IELTS Writing Task 1 General Training: Complete Guide

More people fail IELTS writing because of task one than task two. So what we decided to do was create an ultimate guide for you to show you how simple it is to get a band seven, eight or nine by following the steps that we teach our VIP students and following the exact strategies we share with them that has led to their success. So first we're going to show you how to use the question to structure your answer and then we're going to transform a formal letter into an informal letter to show you the difference between those two. And then at the end, we're going to show you real students and how they used the exact steps and structures from this lesson to write a full task one answer both for formal and informal. So without further ado, let's get into it. So the first thing we're going to do is look at the similarities and differences between a formal question and an informal question. There's one thing that tells you exactly whether it's informal or formal. So every question starts with this question statement at the start where it gives you the context. It gives you the scenario that you need to understand what to write about and then it will say write a letter or write an email to and tell you who you are writing to. Now this is very very important. The one word you want to look for is the word friend. If it says write a letter to a friend or write an email to a friend, if you see that word, then it is an informal letter. Anybody else, anything else, so if it's asking you to write to a business or a boss or someone that you met, anything apart from a friend is formal. Now, anytime I teach this in the classroom, a few hands go up and say, "Well, what about semiformal?" Within the IELTS context for writing task one general training, there's actually no such thing as semiformal and it just makes things way more complicated. If you have to remember three different styles, just keep it super simple. If it says friend, write an informal letter. Anything else, write a formal letter. Then below that, it will always have these three bullet points. And this is crucial. This really really helps us because when we're writing this is going to show us the exact structure to use by using these bullet points in the question and I'll show you that in detail in the rest of the lesson. Then it says write at least 150 words. So try to go over 150 words. I'd recommend the sweet spot is between 160 and 200. Anything below 160 you kind of run the risk of going below 150. Anything over 200 then you might be writing about things that are not necessary and it wastes a little bit of time. So try to get in that 160 to 200 sweet spot. So this one doesn't say friend. So this is a formal letter. So let's start off with the formal letter. So how do you start that? So you start that by saying dear sir or madam. Informal will be slightly different but for formal just start it off dear sir or madam. just memorize that and use that at the beginning of every formal letter or email. So the structure we're going to use, we're going to use four main body paragraphs in our letter. So the first paragraph is the most important and this will be our purpose. So after dear sir or madam, we're going to skip a line and we're going to write the first paragraph which is our purpose. So how do we know what to write? Where is this? So if we look at the question above the bullet points here, it will tell you exactly what to write about. So if we have here, you recently missed a flight you think was the fault of the airline. So that is the purpose. That is why I'm writing the letter. So all you have to do is just look at that part of the question and you know exactly what to write in your first paragraph. So I'm going to start my letter off by saying I am writing regarding. So this is a very formal way to start a formal letter. You don't have to use this. I just use this. I think it's super simple and it's easy to remember. And then just put in why you are writing. So, I'm writing regarding a flight. I missed with your airline. So, this sets the context. The person reading it will know what it's about. A good way to always think about writing, but especially letters, is just put yourself in the shoes of the person reading it. If you actually sent this to an airline and an airline employee is opening your letter or your email and reading it, would they actually understand what you're writing about? This is a letter of complaint. So now I'm going to state the problem because I believe your staff's negligence should be addressed. So someone reading this would know, okay, this person took a flight with us and there was a problem with the staff. They were negligent. They did something wrong. Now, you don't have to use a fancy word like negligent if you don't know how to use that. Uh, the best thing to do with vocabulary is to use the word you're 100% sure about. So, don't look at this and think you have to memorize uh anything fancy or complicated that you see in here. And that's us done. The first paragraph is done. So, what I can do is go over to the question here, give that bit a big tick, and I know that I've stated my purpose, which is the first part of the structure. So remember we talked about using the question to structure our answer. So if we look here, this is our first paragraph, our purpose. And then if we move down, you will see the next bullet point. This is going to be our next paragraph. So we take that first bullet point and we write about it. The common question that many people ask at this stage is, well, how many words should I write for that paragraph? So you're going to write three bullet point paragraphs. So you have your first paragraph, which is your purpose, and then you're going to write a paragraph about bullet point number one. Then a paragraph about bullet point number two, and then a paragraph about bullet point number three. For the three bullet point paragraphs, what I generally suggest is that around 50 words, if you're slightly under that or slightly over that, don't panic. I would really encourage you to focus on writing a good quality paragraph rather than counting the number of words. So a little trick that I teach a lot of students is when you are practicing try to get used to what does 50 words look like or how many sentences does around 50 words look like. If you practice in that way you will start to kind of be able to eyeball it to what eyeball it means is you can look at it quickly and think like okay that's in and around 50 words. But if you do that for all three uh bullet point paragraphs, you don't have to worry about word count because if they're all in and around 50, you'll be absolutely fine. Okay. So, I checked in to your business class lounge 1 hour before departure and the receptionist assured me that she would tell me when the aircraft was boarding. This is a true story. I'm not saying I checked into a business class lounge to flex or anything like that. Business class lounges are not as fancy as you would think. But all we're doing is just taking that first bullet point and adding detail. And the reason why I said this really happened to me is that's the strategy that you should try to use. Always try and write about something related to that that has actually happened to you in your real life. It could be like me this really happened to me and I haven't changed anything or it could be something adjacent to what you have experienced. as long as you are answering the question or it could be something that you know your mom or your dad or your sister or your brother or your cousin experienced and you're just writing that as if it happened to you. Most of the questions if you look at the official like if you get these books I'm not affiliated with Cambridge but these are the best practice question books. I would only use these ones. If you actually get those and you look at the task one questions, they design them intentionally so that 99% of the world will be able to look at that and think, "Yeah, that's easy for me to write about it." So, use the real books. Okay. So, always look at the question again. So, explain why you believe the airline was at fault. So, let's continue. So unfortunately, despite being told of a delay of at least half an hour, it departed on time while I was in the lounge. Looking back at the first bullet point and looking at our paragraph, it's in and around 50 words. And does it actually relate to that bullet point? And always be thinking if somebody from the airline or whoever is reading um the letter in the context that your question will be in, would they be able to understand you? So I'm happy with that one. So let's move on to bullet point number two. And as you guessed the structure that we use is we then make that our next main body paragraph. So just skip a line, make it super easy for the examiner to be able to look at your letter and understand where one paragraph ends and the next begins and begin your next paragraph, which is all about bullet point number two. So when I went to the gate, I was shouted at by the gate staff for missing my flight, and they threatened to call the police and have me arrested. Yes, that actually happened. They removed my bag from the plane and escorted me out of the airport. I had to rebook my trip at great expense. I missed an important meeting. So if we look again at the second bullet point, I'm describing the impact that that had exactly what the bullet point is about. So again, I look at that. Is it around 50 words? Is it about the bullet point? Would somebody understand me if they were reading this? I'm happy with that. So I can move on to bullet point number three now. So now we have to say what we want the airline to do. I recommend that you display accurate information on the screens in your facilities and train your team not to blame their errors on your customers. I accept that everyone can make mistakes, but law enforcement officers should only be called in extreme circumstances, not because your employees cannot admit they are wrong. Okay, so just mentally do that check again. Is it around 50 words? Is it about specifically the thing in the bullet point? And would someone understand this? I'm happy with that. We are nearly done. We just need to finish off our letter in a very specific way. So for formal letters, we want to write yours faithfully. So a little trick that I teach students is formal faithfully. FF and write that yours faithfully. And then write a name. It could be your name. It could be someone else's name. Don't write Chris Pel. That would be weird. Just pick any name. It doesn't really matter, but as long as there's a name at the bottom. Okay. So, now we're going to move on to the informal letter. This is the one that students mess up more. I think it's quite I wouldn't say easy, but more straightforward to write a formal letter because it's something that a lot of people are taught to do and a lot of people do that in their day-to-day lives or they've been taught how to write that in school. But students really struggle, I think, uh, more with informal, like what language to use, what style to use. So, we're going to transform this formal letter into an informal letter so that you can see exactly what to do. And we'll also show you that when we take you through the students essays as well or students letters, not essays. Okay. So, let's look at the difference between these two questions again. So, you recently missed a flight. You think this was the fault of the airline. You recently agreed to meet a friend but missed the meeting. So, as you can see, for the purposes of this video, it's pretty much exactly the same question, same context, just one is formal, one is informal. It's exactly the same structure, but with different language, a different tone, a more informal tone and a slightly different way of doing it so that you can understand how to do both. Okay. So, the first key difference is how you start your letter. So instead of dear sir or madam, you're just going to write dear plus the name of the person. Doesn't matter what the name is. Just make sure that it is a name. So dear name. So we're going to use exactly the same structure. So if you look above the bullet points at the question, the context, we're going to write our purpose in the very first paragraph. So in the formal one, I started that purpose paragraph by saying I am writing. I'm going to change that when we're writing informally to I'm writing. So, one of the simplest ways you can take formal writing and make it more informal is to use what is called a contraction. So, instead of I am, we're saying I'm that's a contraction or we will or I would I'. Contractions are a much more informal way of writing because it's how we speak to someone. Think of about how you would talk to someone. How you would speak to someone about this. What language would you use? You would probably not meet someone in a coffee shop and say, "I am here to talk to you." You would say like, "Hey, I'm I'm here. I want to talk about this." So, if you think about the difference between writing and speaking, there are far more contractions when somebody speaks. Okay? So, we're going to change regarding to let you know. Regarding is very formal. Let you know is more informal, more relaxed way of writing something. Let you know I missed my flight because the airlines staff messed up. So if you look at that sentence, you'll notice that like not every word is informal. There will be words within every sentence that aren't informal words. What you're just trying to do is add in as much informal language as you can that is accurate and appropriate. So if we actually look at that sentence, I'm is informal. Writing neither formal or informal. Let you know a little bit more relaxed, a little bit more informal than regarding. I missed my flight. There's no real informal or formal way of saying that. Just say it. Because the airline staff, again, there's no real formal or informal way of saying that, but messed up. Instead of saying they were negligent, we say they messed up. Messed up is a phrasal verb. Phrasal verbs are in general more informal. So if you look at something and you think, "Oh, I know a phrasal verb." Instead of a more formal way of saying that, that will make your writing more informal. So we have contractions so far and we have phrasal verbs. I know I'm repeating myself now, but I really want to hit home is a lot of students will try and change every single word and make every single thing more informal. You don't have to do that. You just have to slightly change it if you can. If you can't think of any way to make it informal, it's better to not change it to something more informal um than to change it to something that's wrong. Okay, so we're done with our purpose paragraph. We can now tick that off and we can go to our first bullet point. And that is our next paragraph. I checked in to the business class lounge 1 hour before departure. And the receptionist told me she'd give me a shout when the aircraft was boarding. Alas, even though they told me I could chill out for half an hour, it left on time while I was still in the lounge. So, I checked into the business class lounge 1 hour before departure. It's basically exactly the same as the formal one. Again, showing you that you don't need to change every single thing. So, as you can see, there's another contraction in here. She would. We've changed that to sheed. So instead of tell me the aircraft was boarding, we'll change that to give me a shout. So give me a shout. It's not really slang. It's more an idiomatic way of saying let me know. I don't know whether it's comes from the UK or Ireland, but it is very common here in Northern Ireland. But the more idiomatic language you use for informal letters, the better. So idiomatic doesn't mean use lots of idioms. Idiomatic language means language that native speakers would use. One of the biggest complaints when I was teaching general English to students in Vietnam and they would go to London or Toronto or New York or wherever and they'd be like I didn't understand anything. And these were people that got a really really high score really high level of English but they only learned English from a textbook. Textbook English is very different from idiomatic English which is colloquialisms, slang. It does include idioms, phrasal verbs. This is the language that native speakers use all the time. If you have picked up any of that either through living in an English-speaking country or through listening to podcasts and things like that, try to use that but only accurately and appropriately. And this is one of the reasons if you're thinking like why are they getting us to to write informal letters? One of the hallmarks of a really highlevel English learner, so someone at a band 8, 8.5, 9 and beyond that, is someone that can use idiomatic language. The more informal your language, if you're using it correctly, the higher level you are. Okay? So, alas, even though they told me I could chill out for half an hour, it left on time while I was still in the lounge. So, chill out instead of relax, they instead of they would. But most of the words in that sentence are actually, you know, neither formal or informal. All I'm doing again is just peppering. You know, think of the informal language as you. So you have your your meal and you're adding salt and pepper. You're not covering it in salt and pepper. That would be insane. You're just adding a little bit, sprinkling that in. So that's our first bullet point. Did we answer it? Is it around 50 words? Would someone understand it? Let's move on to our second bullet point. When I went to the gate, I was shouted at by the gate staff for missing the flight and they threatened to call the cops and have me thrown in the slammer. They removed my bag from the plane and chucked me out of the airport. So, can you spot the informal language there? So, cops is a more informal, maybe a slang word for police. I'm sure that you can think of lots of other um slang words for police. Some rude, some not so rude, but you know, as you can see, you're just adding that more informal slang words there. if you can and then thrown in the slammer. The slammer is an informal way of saying jail or prison. Chucked me out of the airport instead of they escorted me out. Again, a little bit more informal. And this is what the examiner is doing when they're actually reading your letter. They're not looking at, you know, is every single word informal? They are just scanning and picking out, okay, here's something that is informal. Did they use this appropriately? Did they use this accurately? And then they're thinking about okay how many instances of this are there are there enough for this to be on aggregate a informal letter. Okay so let's finish off with our final bullet point suggest how you can meet up in the future. Why don't we take a rain check and meet up when you're home for exmas. So it's just a shortened way more informal way of saying Christmas. What about Boxing Day for the footy? Foodie is football. I'll make it up to you by getting the first round in. Getting the first round in in Ireland means buying the first drink. So, very very importantly, a lot of people when I show them something like this are like, I don't know anything about Boxing Day. What is Boxing Day or Foodie or getting the round? Like, I don't know anything about that. You don't have to write this. You just have to write in an informal way based on your own life. This is why it's really important to pick something you know something about and then add in those informal ways of saying this. It doesn't have to be at this level. Most of you only need a band seven, maybe eight. Very few of you actually need a band nine. Doesn't have to be at this level. So don't, you know, panic and think I'll never be able to write this. So we can tick off all of our bullet points. We're nearly done, but not quite yet. We need to finish it off properly. So we're not going to put yours faithfully. I like to just keep it simple and teach my students to write all the best. All the best, your name can be any name, doesn't really matter. Probably just don't write Chris Pel. I would be a bit weird again. The reason why I keep saying like don't write Chris is like some students have got confused in the past and they say like uh dear Chris Pel and then like yours faithfully Chris Pal. Like I'm sure many of you will agree one Chris Pel in the world is more than enough. So you know just use your own name. Okay. So that was the theory behind the structure and everything. What I'm going to show you now is two real students actually using it in practice. And you'll be able to see the mistakes that they make, the confusions that they have, and me talking them through step by step exactly what to do for an informal letter and a formal letter. So the first thing that we need to understand about writing task one general training is the format that it always comes in. So the format will always be you should spend about 20 minutes on this task. I would recommend that you do task two first. Spend about 40 minutes on task two and then do this one at the end. Um what tends to happen if it is people who do task one first, they can overrun and it means that they don't spend enough time on task two. So do task two first and then we'll do this one. What it will do is it will always ask you to write a letter. It never changes. So it will say write a letter to and it will tell you the type of person or who to write it to. And then there will always be three bullet points and it will give you a scenario here. So it never changes. And being aware of this format will help us later on when I show you how to structure everything cuz we're going to use the format to structure our entire letter. The next thing we need to understand is what type of letter you're going to write. So there are two main types of letter. There are formal letters. So, for example, if you're writing a letter of complaint to to something or let's say you lost a bag at the airport and you're writing to reclaim your baggage or something like that or a applying for a job or something like that. The other type is an informal letter where you are writing to a friend. So, some people online teach that there are three types of letters. There are formal, informal, and semiformal. We never teach semiformal. We don't think it exists and we think it is a bit of a waste of time for you to spend time worrying about it. The only thing that you need to think about is who are they asking you to write to? And the key word here is friend. If it says the word friend in it, it is an informal letter. You're going to write informally. >> Mhm. >> Anything else? Formal. >> Really? >> Yeah. Some people get caught up in, well, what if it's someone who I kind of know, but I don't know that well. And you do not have time to be thinking about all of this on test day. And you don't really have time to be preparing three different types of letters. Just >> do two and it cuts your preparation by a third. So, we're going to be focusing on an informal letter. Don't worry about informal formal right now. We're going to focus on the structure first and then um we'll write the letter and then we'll talk about um how to make it more informal. So we always start it with dear name because it is an informal letter. We just make up a name, right? Don't over complicate it. Pick a name. But for informal, we just go first name. Formal, you could use Mr. or Mrs. or something like that. Um but first name for informal. Then paragraph one why you're writing or the reason why you're writing. So dear name why I'm writing. Then paragraph 2 bullet point one. So this one. Paragraph 3 bullet point two. So it'll be this one. And then paragraph 4 bullet point three. Okay. And then you're finishing it off kind regards. Kind regards is because a lot of people get mixed up with like oh should I write yours faithfully or yours sincerely? What is like the friendly informal one? Kind regards you can use for both formal and informal cuz friendly it it does sound friendly. Kind regards and it does sound kind of formal as well. So just that and then your name. >> Just jumping in to say we have a really cool PDF with over 100 band seven 8 and 9 samples for task one. It's for both academic and general training but there's about 50 letters in there that you can use. maybe try the questions first and compare your answer with the samples from our students. If you want that, go to the description, click on the link and you can download it for free. So that's the structure that we're going to use and it means that you can't go wrong. All right, in terms of number of words, the total number of words is you need to write at least 150 words. So, what we tend to do is this should be about 50. This should be about 50. This should be about 50. And this is quite shorter. It's normally like 10 to 20 words, something like that. Now, you're not going to count the number of words um because you just don't have time. But what you should get used to is like what does 50 of your words look like on a page or generally what does that feel like when you're writing it. So if you get used to that, it guarantees that here you will write at least 150 words and then this will put you over the line. If you are unsure, always go for more than less. We'll see when you start writing, but generally it is about two or three sentences >> is is about 50 words. Um maybe a little bit more. Sometimes it depends on how long your sentences are, but generally two, three, four sentences, something like that should get you over the line there. So let's just read the question and think about what it actually means. >> It has been around 10 years since you finished your studies. You are thinking about arranging a get together to mark this milestone with people you studied with. >> Okay. So this is the background. >> This is what we're going to put in here. The reason we are writing to them is that. So you're basically taking that and paraphrasing it. >> So you're not going to copy it exactly. You're going to state how would you say this in your own words. >> Okay. So continue. Write a letter to a former college friend. In your letter, number one, explain what kind of event you would like to organize. >> Okay. So, any questions about that? What kind of event do you think that you would organize for that >> for a 10ear reunion? >> Mhm. >> And pick the thing that's easy for you to write about. So probably if you imagine you are doing this or if you've experienced this yourself doesn't have to be a college reunion but it could be something very similar like a family reunion or even something like >> a you don't have to call it a wedding but like getting together for drinks and dancing and you know or and a meal and stuff like that you know or it could be >> something completely different. But what do you think? >> Um probably like food, drinks and like a game night of some sort. Mhm. >> Like an evening of playing fun games. >> So the thing to remember is for this it should be one thing. >> Uh it should just be one thing. >> Yeah. So if you say like drinks and dinner and games, you could start off with like would you like to meet for dinner and then if you're running out of things to say, we could also play some games at the end. Could add that in. But I would try and keep it to one thing. What do you think is the most obvious thing? >> Dinner. >> Okay. So, we'll put that down in our plan. Next one. >> Number two, give reasons why this would be a good way to mark the occasion. >> Okay. Why would dinner be good instead of something else? You can make something up completely. >> Uh, it would be dinner at a particular restaurant. That is where we used to have all of our dinners when we were back in college. >> Old restaurant. >> Should I read the third one? >> Mhm. >> Number three, say what assistance you would like from your friend in planning the event. Um, probably contacting everybody, making like a group chat with all the numbers that I don't have, suggesting a date and a time, kind of coordinating with everybody, seeing what day works. >> Excellent. So, there's two things you could do now. One is you could just go straight into writing it if you have the confidence to talk about that or you could add a little bit more detail. Uh, normally I suggest thinking of two to three things. So, for example, explain what kind of event you would like to organize dinner. So, you're going to say it's at this old restaurant. >> What other things could you say about the dinner? Or what other things could you be doing at the dinner? >> Going through the college yearbook and looking at pictures and seeing how everyone has had their glow up. >> Okay. Anything else? >> Just specifically about the dinner. What do we normally do before dinner or after dinner? Or >> what do we do before dinner? >> Maybe it's different in where you're from, but we do something. We have drinks. >> Oh, yeah. I'm not Irish. >> We call them pranks. >> Pranks. >> Pre-drinks. Pranks. >> My sister called it that the other day. >> Pranks. >> That's cute. Yeah, we could do uh drinks. >> Drinks. Cocktails. That type of thing. >> Take photos. So, it's good to have some ideas. What we want to avoid is writing just a list of stuff. So, you don't want to say, "Let's go for dinner. We'll look at the yearbook. Then we'll have some drinks. Could even have cocktails. Then we'll we'll take some photos." So, it's just like a shopping list of stuff. So, it's better to like make sure that it's related to the dinner. So, what I was thinking of of I'll not tell you what to write, but just tell you what not to write rather than tell you what to write. So, why are we going to this old restaurant? What happened there? What are the good memories and things that were due there? >> Um, this old restaurant is where we all met together after our final exams. >> Mhm. >> And it was a like goodbye farewell dinner. >> Mhm. >> So, it's just nostalgia. >> So, it's good to put some nice vocabulary in there. >> Nostalgia and contacting everyone, setting up a group chat. I think that's probably enough. Yeah, >> I think that's enough. Okay, >> so we've done our plan in the real test. This will take cuz you know the structure. This will take like 2 minutes >> just like but always use this structure and just put P1, P2, P3, P4, couple of bullet points, but just make sure they actually are answering the things that they actually ask you to do there. The next thing we need to think about is are we using informal language? So what type of language might we use which is informal? >> Um slangs, >> good >> short forms, >> abbreviations like LOL and LO. What other language is considered informal? >> Phrasal verbs. >> Mhm. >> Colloialisms maybe like from your local like really local slang. Maybe avoid anything too rude. Um most examiners won't care, but you might get a prudish examiner who's like, "Oh my god, I can't believe they said that." Try and avoid it making it all text speak like making it all look like a text message. But the biggest one that will so instead of I am writing to you, it'll be >> I'm >> I'm okay. >> Do not >> don't. So as many of them as as you can add in. Um and then just write like you speak >> is a good is a good like overall thing. So if you were talking into like I'd say a WhatsApp WhatsApp message and you were just saying >> voice >> and then little things like hey you have to start it with dear >> you have to >> dot dot dot dot yes so it says begin your letter as follows >> in general in the IELTS test if you don't follow the instructions they mark you down and that's a lot of people lose things but I always start it with I'm writing to let you know dot dot dot >> and then why you're writing and then just continue one. You want to try it? >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, I'm writing to you to to organize a 10year reunion at >> Eric's Chicken Palace with all of our classmates from 2016. Very good start. That's perfect. You could make it a little bit more informal. Um, you could say something like all of the gang from back in the day or all of the gang from 2016, something like that. But that's a little bit more of a creative uh touch rather than it would depend on what the rest of your your letter looks like. It's not formal or informal at the moment. But if the rest of it was like this where it's quite contained, there's no really informality about it apart from here, then I would be concerned. I'm not concerned at the moment, but let's see how the rest of it goes. But feel free to use more slang in formal words like that. You know what I mean? >> Yes. Okay. >> More like a say speaking into a WhatsApp message rather than >> a letter. >> Yeah. >> Copy. >> Okay. So, next one. Explain what kind of event you would like. >> What did your sister call it? Sprinks. >> H. >> Pranks. >> Don't copy me. >> No. No. I just thought it was cute. Pranks. If it's something that you're unsure, like is this a real word? Like that for example, um you can put it in quotation marks >> and then that shows like I'm aware that this is not a a dictionary, a word in the dictionary. It's kind of a new word. Um and that lets the examiner know that you haven't just misspelled drinks for example. So yeah, throw it in there. Can I? >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> Oh, great. >> We got to hit 50 words. Ju just write it normally and then count it at the end. Is that the end? >> How many words is it? >> Just under 40 probably. >> Yep. I'd probably add a little bit an extra thing on. That's where you know cocktails photos. >> So in in the in the real test, it's better to spend, you know, 20 seconds thinking of these than to get to the end, what do I have to what can I write about extend this answer? Mhm. Okay. So, can you read it for me? >> We can start off with our infamous pranks session. Lol. >> Okay. >> Then maybe go through our embarrassing yearbook photos while we soak up uh drinks with some spicy hot chicken like we did on our last day of college. >> Excellent. And then the last one. >> If we're able to stand on our feet by the end of it, we can take more photos to look back at another 10 years from now. >> Yeah. It's a informal language. You've developed it enough and you've stuck to the main point which is explain the kind of event. So, it's drinks and then dinner and then maybe some photos. Good. So, next reasons why this would be a good way to mark the occasion. So, just be careful. Sometimes you get here and you're like, I've actually wrote about that a little bit here like and and then you look at it and think, oh, that that would be a bit repetitive. Always you can always change like a plan is not set in stone. You can change things. So if you want to go with that, that's fine. But if you want to change it slightly to talk about why, and just note that it says give reasons. So you should give more than one reason just to be on the safe side or give two reasons at least. >> Two. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Okay. Can you read it, please? Mike, Jasmine, and Ros are all moving to Australia this year, and it got me thinking about how we desperately need to meet up again, altogether, in our favorite place before life inevitably flashes by. Plus, I think it would be a fantastic way to hear all about what everyone has been up to this entire decade. P.S., I heard Kevin and Alli eloped last November. I need all the details ASAP. I'm engrossed in this story. >> So, P.S. Would we put PS at the end in the middle of a of a paragraph or could we put that would PS be at the end? Technically >> PS. >> Mhm. So PS is normally after you sign your name. I haven't seen a PS in the middle of a I might be completely wrong guys in the comments. Am I being too picky or should PS be after? >> I've never seen that before. >> Interesting. >> And I've been teaching a long time. But why do do you is that a normal thing for you? >> Maybe I'm using it incorrectly, but I would just say PS. Like as like a I would say it in a text message. >> But is this a text message? No. >> In general, people watching, I would not do anything >> that is risky. That is that is um >> taking a chance. >> Yeah, that is not >> what what we would normally do. Don't take too many chances. So >> PS, I heard Kevin and Alli eloped last November. I need all the details ASAP. >> Good. I would probably just You could just change that to also >> switch out the PS. >> I I don't leave it in. But if you wanted to be super duper safe, >> we have an option of saying >> put that also. So, >> or BTW, >> by the way, >> but that's two in the same sentence. Is that too much to say? >> Not really. Not really. And you don't want to be again under time pressure. You don't want to be saying, "Oh, what should I do? Should I do this? Should I do that?" That's why you hear me say at nauseium, keep it simple. What is the simplest way to do it? Also, >> like, yeah, >> do that now. >> I'll leave it in cuz I'm I'm being interested to hear what people have to say about that. But >> me, too. >> So, always once you finish, go back and check the bullet point. Give reasons why this would be a good way to mark the occasion. Is every sentence about that? Is the PS about that? >> Mhm. >> Yeah. Good. Also, how many words was this? >> Almost 60. like 55. >> Okay, so we know that in general 1 2 3 4 5 six lines. So it's about 10 words per line. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. So 60 70. You're well above it. So that's a good way to kind of ballpark it cuz you don't want to be going in the middle. 1 2 3 4 5. Just be like, "Okay, well generally what is one line on this piece of paper or on the screen? What does that look like?" And then you know have a margin of safety. So you'll be looking at the clock and you need time to check at the end. So if you a bunch of time left, you could fully develop this. But if it was if you had five minutes left, I would just go four lines, >> kind regard your name, and then spend the rest of the time checking it. So just be a little bit strategic on test day because time can be a factor for even someone like yourself. >> So off you go. Can you read it, please? >> I don't have everyone's contact information like you do, so I would need you to make a WhatsApp group chat with everyone. Also, I'm thinking we can take photos with your camera since you're the only professional photographer friend we have. >> Very good. Just be careful that doesn't to me and to lots of examiners, that doesn't look like a full stop cuz it's just an extension. Yeah, >> I do that like every time. >> Sorry. Okay, >> but this is an example of how someone who very high level of English if you did that for most or half the sentences um you could get a quite a low mark for grammar because they see >> you're not putting in periods >> because it is called a systematic error. Every time you use that system of punctuation then you are making a mistake like that. So the way the grammar is is scored is on the number of error-free sentences. they literally will count the number of errors. So if let's say half your sentences have that punctuation error and then maybe you made a little uh article error or preposition error that could bring you you should be getting a bad nine that could bring you down to a six or a seven. So it's, you know, an easy way to to really boost your score is to identify those common mistakes and fix them. Even though like you should probably do the test on the computer. So you'll be typing so it wouldn't be an issue. But, you know, there might be a test center where there isn't the computer based test, you'll be doing it on this. So something to be aware of. I'm being very, very picky, though. If you'd prefer to go through all of this one-on-one with me giving you the strategies, feedback on your own work, and mock tests, that's what our VIP course is for. It covers everything, listening, reading, speaking, and writing. So, if you want that, just click the link in the description, and you can get 10% off. So, how would you finish this? Very nice. >> Without the heart. >> Now, what you would do is you would check three things. Um, number one, vocabulary. Is there any vocabulary that you've repeated too many times? Or is there some simple vocabulary that you could um maybe make a little bit more advanced? You don't have to do that. It is only if you can 100% sure like if I change it to this, it is going to be correct and it's good. Second thing is, are there any small grammatical errors? You're aware of that little thing with with punctuation. So I would definitely check at the end of every sentence >> for you or if there's anything else. And the third thing is is there any way that we could make it more informal. So if for example uh do not, you could change that to don't. I am, you could change it to I'm or if often there's an adjective in there or a phrasal verb or something you could add in. Is there anything that you would like to change? >> Classmates, the gang. Okay, good. >> Yeah. Okay, happy with that. Mhm. >> All right. So on the abbreviations like ASAP, LOL, only use them if they are widely known and widely accepted. So LOL, everybody knows what that means, ASAP. But I wouldn't start using less common ones. I'm in my 40s, so I don't really know what people use these days, but I'm sure there are some that people use that, you know, some people would know them, most people wouldn't know them. I would just be careful with them. So, a good rule of thumb would be like, if your grandmother would know it or not, if she would, that's okay to use it. Or my I'm older, so would my mom, my 80-year-old mom, understand what LOL or ASAP means? >> That would be okay. If in doubt, don't use them. All right? cuz um a lot of people will spend a huge amount of mental energy worrying about stuff like that like should I use them, should I not? It's not adding anything really to to your to your your letter. It's not like the examiner is going to see LOL ASAP and think like this person um is being really informal. Let's give them a high score. So if unsure for anything like that, just don't use it. So that was how to write an informal letter. If you want to know how to write a formal letter, keep watching and we'll do that with the next student. So, first thing that we need to do is help you understand uh the format of writing task one general training because it never changes and we're going to use this format to help us plan and structure our answer before we start writing. So, it's really really important that we do that. So, it always says you should spend about 20 minutes on this task. I would recommend that you do the writing task two first, okay? And then writing task one last. Writing task one only takes 20 minutes. Uh but students often spend too much time on it and that means they have less time to do task two. So when you're practicing, try to get task two done in 40 minutes and then move on to task one. What it does is it always gives you the kind of context of the background first. Then it will tell you to write a letter and who to write the letter to which we'll come back to that in a second. It's important. And then it will give you three bullet points and it will tell you how to start your letter. Okay. So before we get on to planning and the structure, what we first need to decide is is this a formal letter or an informal letter. So there's only two types of letter on IELTS writing task one. There's no semiformal. If you want to decide if it is formal or informal, look at the bit where it asks or tells you who to write to. So for this one, it's write a letter to the moving company. The rule is if it says write a letter to a friend, if it says the word friend, it is informal. Anybody else it is formal. All right? Now you people at home don't start saying well what if I know a person at the moving company or what if my brother works the >> forget all of that friend informal not friend formal just keep it simple. So is this formal or informal? >> Formal because it is to the moving company. >> Okay. Do you know anybody at the moving company? No. So are they your friends? >> No. >> No. So formal. Now we know it's a formal letter. We'll go into what makes a letter formal. I'll show you what language to use um later on when we start writing. But next, I want to show you how to plan and structure your your answer. >> Okay? >> So, start off here. Dear sir or madam, just always do exactly what they tell you. They'll always tell you to do that. Then paragraph one is reason why you're writing letter. So, you just say I'm writing to you because of this reason. Okay? Then we're going to take bullet point number one, which is going to be paragraph 2. Bullet point number two. Paragraph 4 is going to be bullet point number three. So this forces you to do exactly what they're asking you to do. >> All right? Takes all the guesswork out of it. We want to reduce thinking as much as possible. You just want to make everything as automatic as possible. And then we want to end it with sign off. I always do kind regards because kind regards is appropriate for both informal and formal. So kind regards is fine and then your name. So this is the structure. You have to write at least 150 words. >> So what we tend to do is tell our students to write around 50 for this one, this one, this one. You probably won't have time to count your words. So, what we'll do is we'll count this paragraph, make sure that it's over 50, and then we'll be able to ballpark the rest of them because the others, as long as it's 50 words. >> 50 50. And then this one is just one sentence or two sentences telling them the reason why. Any questions about that? >> Um, can I just name the moving firm if I want to rephrase? >> You can make anything up. What I would like you to do next is for these bullet points to add some detail to plan them out. Start off with just one clear idea >> that definitely answers this and then add a little bit more detail to get you up. 50 words is going to be three to four sentences, something like that. It differs from from person to person, but generally around that. So look at the whole thing >> and then for each bullet point just add a couple of points that you could expand on when you're writing. So, >> okay, >> take a few minutes to do that. >> Handling and packaging. Do you think you'll be able to write three or four sentences about that? >> I think so. Yeah, I would say. Yeah, like >> I mean, this is not set in stone. So, when you start writing, if if you get to like two sentences, you're like, "Oh, this is around 25 words. I need to You can add a few other things, but just pick things that you feel confident writing about." If you'd like to see lots of samples of task one, both formal and informal letters, I have put lots of task one samples into one PDF, more than a hundred for you. These are all real students at a band 7, 8 or 9. They got 7, eight or nine in the real test. All of those are in one PDF that you can download. Just go to the description, click on the link, and you can download for free as our gift to you. So I think I can start off by talking about the whole team and then go like but this specific member was exceptionally helpful. >> And don't worry about specific names or like just pick literally anything. >> So I could make something up over here like um during the transportation um the car had some problems and the replacement took too long or something like that. Literally it does the content doesn't matter as long as it is relevant to the bullet point. So relevancy is very very important but there are a million things that could be relevant there. So pick the thing that is easy for you to write about. So that could be something that has actually happened to you before >> or it could be something that you know a friend or family member told you about or it could just be some like we have a lot of doctors and nurses. >> So they often will add medical stuff in for if if they can cuz they can use very advanced vocabulary that they know is correct. >> Um not everybody can do that but yeah. >> Wow. Okay. Okay. >> So, car ran into troubles with the tire and replacement took too long to arrive. That's the dissatisfied part. >> Mhm. Good. So, this is a formal letter. So, we need to think about what is formal language. The thing I find most useful is to tell students what not to put in. >> So, what is informal language that we do not want to put in? So, for example, slang. We wouldn't put that in. One that probably need to become aware of is contractions. So for example, I'm instead of I am. So I'm would be informal. I am would be formal, >> right? >> Things like phrasal verbs, idioms. >> Ah, yeah. Idioms are a big one. >> Abbreviations. So things like LOL, ASAP, things like that. You wouldn't have any emojis >> or Jenzie language. uh no no hearts or anything like that or kisses or anything like that. You know, you want to keep it very very formal. But what I think you should do is use this to write your letter and just write it here and take it paragraph by paragraph. Okay? >> And then I'll give you feedback after every paragraph. Always have the question with you. >> Always be focused on the question. >> So dear sir or madam, so you started it off correctly. I'm writing this letter because I recently hired Advantage Moving Services to move my belongings to my new house. >> And then I go with I am mainly writing this to express. >> Okay. So big thing is you need to skip a paragraph. >> Okay. >> So paragraphing is important and it's just easy marks that that you're throwing away. >> So that is why we have the structure and we follow that. See one sentence. Let's just focus on this. I'm writing this letter because All right, that's a good way to start it. Very formal way to start it. I recently hired a Brandish Moving Services to move my belongings to my new house. I would say something about requesting cuz they requested >> a Did Did you cover that year or >> I was thinking that I would cover that in conclusion maybe at the end. >> So there's no conclusion cuz it's not an essay. >> Okay. So it's a letter. So you could put PS at the end or whatever, but you're making it more complicated than it needs to be. So that is why we have this. So I would just add in here something. Um I'm writing this letter because I recently hired Advantage Moving Services to move belongings to my house >> and they uh and I was requested um review >> and I would like to leave a review as requested. >> Okay. >> Something like that. All right. So I am mainly writing this to express my gratitude. Describe what went smoothly. Good >> and my satisfaction. Good. With the companies >> exceptional service. >> So companies would be >> Ys, right? >> Y apostrophe s. All right. So companies is many is plural. >> Many companies. >> Sure. >> With the companies exceptional service especially. Is that a capital letter or is that just your handwriting? No, it's capital. >> Capital letter. So, we wouldn't have a capital letter after a comma. Especially, is that a capital letter? >> Yeah. >> Um, handling of my belongings. >> I feel like I can definitely change that cuz I repeated it twice. >> So, you're you you have a extremely long sentence there and there could be a problem >> with punctuation um >> if you keep doing that throughout the whole the whole essay. So why don't we I would use remove that. Put a full stop here. Delete this. Capitalize this. The handling of my belongings was done very well. Everything was handled with complete care and precaution. >> Unpackage. >> So you got and and and unpackaged extremely well. Okay. So you see we're having a few issues with punctuation. Don't worry too much about this, but if you can, it is better to write shorter, simpler sentences that are correct than very, very long, complex, run-on sentences that could have multiple punctuation issues. So, in the next paragraph, let's just try and you don't have to write like super short sentences. Um, but try and have it just maybe one or two ideas per sentence. >> Mhm. >> Um, let's see. How many words is this? >> 38. >> 38. So, how many do we need? >> 50. >> Yeah. So, how many? Probably one more sentence. >> So, could we add a little bit more detail? >> Sure. >> Remember, we're describing something that went smoothly. >> Mhm. >> So, overall, that took a lot of stress away from me, and it's something I appreciate. Good. Is this a full stop or a comma? full stop. >> Okay. Make it look like a full stop because it's a straight line. It looks like a straight line. >> Yeah. So, we're going to delete that. >> Okay. >> And then overall, >> that took a lot of stress away from me, comma, and it's something I appreciate. Okay. Good. So, we're saying that the reason why >> you might have got 6.5 in your previous um attempts is not because you don't know how to write properly. It is just small mistakes like punctuation for example and a lot of the time you are actually adding in the correct punctuation but it's not clear because if you had one big massive paragraph >> again you're throwing away those marks where it's just easy to show the examiner >> here are my paragraphs um by following the structure. So we're getting there. We're improving bit by bit. >> Don't panic. You're improving. All right. So the next bullet point is going to be this one. Commend a member of staff who provided excellent service. So start with here, show the examiner, have a bit of space, pick a member of staff or overall and then go into detail about a member of staff. >> So the entire team was energetic and friendly which made a task like moving smooth and easy. Okay, again make it really obvious that this is the full stop. So this is where someone like you who is getting a ben nine in speaking >> can struggle with writing. It's not because you're there's anything wrong with your English per se. It is just you're being a little bit careless sometimes. Your English is great. It's just carelessness and it's difficult because you're on camera. >> Someone is staring at you. You're right. So it's you're tired because we've been working all day. You know it's easy to make these mistakes. But on test day you'll be under the same amount of stress. Okay, >> if not more, >> you'll feel tired. >> Uh you'll be doing, you know, the listening test and the reading test and then the writing test. So, it is good to make these mistakes now and be aware of them. So, one person in particular provided exceptional service named Chris. >> I Why would you write an I like that? >> Yeah, you're right. Cuz I wrote an I, capital I here, but then I wrote it like this here. >> But when do you ever write an I on its own like that? Ever. I is always capitalized. Yeah, I did it here. Look, >> I know >> you were so right about the silly mistakes. >> I would >> definitely be recommending this company >> to my friends and family if they are ever looking for >> an easy to work with. Sorry. >> An easy to work with team. Good. So, what what have we learned so far? >> That horrible in punctuation. >> You're not horrible in punctuation. You just make it you don't make it clear. All right. >> So, think about the reader. Think about >> the person reading it. They need to understand when one sentence ends and the next finishes. >> Okay. >> So, we've improved making our sentences a little bit shorter, >> making them clearer. >> Mhm. >> Now, we just need to tidy up the punctuation a little bit. >> Okay. So, this is the dissatisfied paragraph, Rick. >> Yep. All right. So, if there was one thing that was bothersome, good. If there was one thing that was bothersome, >> was that >> it was that? >> Oh, >> so comma, it it was that the car transporting all my property ran into a >> short but fixable >> but fixable trouble. Would we use the word trouble? It ran into tran >> because it's formal, right? >> Yeah. So, it ran into a short but fixable problem instead of trouble with the tire. Is that a full stop? >> No, it's a comma. >> And so, you put comma and then >> however, you're right. However, >> they didn't have a spare tire on hand and had to call in another truck to replace the one with that tire. So, Down, down, down, down, down, dust. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, if there was one thing that was bothersome, it was that the car transporting all my property ran into a short but fixable problem. >> Mhm. >> With the tire. Full stop. So, try and think of the the first sentence as like a topic sentence. You're just saying here here's the main the main point. So, however, they didn't have a spare tire on hand and had to call in another truck to replace the one with the flat tire. That took 3 hours, which was an inconvenience as time was >> very essential >> was essential that day. So, either something is essential or it's not essential. It would be very essential. It's either one or the other, you know. Which was an inconvenience as time was essential that day. All right. Good. So, we just put kind regards is this is good because you're making the same mistakes again and you only have really >> two mistakes. >> Mhm. >> Punctuation and run-on sentences. You just you keep going. So, you're doing a lot of things right. But if you submitted this essay >> on test day with that number of errors in it, you wouldn't be getting one of the higher scores. So, we need to fix those two errors and then we'll be able to move on and help you with that. So, that's how to do task one, but you probably also need help with task two. Task two is worth double task one. So, if you need lots of help with that, this video will help you out with task