Are you taking IELTS soon?
You may need strategies to improve scores quickly!
Today we answer a question about how to improve your grammar score fast.
Today’s question
How can I improve grammar in writing and speaking?
– Anudeep
How long to improve IELTS grammars scores?
Unfortunately, it can take up to a year to increase a band point in grammar.
Often it is better to focus on other scores if you have little time.
However, today we’ll provide strategies for quickly improving your grammar score.
Spotify poll results
Don’t forget to answer our Spotify polls!
We want to hear from you.
Today we announce the results of the poll from episode 1490.
Poll: Have you taken IELTS before?
Yes: 27.8%
No: 72.2%
Writing Tip #1: proofread essays
Many students skip this step.
You will likely catch many errors when proofreading, which could boost your score.
It is vital to practice this every time you write a practice essay.
Check for specific mistakes.
- Verb tense, punctuation, spelling, etc.
Writing Tip #2: Find out which mistakes you’re making most
You need to know which mistakes to look for.
Paste your essays into grammarly and take note of the errors you are making often.
Note the corrections so you can make these changes in your essays.
This will help you recognize errors when proofreading.
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Writing Tip #3: Don’t translate directly
When essays have the most grammar errors, it is often due to translating from another language.
Grammar and vocabulary work differently in English.
If you translate, the grammar will often be wrong.
Sentences likely won’t make sense which also pulls down Task Response score.
Example of direct translation
Here is an example from a recent IELTS essay:
The topic of technology has great effect in our lives and it has made outstanding balance between work and personal life has sparked considerable debate in recent years.
Rather than using grammar structures that are used in English, this student likely translated directly from their first language.
Corrected: The effect of technology on a person’s balance between work and personal life has sparked considerable debate in recent years.
Speaking Tip #1: Get feedback
It is extremely helpful to have a teacher give feedback on IELTS Speaking answers.
This will help you recognize mistakes you are making frequently.
As a student of our 3 keys IELTS course, you can receive feedback on both Speaking and Writing.
You want to focus on fluency with speaking partners rather than grammar correction.
Instead, work on grammar after getting feedback.
Speaking Tip #2: Don’t overcomplicate verb tenses
There’s always one correct verb tense for what you’re saying.
Don’t use past perfect because you think it’ll improve your score.
If the sentence should’ve been in past simple your score will go down.
The scoring system requires a “variety of grammar structures.”
Simple, compound and complex sentences satisfy this requirement.
Speaking Tip #3: Compound and complex sentences
You do need a variety of grammar structures to score 7 or higher.
It’s vital you are able to correctly write compound and complex sentences.
Compound: two independent clauses with a conjunction
- I absolutely love going to the movies but it’s gotten super expensive!
Complex: an independent clause with one or more relative clauses
- Although I planned to use my gym membership a ton, I really haven’t.
For more details, check out episode 1177: 3 IELTS Band 9 Sentence Structures.
In it, we breakdown writing compound and complex sentences.
Takeaway
There are specific things you can do to quickly increase your grammar score.
Use today’s tips to get the best possible grammar score on both speaking and writing.
Remember that if you have limited time, you should often focus on the other three scores.
For all the strategies you need, sign up for 3 Keys IELTS!
What questions do you have from today’s episode?
Please leave a comment below.
