IELTS Writing Task 1: sentence building

The following video lesson contains a useful exercise to help you build longer sentences when describing graphs and charts.

Comments

[Muhammad]

Hi dear Simon,

I have only 9 days till my exam and I'm really worrying and nervous about my writing score.When practising I get 6.0 or 6.5 everytime whereas I need 7.0.I try to follow your structure.I know that you don't grade essays.So,can anyone please take a look at my following essay and suggest some improvement for a 7.0 band score.Thanks in advance

Some experts believe that it is better for children to begin learning a foreign language at primary school rather than secondary school.
Do the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages?

It is sometimes argued that children should start learning a second language since primary school instead of secondary school. While there are convincing points both for and against of this opinion, I personally believe that advantages of this statement are superior to its disadvantages.

On the one hand, it is understandable that learning another language can be a burden for younger children. For example, as there are more important subjects such as math, science or mother tongue, an extra language module can let children back from learning these basic and essential subjects. This, in turn, may demotivate young pupils to study fully focused due to loads of materials.

On the other hand, however, there are some benefits of learning a foreign language at primary school. Firstly, teaching any given subject as well as a language in younger ages is relatively easy, as kids can catch up everything they taught instantly and remember it for a long period of time or even sometimes this knowledge can stay with them over the whole lifetime. Secondly, by teaching a second language to children, we can extract their linguistic abilities and improve them further. For instance, there might be talented students in terms of linguistic skills, and they can be trained in this field more deeply. Finally, if children learn any other language, it can help them to grow up more intellectually. For example, they can watch some TV programs or movies in foreign languages.

To sum up, I would argue that the benefits of learning a foreign language beginning from junior school years do outweigh its drawbacks.

[paul]

Hi simon

thanks for your so useful tips

i tried to make it longer by replacing " in 10 years" with " over a period of 10 years "

[Khairia]

Hi simon
thank you for all these useful tips and
advice it is very helpful .

[Jasur]

HI SIMON!
What band score is this sentence? can we get 7 with this kind of sentences?

[Linda]

Hi Simon,
Thanks. It is extremely helpful for me because you showed it short and clear.

[Damyan]

Hi Simon,
Any similar tips for General one ?

[milagros]

hi Simon ... I really enjoy your videos It helps me a lot ... thanks so much and keep doing it .... :)

[Mahsa / Leeds]

Hi Simon
This is great
Thanks a lot

[Mahtash]

Hi Simon
It was amazing thank you so much

[Alfa]

Hi Simon
This technique is Brilliant!
I used to worry about my writing score because I barely did any writing practice before,and I found the structure and style of the model answers are hard to follow.But I can get a hold of your ideas and imitate your essay without much effort,your website really cheered me up in my darkest days.
Thanks a lot!

[Haibin]

Well done! I find it much easier to write with this method.

[Luana]

Sorry,I am still not able to access the video...

[Hillson]

Hi Simon,

Thanks for your tips, they are very useful!!

[Kshitij]

Hi Simon ,

can we also have a simliar video session for Task - 1 General writing ie. writing a letter.

Various emotions and expressions which needs to be writing a letter of various types
such as expressing grief , disapointment , complaint or Advice , showing gratitude , applying for a job or following up on complain

[Razaq]

Thanks Simon.
I cant believe how useful it is.
Regards,
Razaq

[Simon]

I'm glad you all like the video!

[bob]

Hi Simon,
It's a perfect skill to provide sentences more detailed information and make them longer than before. I will do more practice on it.
Thanks a lot.

[Echo]

I can't see the video link on ipad. Is there anyone who had the same problem?

[maha]

Hi Muhammad,

Your essay looks good, but I would say that at the beginning of your 2nd paragraph- use the word " several " instead of " some benefits" . As your essay discusses that learning a foreign language has more advantages.
For your rest of the essay I don't feel myself in a position to point out any mistakes with confidence. I have had the same problem i.e stuck at 6.5 in writing, so I decided to have Mr. Peter's help ( Simon's colleague) . Now I can clearly see how things are improving. I hope you get your desired scores, otherwise I would suggest getting a good teacher's help for essay correction may help.
Wish you good Luck

[Caroline Bonelle]

Simon, thank you so much.

I've already been in touch about how great your site is and it just seems to get better! I used your lesson format from this incredibly clear and easy-to-follow video lesson, with my IELTS class last week (obviously adapted to their materials and giving full credit to you and your web site with which they are familiar) and they loved it. The weaker students especially seemed to find the structure so clear to follow and it'll be really interesting to see how they get on with their writing task 1 for homework this week after some controlled classroom practice. Thank you thank you thank you....fellow Mancunian : ) Caroline

[Simon]

Thanks Caroline, that's really nice feedback! It's great to hear that teachers are finding my lessons useful. All the best

[Akshay]

Hi

I am bit worried about my ielts test as I need 7.0 in each band. I am from India living in London. I am preparing on my own. Simon is helping in writing skills but I need some one to practice speaking skills with me. If any one interested please let me know. I need to give test ASAP [email protected]

Thanks.
Akshay

[Aqil]

hi Simon.My name is Aqil.I am from Azerbaijan.I would like to pass IELTS exam well.So i am trying to watch more videos in english.It seems to me your recommendations for us will be ended with success results.SO it will be first time for me to participate in IELTS exam.Give me more samples in order to pass exam well.

[Bethany]

Why the video can't be displayed normally? I'm desperate to listen to it. Can other people open the video? Thanks.

[Simon]

Hi Bethany,

It's a YouTube video. YouTube is blocked in some countries unfortunately.

[sakib al hssan adud]

It,s actually very good for me..... I am satisfied for this technique......thank you.....

[salahalddin karim]

Iwant give me mor example about task 1-2 writing and thank you

[sami]

fabulous video simon :)

[Rajinder kumar]

Hii..thos is Raj..can you explain some reading tips please..i often get problem to guess the exact anser..

[Dan]

Simon - I greatly admire your website and agree with nearly everything you've ever posted, but I hope you're not encouraging candidates to doubt examiners' mathematical skills by including redundant (repetitive on the band criteria) information such as 'a rise of about 10 million in 10 years"?

[SYEDA]

Hi,
SIMON,
VERY GOOD JOB,I ADMIRE YOU FOR THE READING SECTION MAKING SO EASY FOR ME.

THANKS
THANK U SO MUCH
BEST REGARDS

[Rahmaut]

OMG this is definitely the thing I need since I always have problem with underlength words for Writing Task 1!!!!

Thanks Simon! Tomorrow will be my test date and hopefully I will get 7 on the average and there will be no section less than it.

Wish me luck everybody!