The Key to IELTS Academic Writing Task 1

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• Coherence and cohesion

  • The first sentence in a paragraph should introduce the main topic.

    • It should be followed by sentences expanding on the main idea.

  • Failure to do so can confuse the reader and impact the coherence and cohesion score.

• Example of coherence issue

  • Given example: "Firstly, in the upper river, the water moves slowly."

    • Expectation: More information about the water or different parts of the river.

  • Incorrect continuation: Talks about salmon eggs instead of the water movement.

    • Solution: Restructure the sentence to maintain coherence.

  • Importance of a relative clause to connect ideas logically.

• Guidelines for writing

  • New information at the end of a sentence should become the subject of the next sentence.

  • Use a zig-zag pattern to maintain clarity in writing.

• Practice exercises

  • Arrange sentences in a process summary in the correct order.

  • Practice varying sentence structures for better coherence.

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• Use of cohesive devices

  • Cohesive words like "First," "Then," "Next," etc., help in organizing steps in a process.

  • Overreliance on these devices can limit scoring above Band 6 or 6.5.

• Examiner's feedback on sentence structure

  • Varying sentence structures is crucial for higher scores.

  • Examiner suggests varying the position of markers in sentences for improved scores.

• Importance of sentence structure variation

  • Varying sentence structures is a key idea for enhancing writing quality.

  • Avoid always beginning sentences with cohesive devices for better results.

• Key idea

  • Vary sentence structures in process tasks by not consistently starting with cohesive devices like "First," "