The most important thing you have to do for any IELTS Writing Task is to answer the question. For General Training Task 1 questions you always have to write a letter and I would like to share with you a technique that helps you answer the question correctly every time.
You will notice that the question below states that you should write about why you are writing to your friend and then gives four bullet points for you to mention. These are the five main things you must write about and you should write about these five things and these five things only.
Now that you have your five main points you simply split your letter into five main paragraphs and deal with each main point in a separate paragraph.
In each paragraph you should make it very clear which point you are writing about in order to make it obvious to the examiner. You can do this by including keywords from the question, or even better, synonyms or paraphrases of those keywords.
If you follow this strategy you will always answer the question correctly and the examiner will be able to see this very clearly.
Take a look at the answer below to see this strategy in action.
A friend of yours is going on holiday soon and has asked you to recommend a destination.
Write a letter to your friend and recommend a good place for a holiday that you have visited before.
- say where you went,
- where you stayed,
- what you can do there and
- what the food was like.
Dear Annie
I hope you’re well. I’ve got a great place for you to visit when you get some time off work.
I went to Shanghai in China a fortnight ago and it was just perfect. It only takes about 3 hours from where you live.
We stayed in a little boutique hotel called the Dragon Inn. It wasn’t the biggest hotel, or the most expensive, but I really loved the personal service and the family who run it were so hospitable.
There are loads of things to do, but my favorite has to be the Bund. You can stroll along there in the evening and admire the view or grab a coffee and watch the world go by.
I also have to mention the delicious cuisine. You really should try the dim sum if you go there; it was the best I’ve ever had.
Anyway, let me know if you have any questions about your trip.
Best wishes
Chris
If you are doing the General Training paper check out our guides on how to write an informal letter and a formal letter.
A wonderful piece of informal letter. Simple and to the point.
Hi Madhura, I hope you and your family are doing well and enjoying your vacation at your new residence. I received your letter and it seems that you want me to suggest a good place for holidaying with your family. As you probably, already know that we have been to Hyderabad last summer, for a week. I must say that the place is an amazing escape for a week’s holiday. There are several places of interest which you can explore and by the way it’s one of the most visited tourist attractions in India. We travelled there by a private… Read more »
why?write like this I think this is not an essay. just only 150 for letter
Awesome tips, Reading each line from your blog builds up the confidence in me.Felt so bad for missing this blog so long
HI CHRIS… I HAVE NO WORDS TO THANK U.. I STARTED FOLLOWING YOUR TIPS FOR WRITING AND SPEAKING AND GOT CLEARED MY IELTS TODAY L8.5 R7 S7.5 W7 IT WAS MY 7 TH ATTEMPT AND IN ALL PREVIOUS ATTEMPTS I CUD NOT CLEAR WRITING OR SPEAKING BY .5 BUT UR TIPS WERE AWSOME AND FOR THE FIRST TIME I WROTE A VERY SIMPLE LETTER AND ESSAY WITHOUT USING IDIOMS AND PHRASES. I AM SPEECHLESS. AND THANKFUL TO GOD THAT I KEPT FAITH ON HIM AND YOU.. I WAS VERY CONFIDENT DURING MY SPEAKING AND DID EVERYTHING WHAT U SUGGESTED.. ALL… Read more »
Dear Chris,
This is the best IELTS tips website I have ever seen. Thanks a lot. :).
Can you give us a list of sample letter questions with categorized into each type?
Eg. 1 to 5 complaint letters.
1 to 5 examples for thanking letters.
How many letter groups are there. If you can advise, we would be able to gather up vocabulary for each type.