IELTS Advice: memorised 'show-off' phrases

On Wednesday I wrote a lesson about irrelevant information. Here's a writing tip that I gave in the comments area below the lesson:

Look at the phrases you use, and ask yourself this:

Am I writing this phrase because it really expresses my ideas in response to the question, or am I just writing this phrase because I memorised it and because I want to 'show it off'?

I believe you'll get a better score if you stop memorising 'show-off' phrases. Instead, work on building your knowledge of 'topic vocabulary', and focus on answering the question with relevant ideas.

Comments

[Flow]

Hi Simon,

I would like to ask is there any promblem if my answers in part 1 are too long. I can not say them briefly.

Thank you so much for helping us!

[M'ambo]

@Flow
At least 150 words are required for Task 1, and you should aim to write about 160-170, as it is unlikely you will have time for more.
Task 1 usually asks you to select the main features, so there is no need to describe everything, or mention every figure. The task is to highlight the main trends, differences, and stages, and provide sufficient detail to support your report.

[Flow]

@M'ambo

Oh thank you for answering my question :)

But how about Task 1 in Speaking test?

[Flow]

Oh I should have said "Part 1" :D

[M'ambo]

@Flow

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2014/10/ielts-speaking-part-1-sample-answers.html

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2014/10/ielts-speaking-part-1-sample-answers.html

My understanding is that Part 1 of the speaking exam is aimed at assessing candidates who would ultimately score below 5.5, and is to check their ability to cope with basic situations and conversation. So if the candidate is relatively fluent, the examiner just wants to move on to more difficult stuff so that the exact limits of the interviewee's ability become more apparent.

That is, the speaking test is designed to start easy, and becomes more and more difficult at each step, while the examiner assesses at exactly what level the candidate fails to cope or communicate effectively, in terms of the four aspects - fluency/coherence, vocabulary/phraseology, grammar, and pronunciation. Note there is no task assessment so the examiner may interrupt and move on to the next level whenever needed.

[M'ambo]

@Flow
This is just own my guess at roughly how many speaking tests work.

I guess the examiner is expecting most candidates to be around 6.0 or 6.5. After all, 7.0 is all most people need.

So in many cases the examiner just has to decide (for each aspect) band 6 or band 7?

Looking at the marking scheme here:

https://www.ielts.org/-/media/pdfs/speaking-band-descriptors.ashx?la=en

That means the examiner just ticks off each criteria in Bands 6/7 that applies; at the end, for each column, either there will be enough ticks to justify Band 7 or not (or whatever other band applies).

[Tanveer kaur]

I need 6 bands