This is a list of the most common mistakes that candidates make in IELTS General Writing Task 1, including errors related language, tactics, and following the instructions.
Typical planning and paragraphing mistakes in IELTS letters
- Missing key words in the task
As task achievement is both important and easier to achieve than perfect English, you should make sure that you underline key words in the question. If this is difficult to do on a computer, you should still pretend to underline the key words with your finger on the screen so that you don’t miss them.
- Taking too long to plan
Once you have underlined the key words on the task, there is almost no planning to do because:
- it is always best to have one body paragraph per bullet point in the question
- the opening greeting is given in the task
- the formality should be obvious or easy to decide quickly.
You should therefore start straightaway with the given opening greeting, then make up the rest as you go along.
- Missing plurals in the bullet points
If one of the three bullet points includes a noun like “problems”, “advantages”, “consequences”, or “reasons”, etc, you must include more than one of those things in that body paragraph, e.g. two problems or three reasons. Similarly, some bullets have two things linked by “and” that should go together in the body.
- One-sentence paragraphs
The opening line and closing line are usually one sentence each, but one-sentence body paragraphs make it look like you don’t know how to paragraph, and usually mean that you haven’t supported your points enough. Body paragraphs should therefore always have two or three sentences.
- A new line with each sentence
A letter is not a list, a poem, song lyrics, etc. Therefore, the second sentence and third sentences of body paragraphs should continue straight after the last word of the previous sentence, on the same line. This makes a letter body paragraph just like a paragraph in an article, a report, etc.
- Different parts not clearly divided from each other
You need a blank line or indent (not both) after the opening greeting, after the opening line, between each body paragraph. This is both to show that you know about paragraphing and formatting, and to avoid confusion. A blank line is more modern and leaves room for editing, but indents are more traditional in letters, so both ways are okay and have advantages.
- Using bullet points in the body
Although we may use bullet points or maybe numbered lists in such letters in real life, they are more common in emails than in letters, mean that your language will be simpler, and will make it hard to reach the word limit. You should therefore never use bullets or numbered lists in IELTS.
Typical mistakes with formality in IELTS letters
- Using medium formality phrases
The vast majority of IELTS letters are more suitable as very formal or very friendly letters. Even when that isn’t obvious, you should try to choose one of those two options when possible. This is because correct formal language like long words and correct informal language like idioms are more impressive, and so such language is likely to impress the examiner more than boring medium formality phrases like “I’m writing about…”
- Using contractions in formal letters
Although contractions are often used in medium-formality business emails in real life, in IELTS letters you should avoid “I’m”, “He’s”, etc if you have decided that the letter is formal, e.g. if it starts with “Dear Sir or Madam,”
- Sticking to standard written English in informal letters
Using spoken forms like “I’m”, “give me a hand” and “Fancy…?” helps you to show your range of language, and also help to make an informal letter more friendly (as it does in real life).
- Mixing up informal and friendly
Informal letters in IELTS should always be friendly in tone, so not include language which is informal but not friendly. You should therefore avoid “Alex” instead of “Dear Alex,” “ASAP” in requests, etc.
- Problems with abbreviations
Some short forms like “info” are useful to show your range of language and to make informal letters more informal but are unsuitable for formal letters. However, other short forms (often Latin ones) such as “e.g.”, “Re:” and “etc” may be suitable for both kinds of letter.
- Using internet forms
It could be tempting to make informal letters more informal with things like smiley face emoticons or emojis, but these will make it look like you don’t know the difference between a letter and an email, between a letter and online chat, etc, so should be avoided.
Typical mistakes with starting IELTS letters
- Starting with your name and address
The task always clearly says “You do NOT need to write any addresses”, so these parts of a letter should be left out. This is because they don’t follow the instructions, are a waste of time, and don’t count towards the word limit.
Typical mistakes with IELTS letter opening greetings
- Changing the opening greeting
The task always says “Begin your letter as follows: Dear Sir or Madam,” or “Begin your letter as follows: Dear…,”, so there is no reason to use any other opening greeting (even when you would use something different like “Hi…,” in real life).
- Missing the comma after the opening greeting
Presumably to show that it is a letter and not an email, the instructions always have a comma after the opening greeting. This means that starting with “Dear Sir or Madam,” with a comma is following the exam task instructions but starting with “Dear Sir or Madam” or “Dear Sir or Madam:” is not doing what you are told to do.
- Putting the wrong form of the name after “Dear…,”
Although we use other forms sometimes in real life, in IELTS you should start formal letters with “Dear + title + family name,” (“Dear Mr Jones,”, “Dear Ms Smith,”, etc) and informal letters with “Dear + first name,” (“Dear Jim,”, etc) (not “Dear Jim Smith” and definitely not “Dear Smith” X)
- Using a description instead of a name
Opening greetings like “Dear friend” and “Dear section manager” are very rare in modern English and so should be avoided in IELTS letters.
Typical mistakes with IELTS letter opening lines
- Missing the opening line
Opening lines like “How’s it going?” and “I am writing regarding…” are necessary in both informal and formal letters, so you should never start the body without an opening line.
- Getting straight down to business in informal friendly letters
To show that a letter is informal and that you know what to do in such situations in real life, all informal letters should start with something friendly like “Was so thrilled to get your letter” or “How are your preparations for the big trip going?”
- Too formal mentioning previous contact
“Thank you for your letter” is used in formal letters and so is not friendly enough for informal letters.
- Too formal friendly opening lines
Medium-formality phrases like “How are you?” are not suitable for informal letters such as ones to friends.
- Friendly opening lines in formal letters
Although we sometimes use formal friendly openings like “I hope this letter finds you well” in real life, that is never needed or suitable in IELTS letters. Instead, you should usually start with the topic of the letter with “I am writing to you regarding/ concerning/ in order to/ due to…”, occasionally after mentioning past contact with “Thank you for meeting with me last week”, etc.
- Too long opening
Although it is important to show that you know how to open a formal or informal letter, the main business is covering the things described in the three bullet points in the body of your letter, so you should get the opening over as quickly as possible and use your time and words for the body.
- Mentioning the topic with the wrong formality
“I’m writing about…” is an unimpressive medium-formality phrase that you should try to avoid if possible, so instead use formal or informal equivalents like “I am writing to you with regards to…” and “Writing about…”
Typical mistakes with the body of IELTS letters
- Starting body 1 with changing topic phrases
Phrases like “As for…”, “Moving on to…” and “Turning to…” can only be used to change topic, not to start the first topic, so can only be used to start body 2 or body 3
- Using short basic phrases
Longer phrases like “I highly recommend…” are more specific in meaning, show if the right level of formality has been used, and get you further towards the word limit.
- The wrong advice phrases
Problems with advice phrases include the wrong level of strength such as using “You’d better” when it is not supposed to be warning, using short vague and unimpressive phrases like “I recommend” and “You should”, and missing the chance to use casual forms like “You can’t beat…” in informal letters
- Direct negative feedback/ complaints
In both formal and informal letters, indirect negative sentences like “Unfortunately, I wasn’t very happy with…” are more polite and friendly, longer, more impressive to the examiner, and more typical in real life.
- Unenthusiastic positive feedback/ compliments/ praise
In contrast to negative comments, positive ones should be as strong as you can make them within the right level of formality like “Wow! …. blew me away!” and “I was extremely impressed by…”. This is because more neutral language like “… was nice” sound like indirect criticism.
- Medium formality thanking
Whenever possible, thanking should be made more formal (“I am very grateful for…” etc) or informal (“Thanks a million for…”, etc)
- Mixing up requests and orders/ commands/ demands
In English, forms like “Please + verb”, “I’d like you to...” and “Would you please…?” mean that the other person has no choice, and therefore shouldn’t be used for requests
- Basic medium-formality requests
Whenever possible, requests should be made longer, more impressive and more formal (“Could you possibly…?”, “I would be grateful if you could…”, etc) or more informal (“Can you do me a massive favour and…?”, “You couldn’t give me hand with…, could you?”, etc)
- Mixing up the formality of invitations
Try to make invitations clearly formal (“It would be our very great pleasure if you could attend…”) or informal (“What about coming round…?”, “Fancy…?”, etc)
- Mixing up “convenient” and “available” in arrangements
It is “if you are available” and “if that is convenient with you”, not “if you are convenient” X, etc.
- Mixing up apologies and giving bad news
Phrases for apologising for things that have already happened and that the other person already knows about like “I am sorry for…” are always at least a little different from phrases for telling them bad news for the first time like “I’m sorry but…”.
- Mixing up formal and informal apologies
Try to make a distinction between “Sooooo sorry about…” and “Please accept my (sincerest) apologies for…”
- Missing necessary plurals in apologies, thanks, etc.
“Please accept my sincerest apology for…” X, “I’d like to express my thank for…” X, “Best wish for your future…” X, etc, are not standard without the plural of the nouns.
- Simple and vague opinions language
Whenever possible, opinions language should be strong (“I am strongly opposed to…”, etc) or weak (“I’m not sure that… is such a good idea”), with the former being more common in IELTS letter situations.
- Missing the chance to start a new sentence with the reason
In order to make sure that all body paragraphs have at least two sentences, you can put the reason in a new sentence starting with “The main reason for this is…”, “This is in order to…”, etc.
- Linking two sentences with “because”
Although the word “because” can sometimes go at the beginning of a sentence, it is always used to link two clauses in one sentence. To start a new sentence, you can use the similar phrase “This is because…”
- Repeating the same adding additional points phrases
To avoid repeating “also” and “and”, you can use “In addition”, “too”, “Similarly”, “as well”, etc.
- Not rephrasing
In order to show that you understand the task and the situation and to show your range of language, you should try to use different words to explain the things that are given in the three bullet points of the task. If possible, also try to avoid repeating words that you have used earlier in your letter. If you can’t think of a different word with the same meaning, try just changing the grammar (e.g. “consequence” to “consequently”) or just use the same word and try again while you edit.
Typical mistakes with ending IELTS letters
- Missing one of the three closing parts
Both formal and informal letters need a closing line, a closing greeting and your name at the end to make them polite or friendly enough.
Typical mistakes with closing lines in IELTS letters
- Medium-formality asking for a reply phrases
If possible, avoid “I’m looking forward to hearing from you” and make it more formal (“I look forward to hearing from you”) or informal (“Can’t wait to hear how it all goes”, etc)
- Non-standard asking for a reply phrases
Phrases that may sound similar to those above like “I’m waiting for your reply” and “I expect to hear from you” actually sound angry and so are both not standard and unsuitable in IELTS.
- Medium-formality offering more help phrases
Formal phrases like “If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me” and “Should you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me” and more informal phrases like “If you need any more info, drop me a line anytime” are usually more suitable and always impressive than basic phrases like “If you need any more information, please contact me”.
- Mixing different offering more help phrases
It is easy to mix up the two similar phrases above to make the typical error “If you need any more questions, please do not hesitate to contact me” X
- Standard asking for a reply with big requests
Big requests should end with a thanking in advance phrase like “Thank you in advance (for any assistance you can provide in this matter)” and “Cheers”.
- Thanking for the wrong thing
Similar-sound phrases to those above like “Thank you for your cooperation” and “Thank you for your support” either have different functions or are not standard, and are never suitable for IELTS letters.
- Thanking at the end of every letter
The “Thank…” phrases above should only be used when the whole letter is one big request, meaning that asking for a reply with “look forward to” is much more common at the end of letters than a thanking phrase is, both in IELTS and in real life.
- Too many closing lines
Two-sentence closing lines are common in some situations like job applications. However, in IELTS you should never go longer than two sentences and in fact try to keep to one closing line sentence if possible. This is because this isn’t a main part of the task, and you’ve probably already reached the word limit and so should edit or move onto Task 2.
Typical mistakes with IELTS letter closing greeting
- Mixing up “Yours faithfully” and “Yours sincerely”
“Yours faithfully,” only comes at the end of letters starting with “Dear Sir or Madam,” and “Yours sincerely,” only comes at end of letters starting with “Dear title + family name,”. You can avoid the confusion with “Best regards,” or “Sincerely yours,” as they go with both, but it’s best to show off that you know the differences if you can remember them.
- Missing -s in the closing greeting
The “Yours” in “Yours faithfully,” etc comes from “I am yours”, so sentences with the singular like “Your sincerely,” X are wrong.
- Extra capital letters in closing greetings
Although you might see model letters with “Yours Faithfully,”, “Yours faithfully,” is much more standard.
- Missing commas in closing greetings
As there is a comma after “Dear Sir or Madam,” and “Dear…,” (in the task and so hopefully also in your opening), you also need one after the closing greeting.
- Too formal closing greetings
“Best regards” is similar in formality to “Yours…”, so is not suitable for friendly informal letters, where “Best wishes” or variations like “Best” are best.
Typical mistakes with the name at the end of IELTS letters
- Missing the chance to go very formal or very informal with the name
To match the rest of your letter and show your range of language, you can use shortened names for informal letters, and initials and titles in brackets in formal letters
- Titles in the wrong place
Perhaps because it seems like pride, we don’t use our title before our own names, so “Mr Alex Case” is wrong but “Alex Case (Mr)” is correct.
Typical IELTS letter task completion and time management mistakes
- Missing the word limit
You really should reach 150 words if you want a good mark in IELTS Writing. Unfortunately, it is sometimes possible to be under 150 words even when you have completely finished the task and each body paragraph has at least two sentences, so you’ll need to quickly check that you are over 155 words or so and then add a sentence to the body such as another reason if you are not.
- Wasting time counting words
You can quickly check that you are over the word limit by working out the average number of words per line from the first couple of lines, counting the number of lines, and checking that are up to nearly 160 words to be sure you are over the limit.
- Writing too much
There is no upper word limit in IELTS, but if you write more than about 165 words then some of that is probably off topic and so won’t help your mark. You are also wasting time that is better spent editing or moving onto Task 2.
- Not leaving time for editing
It is more efficient to write quickly and leave about four minutes to correct mistakes and add better language than it is to write slowly and carefully.