Simon’s ielts writing task 2

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Sunday, February 19, 2017 
IELTS Advice: analyse model essays 
You can learn a lot by analysing a well-written essay. Here's a quick analysis of the essay that I 
shared on Wednesday: 
Method
As usual, I wrote 4 paragraphs containing 13 sentences in total. If you always follow the same writing 
method, you'll feel confident that you know exactly how to write your essay in the exam. If you have 
time, look at my 13 sentences again and analyse what each one is doing. 
Style
I consider task 2 essays (like the one I wrote) to be 
"high school style"
essays, rather than 
"university level" essays. This is because we're writing about our own ideas and opinions; we don't 
have access to any research. Task 2 essays should be clear and easy to read, with a focus on 
relevant ideas and good 'topic vocabulary'. You won't have time to develop the kind of detailed 
arguments that a university teacher would expect, so imagine that you're writing for your high school 
teacher! 
Focus
IELTS students often worry too much about grammar; they think that they need to fill their essays with 
passives, conditionals, compound sentences, complex sentences etc. I tell my students not to think 
about those things. Instead, we focus on 
vocabulary
: expressing our ideas well and making sure that 
we answer the question. If you look at yesterday's lesson, it's clear that vocabulary was my main 
focus when I wrote the essay. 
Posted by 
Simon
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IELTS Writing Task 2
, 
Questions/Advice
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Wednesday, February 22, 2017