IELTS Academic Writing tips for students
Read the questions carefully and underline the important words
- It must be clearly legible, but there is nothing wrong with crossing out (rather than erasing), adding words above the line with a little arrow to show where the word should go, or even inserting whole lines with an arrow, as long as it is very clear what you mean
- Avoid one sentence paragraphs, with the possible exception of the first paragraph of Task 1 or the conclusion of Task 2 if you have already given your point of view in the introduction and you are running out of time
- Try to use words and expressions other than those that are written in the questions, but don’t worry about it too much
- When you are doing practice exams at home, recreate the exam conditions as closely as possible. Don’t look at the question until you are ready to start writing, don’t take a break between Task 1 and Task 2, and don’t use a dictionary or write it on a computer
