18/06/2019
If you've tried everything but haven't been able to get the band mark you want, make sure you read this 👍
💣HOW TO MAKE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION 💣
Even though there is no mark for how good your writing looks at first sight, it's definitely going to have some effect. When an examiner takes their first glance at a piece of writing, they are going to unconsciously grade it based on the hundreds or thousands of papers they have seen before. This judgment is going to make the examiner lean more towards giving a mark based on their first impression, which could be higher or lower.
The human brain wants to constantly prove that what it believes is correct. This is done by a process known in NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming)as deletion, distortion, and generalisation. It is believed that in order for the brain to be able to deal with the millions of stimuli coming from the environment around us, it filters what we experience through our senses . Without these filters, the brain would be overloaded with information, and not be able to function.
DELETION, DISTORTION, AND GENERALSATION
Deletion is when the brain doesn't notice things that go against preconceived beliefs. There's nothing you want more in an exam than for the examiner to miss a mistake that you have made, and be more focused on your strong points. The opposite of this could be detrimental :(
Distortion is when the brain changes information to actually go more in course with your beliefs. This is definitely something you want to work in your favour.
Generalisation is when things are put into a category without taking into consideration the uniqueness of it. So, all women, men, sports, cars, etc will be seen in the same light without taking into consideration the individual characteristics of each one.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU?
This doesn't mean that the first impression is all that matters and everything within your writing won't be taken into consideration, but what it does mean is that the examiner is going to see things more in the light of how they judged the paper at first sight. This is especially important for those who are in need of half a band mark, such as those stuck at 6.5 aiming for a band 7. The smallest thing could make the difference. What we want to do is make the writing from a distance look like the type of writing that would get a band 7 or 8. Usually band 7 and 8 writing looks very neat and organised. Here are some things to practise working on.
SPACES BETWEEN LINES
There is nothing more confusing for an examiner than differences in spaces from line to line, paragraph to paragraph, and page to page. Not only does inconsistency in spacing between line make your writing look unorganised, but it also confuses the examiner as to where your paragraphs are starting and finishing. If the examiner can't be sure, you could lose marks for Coherence and Cohesion, for lack of paragraphing. What I recommend is not leaving a line within a paragraph, but leaving one line between paragraphs. This will make a clear distinction as to where paragraphs are starting and ending. If you decide to leave one space between each line, leave 2 lines between paragraphs.
SPACES BETWEEN WORDS
Make the spaces between words equal. I recommend not leaving spaces that are too big because doing so might mean that your paragraphs will be larger than a page. What I think is impressive is when I can look at a piece of writing and clearly see the spaces between paragraphs, and when paragraphs go beyond 1 page, the organisation of paragraphs can't be seen at first sight. In addition to organisation, paragraphs that are very long are very daunting for examiners. Each paragraph should revolve around 1 main idea, and a very long paragraph means a lot of work for the examiner. Making the paragraph look smaller will make it less scary for them.
SCRIBBLING OUT WORDS
This is something that makes the writing look very untidy. It's better to use a pencil and erase words that are wrong than to scribble them out. If you don't have time to erase a word, just put a line through it. Even though it will affect how neat your writing is, it will look better than a scribble.
HANDWRITING
📌You could of course practise and make improvements to your handwriting. The exam isn't the place and time for working on it. Trying to perfect your handwriting in the exam will waste time you could be spending on other things. Get tips from someone with great handwriting on how to improve yours, and practice as much as you can BEFORE the exam.
📌 It's important to make your writing the same size, and to make sure that it is on the line. Writing that goes up and down and changes in size looks very messy.
📌 Some letters are tall, and should go up (bdfhklt), whereas others should hang (gjpqy). Make sure your use of these letters is correct and consistent.
📌 If you are writing cursive, make sure you don't exaggerate the hoops, and make sure that you are not leaving gaps in the letters a, b, d, g, o, p, and q. Doing so will cause confusion as to what the letter is. The letter 'r' is also commonly written like a 'v' in cursive too. Making these kind of mistakes might not just make your writing look messy, but could also make your writing unintelligible
📌 Make sure you are writing your letters with a consistent slant. It looks very messy when some letters are straight, and others are slanting. Choose one, and be consistent with it throughout your writing.
📌 If your writing is a bit on the wild side, which is true for many doctors especially, maybe you should practice writing in print (without joining). It's difficult to do something you are not used to doing, so make sure you get practice before the exam.
📌 The last tip regarding handwriting would be to do all your writing prep in handwriting, and not use the computer if you are not doing the computer based IELTS. Writing gets better with practice.
A GREAT WAY OF PRACTISING YOUR PRESENTATION
Sometimes when you have a weakness, it's better to focus on it specifically without any distractions. If this is your weak area, give all your other writing practice a rest, and dedicate a few weeks to working on your presentation skills.
I suggest getting model essays by native speakers, the official writing sheets and practising copying them. Each time trying to make your writing look better than the time before. Even though the focus of this exercise is presentation, there is no doubt that your brain will be absorbing lot of that good language unconsciously.
PRACTISED, BUT NO HOPE :( ?
Maybe you could check if the institution you are applying to accept the computer based exam. If so, all you'll need to work on is your typing speed.
WHAT MADE ME WRITE THIS POST?
I have noticed that some students managed to get a band 7 even though they were not really up to the band 7 level. The students that shocked me with their marks were the ones with very organised and beautiful writing. This made me give more attention to the power of presentation and first impressions.
In contrast to that, I have students who use my correction service who send me well written essays that I believe deserve a band 7. After asking for photographs of their writing, I found that their writing looked very scruffy, with bad hand writing and a mismatch in spacing both between words, lines, and paragraphs. At first glance, I would probably guess that their writing would never get above a band 6, whereas when in the typed form evaluated by the band descriptors, they would get a solid 7.
All in all, if you've tried everything and not been able to get the band mark you want, give the presentation of your essay some well deserved attention.
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