Common Mistakes
Academic
A) Paraphrasing the chart using synonyms
Lots of online courses and teachers teach students to paraphrase the Task 1 chart by changing the words in the question and replacing them with synonyms. In my experience, this always leads to a lower score and is not what examiners are looking for.
Example 1
Question (Chart)
The Pie chart shows the learning outcomes of students at a university in 2005 to 2010.
Paraphrase (What the Candidate Wrote)
The circle diagram shows the study outcomes of pupils at a college in 2005 to 2010.
Analysis
Unfortunately, the candidate has just tried to change the words in the question without really thinking about the words they are using. The words ‘circle diagram’ and ‘pie chart’ are not the same thing, they represent completely different types of charts. So this is very bad for your score. ‘Learning outcomes’ and ‘study outcomes’ are not the same thing. A teacher writes your ‘learning outcomes’ and a student would write the ‘study outcomes,’ so this again is very confusing to the examiner. ‘Pupils’ and ‘students’ are also not the same thing, pupils only go to school not to university. So this confusion will lower your score and leave the examiner feeling very confused.
Example 2
Question (Chart)
The table below shows the contribution of various economic sectors to Xcountry Gross Domestic Product in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Paraphrase (What the Candidate Wrote)
The table depicts industries bring money in Xcountry in three years.
Analysis
Again, this is a very confusing sentence. ‘Industries’ is not the same as ‘economic sectors.’ Economic sectors are a more generalized classification compared to industries and can encompass multiple industries within them. Also, ‘bring money’ is less precise than ‘contribute,’ so this doesn’t help your score in the exam. Lastly, not mentioning the years of analysis doesn’t improve your score.
Final
Later in the course, we will teach you how to describe a chart effectively. You need to include every detail and describe the chart clearly. We will explain how to do this later in the course.
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B) Choosing just the highest and lowest numbers
Lots of online courses, social media videos and teachers teach students to just mention the highest and lowest numbers in your IELTS writing task 1. This can lead to a much lower score and I will show you in the example.
Iran is the biggest and has a migration of 95 million. It is growing from the 8 million and go to the 9 million during the period studied. This increase is rapid and is growing for 10 million to 94 million.
Indonesia is the smallest from 10 million and grow to the 24 million much more slower. Then it reaching the 30 million in 2020.
Analysis
Final
C) Copying high scoring tasks
A lot of candidates think that the way to get a high score in the exam is by copying the structure of high scoring essays they find online.
Firstly, the clay used to make the bricks is dug up from the ground by a large digger. This clay is then placed onto a metal grid, which is used to break up the clay into smaller pieces. A roller assists in this process. Following this, sand and water are added to the clay, and this mixture is shaped into bricks by either placing them into a mould or using a wire cutter. Next, these molds are baked in an oven for 24 to 48 hours.
Example (what the candidate wrote)
The numbers were increases during the period studied. They continue a increasing, from a 12 million to a 16 million. This was a dramatic increasing. Following this, they are increasing the 16 million, and then felling because of either going down or back up. Next it is peaking at 23 million.
Analysis
D) Writing one sentence as a paragraph
Overall, the graph indicates that there were greater fluctuations in society people among patriarchs than among matriarchs. The number of those in squad started the period at just over two thousand and reached highs of four thousand in 1985 and five thousand persons around 2005. The lowest rates were gentleman between 1993 and 1997 and more recently in 2010 when the rate dipped as low as one thousand.
Lass gym membership began lower at one thousand, doubled by 1984, and then fluctuated between two and three thousand for the remainder of the period. When lad rates were at their lowest, wife rates were higher. This was particularly true between 1993 and 1997 when over three thousand ladies held gym membership.
Analysis
Common Mistakes in the General Task 1 Writing
A) Varying verb tenses
Some online courses and videos online advise students to vary their verb tenses in order to impress the examiner. This is normally terrible for your score. Varying verb tenses in your writing for non-communication reasons leads to very inconsistent writing. What impresses examiners is the correct use of tenses. If you need to write a letter about a past experience and you start talking about the future it is very confusing to read.
Analysis
You recently took a trip with a taxi company. The driver behaved in an unacceptable way and you had a lot of problems. You complained to the company but no-one has replied to your complaint.
Write a letter to the taxi company. In your letter
- say why you are writing and how you feel
- explain what happened
- tell them what you would like them to do.
Write at least 150 words.
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am written to express my anger with the service I have received from your taxi business both during my ride and in dealing with my complaint.
Last Thursday the 3th of March, I am taking one of your taxis to go to an important business meeting in the city. Although the driver said he knew the address I wanted go to, he took me to the wrong address. This made me late for my appointment. When I will complaining about his mistake, he became angry and shouted at me. I refused to pay the fare and he then started to threaten me. I felt very angry about this and left. I am very disappointed to find that I haven’t a letter of apology for the driver’s behaviour. I would like to having this.
I would like to recommend that you train your staff to behave in a polite manner to customers. I also expect an apology for your employee’s behaviour towards me.
Yours sincerely,
Jimmy Perez
B) Writing longer sentences
Lots of online courses, teachers and videos recommend writing longer sentences in order to improve your score in task 1. Unfortunately, this generally lowers your score dramatically. Informal writing generally has shorter sentences so if you start making these sentences longer it leads to very confusing writing. There will be many tasks in which it is unnecessary to make your sentences longer.
Example
Write a letter to your friend. In your letter
- explain the important event
- apologise for the situation
- suggest a new arrangement
Write at least 150 words.
Dear Ana,
How are things with you, I’m afraid something has come up here which will probably affect my visit to Canada, last week I was chosen to play tennis for my regional team in a national tournament. It was really unexpected. I’m sorry but this probably means that I won’t be able to visit you for the first week of January, as we planned. I must stay here and practise until the tournament begins, later that month.
I wonder if it is possible for me to visit you later in the year, I can take some time off in early March and my air ticket can be changed with no problem, Is March a possibility for you?
Please write and let me know what your reaction is, I’m sure you realise that it’s an honour to be selected to represent your region and so I don’t want to miss this great opportunity, I hoping you understand.
I’m looking forward to hearing from you,
Best wishes,
Fernanda
