Irina Lutsenko: IELTS, writing, cohesion

IELTS Writing Task 1: articles with category nouns 📊

In #IELTS writing Task 1 pictures, you see ordinary nouns without any articles. This is because these nouns are just diagram labels, not parts of full, grammatical sentences.

When you write your answer in full sentences, you must treat these diagram label nouns as usual nouns and use articles accordingly.

❌ This is wrong: "Only 10% of water was used in garden," or "Less water was used by industrial sector."

A singular countable noun must have an article - or be turned into a plural noun.

✅ Fixes: "Only 10% of water was used in gardens," or "Less water was used by the industrial sector."

I know this sounds very basic, but even high level students make this mistake. Make sure to proofread your answer for missing articles.

To praise or not to praise?

A lot has been said about AI, but I am facing one dilemma no one else is talking about. 

Praise. 

With the advent of AI, I've been getting more and more impeccable or near-impeccable #IELTS essays. I understand they might not be AI-generated. They might be AI-enhanced. But they are still not original student's work. 

So how do I praise the student or the essay?

In the past, I might have said something like, "You really did a great job this time. I like the way you ... ." 

I can no longer say that. I cannot say, "You did a great job."  Who is that "you" that did a great job? 

At present, I refrain from praising any writing that has a distinct AI smell. 

Talk to me. ❤️

Avoiding repetitions in #IELTS Writing Task 1 - elegantly so 📊

One of my missions in my IELTS Writing classes is to teach students out of the "synonyms" mindset.

There are very few good synonyms for key words in IELTS writing task 1. And we all intuitively understand that repetitions are only fine if there aren’t too many of them.

Solution? As shown in the image above, you can simply not say the key word.

Instead of saying "The rest of the Americans don't celebrate... " you can say "The rest don't celebrate Thanksgiving."

Or instead of "A quarter of the respondents expect to ... " you can say "A quarter expect ... ."

And you have saved yourself a bunch of repetitions of "Americans" and "respondents," which you can comfortably use elsewhere in the answer instead of looking for synonyms.

📊 Screenshot from: Pew Research link.

#ieltswritingtask1

My #IELTS Writing Task 1 sample answer 🐸

When I first saw this task, I thought someone misreported it. But then I saw it again - and decided to write.

One problem I see is that there is little information. My first version was basically over after the overview. Another problem is that it's not exactly clear what to compare.

Anyway, here is the 233 words I managed to produce. (It seems I was playing a game "Write more words").

"The diagram shows the fire evacuation plan for the second floor of a student residence hall. The floor has seven bedrooms and two emergency exits with staircases leading to two different meeting points outside. The exit routes, however, are not evenly distributed: one is reserved for three rooms and has a more spacious access area, while the other will have to accommodate occupants from four rooms in a smaller space.

The first staircase, leading to Meeting point 1, is close to bedrooms 1-3, with rooms 1 and 2 adjacent to each other and room 3 on the opposite side. The doors of all three rooms are a short distance from the exit, which ensures that all occupants can reach the staircase quickly. In addition, this exit access area is spacious as there is an empty space the size of a room proximate to the staircase.

The staircase leading to Meeting Point 2 is designated for bedrooms 4-7, all adjoining each other, with rooms 4-5 located fairly close to it and rooms 6-7 further down the corridor. In front of the exit is an elevator; as it must not be used during a fire, its occupants will have to leave it and evacuate via the stairs. Given the potentially larger number of evacuees and the position of the elevator, this evacuation path is likely to be more crowded in the event of a fire."

Let me know what you think.

🐸 https://t.me/irinalutsenko

#Irina_writes_IELTS #ieltswritingtask1

Irina be watching a documentary about the Inca...

... but always be thinking about #IELTS writing task 1.

What trend did the Inca buck?

While most empires stretched west-east, the Inca bucked that trend as their empire stretched north-south.

🦋 We'll burn that bridge when we come to it...

Yes, burn. This mix of idioms is bound to make your reader smile and jazz up your text - whether that be a CPE article or a blog post.

To learn to put some humor into your writing, why don't you join our Writing Incubator workshop this Sunday?

🦋 "Writing Incubator" is a series of workshops by stellar professionals who love writing. Please welcome our fourth workshop of the season: "Humor in Writing: Next Level" by Evgenia Karabatova

In this workshop, you'll practice some devices that will help you weave humor into your narrative so seamlessly that readers laugh without quite knowing why.

The humor isn’t magic — it’s craft. And you’re absolutely ready to master it.

📅 23 November, Sunday, 11:00 am MSK, Zoom

💌 The workshop is free. To join, message me @iraluts with a meaningful ending to this comment, "Wow, I can't miss this one! I'd love to join because ... ."

❗️ Please note that this is a workshop, not a webinar or a lecture. If you join, you have to write. "Ghosts" will be kicked out. We don't record our workshops, so it's a safe space to participate.

🦋 Writing Incubator - where writing skills hatch 🦋

My students know I am a vociferous opponent of using translation in teaching.

Yes, vociferous.

You can argue, frothing at the mouth, that benefits abound. And I will argue, frothing at the mouth, that translation is to blame for the fact that when a person joins a C1+ writing group, it turns out they don't know the difference between:

- It is good.

- This is good.

- That is good.

Or they think they do and will even be able to offer an explanation. But then, without batting an eye, they will write something like: "I wrote an essay. It is good because I never write."

Translation is a source of future mistakes. (c) Irina Lutsenko

Due to the global #IELTS debacle, I am now eligible for a free IELTS resit. But where? ✈️

Where would you recommend? I want a combination of sightseeing and a good test venue (comfy chairs, lots of light).

Drop your recommendations in the comments. 💌

And by the way, the chairs are not to be underestimated given how much time we have to sit still during the test.

And the #IELTS world exploded yesterday. And in this explosion, my third 9 was born. ⭐️

In case you don't know what I am talking about: many people got emails from IELTS yesterday about a technical issue that affected some test results over the last couple of years. Many listening and reading scores were increased, some by 1.5! My own reading score was increased from 8.5 to 9, which lead to an overall 9.

On the one hand, this makes IELTS look unprofessional and untrustworthy. But on the other, this move might actually be laudable: at least they came clean and tried to rectify the injustice. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion in the comments.

Speaking of rectifying the injustice...

Those affected were offered a free resit or a full refund. Which would you take? ❓

#ieltswritingtask1

About us in brief... Thank you! 🩷🩷🩷

🦋 CPE Writing: explain, evaluate, assess, discuss...

These are common instructions in CPE writing prompts. But do you know what they actually mean? If not, consider joining our "Writing Incubator" workshop this Sunday!

“Writing Incubator” is a series of workshops by stellar professionals who love writing. Please welcome our third workshop of the season: "Discourse patterns for CPE writing" by Alena Nikitina.

In this intensive 90-minute workshop, we will analyse the most frequently used rhetorical goals in CPE Writing Part 2 - explain, assess, evaluate - in order to explore the fundamental discourse patterns they correspond to.

Following the analytical component, participants will engage in guided practice which includes applying the features of the discourse patterns to sample tasks and student responses as well as writing their own paragraph on one of the given tasks.

📅 2 November, Sunday, 11:00 am MSK, Zoom

💌 The workshop is free. To get the link, message me @iraluts with a meaningful ending to this comment, "Wow, I can't miss this one! I'd love to join because ... ."

❗️ Please note that this is a workshop, not a webinar or a lecture. If you join, you have to write. "Ghosts" will be kicked out.

🦋 Writing Incubator - where writing skills hatch 🦋

#IELTS Writing Task 1 overviews workshop 📊

The overview is the most important part of your IELTS Writing Task 1 answer.

How do you write a good one?

In this practical workshop, you will learn how to nail your overview for all types of IELTS Academic tasks:

- tasks with figures (with and without a time change);
- maps and floor plans;
- processes and how something works.

What will happen in this workshop?

- You will get my list of questions that help you choose the key features for each task type;
- We will look at my examples and discuss how I chose the key features;
- You'll write your own overviews - and compare them with mine afterwards.

The workshop is based on my extensive IELTS taking, teaching, and writing experience:
- IELTS 9 x2, Writing 8.5 x3
- IELTS prep experience: over 10 years
- Answers written: over 200

Important: This is not a webinar. This is a practical workshop where you are expected to write. Please join with your camera on and from a good work station.

📌 Price: 2500 RUB

📅 Fall 2025:
- Saturday, 1 November, 11-12:30 Moscow time

📍 Place: in real time on Zoom, camera must be on, some participation is expected

❗ You will get all the materials, but there will be no recordings!

Why don't I record my workshops?

I believe participation without recording ensures a safe space for attendees to participate openly and without fear of asking questions or making mistakes.

💌 @iraluts

And here is another #IELTS task (a recent exam!) in which only the overview might be difficult to write.

The task itself contains one potential trap though. Do you see it?

Anyways, try your hand in the
comments. Make sure to use the spoiler feature. 🐼

And I'll share my overview in 24 hours. 🐸

The number of beds decreased in the three countries with higher numbers initially (Canada, Australia, the UK) and increased in the two with lower numbers (Sweden and Mexico). As regards the wait time, by 2018, larger percentages of patients got their surgeries sooner in three countries: Australia, Sweden, and Mexico. Notably, the first two were in the lead in terms of lower wait times throughout the period.

#ieltswritingtask1

In some #IELTS tasks, the overview will be the only challenging thing to write.

The task above is a case in point: it has fairly little information, and the information is fairly boring. But since the categories are so different, writing a concise overview might present a challenge.

Try your hand in the comments. 🐼

And I'll share mine in 24 hours. 🐸

Overall, California and Florida have a similar population profile, with lower proportions of younger people and higher incomes. One striking difference, however, is in the percentage of older people, which is significantly higher in the latter state. Utah stands out in that it shows figures on the extreme ends. In terms of age distribution, it has the largest percentage of the younger population and the smallest of the elderly. In terms of financial welfare, its residents earn the least, yet, at the same time, the fewest live below the poverty line.

IELTS Writing Task 1 overviews

The overview is the most crucial part of your writing task 1 answer.

Here are four overviews for the task in the picture. Which one is the best one? Why?

1️⃣
Overall, life expectancy varied significantly across the given countries: from 70 in Indonesia to 82 in Japan. Notably, Japan – the leading country – showed very small growth, yet Indonesia – the country with the shortest lifespan – showed the largest increase.

2️⃣
Overall, while life expectancy varied significantly across the given countries in 2008, it became longer in all over the 55 years. Notably, Japan – the leading country – showed very small growth, yet Indonesia – the country with the shortest lifespan – showed the largest increase.

3️⃣
Overall, life expectancy varied significantly across the given countries: from 70 in Indonesia to 82 in Japan. Notably, the extent of growth also varied, ranging between 3% in the United States and 15.7% in Indonesia.

4️⃣
Overall, the country with the shortest life expectancy showed the largest increase by 2008, while the country with the longest showed the second smallest. Notably, life expectancy became longer in all countries by 2008.

To help you feel more confident writing overviews, I've developed a workshop. ⬇️

Find out more here and dm me @iraluts 💌

My overview - and the whole answer - for the task above in the pdf in this Telegram post:
https://t.me/irinalutsenko/551