I


write here:

Some might argue that increasing number of these facilities


does not mean that more people will attend.

Ask why?

See. There`s never been a perfect solution to any problem of this


world. Everything has something wrong with it. And everyone
knows it.

When you admit the opposite side of your topic, your writing
gain credit for being academic. Because, at the end, you`re
someone who is not hiding anything to force your view in your
readers mind.

But, It`s also true that admitting the opposite view can weaken
your own claim (in the topic sentence).

So, there is a twist to prevent this from happening.

As soon as you state the opposite - you must counter it with a


74
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
clear and believable answer to reject it .

That`s called the art of REFUTAL in academic essay, my friend,


which bring more credibility to your essay.

You can see I`ve done exactly the same thing here :

However, increasing sports facilities can, at least, generate


interests among the people in leading a healthy lifestyle.

Here I am saying that people may not use communal sports


facilites but their existence can create interest among people-
and in the long run people`ll incline to use those facilities.

Of course, there are ways of writing your body paragraph other


than this stucture.

But know that many high scorers employ this method on their
essay.

So, you can be sure they have found it effective.

Next, you write about the second topic of the question- I mean
about other measures - in your second body paragraph.

I recommend you to use the outline below that is different from


the ouline I just mention above.

I`ll explain you why this body structure is different.

But, first let me show you the structure:

75
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Topic
1 ( Second view-point of the task )

2 Example

3 Concluding Statement.

Let`s put this outline in action for our essay :

1 Topic: Secondly, it could also be argued that there are


other ways to ensure a healthy lifestyle.

2 Example: For instance, factors like fresh water, food and


air can gravely affect the health of a person.

3 Concluding Statement: Therefore, all these other factors


need to be addressed as well to improve public health.

This is a classical example of a paragraph-topic plus example


plus conclusion.

I`ve written this paragraph on the essence of 2nd point of view


that I`ve discovered in the idea generation stage which is:

“Physical exercise is not the single most effective way to improve


public health. Our health depends on other things like: Fresh
water, food and air “

You may ask why I`ve not include here a counter argument .

The reason is: I move the counter-refute part in a different


paragraph which is the next one.

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H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
In this third body paragraph, I introduce a new solution which is
different than others and it is “awareness building”.

Do you get my point: public awareness is more of a social


mitigation process other than physical measures like – building
sport facilities or providing pure water and food.

Here I write the 3rd body paragraph around this social issue:

1 Topic: However, it may be true to say that improving


all these facilities will not be effective unless people have
the awareness about healthy lifestyles.

2 Example: Nevertheless, lack of personal hygiene and


fitness concern can lead any of these efforts to the dust.

3 Concluding Statement: Hence, public awareness about


exercising and hygienic lifestyle needs to be raised.

writing C o n c l u s i o n

They say the Persians have a formula for love letter:

“Begin without knowing what are going to say, and end


without knowing what you have said”.

That may be good medicine for love letters.

But, it was never meant


for an academic essay.

77
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Consider a good essay, for instance, that follow all the rules.

It wins attention in the introduction, it describes what it takes


to answer the question in body paragraphs, it has argument,
conviction, examples, yet only gets a moderate band score.

-Because it does not include a concluding paragraph.

Like the introduction, an answer that does not include a


conclusion is also:

Incomplete.

It will never produce A top band score.

At this point of our conversation, you may wonder what you can
write in your conclusion after you answer-

Every single point that is


asked in the question.

Here`s your answer:

Your conclusion should summarize the key ideas that you wrote
about and your views on these issues, resulting in a - final
Verdict/decision/statement.

To give you a practical demonstration of what I`ve just said, just


read the conclusion of our essay:

To sum up, a better public health can by ensured by


providing physical infrastructures and pollution free
environment along with public awareness. Therefore, it is my
78
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
view that all these three factors need to be addressed
simultaneously for developing a healthy nation.

Let`s slice up this conclusion for your understanding:

First of all I`ve summarize all major points of three body


paragraphs – physical infrastructure, clean environment
and awareness building- which are essential
elements to ensure a better public health.

That`s why I wrote following sentence:

To sum up, a better public health can by ensured


by providing physical infrastructures and pollution free
environment along with public awareness.

Lastly, I`ve make my final verdict about those solutions-


which is- all three factors need to be addressed
consequently.

It`s not a surprise then why I wrote :

Therefore, it is my view that all these three factors need to


be addressed simultaneously for developing a healthy
nation.

That`s it. Echo this information in your mind:

“Summarize main points and make a final verdict”

-then you`ll never fail to write a good conclusion.

79
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Now pay attention to the conclusion I`ve written above.

You see it starts with the phrase: “To sum up”.

It`s the linking word that signal the examiner that you are about
to write your conclusion. And by doing this you are just pushing
your band score a little bit up because linkers make your essay
coherent.

I can give you more ideas of these linking words that you can
include at the beginning of your conclusion. You can also start a
conclusion with following linkers:

In conclusion

Overall

To conclude

In the final analysis

Ultimately

So anyway, here are some thoughts that have stuck in my mind


as we move on :

I’m talking, of course, about the formulas and method that I`ve
discussed so far about writing a balanced argument essay.

And ….

It really worked out for you, didn`t it.

In fact, now, your soul is lifted to a brave new world of IELTS


essay writing process. Now. let`s see the full essay at a glance in
the next page. 80
#HgOoW
o dN
vOi bT eTsO
full report d i sc u ssi on t yp e e ssa y

o nFlEyA R I E L T S W R I T I N G
“Some people say that the best way to improve public health is
by increasing the number of sports facilities. Others, however,
say that this would have little effect on public health and other
measures are required.”

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

Although it seems reasonable to improve public health by


building lots of sports facilities, this is not always as easy
as it sounds. As far as the question of healthful living is
concerned, it may not be possible to improve it by only the
support of sports facilities. It often takes other measured
to get a result. In this essay, the both of these arguments
surrounding the issue of public health welfare will be
discussed.

Firstly, sports facilities can contribute to a better public


health by providing the scope of physical exercise.
For example, the existence of jogging tracks facilities,
athletic fields, basketball hall or football ground in
residential areas would trigger the residents in doing some
exercises. With increasing physical exercises, it is expected
that people will have less disease then others who do not
exercise at all that in turn can improve the health of a large
portion of the society. Some might argue that increasing
number of these facilities does not mean that more people
will attend. However, increasing sports facilities can, at
least, generate interests among the people in leading a
healthy lifestyle.

81
#HgOoW
o dN
vOi bT eTsO
Secondly, it could also be argued that there are other
ways to ensure a healthy lifestyle. For instance, factors

o nFlEyA R I E L T S W R I T I N G
like fresh water, food and air can gravely affect the health
of a person.Therefore, all these other factors need to be
addressed as well to improve public health.

However, it may be true to say that improving all these


facilities will not be effective unless people have the
awareness about healthy lifestyles. Nevertheless, lack of
personal hygiene and fitness concern can lead any of these
efforts to the dust.Hence, public awareness about exercising
and hygienic lifestyle needs to be raised.

To sum up, a better public health can by ensured by


providing physical infrastructures and pollution free
environment along with public awareness. Therefore, it is
my view that all these three factors need to be addressed
simultaneously for developing a healthy nation. (328 words)

Yes, you are right.

The full essay consists 328 words- whereas you need to write as
little as 250 words.

The fact is- this essay is designed for a candidate who is opting
for a band 7 or up.

That`s why you see this essay covers a systematic structure and
approach of writing.

But, hang on.

Do you remember when I say balanced argument essay could be


two types.
82
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
At this point. let`s recap what we`ve learnt in chapter 9 about the
types of balanced argument essays.

Well, there are two types of balanced argument essays:

One type asks you to discuss a topic.

Another type asks you to describe advantage and


disadvantages of an issue.

So far, we`ve discussed about discussion type. Now, let`s focus of


advantage/disadvantage type.

Here`s an example:

“Many elderly people are no longer looked after by their families


but are put in care homes or nursing homes”

What are the advantages and disadvantages of this trend?

This is a balanced argument essay as well- as you have to


discuss- whether old people should be looked after by nursing
homes or not. You have to discuss both sides-advantage &
disadvantage of nursing homes.

The structure of writing an essay for this advantage/disadvantage


type of task would be little different than “discussion” based
balanced argument task.

83
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
The perfect structure for advantage/disadvantage type of task is
as below:

1 Introduction : Make it clear that both idea


will be discussed

2 Body 1 : Two advantage with examples

3 Body 2 : Two disadvantage with supportive


examples

4 Conclusion : Giving your overall opinion.

writing i n t r o d u c t i o n

In writing an IELTS essay, the first step should be to clear your


thought of all key points of the question- generating ideas that
can answer the question.

You wonder how this preliminary research pays off.

I have seen students with same writing capacity produce


different results in their IELTS test.

Interesting though, if you check their essay on same task, you`ll


find-both essay occupy the same structure.
84
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Even, both had carefully written logical arguments with
examples.

But, the difference was that one used the right task relevant
topics and the other used irrelevant topics.

So, even though this preliminary research takes time-let it.

I would be perfectly satisfied if you spent 5 minutes to generate


ideas that actually answer the task.

I would say, the most difficult thing to discover in the writing is


discovering ideas.

For example: It is easy to spot keyword on the question. It is hard


to get facts around selected keywords..

Now, turning to our example, first, think about two simple pros
and cons of nursing homes.

Advantages

- P r o f e ss i o n a l c a r e b y t r a i n e d n u r s e s

- Elderly can enjoy the company of


same age persons

85
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Disadvantages

- could be expensive

- E l d e r l y c a n m i ss f a m i l y m e m b e r ` s
company

Now you know what you are going to say in your answer after you
brainstorm about two pros and cons, you can proceed writing
the introduction:

1 Although it seems reasonable to look after elderly


people by professional nursing homes, this is not always
as perfect as it sounds.

2 As far as the question of better care is concerned,


it may not be possible to ensure it by only the support
of nursing facilities.

3 There are both pros and cons to deciding to do this.

4 I will explore the pros and cons of old care homes and
try to draw some conclusions.

The highlighted parts (bold words) of this introduction show


you the universal structure of writing introduction for any
advantage/disadvantage type of essay.

You will explore more about it in our later discussion.


86
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
writing b o d y p a r ag r a p h s

Next we are going to write our first body paragraph focusing on


the positive side of nursing home for aged persons.

Here we`ll write about two advantages of nursing homes with


examples.

Here’s the way it works:

1 One of the main positives of these facilities is that they


give professional support to elderly people.

2 What I mean by this is that the elderly could receive


personal care from doctors and trained nurses with
medical equipment.

3 Obviously, this care is very useful for older people


because they often have the aging disease.

4 The second advantage is that the elderly can live in the


quiet places with their peers.

5 For example, this helps them to spend a quality time


with pleasant surroundings.

So, I`ve mentioned two advantages within 5 sentences of the


body paragraph.

But, what happens to the “Negative” side of nursing home?

87
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Quite obviously, you aren’t getting the excellent band score
unless you include disadvantages in your essay.

Which brings us down to the next paragraph:

1 Turning to the other side of the argument, nursing care


facilities may incur some problems.

2 Many people living in care homes tend to find it hard


to cope with the new environment. This often leads to
homesickness and in some cases a sense of isolation.

3 Another issue is that it can become a financial burden


for a family to invest much money in facilities for senior
citizens.

4 In other words, every year, the families have to make


expensive financial arrangements for their aging care.

You see, for all these good reasons, the person who read this
paragraph will have certain feeling about the cons of caring
homes.

You also see, it takes just couple of sentence to write it down.

But there lies something beneath..

You can use the same sentence structures for writing any body
paragraph of advantage/disadvantage type essay.

Yes, it’s true. As obvious as this should be.

I`ll show you hand by hand with a practical example.


88
H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
But, before I jump there, let`s finish writing the conclusion of
this essay.

Your conclusion should include:

A general summary of the main points by avoiding


repetition of vocabulary

Your opinion

For example:

1 General Summary : To conclude, there are both


positives and negatives to send old people to care
homes. Despite the fact that professional medical
service and peer company (2 advantages) , it has several
disadvantage like affordability and segregation (2
disadvantage).

2 Your Opinion : Personally, I believe it is important to find


the right balance between institutional and family care
for the betterment of older citizens.

At this point, I would like to ask you a crucial question and the
question is :

Can you use the same structure as discussed above for


any advantage-disadvantage essay ?

To find the answer, we`ll try it for the another advantage-


disadvantage type essay.

But, first let`s see how our essay looks (that we just discuss)
altogether. 89
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full report a dva ntag e & d i sadva n tag e e ssa y

b eTsOo nFlEyA R I E L T S W R I T I N G
“Many elderly people are no longer looked after by their families
but are put in care homes or nursing homes”

What are the advantages and disadvantages of this trend?

Although it seems reasonable to look after elderly people by


professional nursing homes, this is not always as perfect as
it sounds. As far as the question of better care is concerned,
it may not be possible to ensure it by only the support of
nursing facilities. There are both pros and cons to deciding
to do this.I will explore the pros and cons of old care homes
and try to draw some conclusions.

One of the main positives of these facilities is that they give


professional support to elderly people. What I mean by this
is that the elderly could receive personal care from doctors
and trained nurses with medical equipment. Obviously, this
care is very useful for older people because they often have
the aging disease. The second advantage is that the elderly
can live in the quiet places with their peers. For example,
this helps them to spend a quality time with pleasant
surroundings.

Turning to the other side of the argument, nursing care


facilities may incur some problems. Many people living
in care homes tend to find it hard to cope with the new
environment. This often leads to homesickness and in
some cases a sense of isolation. Another issue is that it
can become a financial burden for a family to invest much
money in facilities for senior citizens. In other words,
every year, the families have to make expensive financial
arrangements for their aging care. 90
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To conclude, there are both positives and negatives to send
old people to care homes. Despite the fact that professional

o nFlEyA R I E L T S W R I T I N G
medical service and peer company , it has several
disadvantage like affordability and segregation. Personally,
I believe it is important to find the right balance between
institutional and family care for the betterment of older
citizens. (297 words)

plug-in to a n o t h e r cas e

Well.

Let`s try this same essay sentence structures for the following
example:

More and more people are migrating to cities in search of a


better life, but city life can be extremely difficult.

Describe the advantages and disadvantages of living in a large


city.

As I said before- you need to think about some ideas to answer


the question before you start writing.

In this case, you need to think about some advantage &


disadvantage of city life.

And you don`t need to know rocket science to do this.

Use your common sense and just think about two advantages
and disadvantages of city life, like below (next page):

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H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Advantages: Exposed to lots of nearby products and
services. They can also access many recreation
facilities.

Disadvantages: Stressful & Expensive.

You see:

You don`t need any specialize knowledge to come up with- few


point of views- to answer the question.

The reason why you can`t express yourself as you think, or fail to
even think, or come up with simple facts to answer the task- is
because of the:
“writer`s block”.

This block is pretty buried in our subconscious mind.

There are many reasons behind this writer`s block and I`ve no
intention of trying to untangled them. After all, this is not a book
of psychology and I`m not Sigmund Freud.

But, I can tell you the most important secret behind why some
people have uncanny ability to create instance ideas that I`ve
observed in my 10 long years of IELTS tutoring. It is:

The secret of superior writing is writing.

Are you getting a “clue” as to what I mean when I say this?

Or, why I`m always telling you to mindlessly copy essays of this
book in your own handwriting?

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H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
You see. Great IELTS essay requires two elements :

1 You must know what the task ask you to do and

There
2 must be almost no obstructions from your brain to
your hand. No mental clots. No clumsy thoughts. If you
really got this idea generation part done, it will flow from
your brain to the answer page on auto pilot.

Achieving that kind of uninhibited flow is very hard for most


people-when-it comes to the IELTS test. But not for those who
did a little home practice and follow good guidelines like that I
share in this book.

If you have some common sense-once you learn what I have


teach you here-unless you somehow lose your memory-it would
be impossible for you to ever be “ordinary” IELTS candidate
again.

It would also be impossible for you not to write a good essay in


coming years.

I hope you`ll give me the benefits of the doubt with my promise.

If you do, please read on.

But, if you can`t caste aside your skepticism, please do not waste
any more of your time reading any further.

Enough sidetalk already.....let`s move to writing our essay.

By now, you`ve two advantage and disadvantage about “city life”


in your mind.
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H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
If I am not wrong, ideas will be churning around in your mind
because you have fed your brain with initial fuel to work with.

What you do at this point is go back and review the last “nursing
home” essay and read all those paragraphs from introduction to
conclusion. You`ll find clue how to write this new essay now.

If you don’t understand what I`m trying to say now, don`t be


hopeless.

I`ll explain.

At this point, you are thinking how you can start the essay. It is
rather easy than you think.

You can write the introduction of this “city life” task just by
imitating what I write in “nursing home” essay.

Not sure? Let`s see the skeleton of our “nursing home“ task`s
introduction:

1 Although it seems reasonable ………………, this is not always


as perfect as it sounds.

2 As far as the question of ……………., it may not be possible


to ensure it by only ……………………..

3 In fact, there are both pros and cons of ………………..

4 I will explore the positive and negative side of ….. and try to
draw some conclusions.

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H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
You can see above the skeleton of my earlier essay “introduction”.

Now, just fill the gap and make your own introductory paragraph
for our new task, like this one:

More and more people are migrating to cities in search of a


better life, but city life can be extremely difficult.

Describe the advantages and disadvantages of living in a large


city.

1 Although it seems reasonable to live in big cities for a


better lifestyle, this is not always as perfect as it sounds.

2 As far as the question of better life is concerned, it may


not be possible to ensure it by only the supports provided
by a city.

3 In fact, there are both pros and cons of living in big town.

4 I will explore the positive and negative side of urban life


and try to draw some conclusions.

Understand?

No!

For God`s sake-how come you don`t understand that:

I`m making your life easier my friend.

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H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
Agree? All right.

Let`s move on for writing body paragraphs.

Remember, before you start even writing the introduction,


you`ve done the toughest part of writing your essay-idea
creation.

Your next step is to just slide on these ideas over the body
framework of our previous “nursing home” essay.

I `ve done the same thing below- all things remains same-I just
fill the gaps:

Let`s begin by looking at the advantages of care homes (bold


parts remain the same).

1 One of the main positives of these facilities is that they


give professional support to elderly people.

2 What I mean by this is that the city residents are exposed


to medical, educational, shopping, working
opportunities.

3Obviously, these facilities can make a person`s life easy.



4 The second advantage is that the city dwellers can access
to a plenty of amusement facilities to get rid of personal
boredom.

5 For example, there are so many things to do in the


evenings like going to the cinema, to the pub or to the park
during the summer period.
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H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
You see. In just five sentences-you can write your 1st body
paragraph.

Next, don’t forget to include the 2nd body paragraph- I mean


about the negative side of city life.

You can again just fill the gaps like before –as obvious, as simple.

If you don’t think so, watch this:

1 Turning to the other side of the argument, living in cities


may incur some problems.

2 Many people living in cities tends to find it extremely


stressful.

3 This often leads to unhappy life and in some cases life-


threatening diseases.

4 Another issue is that it is expensive to live in urban areas


than rural areas.

5 In other words, inhabitants of cities have to pay higher


prices for housing, transport, and even food.

Now turn to the conclusion. You can write it in usual style-by


keeping the bold parts same as previous essay:

1 To conclude, there are both positives and negatives


of city life. Despite the fact that the availability of
many life supporting amenities , it has several
disadvantage like affordability and unhealthy lifestyle.
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H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
2 Personally, I believe it is important to find the right
balance between these pros and cons to find the peace in
city life.

I think I`ve explained enough about the fact that how easy it is
to write your own essay when you put yourself in the place of
another well written essay.

Think it like:

If you were deep in discussion with a knowledgeable friend over


any matter- a strange things come up – you can talk without
thinking about what you are going to talk- do you?

In other words, once you follow other`s smart conversation or


even read a well written essay, you become good at thoughtlessly
generating ideas to talk or write about.

Well, much the same thing happens when you practice all
examples of this book. It`ll keep a dent in your mind.

Say, for example, if you practice these two aforementioned essay


by writing on a paper few time, you can write any advantage/
disadvantage type of essay in your IELTS exam.

You literally do it on “autopilot”.

Now, go to the next page and find two examples of balaced


argument essay.

Try to do some brainstroming and write essays based on the


sentene structure that I`ve discussed so far.

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H O W N O T T O F E A R I E LT S W R I T I N G
E X ER C I S E discu ssi on t yp e e ssa y

Some people think that it is better for children to go to


boarding schools while others think that they should go to
day school and stay with their parents. Wh:at’s your opinion
on this?

Discuss both these views and give your own opinion.

E X ER C I S E a dva ntag e & d i sadva n tag e e ssa y

Some people feel that our lives are more comfortable now
because of new communication technology such as cellular
phones and e-mails. Others say that they contribute to
modern ills like “hurry sickness”, where everyone feels
too rushed. They do not think faster communication has
improved out lived.

What are the advantage and disadvantage of modern


communication technology?

So, what now?

Remember there are other types of task-2 essay which you may
stumble upon your exam. For example: opinion or problem-
solution essay.

To make it sure, you can write them in a proper way, as well- I`d
like to discuss about them you in next chapters.

So, should we proceed?


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