In this tutorial, we look at useful phrases you can use in your next IELTS essay.

We look at:

Useful phrases for your essay introduction, body paragraphs and conclusion

How to adapt these phrases for your essays

Why these phrases will improve your grammatical accuracy

How you can use these phrases to impress the examiner

Join many other students who have achieved IELTS success with our online IELTS course or get instant feedback with our online essay checker.

You can download or listen to the full tutorial here:

| Direct Download Here | Stitcher | iTunes | Spotify

 

In this tutorial, we speak with Iniobong Obot from North Carolina Central University who shares his experience as a former international student at the university.

We discuss:

What life is like in Durham, North Carolina

Why Iniobong decided to study at NCCU

Iniobong’s experience as an international student at NCCU

What Iniobong loved the most about studying at NCCU

His best advice to international students looking to study in the US

If you’re a prospective international student and need to pass for university then we can help you achieve IELTS success. Click here to get started.

You can download or listen to the audio version here:

| Direct Download Here | Stitcher | iTunes | Spotify |

 

In this tutorial, we discuss how to practise for the IELTS Reading exam.

Listen and you will learn:

The different types of reading

What active reading is and how you can practise it

Important habits you need to pass the IELTS reading test

Exercises you can do to improve your reading skills

If you need more help with the IELTS Reading exam, click here to sign up for our IELTS Reading Course.

You can download or listen to the full tutorial here:

| Direct Download Here | Stitcher | iTunes | Spotify

 

In this tutorial, we look at tips to make your IELTS essay more academic in 5 minutes.

We look at:

How to use “hedging” to upgrade your essay and make it sound more academic

Three advantages of using hedging in your essays

How to spot sentences in your essays that need to be hedged

What to avoid in your essays to make them more academic

Join many other students who have achieved IELTS success with our online IELTS course or get instant feedback with our online essay checker.

You can download or listen to the full tutorial here:

| Direct Download Here | Stitcher | iTunes | Spotify

 

In this tutorial, Bisola shares her experience as an online international student studying at the University of Edinburgh.

We discuss:

Why she chose MSc Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh

5 practice tips that helped Bisola pass IELTS (she scored 7.5 in writing!)

The most difficult part of her journey

All about her experience studying online at the University of Edinburgh

Bisola’s favourite aspect of the MSc Epidemiology programme

Best advice to those looking to study in the UK

If you’re a prospective international student and need to pass for university then we can help you achieve IELTS success. Click here to get started.

You can download or listen to the audio version here:

| Direct Download Here | Stitcher | iTunes | Spotify |

 

In this tutorial, we look at a few easy ways to improve cohesion in IELTS Task 2.

You will learn:

Five tips to boost cohesion in IELTS Task 2

How to reduce mistakes in your writing

Examples of four-word collocations to improve Task 2 cohesion  (use these in any type of essay)

How to use these collocations in sentences to gain more points (with examples in sentences!)

How to write more coherent paragraphs

Vocabulary examples to help your essay become more coherent

Join many other students who have achieved IELTS success with our online IELTS course or get instant feedback with our online essay checker.

You can download or listen to the full tutorial here:

| Direct Download Here | Stitcher | iTunes | Spotify

 

In this tutorial, we discuss five tips to improve your IELTS Speaking skills.

You will learn:

Five tips to improve your IELTS speaking based on the marking criteria

A key difference between the IELTS speaking and IELTS Writing test

An interesting tip to make your speaking sound more fluent

How to extend your answers during the IELTS speaking test

Join many others who have achieved IELTS success with our Speaking confidence course.

You can download or listen to the full tutorial here:

| Direct Download Here | Stitcher | iTunes | Spotify

 

In this tutorial, Loan Nguyen shares her study abroad experience from Vietnam to the University of Hull in England.

We discuss:

Why Loan decided to study at the University of Hull

How Loan achieved success in IELTS 

How Loan adjusted to British accents since living in England

Loan’s personal experience as an international student at the University of Hull

If you’re a prospective international student and need to pass for university then we can help you achieve IELTS success. Click here to get started.

You can download or listen to the audio version here:

| Direct Download Here | Stitcher | iTunes | Spotify |

 

In this tutorial, we discuss using AI (Artificial Intelligence) for your essay writing and scholarship applications with Jim from The Jasper Whisperer.

We look at: 

How AI essay writing software works

How to write a personal statement for university applications with artificial intelligence

Can university admissions committees tell if an essay is AI-Generated?

Why AI content generation software is better than human writers for university essays

Read more here.

Join many other students who have achieved IELTS success with our online IELTS course or get instant feedback with our online essay checker.

You can download or listen to the full tutorial here:

| Direct Download Here | Stitcher | iTunes | Spotify

 

In this tutorial, ex-examiner Robert shares how to score higher in IELTS Writing with cohesive devices.

We look at:

* What are cohesive devices?

* How to score higher with cohesive devices

* How IELTS examiners score your cohesion

* The best ways to practise using cohesive devices

* Overuse and Underuse of Cohesive Devices

* Sample Task 2 Essay Question

* Sample answer with examiner’s comments on the use of cohesive devices

What are cohesive devices?

Cohesive devices are words we sometimes call conjunctions or connectors or linking words, words that join parts of sentences together or one sentence to another to show something like cause and effect, contrast, to give an example or to add more information. 

How IELTS examiners score your cohesion

According to the descriptors for IELTS writing for Task 2, starting with Band 9 and scrolling down to Band 5, it’s interesting to see how “cohesive devices” start out being taken for granted, always there but not noticed. 

Band 9:  “uses cohesion in such a way that it attracts no attention”

Band 8: “manages all aspects of cohesion well”

Band 7: “uses a range of cohesive devices appropriately” but that there “may be some over or under use”

Band 6: “cohesive devices are used “effectively”, cohesion within and/or between sentences may be “faulty or mechanical”

Band 5: “there may be repetitions or lack of referencing or substitution”

Notice how at higher Bands this is something not worth a mention as we assume the test taker can handle it well, but when the examiner sits up and takes notice, it’s because he or she has to make more of an effort to understand: the cohesive devices are not quite how they should be. 

Overuse and Underuse of Cohesive Devices

Cohesive devices will catch the examiner’s attention for two main reasons. One is to help in the creation of meaning, to link ideas together so that the reader, the examiner, in this case, can follow our argument. If we overuse them, we are perhaps overstating our point of view. i.e. 

“On the other hand, however, but it’s not common, a writer may not use cohesive devices although they may be needed”. 

Underuse is the other problem. “It’s not common, a writer may not use cohesive devices. They may be needed.” But that was zero use rather than underuse!

There’s also the question of the accurate use of these devices. The meaning may be there but the “grammar” is wrong. An examiner would not like to read: “However the writer has underused cohesive devices, the overall idea is relatively clear.” Can you correct that?

 

Sample Task 2 Essay Question with examiner’s comments

Below is an example from the Cambridge IELTS series (Cambridge IELTS 12, Test 2), where a sample essay is given together with an examiner’s grade and comments. We’ll look very briefly at that, then see how, starting at the planning stage, cohesive devices could help us write a Band 7 and above essay. 

Here’s the essay title:

This type of essay question where we are asked to discuss advantages and disadvantages may be a great opportunity to show off our range of cohesive devices. 

Examiner’s comments

The examiner mentions that in the sample essay, “cohesive devices are used rather mechanically” and looking through the essay, it is clear that, although the test taker does connect a few ideas together with what we can call “adding” linkers by using also, one of the advantages, another disadvantage, furthermore and includes “for example” once, the range is limited as well as the use of pronoun referencing and substitution. Words like “study”, “education” and “teachers” are repeated around 5 or 6 times each,