IELTS Writing Task 2: vocabulary review

Here are some good words and phrases from last week's essay. This vocabulary is what really lifts the essay to band 9.

• measure (verb) progress
• measures (noun) of progress
• just as important, equally significant
• a fundamental goal
• a healthy economy
• job creation, a high level of employment, better salaries
• money is available
• spend on infrastructure
• higher revenues
• invest in the transport network
• a country’s standing on the global stage
• political influence, trading power
• social justice, human rights
• the treatment of minority groups
• seen as a reflection of
• moral standards
• another key consideration
• judging the progress
• moving towards environmental sustainability
• health, well-being and happiness
• a key marker of
• social, environmental and health criteria

Comments

[B.B.]

Hi Simon,

I cannot open the link to "common IELTS writing topics" that you mentioned in your lesson on
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
IELTS Writing Task 2: study order

Could you please help me with this issue?

Thank you.

[Mariana]

Thank you so much..I will start study from here. I need a band of 7.

[Simon]

B.B.,

Here's the list:

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2016/05/ielts-vocabulary-topic-list.html

[Alex]

Hi Simon,

I have a couple of questions with regard to the assessment scheme for Writing 1 or 2.

1. Is it true that according to the scheme you may get a particular band (a row in the scheme) for a certain criterion (a column in the scheme) only provided that an essay meets ALL requirements mentioned in the intersection of a row and a column? For example, if Band 7, Grammar section has 3 requirements and an essay does not meet, let say "produces frequent error-free sentences" then a band will be lower than 7.

2. What is the difference between Wide range and Sufficient range; frequent error-free and some errors in sentences and so on? In other words, is there a certain range (e.g. percentage scale) for the distinction of such categories to make sure that each essay will be assessed equally whoever an examiner is?

Thank you!

[Simon]

Alex,

You would really need to go on an examiner training course to understand exactly how the scoring criteria are used. Also, the examiner version is more detailed than the public version, so you don't have all of the information that you would need to understand the scoring system completely.

Just do your best to meet the requirements.

[Alex]

Simon,

Thank you for your answer. This is one of the reasons why people consider this exam as not fair :)
I just hoped that may know something as you used to work as an examiner in the past.

[My]

Hi Simon

I have a question, could you pls reply to me?
I wrote a body paragraph as below, so after final supporting idea signalled by " Finally", Should I write one more sentence to explain why they needs to be considered or stop here?

Life in a big city has engendered loads of problems arising from the mass immigration. Firstly, cost of living in a city is certainly by far higher than that in a rural area. For example, housing renting or possessing is considerably more expensive than ever due to rising demands of migrants in cities. Secondly, the inevitable consequence is the hardship of finding a job because migrants have created a tough competition in the labor market. Also, high work pressure is another barrier to people looking for a high-paid job. Finally, the most irritating dilemmas relate to heavy traffic and air pollution need to be considered.

[pomelo]

Hi Simon.

This is a little bit off topic from what is posted above but I have a question regarding task 2. Does IELTS question ever touch religion topics or any religion based questions?

I hope you will answer my inquiry. You have a really good blog by the way.

[Simon]

My,

Just write your final point and then stop. You don't need another sentence after that.

...

pomelo,

No, you won't see a question about religion or politics.

[Catherine Roberts]

Thank you so much.

[maftuna]

can someone explain me what does 'the treatment of minority groups' mean,please