Tips
Always make plans first
Finish section 2 prior to section 1
Structure
1) Introduction
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Paraphrase question
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Give my opinon and outline main ideas
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Make the essay easy to understnad
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2 ~ 3 sentences max
2) Supporting Paragraph (2)
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Separate paragraphs into 2
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Main idea
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Support the opinion
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Explanations
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Examples
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3 - 5 sentences
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around 100 ~ 150 words
3) Conclusion
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Summary
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Reiterate ideas (Mention main idea again)
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Not just simple repeating
Types of Questions
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Opinion agree / disagree
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Discussion discuss both views
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Advantages and Disadvantages
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Problem / Cause & Solutions
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Double Questions
Marking Criteria
Think like examiner!
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Task Response (25%)
What the question is asking, and mark all of them
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Coherence and Cohesion (25%)
Clear & Understandable(Easy) Logic
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Vocabulary (25%)
Collocation
Less-common (topic specific)
100% only sure
No repeat
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Grammar (25%)
Planning
Question Analysis
Idea Generation
Everyone think of ideas differently and you should pick the one that works best for you.
Brainstorming
Most common
The key point: There are no bad ides. (So bring out everything that you have, as many as possible)
Problem: May bring irrelevant ideas.
Mind-mapping
Fancy-organized brainstorming
Not recommended
Some people works really well for them (Try once)
6 questions method
Very specific and detailed
Who? What? Why? Where? How? When?
Example 1
Example method
Facebook, Apple and Google companies called as FAANG recently (main causes)
Personal experience - your phone (main causes, what)
Newspaper reports - shortage of teachers for science degrees (main causes)
Surveys - graduates from Standford make more money than Harvard (Techincal vs Traditional)
Coffe shop method (Direct method)
Removing stress method
Take yourself out of the examination and imagine you are sitting with your friend in a coffee shop and they ask you the question.
Imagine what would you say.
Ask yourself the direct question. (Not wasting time with forms)
Bonus idea generation techniques
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What is the most obvious answer?
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Look at the question, the obvious one comes into your mind directly at the moment
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If you asked 100 people this question, what would be the common answer?
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Put yourself on other’s shoes.
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What would someone different from you think?
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When you are really not into the questions’ environment
▪
Conservative & Progressive …
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If you were trying to win an argument, what idea would you use?
Structure Planning
No matter what method you choose (especially who chose brainstorming and mind-mapping) don’t start writing until you have organized your ideas into a structure.
Introduction
Paraphrase Question
Outline
Supporting Paragraph I - Causes
Main point
Explanation
Example
Supporting Paragraph II - Effects
Main Point
Explanation
Example
Conclusion
Summarise main points
Example
Vocabulary
Don’t repeat same words over and over again
Especially keywords from the question
Other ways to say
Students → graduates, undergraduates
University → college - third-level education, tertiary education
Science-related subjects → computer science, physics …
Timing
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40 minutes to complete Task 2.
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10 minutes planning (estimate)
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Most essays are around 12 (10 ~ 14) sentences
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2 minutes per sentence = 24 minutes.
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6 minutes reviewing
Plan Example
Some people think that computer games are bad for children, while others believe that they are beneficial. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
Games are helpful
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Children mostly elementry school to high school
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Communication and Collaboration
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Explanation: Many games require high level of co working skills
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Example: Team up games such as Overwatch League of Legends etc
Games aren’t beneficial
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Children mostly young and those who don’t have concentration power yet
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Addiction and Violence
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Explanation: Some games are very violence and have strong addiction
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Example: Hard FPS games such as Call of Duty
Conclusion
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Games have it’s own good points but in other hands dangerous
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Parent’s care is imporatant
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In controlled situation helpful
Teacher’s Example
Introductions
You should write introductions in max 5 minutes.
Common Mistake
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Writing long general background statements or hoooks
◦
There are nomarks for being interesting or entertaining
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You don’t have time
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Never include words like ‘Nowadays’ ‘In the modern world’ or ‘In modern life’ (Rather it is boring actually)
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Doesn’t impress the examiner
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There are no opinon or outline of main ideas
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The opinion must be clear throughout the WHOLE essay.
If not, you might get 5.0
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Make it easier for the reader to understand your main points
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Copying the question
◦
The examiner will delete this and you will receive no marks for this part of the exam
Structure
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Should include 3 things:
1.
Paraphrase the question
2.
Your opinion (answer the question)
3.
Outline of your main points
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Combine these 3 things into two sentences.
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Around 40-60 words.
Paraphrasing
Where you repeat the question statement, but of course with different words.
You can do this things:
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Synonyms
Consume → use
People → humans, humanity, …
I.T. → computers
…
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Different forms of the same word
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Rearrange the clauses
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Examples
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Don’t be afraid to repeat a word if you cannot find synonyms, you don’t know the meaning, or how to change it.
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If you change a word, the grammar has to be correct.
Paraphrasing Practice
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Get lots of practice questions (5 - 10), but the real ones.
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Paraphrase them
◦
Concentrate on quality, not the speed at first.
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Check meaning, grammar
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Repeat
Answer the Question
Example
This essay totally agrees with this statement
I completely disagree with this statement
Outline
Example
What I agree -
run out of resources
damage to the planet
Main point of your supporting ideas
Combining opinion and outline
‘because’
Increasing overpopulation is the biggest threat human beings face today. This essay totally agrees with this statement because this will led to a serious depletion of resources and pollution.
Example - Opinon
In some countries an increasing number of people are suffering from health problems as a result of eating too much food. It is therefore necessary for governments to impose a higher tax on this kind of food. Do you agree?
Paraphrase
It is argued that states should charge fast food companies more tax because of the growing amount of men and women with health conditions associated with this type of food.
Plan
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Agree
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Costs health service money
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Increased prices would reduce demand
This essay totally agrees with that statement because these illnesses cost the health service too much money and increasing the price of junk food would reduce the demand for it.
Final version
It is argued that(someone else’s opinion) states should charge fast food companies more tax because of the growing amount of men and women with health conditions associated with this type of food. This essay totally agrees with that statement because these illnesses cost the health service too much money and increasing the price of junk food would reduce the demand for it.
(60 words, actually quite long)
Example - Discussion
Some people work for the same organization all their working life. Others think that it’s better to work for different organizations. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
Paraphrase
Some say that it is more beneficial to be employed with the same company all their lives (opinion 1), while others would argue that it is better to work for a variety of companies (opinion 2).
Plan
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Better to work for the same place because more benefits.
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Better to work for different places because more experience.
This essay will argue that(my opinion) although working for just one employer gives you more financial and other benefits (Somebody thinks like this but not me), working at lots of different places provides an employee with more experience.
Final version
Some say that it is more beneficial to be employed with the same company all their lives, while others would argue that it is better to work for a variety of companies. This essay will argue that although working for just one employer gives you more financial and other benefits, working at lots of different places provides an employee with more experience.
(62 words)
Example - Problem and Solution
One of the consequences of improved medical care is that people are living longer and life expectancy is increasing. Do you think the advantage of this development outweigh the disadvantages?
Paraphrase
It is argued that due to evolved health care system give longer living expectancy and this have a good point and side effects.
Plan
Advantage
long life gives more time to chill and second life hobby
We have to see being old is another stage of life not the end of it
Industrial groth about health care market
Disadvantage
Social cost to take care of old people
Main Body Paragraphs
Common Mistakes
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Too many ideas
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Undeveloped idea
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No/Poor explanations or examples
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Firstly, Secondly, Thirdly, Finally
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Poor grammar and voca
Band 9 Checklists
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Relevant idea
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Fully address all parts of the task
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Clear position throughout
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Fully extended and well supported ideas
Structure-3 Key Elements
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Topic Sentence
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Explanation Sentences
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Examples
Exact strucutre will depend on the exact question
At least one for each of them
Example
In some countries an increasing number of people are suffering from health problems as a result of eating too much fast food. It is therefore necessary for governments to impose a higher tax on this kind of food. Do you agree?
It is argued that states should charge fast food companies more tax because of the growing amount of men and women with health conditions associated with this type of food. This essay totally agrees with that statement because these illnesses cost the health service too much money (Idea1) and increasing the price of junk food would reduce the demand for it. (Idea2)
Obesity related illnesses cost the taxpayer billions of dollars every year. (Topic) People who eat too much fast food are more likely to suffer from costly diseases associated with being overweight. As a result, they have to go to hospital more regularly for treatment and this puts a strain on the health service. (Explanation) For example, a large proportion of the United Kingdom's National Health Service budget is spent on preventable, obesity-related diseases, such as heart disease, hypertension and diabetes. (Example)
Another reason why fast food restaurants should pay extra tax is to raise the cost in order to decrease demand. (Topic) Any extra tax would be added to the normal price of the food, and as prices go up fewer people will be able to afford to buy fatty food. Therefore, this would reduce the amount of junk food people eat and the result would be a healthierjnation. (Explanation)
Topic Sentence
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Introduction to the main body paragraph
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Always think of the reader
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Makes it easier to understand and rest of your paragraph, like signposts to drivers
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Links to main ideas in your introduction (Paraphrasing)
1.
Short clear statement about what the paragraph is about.
2.
Directly answers the question.
3.
Not much detail. That comes later.
4.
Makes your main ideas clear.
5.
Can’t write one unless you have clear ideas already.
Explanation
Pretent that you are writing to someonw with no knowledge of the subject.
Clearly explain:
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what your topic sentence means,
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how it answers the quetion and/or
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what the result is.
Should be 2-4 sentences.
Useful language..
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That is to say…
In other words…
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This is because…
The reason is…
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As a result…
Therefore…
Using Examples
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Examples help us to support and illustrate our main point.
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They are often much easiter to think of than explaining everything.
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You probably do this everyday.
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Think of it as evidence in a courte case.
Risky Examples
Statistics
Surveys
Academic Studies
Because they are made up by students, in most case don’t make any sense.
Personal stories
Better Examples
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Real examples.
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Coverting personal examples.
Personal Example
For example, I used to smoke 20 cigaretts every day. but the gover ment kept increasing the tax and now I can’t afford to smoke.
Real Example
For example, when the duty on cigarattes is raised each year in the UK, more people quit smoking and this has a knock on effect on the number of people dying form lung cancer and other smoking related diseases.
How to think of examples
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Take examples from your own life experience
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Convert them into general examples
1.
Where are you from?
2.
Where do you live?
3.
What is your job?
4.
What about your family and friends?
Conclusion and review
Big Mistakes
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New ideas
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Trying to be entertaining
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Being too vague (blanky)
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Repeating exactly the same thing as in the rest of your essay (NOT paraphrase)
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Using the wrong cohesive words
Inappropriate Cohesive Devices
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All in all
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In sum
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To sum up
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Finally
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In a nutshell
Appropriate Cohesive Devices
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In conclusion,
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To conclude,
(Use one of this in the beginning!!)
Structure
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Summary of main points
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Opinion
One sentence for each
Orders could be different
Quick Cheat
We have summarised our main points and given our opinion already in the introduction. All we have to do is paraphrase this.
Example 1
The continued rise in the world’s population is the greatest threat faced by humanity at the present time. Do you agree?
Increasing overpopulation is the biggest threat human beings face today. This essay totally agrees with this statement because this will lead to a serious depletion of resources and pollution.
In conclusion, there are too many people in the world and this is a huge threat to everyone because essential resources are running out and we are also polluting our planet.
Example 2
iPhones and other devices are being used more often by primary school children. This essay will suggest that they are very distracting and that the best solution is to ban them completely in class.
In conclusion, mobiles are not a good idea for young children because they interfere with the learning process and this should be stopped by telling parents that they are not allowed in schools.
Review
Essential that you leav yourself time to review your essay.
Can make the difference with this.
You should focus on:
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Grammar
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Vocabulary
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Checklist
Grammar
You should find out what is your weakness and try to spot it before the exam.
Things you should look out for:
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Prepositions
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Articles
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Verb-subject agreement
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Countable/Uncountable nouns
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Tenses
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Capital letters
Vocabulary
First you should scan for any words that you have repeated that you can easily change using synonyms.
You should also focus on:
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Collocations
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Meaning
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Spelling
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Word form
Checklist
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Does the essay answer all parts of the question?
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Does the essay answer all parts of the question?
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Is the opinion clear in the introduction?
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Does each supporting paragraph have a clear topic sentence?
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Are ideas fully developed with explanations and examples?
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Is your opinion clear throughout the whole essay?
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Is there a suitable conclusion?
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Over 250 words?
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Range of complex and simple sentences.
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Anything confusing or unclear?
IELTS Writing Section 1
Introductions
Paraphrasing
The pie chart below shows the main reasons why agriculturual land becomes less productive. The table shows how these causes affected three regions of the world during the 1990s.
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The pie graph is talking about important causes of farming land unproductivity phenomenon. The table below shows the real world affection with three cases during the 1990s.
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The pie graph illustrates the primary reasons why farm land produces less over time. The table displays how these causes impacted three parts of the planet in the 90s.
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The poie graph presents statistical causes of decreasion in productivity of argricultural land. The table below showw how these reasons impacted three example cases during the 1990s.