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IELTS - Writing - For Band 7 or Above.

marosa

Hero Member
Oct 9, 2018
249
122
Armenia
NOC Code......
1111
Is there a difference of structure between "Do you agree or disagree" & "To what extent do you agree or disagree".
Hi!

Actually not much. When they ask “to what extent” you can say “I fully agree r disagree” and then write down whatever you would write if they asked you “do you agree or disagree”. Similarly, when they ask you “do you agree or disagree “ you can say that you agree in some cases and don’t agree in others, and this way you will sorta tell them you mainly agree.

And in fact, to score 7.5 or 8 this may be a better strategy than to simply agree or disagree, even if they didn’t directly ask you “to what extent do you agree”.

Hope I could explain.
 

Sohaibkq

Star Member
Nov 24, 2018
125
9
Hi!

Actually not much. When they ask “to what extent” you can say “I fully agree r disagree” and then write down whatever you would write if they asked you “do you agree or disagree”. Similarly, when they ask you “do you agree or disagree “ you can say that you agree in some cases and don’t agree in others, and this way you will sorta tell them you mainly agree.

And in fact, to score 7.5 or 8 this may be a better strategy than to simply agree or disagree, even if they didn’t directly ask you “to what extent do you agree”.

Hope I could explain.

How would you structure this essay:

Some people say that a person’s success is as a direct result of the way they were brought up by their parents. Do you agree or disagree?
 

marosa

Hero Member
Oct 9, 2018
249
122
Armenia
NOC Code......
1111
How would you structure this essay:

Some people say that a person’s success is as a direct result of the way they were brought up by their parents. Do you agree or disagree?
It is argued by some that in order to become successful a person should be brought up in a particular way. In my opinion, while upbringing plays an important role when it comes to developing soft skills, professional education is another key factor that should be taken into account.

Maybe like this. Then you say parents teach you to be social and hard working, schools give you technical knowledge that helps to build career and therefore be successful in life.
 

marosa

Hero Member
Oct 9, 2018
249
122
Armenia
NOC Code......
1111
Some people believe that in order for a hobby to be enjoyable, it needs to be difficult. Do you agree or disagree? (D have used some generic statements as I was struggling with content)

As the studies on homo sapiens have progressed, the importance of relaxation is getting more and more importance due to its impacts on humans’ lives. You don’t need this part, especially when you’ve made some mistakes there, it’s like you gave the examiner a chance to decrease you score from the very beginning, why? While some people believe that to get contentment from a leisure activity it should not involve any difficulty, I side with those who think that it ought to be laborious.

The proponents of hobbies which do not involve any difficulty claim that amusement time is often to get relaxed and preparing a person for upcoming challenges. If in that time they have to face difficulty, the activity would not be of any benefit. For instance, a person after a hectic day at the office gets back to home, and to get himself relaxed he again has to go to mental and physically exhausting activity, it will only frustrate him further, and might even lead to depression if he does this frequently. Omg 48 words in one sentence. You don’t do that English, it means you’re not comfortable with grammar, so this will drop your score.


1. The question doesn’t tell you to discuss both views, so just by putting this BP here you’ll get 6.5, because of task achievement. It asks if you agree or disagree. So first you tell them if you agree or disagree (in the intro) and then you tell them why (in BP1 and BP2). You could paraphrase this BP and say you disagree because hobby is there to help people relax and not get even more stressed after a stressful day for example.

2. EVEN IF the question was “discuss both views AND give your opinion” and you had to put the BP, you should’ve showed why the idea in BP1 is not valid. Because right now I’m reading your BP and thinking you agree that it shouldn’t be difficult, because difficult hobbies get people even more stressed. So to show that you don’t agree with BP1, you need to finish the paragraph with a thought that such doubts are not valid, because bla bla bla.


However, in my opinion, a difficult hobby is much better as it contributes to people’s skills simultaneously with what?. YoI seef someone enjoys his pastime by having a challenging situation, it adds-up in his skills even when a person is out of learning phase. Take the example of an adventurous traveller, who often opt-for to visit opts for visiting inhabitable places in his amusement time. Subconsciously, he is learning learns many practical traits by challenging himself such as communicating with strangers, time and finance management, which he may not recognise at that time, but later in his life, it can be of really beneficial for him. 42 words!!! And of course this sentence doesn’t sound English. Try to paraphrase all your longs sentences, I’ll review them.

To conclude, not only do leisure time can relax a person do can, but it can also contribute a lot in developing personality. Therefore, on balance, while I do acknowledge that the focus should be to get relaxed, it should be challenging to learn and develop skills passively. I like this idea, but it’s not well structured in the BPs.
Hi!

See above. Hope I didn’t sound too harsh. Reasons this essay wouldn’t get 7 is task achievement and grammar.
 
May 3, 2017
197
42
Some people like to spend their leisure time with their colleagues while others prefer to keep their private life separate from their work life.
Is it a good thing to spend leisure time with colleagues?
While some persons choose to spend their spare time with their colleagues, others prefer to keep a veil between their official and private life. I consider spending idle time with their team-mates a negative thing, as it may lead to unintentional disclosure of important official information and increases warmth between friends and family members.

Foremost, there is a high certainty that confidential and important organizational information may get revealed while spending spare time by companies' employees together. Those employees who work for the same organization generally do not have anything to talk about except office in these types of get-togethers. They reveal what and how they work in their office to each other, which means they are breaching official channels of communication. This type of misconduct is becoming increasingly common, and the number of dismissals from workplaces are also increasing owing to this, especially in multinational companies.

Moreover, employees ought to spend their leisure time with their families and friends and not with their colleagues. This is because most workers nowadays work in a private sector that demands at least ten hours of work every day, and they have already spent a significant amount of time with them. When the remaining time is spent with family members, relatives, and close friends, it increases intimacy in their relationships. Having good personal relationships makes employees psychologically satisfied, which helps them to become more productive in the workplace. That is why those persons who stay with their family members perform better in official assignments than those who live far away from their kith and kin.

In conclusion, spending idle time by people with their friends and relatives increases intimacy in their personal relationships. Along with that, it also reduces the chance of leaking official information to colleagues, which makes a positive thing for them.
 

IELTS9

Member
May 23, 2020
10
0
Okay the good thing is that your task response is good in this one and you have addressed all the questions asked. There are few issues with how some sentences are phrased and it may be because you are doing direct translations from native language. Also, some words can be eliminated to avoid verbosity and still retaining the meaning of sentence.

Dear Sir,
I am writing to seek your assistance regarding my interest in shifting to the company’s headquarter for around six months. Do not use "shifting to" again. Better phrase is "moving to" or "relocating to"
While I am quite satisfied working over here in my home town, I feel my level of knowledge and leadership skills will enhance if I got get the chance to work with the company’s top leadership in Canada.

I will make sure that the company’s goals will do not be get affected by my temporary relocation. I am in the process of training my junior regarding my assignments and so far he is learning quite well. I will remain in contact with him and together we will ensure that all of the reporting remains error-free.

I would like to request for your kind support in this matter as with your help I will be ensured that my case will be presented to and help to ensure my case is presented to the higher management effectively. Once I get approval from the head office, I will take care of further formalities on my own.

I hope the request I am putting forward will be taken considerably.
I hope you will consider my request.

Yours faithfully,

Sohaib

Indian candidates overuse and over generalize the word ‘ shift’. Get rid of it
 

marosa

Hero Member
Oct 9, 2018
249
122
Armenia
NOC Code......
1111
There are certain phrases and sentences that are too general and are used too often by students, therefore those should be avoided. Examples of such phrases are “each coin has to sides”, “since the dawn of time”, “this essay will discuss” etc.

However it is not quite correct to refuse to use a word, when it’s most appropriate in the sentence, simply because a lot of people may have used it before. Besides, the examiner might think you don’t know the word if they see you keep avoiding using it.
 

marosa

Hero Member
Oct 9, 2018
249
122
Armenia
NOC Code......
1111
Some people like to spend their leisure time with their colleagues while others prefer to keep their private life separate from their work life.
Is it a good thing to spend leisure time with colleagues?

While some persons choose to spend their spare time with their colleagues, others prefer to keep a veil between their official professional? and private life. I consider spending idle time not sure about this phrase with their their-who? team-mates a negative thing when you say “thing” you show you’re lacking vocabulary, as it may lead to unintentional disclosure of important official information and increases you used “may” at the beginning, so I read it as “may increases” warmth between friends and family members. Here you said that spending time with colleagues increases warmth. First of all, how are those two logically connected? And secondly warmth (when used in the context of emotional or psychological aspects) cannot “increase”.

Foremost, there is a high certainty that confidential and important organizational information may get revealed while spending spare time by companies' employees together. Those employees who work for the same organization generally do not have anything to talk about except office in these types of get-togethers. They reveal what and how they work what they work? in their office to each other, which means they are breaching may breach official channels of communication. This type of misconduct is becoming increasingly common, and the number of dismissals from workplaces are also increasing owing to this, especially in multinational companies. This example could’ve been written in a clearer way, but ok.

Moreover, employees ought to spend their leisure time with their families and friends and not with their colleagues. That’s not a main idea. In this essay your second main idea should give the second reason for your opinion. This is because most workers nowadays work in a private sector that demands at least ten hours of work every day, and they have already spent a significant amount of time with them. When the remaining time is spent with family members, relatives, and close friends, it increases intimacy in their relationships. Having good personal relationships makes employees psychologically satisfied, which helps them to become more productive in the workplace. That is why those persons who stay with their family members perform better in official assignments than those who live far away from their kith and kin. You presented this last sentence as a general truth, but it’s not. So either say that a recent study has shown that... or give an indirect evidence that what you’re saying is true. E.g. say there is no wonder that employers tend to trust important assignments or top positions to those, who have a wide network outside the office. This second approach is more preferable.

In conclusion, spending idle time by people obviously by people with their friends and relatives increases intimacy in their personal relationships. Along with that, it also reduces the chance of leaking official information to colleagues, which makes a positive thing for them.
Hi! Try to be more attentive.

1. And again:

Google the difference between people/peoples, person/persons, individual/individuals, human/humans, population/populations!!!

2. “Official” and “professional” is not the same.

3. “Thing” is too informal, replace it with the appropriate noun.

4. Main idea should clearly show what your BP is going to be about. Main idea should not be too general. It should not make an obvious statement. It should not be about a different topic than the rest of the paragraph.

5. You do not have to paraphrase each and every word of the question in the intro. Or else your sentences become too artificial. Some words can be repeated, some words can be slightly changed. E.g. you can have “successful” in the question and use “to succeed” in the intro. That’s fine even for band 9. Just don’t copy-paste the whole content.

You can have “people” both in the question and the intro, it’s also fine. Because “persons” is not the same as “people”. Also, if they say “some people think that...”, you can say “it is argued by some”.
 
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May 3, 2017
197
42
Hi! Try to be more attentive.

1. And again:

Google the difference between people/peoples, person/persons, individual/individuals, human/humans, population/populations!!!

2. “Official” and “professional” is not the same.

3. “Thing” is too informal, replace it with the appropriate noun.

4. Main idea should clearly show what your BP is going to be about. Main idea should not be too general. It should not make an obvious statement. It should not be about a different topic than the rest of the paragraph.

5. You do not have to paraphrase each and every word of the question in the intro. Or else your sentences become too artificial. Some words can be repeated, some words can be slightly changed. E.g. you can have “successful” in the question and use “to succeed” in the intro. That’s fine even for band 9. Just don’t copy-paste the whole content.

You can have “people” both in the question and the intro, it’s also fine. Because “persons” is not the same as “people”. Also, if they say “some people think that...”, you can say “it is argued by some”.
Thank you so much for the feedback.
1. There is very minute difference between those words. I think sticking only with PEOPLE is the best approach.
2. Yes true
3. Thing was written in the question. Even I thought it for the long time, but I didn't find the exact paraphrase. Therefore I ended up writing that only in the introduction and the conclusion.
4. Second idea was general. The main reason I expanded the topic sentence because you always try to tell us that there should be a value addition in each sentence. But I guess I wrote the bad structure of sentence there.
5. I agree that.
6. One thing I want to ask if may I. You said be attentive. Can I please ask for which element was that for particularly.: Task Response , Grammar, Sentence Structure, Cohesion, Organisation, Lack of Planning, Grammatical accuracy.

I think I have learned a lot under your guidance. It will help me more to work on my weak areas.
 

marosa

Hero Member
Oct 9, 2018
249
122
Armenia
NOC Code......
1111
Thank you so much for the feedback.
1. There is very minute difference between those words. I think sticking only with PEOPLE is the best approach.
2. Yes true
3. Thing was written in the question. Even I thought it for the long time, but I didn't find the exact paraphrase. Therefore I ended up writing that only in the introduction and the conclusion.
4. Second idea was general. The main reason I expanded the topic sentence because you always try to tell us that there should be a value addition in each sentence. But I guess I wrote the bad structure of sentence there.
5. I agree that.
6. One thing I want to ask if may I. You said be attentive. Can I please ask for which element was that for particularly.: Task Response , Grammar, Sentence Structure, Cohesion, Organisation, Lack of Planning, Grammatical accuracy.

I think I have learned a lot under your guidance. It will help me more to work on my weak areas.
1.
- When choosing between “individual” and “person”, go for “person”.
- Plural of “person” is “people”. Unless you’re making a law.)))
- Use “human” when talking about us as of species. Like when comparing human brain to that of animals’, or to artificial intelligence. When talking about certain characteristics of human organism.

3. I doubt that you’ll see “thing” in the question at the exam or in the official examples. However, even if you do, just to be on the safe side, don’t use it. Instead of saying “is a negative thing” you can say “is not beneficial both in terms of confidentiality and health...”.

4. Ok, “Moreover, employees ought to spend their leisure time with their families and friends and not with their colleagues.” What value has this sentence added to your essay?

1. From the very beginning you’ve stated that you don’t think people should spend all their time with colleagues, so obviously you think they should spend time with family and friends. 2. If you say “employees should spend their time woth family” What’s the point in adding the “and not with colleagues part”. This would be a good presentation of the main idea if you said “moreover, people should spend their leisure with family and friends in order to maintain psychological health”. And then you would explain how this would lead to better psychological state and then in the last sentence you would show how they would benefit from that. Hope I could explain.

6. To be attentive for most of the mistakes I indicates in the review. I may be wrong, but I remember you have written much better essays than this one.
 
May 3, 2017
197
42
1.
- When choosing between “individual” and “person”, go for “person”.
- Plural of “person” is “people”. Unless you’re making a law.)))
- Use “human” when talking about us as of species. Like when comparing human brain to that of animals’, or to artificial intelligence. When talking about certain characteristics of human organism.

3. I doubt that you’ll see “thing” in the question at the exam or in the official examples. However, even if you do, just to be on the safe side, don’t use it. Instead of saying “is a negative thing” you can say “is not beneficial both in terms of confidentiality and health...”.

4. Ok, “Moreover, employees ought to spend their leisure time with their families and friends and not with their colleagues.” What value has this sentence added to your essay?

1. From the very beginning you’ve stated that you don’t think people should spend all their time with colleagues, so obviously you think they should spend time with family and friends. 2. If you say “employees should spend their time woth family” What’s the point in adding the “and not with colleagues part”. This would be a good presentation of the main idea if you said “moreover, people should spend their leisure with family and friends in order to maintain psychological health”. And then you would explain how this would lead to better psychological state and then in the last sentence you would show how they would benefit from that. Hope I could explain.

6. To be attentive for most of the mistakes I indicates in the review. I may be wrong, but I remember you have written much better essays than this one.
Thank you so very much!
 

Rehanyousaf

Full Member
Feb 4, 2019
38
6
33
Pakistan
Hi!

See above. Hope I didn’t sound too harsh. Reasons this essay wouldn’t get 7 is task achievement and grammar.
@marosa as you instructed, I have tried to make sentences short.

For instance, a person after a hectic day at the office gets back to home, and to get himself relaxed he again has to go to mental and physically exhausting activity, it will only frustrate him further, and might even lead to depression if he does this frequently. (Before Paraphrasing)

For instance, being involved in demanding activities after a hectic day at the office, a person would only add up to his frustration, and might even lead to depression if this becomes routine. (After paraphrasing)

Subconsciously, he is learning learns many practical traits by challenging himself such as communicating with strangers, time and finance management, which he may not recognise at that time, but later in his life, it can be of really beneficial for him. (Second long sentence before paraphrasing)

Subconsciously, he learns many practical traits by challenging himself, such as communication with strangers, time and finance management. Although he may not recognise this learning at that time, later in his life, it can be of great use for him. (After paraphrasing. I only added a subordinate clause and converted it into two separate sentences.)

I am learning participle clauses to make writing compact. Since time is short before the test, I might only able to learn basic use of it.