Stuck at 6.5 in IELTS writing?

Posted on 05 Jun, 2021 by Tanupriya Nahal

Are you also getting stuck in IELTS writing at 6.5? Our strategy could help you to boost your writing score.

Let's have a look at the criteria the examiner focuses on while testing your answer sheets.

The four criterias are:

• Task Achievement
• Coherence and Cohesion
• Lexical Resource
• Grammatical Range and Accuracy

You need to focus on each area separately!!!

But the most important thing is a track to walk on which means a proper format of essay is required. So that when you start writing an essay you need a road map in your hands.For instance, before starting a journey you need a plan and a map which you will follow further. I am writing this from my personal experience because I also stuck at 6.5 in writing twice but by God’s grace I got a track which I have followed and succeeded to get 7 in writing in future two IELTS attempts. Therefore, I thought about sharing my strategy with others who are going through the same problem these days.

This track of things is required while writing an essay so that we do not get confused between where we started and what we need to write. Let me share a proper way of planning or drafting an essay before starting writing it.

This is a general format of Task 2 for mostly all the essays where there are a total of four paragraphs in total.

Note

“There is a limit of 250 words on Task 2. So, it is required to follow the rules and not write less or more than that. If you exceed with 5 to 10 words that is completely okay but do not stretch your essay to upto 300 words which will simply annoy the examiner.”

General Essay Format

INTRODUCTION
MAIN BODY PARAGRAPH 1
MAIN BODY PARAGRAPH 2
CONCLUSION

There are various types of Task 2 essays for General Writing but let's focus on one which is quite easy to understand.

Agree / Disagree Essay:

This essay asks your opinion whether you agree or disagree with the essay. Besides this, you need to give two valid reasons by which you could satisfy the examiner whether you agree or disagree with the essay.

Agree / Disagree Essay Format

INTRODUCTION It is often said that Introduction/Paraphrasing. This essay agrees/disagrees with the statement because Reason1 and Reason2.
MAIN BODY PARAGRAPH 1 To begin with, Reason1. This is because [Explanation] . As a result, [Results, Consequences] For example,[Example]
MAIN BODY PARAGRAPH 2 Secondly, Reason2. That is to say [Explanation]. Consequently, [Results, Consequences]. For instance, [Example]
CONCLUSION To conclude, summary of Reason1 + Reason2

Those above highlighted text works like indicators on the road map and let you know that you reach here while writing. It also tells the examiner clearly you have described each aspect of your stated reasons.

Let me describe each section individually with an example,

INTRODUCTION - The first line of introduction includes paraphrasing the question. Second line will be the headings of your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing with the question.

Paraphrasing can be done in two ways:

1. By changing synonyms :

For example, Violent offence is on the rise among teenagers.

Let's find the synonyms of this line.

• offence - crime
• teenagers - younsters, youth
• rise - growing, advance

So the paraphrasing could be like mentioned below:

• Violent crime is growing among youngsters
• Violent crimes are rising among youth

2. By changing structure with Synonyms :

For instance,Languages like chinese and spanish are broadly spoken,there is a fear that many minority languages may die out.

Let's find the synonyms of this line.

• fear - dismay, afraid
• die-out - vanish, fade away

So the paraphrasing could be like mentioned below:

• Languages like chinese and spanish are widely spoken, there is a dismay that many lesser used languages may vanish. (with only synonyms)
• There is a dismay that many lesser used languages may vanish because Languages like chinese and spanish are widely spoken. (with change in structure and synonyms)

I have completely elaborated the following mentioned question

Parents, usually mothers, give up the work, choose to stay home and look after the family. Some people think the government should give them a salary. Do you agree or disagree? Give the reasons from your knowledge and experience.

INTRODUCTION It is often said that parents, especially mothers, must be paid by the government for nurturing and taking care of their families. This essay completely disagrees with the statement because it is a moral duty of a mother and it also creates a load on the government's economy. The underlined text shows that first line is paraphrasing and the second line are the reasons. Here, I have changed the following: Parents, usually mothers, - parents, especially mothers government should give them a salary - must be paid by the government stay home and look after the family - for nurturing and taking care of their families And highlighted text are my specific reasons for not going in favor of essay.

MAIN BODY PARAGRAPH 1 - This paragraph holds the complete control of describing your first reason which you mentioned in the second line of your introduction for whether going in favour or not with the stated question. In this paragraph, the first line again specifies your first reason and then we start explaining our reason with the keyword This is because. After that we specify the outcomes of this reason with the keyword As a result and at last a valid example with the keyword For example

MAIN BODY PARAGRAPH 1 To begin with, the mother is solely responsible for taking care of a child. This is because at initial stages a child cannot survive without a mother and the job of a mother is very hard where she has to serve without expecting anything in return. As a result, a mother has to sacrifice her desires to handle the burden of responsibilities and therefore, the sacrifices done by a mother cannot be measured in monetary terms.For example, a mother in India donated her eyes to give vision to her child which cannot be paid in money.

MAIN BODY PARAGRAPH 2 - This paragraph holds the complete control of describing your second reason which you mentioned in the second line of your introduction for whether going in favour or not with the stated question. In this paragraph, the first line again specifies your second reason and then we start explaining our reason with the keyword That is to say. After that we specify the outcomes of this reason using keyword consequently and at last a valid example with keyword For instance

MAIN BODY PARAGRAPH 2 Secondly, paying for the job of a mother creates an exorbitant amount of burden on the government budget. That is to say, the government has many issues to deal with such as poverty, food scarcity and unemployment, therefore, considering a mother's role as a job will be another load on the government's financial budget. Consequently, the government would increase the tax rates in order to maintain the budget due to which the general public would have to suffer. For instance, The Tribune reported in March 2021 that the government of India increased tax rates on petrol in order to deal with the demands of bankers who were protesting to get a hike in their salaries.

CONCLUSION - This paragraph covers the complete summary of points you have mentioned in your essay. Here, first we again paraphrase the question and then we have to summarise our reasons which we have stated in Main Body Paragraph 1 and Main Body Paragraph 2.

CONCLUSION To conclude, the sacrifices of a mother cannot be paid by the government because the responsibilities of a mother are not measurable in monetary terms and funding such jobs may adversely affect the government’s financial budget due to which the general public bear a great loss.

The complete essay will look like below and the highlighted content shows the road map indications to keep a track on what we are supposed write in the next line:

Parents, usually mothers, give up the work, choose to stay home and look after the family. Some people think the government should give them a salary. Do you agree or disagree? Give the reasons from your knowledge and experience. It is often said that parents, especially mothers, must be paid by the government for nurturing and taking care of their families. This essay completely disagrees with the statement because it is a moral duty of a mother and it also creates a load on the government's economy. To begin with, the mother is solely responsible for taking care of a child. This is because at initial stages a child cannot survive without a mother and the job of a mother is very hard where she has to serve without expecting anything in return. As a result, a mother has to sacrifice her desires to handle the burden of responsibilities and therefore, the sacrifices done by a mother cannot be measured in monetary terms. For example, a mother in India donated her eyes to give vision to her child which cannot be paid in money. Secondly, paying for the job of a mother creates an exorbitant amount of burden on the government budget. That is to say, the government has many issues to deal with such as poverty, food scarcity and unemployment, therefore, considering a mother's role as a job will be another load on the government's financial budget. Consequently, the government would increase the tax rates in order to maintain the budget due to which the general public would have to suffer. For instance, The Tribune reported in March 2021 that the government of India increased tax rates on petrol in order to deal with the demands of bankers who were protesting to get a hike in their salaries. To conclude, the sacrifices of a mother cannot be paid by the government because the responsibilities of a mother are not measurable in monetary terms and funding such jobs may adversely affect the government’s financial budget due to which the general public bear a great loss.

Some golden rules while writing an essay :

• Always plan your essay according to structure.
• Read the question at least twice before starting a plan.
• Always thought you examples in you planning stage which saves most of the time.
• Cross check your headings of Reason 1 and Reason 2 which you gave in your introduction with the content you write in Main Body Paragraph 1 and Main Body Paragraph 2.
• Always save some time to skim your essay so that you could rectify the mistakes you found. I always prefer to skim my essay after each paragraph I write.
• Try to use more conjunctions in your essay like and , because, besides this, moreover, however.
• Also, try to skip etc from your essay instead give 3 to 4 options with and. For example, the government has many issues to deal with such as poverty, food scarcity and unemployment.
• Count your words in an essay at the end of your writing.
• Use an eraser to edit your writing instead of doing cuttings on the answer sheets.
• Do not repeat words instead use synonyms but only authenticated one. If you are not sure about the synonym of a word then avoid using it.
• Far more important, do a number of writing within time boundation so that you will not panic in the exam if there is not much time left.