TIME MANAGEMENT is one of the most important skills to master if students want to be successful in the IELTS writing exam. Successful time management skills can allow writers to increase their results by 1 to 2 band scores. This applies to both experienced and skilled writers and also those who are still struggling to develop their skills.
WHY IS TIME MANAGEMENT IMPORTANT?
Well, the most obvious reason is that you have to write 2 items, a 250 word essay and a 150 word information report in only 1 hour, without knowing the questions in advance.
In addition, 25 percent of your mark for each writing task comes from Task Achievement and one of the most important factos to determine this mark is COMPLETENESS. If your writing is not complete, it is very hard to get a good mark for task achievement. One mistake many inexperienced writers make is spending too much time on writing task 1, and therefore only having time to write half and essay. This will usually lead to a low overall score, even if the writing is good on other levels, such as grammar and vocabulary.
IS WRITING TASK 2 MORE IMPORTANT THAN WRITING TASK 1?
In fact, it is very important to do well on both tasks, but more weight is put on your performance in writing task 2 than in writing task 1. Writing task 2 is worth 1/3 of your total mark and writing task 2 is worth 2/3 of the total.
Imagine that you get a 7 in writing task 1 but only a 4 in writing task 2.
In this case, the total score is:
7 X 1/3 + 4 X 2/3
= 7/3 + 8/3
=15/3
=5
Imagine however that you get a 4 on writing task 1 and a 7 on writing task 2.
In this case, the total score is:
4 X 1/3 + 7 X 2/3
= 4/3 + 14/3
=18/3
= 6
Therefore, the message here is that it is more important to do well in writing task 2 than in writing task 1. However, it is very important not to ignore writing task 1. If you do not attempt writing task 1, your highest verall band score would be 6.0, assuming you got a 9.0 on the essay, which is not very common.
All of this underscores the importance of time management as it is so important to write complete answers for both task 1 and 2.
HOW CAN IELTS CANDIDATES IMPROVE THEIR TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS?
The best way to practice time management is to practice writing under exams conditions. However, practice alone is not enough. Candidates need to evaluate their own writing and to come up with strategies to improve their performance and write complete responses for both tasks.
One good technique to use is PACING. This means being aware of how much time you are using for each part of the writing process, such as planning your outline, writing the introduction, etc.
If you want to learn the STEP by STEP way to
MASTER TIME MANAGEMENT,
contact me for a free consultation