Telling stories about your personal history, friends or family.
The Task tells you to use
‘
examples from your own experience
,’ but this does
not
mean describing stories from your life
or people you know! It means describing examples of things in the world that you know about,
have studied or have learned about in the media.
Giving evidence which is too detailed or specific to a subject.
You may be an expert in a
particular social or scientific field, but the examiner probably has a different specialty. You need
to make your ideas and examples accessible to a general reader. For example, if the Task topic is
about money and you are an accountant, do not use specialized accounting terms.
Being emotional or too dramatic when giving your opinion in an OPINION Task.
You may
feel strongly about issues such as animals or crime, but academic writing must be unemotional.
So avoid phrases such as ‘
a disgusting idea’
or ‘
I detest this concept
.’ It is much better to say
‘
an unacceptable idea’
or ‘
I disapprove of this concept
,’ which is more impersonal and
academic; similar to the type of writing that people use in business reports or university essays.
Not following the basic structures presented in this book.
The examiners want to see a clear,
well-structured essay that is easy to read. They are accustomed to seeing the structures we have
presented in this book, and they will feel more positive about your essay if they can recognize
these structures in what you write.
Give the examiners what they want, and they will reward you with a high score, even if there are
some grammatical mistakes in your English.
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