This is an IELTS Energy Podcast, Episode 1524.
Which is more important for IELTS writing, grammar or supporting ideas?
Welcome to the IELTS Energy podcast from All Ears English.
Downloaded more than 35 million times with examiner trained IELTS whiz, Aubrey Carter and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer.
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Which of these takes more time to increase?
Your grammar score or your task response score?
Find out today and learn how to prepare for IELTS in a smart way.
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Hey there, Aubrey.
Welcome back.
How's it going today?
Yes.
Hi, Lindsay.
I'm great.
How are you?
Good.
Glad to be here talking about IELTS, helping our students get that seven or higher.
Yes.
And we got a really interesting question that we are diving into today.
So, Lindsay, I'm going to ask you to start us out.
What do you think is more important for your IELTS writing score grammar or supporting your idea as well?
Well, you know, you would think it would be grammar, right?
You would think I'm taking an English test.
I have to study grammar.
But there's actually some catches there, which is why it's so important to study strategy and understand how the examiner scores you.
So, yeah, it's not that easy of an answer.
So I'm excited to dive into this.
Let's first read the question that we got.
And then we're going to provide a lot of details today about the scoring system, because that's one of the most important things is that you really understand what the examiner is looking for in your IELTS essays.
One hundred percent.
So, Aubrey, I'll go ahead and read the question.
This is from W. Jack.
What should I do to get a high band score in the writing section?
Should I focus on constructing good main ideas or focus on grammar and make it simple?
Great question.
It is a great question, right?
And there's actually a lot here because, of course, you need both, right?
Yes, you're being scored on your grammar, and you are also being scored on your ideas for the task.
Response score.
So the question really is about what should you be spending your time on?
And in order to know that, you need to know how much time you have and you need to understand how these scores are calculated.
Yeah, because when we start to talk about time, our listeners are busy.
They have families.
They have jobs.
We don't have time to mess around here, right?
We're adults.
We're not in necessarily in high school or middle school where we have the whole day free.
So we can't afford to waste time on the wrong things, Aubrey.
Exactly.
You have to be really savvy about how you spend your time.
And so let's first dive into grammar.
We want to make sure you understand the grammar score and then you know, thinking about, how much time would it take to improve it, even just one band score.
So first of all, Lindsay, a band five in grammar, what does this look like?
Well, what happens here?
The reason an examiner would give you a band five is that you understand and you use just basic grammar structures.
You may attempt complex structures, but they usually have errors.
OK.
And you also go.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You also make frequent mistakes that might affect your clarity.
Things like verb tense, subject verb agreement, article use, punctuation, word order.
You're making frequent mistakes, okay?
Exactly, right?
A lot of mistakes and you can still score a band five in grammar.
And then band six.
You are attempting simple and complex sentences, but there still will be noticeable grammar errors.
But the difference is that these won't seriously affect meaning, whereas in band five they might right.
So for a band six, your range is wider.
Accuracy is still a weakness.
But there are more complex structures, even though many of these have errors, but your basic grammar is mostly correct, so less errors with verb tense subject verb agreement, etc.
Yes, let's talk about the magical band seven.
Right, that is the one that many people are looking for.
Um, with this band seven, the errors are less frequent and they're less disruptive.
Right, they don't mess up everything you're trying to say and make it confusing, Exactly right.
A band 7 exhibits a really good range of simple and complex sentences.
Most of them are accurate.
You're using a wide range of verb tenses, you know, the conditional, whatever is appropriate for the sentence.
There still will be some errors with complex grammar, but they don't reduce clarity, like you were saying Lindsay, right?
But there'll be minor slips, errors with prepositions, articles, collocations, right?
A band seven is difficult to achieve.
Most students score band six in grammar.
It can take studying grammar, studying English, years and years in order to get that elusive band seven.
So you just can't make a ton of errors to score a seven.
So then what's our advice to our listeners, Aubrey?
I mean, how should we be increasing our grammar score?
What should we be doing?
Yeah, because this is a lot, right?
It can take up to a year to increase your grammar score one band.
If you're at a five now... it might be a year to get up to that six.
And if you're at a six, it could take a year to get up to seven.
And most people don't spend a year studying for IELTS, right?
Most people don't have that kind of time.
Most people don't have a year.
Exactly.
Right.
And if you're doing nothing but studying grammar, these other scores.
Grammar is just one of four scores.
And if that's the only one you focus on and these others are low, you still won't get the overall seven you need.
So this is why you've heard us say quite a bit, many students focus too much on grammar.
That can't be the only thing you're thinking about, right?
Grammar books won't be the most useful thing for you.
Instead, we recommend that you learn grammar as you build fluency in English.
So observe the correct grammar that you're hearing while you listen to English.
That you're seeing while you read English.
And as you build the fluency, consistently improve in all of these areas for your grammar.
I like that approach.
So it's kind of learning in a passive form, but you're not just reading writing in your daily life, but you're also practicing for the reading test, where you will observe correct grammar right.
Exactly.
So we're not saying don't spend any time on grammar, but rather than say okay, for an hour today I'm going to study grammar.
And then you're studying verb forms and checking sentences.
Instead, as you are building fluency, observe the correct grammar, pay attention to it, right?
Don't just listen to a podcast passively.
Spend like maybe 10 minutes of that time really paying attention to the grammar that's being used by that podcast host.
And that's how you're improving your overall grammar level.
As you're improving fluency and improving test skills, right?
Even taking our course, you will see correct grammar in the course, in the writing samples, in the reading assessments.
And that's another place to observe that correct grammar.
So it's a more passive form of listening, Aubrey.
I like that idea.
Exactly.
Yes.
I'll see you next time.
We publish five days a week.
So open your search box and search for All Ears English and hit follow now.
Come hang out with your hosts, me, Aubrey, Lindsay, and Michelle.
See you there.
All right, Aubrey.
So what else do we need to know?
This idea of supporting ideas.
Tell us about it.
Yeah.
So, because it can take up to a year to improve grammar scores, it is often better to focus on the other scores, especially if you don't have a lot of time.
So supporting ideas is a big part of the task response score.
That's not all it is, right?
Your opinion has to be clear and consistent, right?
There are other things that are involved with the task response score.
Because if you present an opinion or a main idea with no support, with no explanation, examples or details, your task response score will still go down.
So it's about working smarter, not harder.
Like you said, Lindsay, you're busy professionals.
You're busy.
We want to make sure that you are making the most with all of the time that you have.
And this is a valuable way to spend your time is to make sure that you know how to brainstorm an essay and Come up with solid main ideas and support those ideas so that you can score an eight or even a nine for the task response score and boost your overall writing score.
Yeah, I love it.
So let's talk a little bit about task response.
What does a band five, six, and seven actually look like when it comes to your task response score?
Because that's really what you're talking about with supporting ideas, right, Aubrey?
Exactly.
Yeah.
So, opinion aside right, we're focusing on supporting your ideas, which is part of your task.
Response score.
And you might score band five or six in task response if your argument seems undeveloped or unclear.
There aren't examples.
So let's first look at a band five in task response.
What does that look like, Lindsay?
So the candidate presents some main ideas, but they are limited and they're not sufficiently developed.
So there may be some irrelevant detail as well that was just kind of thrown in there.
Yes.
And we often see this when there are too many ideas.
Maybe you're brainstorming and you think of a lot of really good ideas, but then there's no time and no room to support any of them, to provide that interesting detail, those examples, to sort of prove to the examiner that it's a good idea.
So you just kind of throw it in there, right?
That's what people are doing when they get the band five.
What about band six, Aubrey?
What are people doing when they get a band six for tax?
So for band six, there are relevant ideas given, but again, they're insufficiently developed.
So you're not going to see a lot of irrelevant details for band six, or you're going to score a five right.
Everything is on topic, but some of your ideas don't have enough detail, don't have examples.
So this will happen.
If you, in your conclusion, if you throw out a new idea, we'll see students do this.
Sometimes that's not covered in the body paragraph.
So there's no detail.
You can't score higher than a six when that happens.
Yeah, we definitely don't want to do that.
Don't know why we would do that.
Yeah, let's stay away from that.
And then the magic seven, right?
And task response looks like this.
The ideas are extended and they're supported with examples and reasoning.
So we're getting all the things we just didn't see in five and six.
Exactly.
Right.
We have those supporting details.
We have examples so that every new idea in your essay is supported.
That's when you're scoring band seven or even higher.
These other scores, task response vocabulary.
You have the potential to get at eight or even a nine on these scores, which would pull even if you score a six on grammar.
This would pull up your overall score.
What else do we need to know today, Aubrey?
Well, we want to show a couple of quick examples.
So, for example, if the examiner decides that your ideas are unclear or vague right, this means they're too general.
They're underdeveloped.
So, for example, if you're asked about technology Lindsay, give us an example of a couple of sentences that are just too general, not developed enough.
Yeah, this here is very broad, right?
Too general.
Technology is beneficial.
It helps people a lot.
I mean, what am I really saying there?
It's not specific.
Right.
Exactly.
The examiner is left thinking, what kind of technology are you talking about?
Who does it help?
Who are people?
Right.
We need those supporting details of who what exact technology you're talking about and who it helps.
And I think the word people or the word a lot are both two triggers that should trigger and tell you I'm being too vague.
Yes, absolutely.
Good point.
Right.
And then little or no support for ideas means no explanation, not enough examples or no reasoning.
Right.
We're just throwing out ideas.
So, Lindsay, give us an example.
If your topic is education, something that would just be unsupported.
Okay.
Here's a no support answer.
Education is important.
It should be better.
Teachers must work hard.
Okay.
Way too broad.
Yeah, so we're seeing opinions here, right?
But there's no explanation.
There's no example.
And often we will see a student write sort of a full paragraph.
That's just sort of these general ideas, not getting specific, not providing specific examples.
And then sometimes, when I'll talk to a student, they'll say well, I didn't want to use details from my own life.
This is different from academic writing.
The instructions for IELTS writing tells you use details, use examples from your own experience.
So absolutely, you can use examples from your life.
Yes, I don't know who's telling people not to use examples from their lives, right?
It could be there are teachers out there saying that, or you've possibly learned about academic writing which will discourage this.
IELTS writing is different.
Totally.
What about unsupported ideas?
Yeah.
So, for example, if your essay is about public transit, maybe you know an unsupported idea would be governments should invest more in public transport.
It is better for everyone.
So just very general, not providing any specifics here.
And Lindsay, give us the same idea, but a well-supported idea.
Okay.
We can make this a supported idea by saying governments should invest more in public transport and Because it reduces traffic congestion.
For instance, cities like Tokyo and Singapore have efficient train systems that encourage people to leave their cars at home.
So we just pull an example, right?
Of cities in the world where it's working, right?
Exactly, right?
You have a why, right?
You're giving the examiner that it's a good idea.
An example of somewhere where it actually affects real people, right?
All right.
And then another liability is irrelevant or off topic ideas, Aubrey.
Yes, which does happen a lot.
So let's say the task is some people think schools should focus on science.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?
What would be an answer that would be completely off topic?
Okay.
Science is important.
Art and music classes are also extremely vital for young adults.
So I'm moving from science.
I didn't build that out at all.
And I moved into art and music.
Yes.
And this does actually happen a lot, because often a student will read a topic and they'll feel like OK, I answered that question.
I said science is important, but I feel more passionate, passionately about something else.
And then they'll start writing about maybe art and music or a different kind of technology than is being asked about.
And suddenly your whole essay is off topic.
I could see how that could happen.
There's a real temptation to talk about what we know, but that doesn't get us the score we need.
Exactly.
All of your ideas have to be on topic.
They have to be answering the question that you're asked.
So refer back often to the topic.
Read it again.
Make sure that your brainstorm and the ideas that you're giving the supporting detail is on topic is directly answering that question.
Yes.
And before we finish up with today's episode, let's go over.
Well, when we do finish, let's go over to IELTS Energy 1517 and check out this episode.
Can't get the seven you need on IELTS writing test two, three tips.
All right.
Yes, that was an amazing episode.
Scroll up if you missed it for some very important tips to push your score up to the seven.
So many of our students are stuck at that six.
And there are specific things that you can do, even if you're taking the exam within the next few weeks, that could push you up to that seven.
Yes.
Aubrey, any final takeaway for our listeners?
We covered a lot of good stuff today.
Where should we leave them?
Yeah.
The bottom line is if you have to choose one or the other, you don't have a lot of time.
You need to make sure that you are able to support your ideas in writing test two.
Most likely for the average student out there, you're going to score a six on grammar.
There's not a lot that could be done in the next few weeks to push that score up.
And that's OK.
That's learning grammar.
Improving grammar is going to take some time.
But if you know what the examiner is looking for for that task response score, make sure you can support your ideas to get a higher score in that section.
It's all about being a smart person, smart candidate in the way we prepare a break, right?
It's not who studies the most, it's who studies the smartest.
So that's it right there.
Absolutely.
I feel like you guys need that framed on your wall, right?
Study smarter, not harder.
Yes, for sure.
Aubrey, thanks for being on the podcast today.
I'll see you very soon.
That's awesome.
See you guys next time.
All right.
Bye.
Thanks for listening to IELTS Energy.
Hit subscribe now, and don't forget to find your estimated band score at allearsenglishcom.
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