IELTS Writing 7 Plus eBook 

Hello and a ​big welcome​ to the​ ​IELTS Writing 7 Plus eBook​.

This eBook is designed to give you an extra resource to help you further your understanding of
the ​IELTS Writing test [Academic] ​and also improve your band score.
This e-Book can easily be downloaded to your computer or any connected device. A useful
resource to have whilst travelling – I’m sure you will agree.
I’m super excited you’ve joined me here at IELTS Writing 7 Plus and hope with hard work and
great studying you achieve your IELTS goals.

CONTENTS
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Basics of the IELTS Test [Academic]
Chapter 3: IELTS Writing Task 1

1. The Basics
2. Structure
3. Vocabulary
4. Model Answers

Chapter 3: IELTS Writing Task 2

1. The Basics
2. Structure
3. Vocabulary
4. Model Answers

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Basics of the IELTS Test [Academic]

First, it’s important we understand that there are two types of IELTS test. Your needs
and future goals dictate which test you will need to complete.

IELTS Academic: ​This test is aimed at students who wish to study abroad at a university
of other higher education institute. The Academic IELTS Test is often considered slightly
harder than the IELTS General test.

IELTS General: ​The IELTS General test is mostly taken by students who wish to emigrate
to live abroad. Often, this test is given for visa purposes in some countries.

Which countries require an IELTS test?

The IELTS test is required and accepted in many countries around the world. Nations
such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand all require certain
levels of IELTS scores for entry and visa purposes. Generally speaking, most countries
require at least a score of 6.0 to obtain access to a university or for other visa purposes.
The USA also often accepts IELTS for entry into their education system.

IELTS Academic Vs IELTS General

The tasks in each test are quite different. Understanding which test you need to
complete is extremely important. Both tests have a Speaking, Writing, Reading and
Listening section - though the Writing and Reading sections are different on each test.

Marking

You are scored from band 0 to 9 in all four sections of the IELTS test (Speaking, Writing,
Reading and Listening). Each of the four sections is scored equally at 25% to make up
your final bandscore. The average score of each section is found to give your final band
score.

Writing: 7 Speaking: 6.5 Listening: 6.5 Reading: 6.5

Overall Band Score = 6.5

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How am I scored?

IELTS examiners use an assessment document called band descriptors to grade and
mark students’ work. These band descriptors describe what level of fluency and types of
language a student needs to show to get each band score. Therefore, understanding the
band descriptors can be a great help!

The band descriptors are split into 4 sections that are marked at 25% equally: ​Task
achievement, coherence and cohesion, lexical resource ​and ​grammatical range and
accuracy.

Score Task achievement Coherence and Lexical resource Grammatical range

cohesion and accuracy

How well you answer the Organising your writing Your range of vocabulary Use of structures, tenses
question for easy reading and punctuation

9 Fully answers the Excellent use of A wide range of Native structures that
question with developed structuring to make vocabulary used. improve overall writing.
responses. reading very easy.

8 Very strong answer Strong use of structure Excellent range of A great range of
covering almost all key and paragraphing. vocabulary with mostly grammatical structures
ideas/information. Sentence follow logical native sounding forms. with minor errors.
order.

7 Some good highlighting of Good use of linking A sufficient range of Structures are used well
information or key words or sentence vocabulary used with although with minor
features. Not fully openers. Simple use of minor errors to accuracy. errors, such as in
developed. paragraphs. sentence structure.

6 A good attempt with Arranges writing well Attempts to use a range Use of sentence types
some answering of the with a progression of of language with errors evident although errors
question. Missed ideas. Some structure such as spelling and evident.
opportunities to and progression to general usage.
explore/explain further. writing.

5 Some partial answers Attempts made to A minimal range of A limited range of

given but not fully organise sentences and vocabulary with errors structures used.
explained or discussed. paragraphs with errors and repetition.
made.

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Understanding Band Scores

It can often help to describe the levels of an IELTS test graduate against levels of English
fluency. The table below gives information against other common test score.

IELTS CEFR Levels Overall Fluency

9.0 Fluent User

C2
8.5

8.0 Intermediate/Higher
C1
7.5

7.0

6.5 Developing Intermediate

B2
6.0

5.5

5.0 Low Intermediate

B1
4.5

How long can it take to improve my score?

The IELTS is a test of your English fluency. For the Academic IELTS, your fluency in
academic situations is measured - but still, your English fluency is the real measure of
your band score. Raising your English fluency can take time. To increase your band score
by 1.0 can take anywhere between 2 to 6 months depending on your levels of study.

Alongside studying IELTS Writing 7 Plus, make sure you are reading lots of high quality
English texts, too. Reading is scientifically proven to the fastest way to improve overall
levels of fluency (as well as grammatical accuracy) and vocabulary. Online resources
with articles such as the BBC, National Geographic or Popsci.com have great high quality
texts to read.

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IELTS Writing Task 1 [Academic]

What does an IELTS Writing Task 1 question look like?

Task 1 questions and visual information follow a very similar pattern. There are 6 main
types of data (or visual information) you might see: ​bar charts, line graphs, pie charts,
tables, maps ​and ​process diagrams. ​All question types require a report of just over 150
words within 20 minutes.

Here is an example of an IELTS Task 1 question:

“T​ he bar charts below illustrate the amount of fast food eaten in 3 countries over 6
years.​ S​ ummarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and
make comparisons where relevant.”​

Topic sentence​ - In this sentence, we get specific information about the visual
information shown.

Question sentence - ​The same for all Task 1 questions. This gives us the information
needed to answer the question ​(report the main features/make comparisons)​.

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Structure of Task 1 Academic

Following a set structure for both Task 1 and Task 2 can really help organise your
writing. By using the 4 paragraph structure, you can also score better marks in the
coherence and cohesion band descriptor.

In Task 1, we use the ​4 Step Structure​ to organise our writing.

● Introduction paragraph​ - ​A short paragraph that is in fact only one sentence long.
Here we paraphrase the topic sentence (first sentence) in the question.
● Overview​ ​-​ A 2 sentence paragraph that summarizes the overall big picture (main
points) of the data.
● Detail paragraph 1​ -​ Where we describe all the information for half of the data
shown.
● Detail paragraph 2​ ​-​ Where we describe all the information for the other half of
the data shown.

Introduction paragraph

In the introduction sentence, you will need to paraphrase the topic sentence from the
question. Paraphrase means to write something with the same meaning using synonyms
(words with similar or the same meaning).

“T​ he bar charts below illustrate the amount of fast food eaten in 3 countries over 6
years.​ Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and
make comparisons where relevant.”

Our introduction paragraph could look like this:

“The bar graph illustrates the total amount of fast food consumed in 3 countries over a 6
year period.”

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Overview paragraph

In our overview paragraph, we will write two sentences highlighting the major
information we can in the data. What is the big message you understand from looking at
the bar charts? Does the data drop or fall? Here is an example against a previous IELTS
Writing Task 1 bar chart.

Some obvious pieces of information we can see:

● South and North America have the highest percentages in both years.
● Africa and Asia are the lowest recorded countries in both years.
● Overall population (world) rises over the two time periods.

We can choose two of the points above to create two sentences for our overview
paragraph. It might look something like this:

“Overall, the percentage of people living in urban areas increases over the given time
period. Also, North and South America recorded the highest scores in both years.”

Detail paragraphs

In the two detail paragraphs we report all the key information shown in the data. Here
we can values, percentages and figures taken from the visual information. These two
paragraphs could make up to around 60% of our total word count.

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Vocabulary for Task 1 Academic

Our vocabulary and choice of language will make up 25% of our final score through the
examiner band descriptor, “Lexical Resource”. You must be able to use a range of
reasonably advanced pieces of vocabulary and phrases accurately to score over a 7 or
7.5.

When paraphrasing for our ​introduction ​sentence and paragraph, your understanding
of synonyms will be highly useful. Synonyms are words that have the same of similar
meanings. We can begin our introduction using the language below:

Example 1: The given bar chart and table illustrates the...

Example 2: The preceding map displays the…

When describing graphs or charts, the following vocabulary will be essential for
describing changes and trends to the data over a time period:

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Model Answers for IELTS Writing Task 1 Academic

Q: The charts below show the results of a survey about what people of different age
groups say makes them most happy. Summarise the information by selecting and
reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

The pie chart represents how people under and over the age of 30 are made to feel
happy.

Overall, achievement at work is the main reason people feel happy for both age groups.
Also, people over the age of 30 seem to consider security and family more important,
too.

31% of people under the age of 30 felt success at work was the main reason they were
made to feel happy, just 1% behind employment for people aged over 30. Furthermore,
doing hobbies in freetime also scored a similar percent for helping overall happiness
with the under 30s at 22% and over 30s at 24%. Other factors leading to a positive
feeling were voted at 14% for under 30s and 10% for over 30s.

People aged under 30 also felt that their appearance and travel were two important
factors in feeling happy. This age group ranked appearance at 18% and travel at 15%.
The over 30s, on the other hand, felt financial security and being with their family was
more important, voting finances at 20% and spending time with family at 14%.

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Q: The graph below shows the pollution levels in London between 1600 and 2000.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make
comparisons where relevant.

The line graph illustrates the changing levels of pollution due to smoke and sulphur
dioxide in London between the years 1600 to 2000.

Overall, both pollutants rise and fall in the similar years. Furthermore, we can see that
pollution has fallen drastically in recent years.

Beginning in the year 1600, the pollution caused by smoke and sulphur dioxide was
negligible after which it began to rise. Up to around the year 1720, sulphur dioxide
found in the atmosphere had risen drastically, from 50 micrograms before 1600 to over
750 micrograms in 1720. Similarly, smoke also increased somewhat, from just under 50
micrograms to around 240 micrograms in 1720.

After this, the magnitude of pollution continued to increase for the most part, up until
1880. The pollution caused due to sulphur dioxide reached the maximum in the year
1850 (approximately 900 micrograms per cubic metre) while the highest amount of
pollution caused by smoke was around the year 1900 (approximately 500 micrograms
per cubic metre). It was only after 1900 that the levels of pollution started decreasing
and reached nearly 0 by the year 2000.

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Q: The diagrams below show the changes that have taken place at Queen Mary
Hospital since its construction in 1960. Summarize the information by selecting and
reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

The blueprints of Queen Mary Hospital illustrate the changes in its infrastructure that
have happened from 1960 till the year 2000.

Overall, we can say that the hospital has clearly developed over the 40 year time period.
Buildings have been repurposed to suit the needs of the hospital at that time.

In 1960, the hospital was one of the four sections situated alongside the main road. It
was next to the shopping centre. Towards the south of the hospital was a car parking
and towards its south-west was farmland. By the year 1980, the hospital had expanded
to incorporate a pharmacy in it and the shopping centre had been converted into a
cancer centre. The farmland was transformed into a nursing home thereby turning a
majority of the portion by the road into a part of the Queen Mary Hospital.

The year 2000 saw a major change in the infrastructure of the Queen Mary Hospital.
While the hospital and pharmacy remained the same in size, the cancer centre had
almost tripled in size. The nursing home had shifted to take up the left half of the car
park while the car park had been reduced to half its original size.

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IELTS Writing Task 2 [Academic]

What does an IELTS Writing Task 2 question look like?

There are 5 main question types for IELTS Writing Task 2. The question (and essay) is
very different to the questions seen in IELTS Writing Task 1. Here are 3 examples of
IELTS Writing Task 2 questions:

“Some people feel that having a country where there is a large mix of cultures and
nationalities living there can increase the economy. Do you agree or disagree?”

“Some people feel that giving money is the best gift for teenagers whilst others disagree.
Discuss both sides and give your opinion.

“Many companies use advertising to increase their sales. What makes a successful
advertisement? What are some of the problems of advertisements?”

For IELTS Writing Task 2, the questions types are: ​Agree or disagree (opinion),
advantages and disadvantages, discussion, problem/solution ​and 2 ​ part question. ​All
questions require a response of around 250 words, written within a 40 minute period.

Much like the Task 1 questions, we can split the Task 2 questions into 2 sentences. A
topic sentence ​and a ​question sentence​.

“​The rising use of social media has made many people feel much lonelier.​ ​Do you agree
or disagree?​”

The topic sentence gives us all the information about what the question is about. The
question sentence will tell us what type of question we are answering. By understanding
the question type, we can begin planning to structure our essay.

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Structure of Task 2 Academic

Much like in Task 1, we can follow a 4 step structure to help write our essay. We can use
this 4 step structure for all question types.

In Task 2, the ​4 step structure ​will look like this:

● Introduction paragraph​ - ​A 3 sentence paragraph that opens up your Task 2

essay and paraphrases the question.
● Support paragraph 1​ -​ ​ This is where we add all of our thinking and real-life
examples to answer the question.
● Support paragraph 2​ -​ ​ The second of our supporting paragraphs where the bulk
of our writing will go.
● Conclusion​ ​-​ One or two sentences long that (depending on question type) will
also give your opinion.

The Introduction Paragraph

We can call the three sentences in our introductory paragraph: ​Paraphrase, plan ​and
outline.​ In our paraphrase sentence, we rewrite the ​topic sentence ​from the question.
The plan sentence identifies the question type and states what our essay will address
and the outline sentence summarizes what will be included in each supporting
paragraph.

“​Employers should give longer holidays to encourage staff to work more productively.​
Do you agree or disagree?”

Paraphrase ​/ ​Plan ​/ ​Outline

“​Businesses should start allowing workers to take longer annual leave to encourage
them to work better.​ ​In this essay, I will agree with this statement and give examples
for why.​ Firstly, I will discuss the benefits of overall well-being and secondly I will
explore how productivity can be increased by working less hours.​”

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Supporting Paragraphs

Our supporting paragraphs make up the bulk of our writing in the Task 2 essays. It is
highly important you give extra explanations for your thinking and back this up with an
example to again give further information. The most important sentences are ​topic,
support ​and ​example​ sentences.

Topic Sentence: Introduces your thinking and ideas.

Support Sentence: Gives further information and states why this idea is important.
Example Sentence: Gives a real life example to add detail.

“​Employers should give longer holidays to encourage staff to work more productively.​
Do you agree or disagree?”

In this question example above, I would like to discuss how allowing more time for
workers will make them happier and therefore more committed to completing tasks.
Using the three sentences above, it could look something like this:

“​It seems clear to me that by giving staff more time away from work will raise overall
levels of moral.​ W​ hen people are happy, they are often more motivated to complete
more tasks.​ F​ or example, if a person feels positively about their work, they will be more
happy to do their work for them.​”

Conclusion Paragraphs

Our conclusion paragraphs can be either be a 1 or 2 sentences long depending on the

question type, or if the question explicitly asks you for your opinion. For the Agree or
Disagree question type,it is recommended to give your opinion. At times, other question
types may ask for your opinion, too.

The first sentence in your conclusion is an overview and summary type sentence. It gives
an overall picture of the topic sentence from the question. The second sentence can be
our opinion sentence if not omitted.

“In conclusion, it is easily seen how many people would argue for and against more
holidays. In my opinion people should be allowed more vacation time.”

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Vocabulary for Task 1 Academic

Our choice of vocabulary must be fairly accurate, advanced and without too much
repetition. Your Task 2 essay is more like an academic paper exploring common global
events. For this reason, your ability to use a range of ​reasoning phrases, opinion
openers ​and ​connectives ​will be highly useful. This can also very much help your
coherence and cohesion bandscore.

Here is some very useful language to connect ideas in your sentences. We call these
phrases ​connectives ​and they can help you organise your writing into logical steps.

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Model Answers for IELTS Writing Task 2 Academic

Most modern families have both parents working and as a result children spend less
and less time with their parents. What is the reason for this? What solutions can you
suggest?

The quality and quantity of time that parents used to spend with their children has
considerably reduced as families have become more modern and both parents have
started to work. In this essay, I will discuss the reasons for this growing problem and
explore possible solutions. Firstly, I will discuss the financial reasons for this growing
problem. Secondly, I will consider how globalisation may also be a reason for parents
spending less time with their children.

To begin with, it’s clear that the cost of childcare is extremely expensive for almost all
parents who need someone to look after their children. People who live in large cities
have more options for nurseries than elsewhere, but the prices are still not affordable.
A possible solution to this problem could be to have government subsidised and
discounted childcare available to all parents, possibly under a certain yearly salary. By
doing this, parents will be able to work only one job with normal hours, therefore
spending more time with their children.

Another reason parents and children are spending less time together could be due to
the low cost and easily available transport now open. Many adults are travelling more,
often for work commitments. For this reason they are unable to spend a lot of time with
their children, or simply prefer to holiday. Especially for work, employers should
consider this when asking parents to travel for their jobs. It would enable families to
spend more quality time together.

In conclusion, with both parents in the family having full time jobs, their time with their
children is compromised leading to adverse impact on the children.

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Celebrities make a very good living out of media attention and have chosen to live in
the public spotlight. They have no right to complain when they feel the media are
intruding on their privacy.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?

Being a celebrity requires a person to be ready for a life that is subject to public scrutiny.
In this essay, I will discuss both sides of this thinking into whether it is fair or unfair for
how celebrities are treated. Firstly, I will discuss why is fair that celebrities should be put
under public scrutiny. Secondly, I will consider why it might be unfair for the media and
public to scrutinise their lifestyles.

There are a number of celebrities who choose to do everything in public or to make sure
whatever they do reaches the public eyes and ears. There are some celebrities who
have chosen to make a show out of their everyday lives so people can see what they do
on a daily basis. For example, it is now very popular for TV shows to follow people 24
hours a day and let people see exactly how they live. It is the celebrity’s choice to have
this kind of lifestyle and they also make a lot of money from doing this. For this reason,
they should feel okay with people looking closely at their lifestyles and making
judgements on them.

Once a celebrity gets public attention, it is extremely difficult to get away from it. The
public is always hungry to know more and the media will always do whatever gets it
more views and therefore, more money. However, no matter how famous a person is
and whether or not they choose to do what they do, publicly, it is important that the
media respects their privacy. Celebrities too are normal people who are as entitled to
privacy as a non-celebrity.

With media gaining unquestionable power it is important for the government to set
regulations on the extent to which they can publicise the lives of celebrities. In my
opinion, everyone should be allowed a level of privacy.

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Some​ ​people choose to eat no meat or fish. They believe that this is not only better
for their own health but also benefits the environment as a whole.

Discuss this view and give your own opinion.

There are a number of people who believe the only way to maintain good health while
benefiting the environment at large is by refraining from eating meat and fish. In this
essay, I will discuss this thinking and share my opinion on the matter. Firstly, I will
consider the environmental benefits of being vegetarian. Then, I will consider the health
implications of eating a meat free diet.

Environmental benefit is a major factor that leads people to choose a vegetarian diet.
The source of all non-vegetarian food is animals and to eat a non-vegetarian meal
means to kill an animal. Many people think of it as an ethical issue which is why they
find it difficult to eat fish and meat. For example, it is now widely known that feeding a
cow costs a lot of money due to the amount of food needed to be grown to feed the
cows. It is much more environmentally friendly to eat vegetables than a cow.

Some people shift towards vegetarianism due to health concerns believing that eating
too much meat will invite unwanted health problems. While it is true that health
problems such as swine flu and ringworm happen because of eating infected meat, if
precautions are taken while cooking the meat and if it is bought from a hygienic store,
these problems can be countered. Fish and meats contain some nutrients such as
proteins, vitamin B12 and omega fatty acids that cannot be found in plant based food.
They are essential for a person to be healthy and if an individual doesn’t consume meat
and fish directly, they will have to consume supplements to obtain those nutrients.
These supplements are derived from animals, which is why it is better to consume
healthy fish and meat instead of relying on health supplements later on.

It is clear that there are many reasons for becoming a vegetarian. In my opinion, I think
that it is important to maintain a balanced diet which is not possible by abstaining from
eating fish and meat.

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