Why do many students fail to achieve a high score for Writing?
IELTS writing is considered to be the most challenging section and the average score for writing around the world is a 5.5. The main reason for such a low score is because students fail to make their writing style academic. Now we are going to look at 5 common mistakes students make while writing their essays.
Please note that both IELTS Academic and General Candidates should make their essays look formal.
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These are 5 common mistakes you should avoid in order to achieve higher score
1.Using contractions in their writing.
When you write your essays, make sure you never use contractions, such as don't, can't, couldn't and wouldn't. Using contractions will make your writing look informal. Instead, you should write the complete words, such as "do not", "cannot", "could not" and "would not".
2. Avoid using "there is" and "there are"
You might wonder why we should avoid there is and there are. Remember, your essays should follow a terse style, which means the ideas should be clear and precise. Using "there is" or "there are" will increase the word count.
Example 1: There are many issues faced by youngsters nowadays.
In here there are is not needed. We should write more precise sentences.
So we can write- Youngsters face many issues nowadays.
Example 2: There are many people talking about global warming. Instead of 'there are' we can write
The issue of global warming is a widely discussed topic today.
3. Avoid using weak verbs.
In academic writing it is very important to use strong verbs to stay precise. In order to do this, it is better to change the noun form into the verb form.
Example1: The government should give assistance to developing local businesses.
The verb 'give' makes the sentence weak.
We can write this as The government should assist local businesses.
Example 2: Communities should make an objection to public smoking.
We can avoid using the verb 'make' and write in the following way:
Communities should object to public smoking.
4. Avoid using phrasal verbs and idioms
Many students believe that using phrasal verbs and idioms will improve their band score. However, using phrasal verbs and idioms will make our writing style informal. Below are examples of idioms being replaced by formal words.
Example 1 Parents should give a hand to their children's personal choices.
As you can see the idiom 'give a hand' makes the writing look weaker. So instead of 'giver a hand' we can use the verb 'support' and write the following sentence.
Parents should support their children's personal choices.
Example 2 It is essential to 'boost' children's knowledge of history. Instead of 'boost' we can use 'improve' and write the following way:
It is essential to 'improve' children's knowledge of history.
5. Avoid Pronouns
When we write about graph or data we often write, "we can see", "you may see" etc. However, in academic writing we need to avoid these we, you, I etc. To avoid using personal pronouns we can start the sentence with a noun.
Example 1: Instead of writing "we can see from the graph" we can write "the graph shows" or "the graph highlights"
Thanks to social media, today you can easily become a star overnight.
In the above example 'you' makes the sentence informal and personal. So it is better to write the following way;
'Thanks to social media, it is easy to become a star overnight'.