Simon’s ielts writing task 2

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Simon
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IELTS Writing Task 2
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Wednesday, April 05, 2017 
IELTS Writing Task 2: essay analysis 
Here's my analysis of the essay in last week's 
lesson
: 
Task response
If you look at the 'skeleton' of my essay (introduction, first sentence of each body paragraph, 
conclusion), you can see that I answer the question very clearly. Then, within the body paragraphs 
there are well-developed ideas to support my answer. 
Coherence and cohesion (i.e. organisation)
I used my normal method: 4 paragraphs containing 13 sentences in total. The essay is easy to read 
because it is well organised and the ideas are developed in a very clear, logical way. Linking words 
(e.g. and, similarly, this, for example, mentioned above, firstly, secondly, finally, while, which) are 
used to connect ideas, but the 
linking doesn't distract the reader from the content
. 
Vocabulary
I reviewed the good vocabulary in 
this lesson
. Remember that your vocabulary score comes from 
your use of 'topic vocabulary', not linking words or phrases. 
Grammar
The essay contains a mix of long and short sentences, and there are no mistakes. Remember: as 
soon as you use connecting words like 
and
, 
while
or 
which
, you will automatically create compound 
or complex sentences, so there's no need to worry about "complex grammatical structures". 
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Sunday, April 09, 2017 
IELTS Writing Advice: the BIG mistake 
A student asked me the following question: 
If the question asks "To what extent do you agree or disagree?", can I discuss the two views of other 
people and end with my opinion in the conclusion?
I hope most of you know that the answer is 
NO
. This is the big mistake that so many people make - 
they write a "discussion" essay instead of an "opinion" essay. 
When the question asks "To what extent do you agree or disagree?", you should state your view in 
the introduction, support it in the main body paragraphs, and repeat or summarise it in the conclusion. 
The whole essay needs to be about YOUR views, not the views of other people.