7 Ways to Improve English Writing Skills IELTS EXAM ESSAY ACADEMIC
hello everyone and welcome back to
english with lucy today i’ve got a video
that i’ve never really done before I’ve
never really spoken about writing as far
as I know so this one has been highly
requested I know a lot of you are doing
your IELTS exams so I have got 7 top
tips that are going to help you improve
your writing quickly before we get
started I’d just like to thank the
sponsor of today’s video lingo de lingo
de is an amazing online language academy
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qualified native teachers it’s actually
highly relevant to this video because
you you really ideally want somebody to
check through your writing so in your
private lessons on lingo de you can
mention that you’d like them to look at
your writing and that’s what you can
focus on for that lesson lingo de has
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let’s get started with the lesson so my
first tip for improving your writing is
keep it simple now I know this seems
really really obvious but I always say
to my students simple done accurately is
better than complicated done
inaccurately
in other words is better to keep things
simple and do it well rather than over
complicate everything and do it badly
so in English writing exams you want to
show off your English but you want to
show off your accurate English not all
this English that you don’t know or
haven’t learnt yet now that leads me on
to point number two in order to avoid
making mistakes in your writing it’s a
really really good idea to have a
collection of
set phrases and key words that you can
use in that exam so my tip number two is
prepare key phrases now you do have to
be careful with this you don’t want to
rehearse
what you’re going to write but you do
want to have a nice selection of things
that you could possibly say if the time
arises now especially on the IELTS exam
and I know a lot of you are studying for
this but this really goes for any
academic writing exam you want to have
linking words and key phrases prepared
now I’m going to give you a list with
two examples for each point it doesn’t
cover everything that you need to know
but if you study everything in the list
you will be much much more prepared for
your English writing exam so pay
attention and if there’s any point that
you think I really could expand on that
go and do your research and prepare
yourself you want to make sure that you
have a variety of different ways to
compare in the same way at the same time
contrast on the contrary however give
examples for instance to illustrate give
your opinion from my perspective from my
point of view generalize overall all
things considered to express certainty
undoubtedly of course to express a
partial agreement in a way to some
extent to show cause owing to do - to
show effect for this reason consequently
to mark time to begin with following
this to add information furthermore
moreover to express condition unless
provided that and to conclude in summary
in short so that’s just a very brief
list showing you exactly what you need
to study to be fully prepared for any
English writing exam now point number
three and definitely definitely
definitely for academic writing ie
English tests or university pieces do
not use contractions or is that don’t
use contractions so cannot - can’t do
not -
shall not to Charlotte I am too I’m
these are all examples of contractions
and in your writing exams you want to
avoid these I know that you guys really
really really want to keep your word
countdown because you are restricted and
you want to show off as much as you
possibly can but I’ve got lots of tips
for reducing your word count coming up
so make sure that you do not feel
tempted to include contractions in your
academic writing so tip number four
reduce your word count use as few words
as possible completely contradictory
because I’ve just told you that you
should not use contractions but I’ve got
some really really good mini tips within
this big tip to help you keep your word
countdown and your English level up
the first one is avoid these deadweight
words like very so a lot really I have
mentioned this before in a video but if
you want to show off your English avoid
these they’re pointless they are empty
calories in English replace them instead
with a strong word so instead of saying
really happy I would say I am elated
instead of saying so scared I would say
terrified okay so by using strong words
and avoiding these boring words you can
reduce your word count by a fair bit now
another way to really reduce your word
count but really improve the quality of
your writing is avoiding there is and
there are we want everything to be as
clear as possible and sometimes there is
and there are can act as fillers they
add extra words to our sentences so I’m
going to give you an example so you can
see this and bear it in mind next time
you’re doing an academic piece of
writing sentence 1 there are many
problems that we may encounter there are
many problems that we may encounter
sentence 2 we may encounter many
problems we may encounter many problems
the first sentence has 8 words the
second sentence has 5 words you have
reduced your word count
and you have increased the quality in
the clarity of your writing so make sure
you apply this in your next exam number
five read the right documents read the
right pieces of writing I know many of
you like to read in your spare time you
like to do it for fun and a lot of you
will read books in English which is
amazing for improving your spelling and
improving your vocabulary as well but if
you’re trying to get a good score in an
academic writing exam you might not be
reading the right kind of thing look at
the potential pieces of writing that
they’re going to ask you to do are they
asking you to write articles reports
essays maybe they’re asking you to write
all three if they are read all three you
need to go online or go to your library
and read articles read reports read
essays read reviews do everything you
can to familiarize yourself with all the
styles of writing number six is one that
you will have heard in schools so many
times but I’ve worked as a teacher for
many many years and I get so frustrated
with silly stupid mistakes that I know
that my students know they don’t make
these mistakes when they’re speaking so
why do they make them when they’re
writing so many times I’ve gone and I’ve
prepared a lesson because I’ve seen that
there are some very clear mistakes in my
students writing and I prepare a lesson
to correct this mistake and when I go to
teach it they say but teacher we already
know this this is baby stuff and it’s
because they don’t check their work I
have a clear example of this I used to
work as a proofreader I used to check
through documents before they got sent
off to publishers to make sure that they
were all correct that there was no
spelling mistakes there were no grammar
mistakes there was nothing nothing wrong
they were all perfect and I was amazing
at doing this I could get every single
mistake just by looking at a document
from a distance I could pick out those
errors however if you follow me on
instagram you will see that I make
spelling and grammar mistakes
all the time why because I don’t check
I don’t check my writing I am a native
English speaker and I make spelling
mistakes granted many of them are due to
autocorrect on my phone which I’m
battling with but a lot of them are my
fault and I don’t check them so I don’t
see them I know when you finish an exam
you’re like oh I’m done I want to move
on to the next question but you can
avoid so many point deductions just by
checking through your works so please
please please make it your absolute
priority I personally think it’s much
better if you write less and check more
fewer words higher accuracy and I know
normally I promote fluency over accuracy
but not in writing exams in writing
exams you want perfection now number
seven is perhaps the most relevant and
the most difficult of all especially if
you’re in really remote parts of the
world
number seven is write and get it checked
right and get it checked and
unfortunately the getting it checked
thing is a lot harder than it seems you
want to write as much as possible
checking of course it used to really
annoy me when my students would come in
with five essays but they I was so happy
that they’re done that but then I saw
that they’d made loads and loads of
stupid mistakes and I just thought oh
why didn’t you check it I’m just
regretting the same thing over and over
again but write as much as you can check
it and then see if you can find somebody
to correct it now I’m not saying find a
complete stranger it’s got to be in
their interest to correct it as well
I personally think it’s very unlikely
that you’re going to find a random
teacher on the internet that will be
willing to check your writing free
however there are lots of services and
penpal sites if it’s like a mutual
exchange if you find somebody who wants
to learn your language and they can help
you with your English then you can do
that or like I mentioned on services
such as lingo de and you can just have a
straight hour of analyzing writings that
you’ve already done and already sent
them but I will say especially to my
younger viewers really really really be
careful when you’re contacting people
online to practice your English
make sure it’s a trustworthy person
because there are so many predators that
want to talk to especially young girls
to practice their English and it doesn’t
actually turn out to be a English
practice it turns out to be something
quite different so please please please
be careful if you’ve got the funds and
if you’ve got the time get a proper
teacher and pay them to help you it’s
the only way that you’re going to be
guaranteed the proper skills and the
proper qualifications and also the
proper incentive why would a random
stranger on the internet want to help
you with your writing what’s in it for
them always think about that right guys
that’s it for today’s lesson don’t
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another lesson
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