Up next in 10
General Task 1 - Your 16 Minute Crash Course
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:05
you are now listening to the podcast
0:08
learn from tutors and ex- examiners who
0:10
are masters of ey outs preparation your
0:13
host Ben
0:15
[Music]
0:18
Worthington General task one your
0:22
22-minute crash course starts
0:26
now my name is Ben Worthington I've been
0:29
doing Al for way too long I've been
0:32
doing it for a long time probably over
0:34
12 years now and I used to be a general
0:38
English teacher now I just F not now I
0:41
quickly made the switch to IELTS the
0:45
best why because we can find the best
0:47
students in ISS these are motivated
0:49
students these are competent students
0:52
ambitious students who go and get goals
0:54
and go places to Canada get a permanent
0:58
residency I students change the the
1:02
family story The generational family
1:07
Story I mean maybe you don't even settle
1:09
in Canada but the mere fact that you
1:12
went there and you stayed for a couple
1:13
of years that's going to have such an
1:15
impact on your thinking your mentality
1:18
uh when you go back to your own country
1:21
anyway let's jump into General task one
1:24
I got a little bit distracted there
1:27
first of all we look at by the way the
1:30
this whole outline this very quick crash
1:32
course is based off all the content in
1:37
the general task one course we have at
1:39
ieltspodcast.com
1:40
I just looked at the curriculum and I
1:43
was like right that's enough material
1:45
there more than enough to make a quick
1:48
20
1:49
minute tutorial all about high level
1:53
skills so if you find that you're
1:56
struggling with some of the skills I'm
1:57
mentioning if you go to our
2:01
podcast.com site you'll be able to see a
2:03
full you'll be able to see the courses
2:06
there and you'll be able to get the
2:07
tutorials and you'll be able to get the
2:09
course with all the modules and in each
2:12
module we're go into much more detail
2:15
and it's extremely
2:17
practical let's jump into it lesson one
2:19
the
2:21
structure now when we are planning our
2:24
IELTS General task one
2:27
letter we should be using the bullet
2:31
point given to us doing this will make
2:35
sure that you are basically answering
2:39
everything that they ask
2:42
for now you don't have to go into
2:44
massive detail for each one a couple of
2:47
sentences about three or four sentences
2:49
roughly for each bullet point you know
2:51
if it's asking uh I'm not going to go
2:54
into detail but just a few sentences for
2:56
each point and using the actual question
3:00
for your structure will make sure that
3:03
you do get the exact uh well that you
3:07
get as close to possible for maximum
3:09
points regarding task response
3:12
now it's that simple I'm not even going
3:14
to talk more about it there's no there's
3:17
no
3:17
need number two the
3:20
phrases right this one if it is a letter
3:26
to maybe a teacher a professor less a
3:30
job uh um like a a request for work or
3:35
an app a job application sorry or a
3:38
formal letter to a company to an
3:40
organization then we definitely need to
3:43
start it off with Dear Sir or Madam okay
3:46
unless we've got the some more detail
3:48
from the question but very roughly if
3:49
it's formal Dear Sir or Madam comma I'm
3:54
writing in relation to the job advert
3:57
I'm writing to explain my interest in
3:59
I'm writing to request an apology and
4:01
writing to ask for a
4:03
refund using that set structure gets you
4:06
off to the right start now then if it is
4:11
formal we probably want to include
4:13
phrases such as however therefore
4:15
furthermore in addition just to connect
4:18
our ideas
4:21
whereas if we're writing a letter to a
4:23
friend then we probably don't need
4:26
however therefore and further more we
4:28
could just say and
4:30
yeah and I'd like to see some of the
4:32
best sites your city has to offer please
4:35
let me know which ones we could do and
4:37
what time frame and in what time frame
4:40
okay for example also we can use if it's
4:44
a letter to a friend then we can you we
4:46
can almost write as close we can write
4:50
closer to how we speak I.E we can use
4:54
contractions however we're not going to
4:56
make it so informal like it was Absol it
4:59
was an absolute banging weekend okay
5:03
that's too informal okay um and likewise
5:07
if it's if it's somewhere in
5:10
between for example to a work colleague
5:13
we have to write a letter or an email or
5:15
a message to a work colleague then we
5:18
can we can use something that's it's
5:21
neutral and and this was still going to
5:24
use contractions but we're not going to
5:26
use
5:27
exclamations uh we're not going to see
5:29
use phrases like see you later or hugs
5:32
and kisses you know it's not going to be
5:35
like that H so it's going to be in
5:37
between the very formal end which is uh
5:42
like a job
5:43
application and the Very informal where
5:45
it's where it says write a letter to a
5:47
friend okay and as I said just make sure
5:50
it's not too informal as I just
5:57
mentioned formal versus in formal you
6:00
need to get clear as to who you are
6:03
writing to I kind of just spilled over
6:06
there because it was linked the phrases
6:08
we use is linked to whether it's formal
6:10
or informal so I'm not going to uh go
6:14
into this much detail exercises how do
6:18
you improve well you can use our Aisa
6:21
check-in tool to give you feedback you
6:24
can look at formal letter writing online
6:28
and review like I said in other
6:30
tutorials you can find a perfect letter
6:34
um make sure it's absolutely perfect
6:37
make sure it's it's published on a
6:40
trusted Source such as I podcast you can
6:42
just go to I podcast.com sample letter
6:45
sample General task one letter and
6:47
you'll see lots of perfect examples
6:50
there um you can always also just put
6:53
camebridge English uh letter writing
6:56
samples you know and you're going to get
6:58
some more um samples there and what you
7:01
do is just look cover write look at the
7:03
sentence write it out sorry look at it
7:06
cover it up write it out from memory if
7:08
it's too difficult just write it out
7:10
word for word copying as I said before
7:13
doing this a few times um each for each
7:17
I prep session that you've
7:20
scheduled um will help you improve and
7:22
it's just a very quick cost effective
7:25
way to improve you can also get feedback
7:27
from tutors send your essay into us
7:30
uh we'll correct it at the moment you
7:31
can send in your essay or your report or
7:34
your letter for $9 we'll manually look
7:37
it up look it over and give you
7:39
feedback um if you're in a hurry use the
7:42
Aisa check-in tool even something as
7:45
simple as Google Docs will give you some
7:48
um feedback it's not specialized in I of
7:51
course so you're not going to get your
7:53
score you're not going to get uh deta
7:55
more detailed feedback but it will help
7:57
you with your grammar
7:59
phrases now this is the key part for
8:03
General task one especially the formal
8:07
letter we need to include phrases such
8:10
as your sincerely when we're ending or
8:12
yours um Yours Faithfully depending on
8:15
the letter we also need to use set copy
8:19
paste phrases I call them and it's like
8:21
please find attached my CV uh for more
8:25
details please find attached the
8:27
document um please let me know at the
8:30
nearest uh at the best possible time you
8:33
don't just copy paste phrases that we
8:35
find over and over again in general in
8:40
letter writing and writing in relation
8:42
to and writing with regards to um all of
8:46
these phas all of these
8:48
phrases are just essential for you to
8:51
memorize I'm not a massive fan of
8:54
memorization but for these you
8:56
absolutely do need to memorize
9:00
them let's go into a little bit more
9:02
detail about these phrases we can say
9:05
I'm writing to inform you I'm writing to
9:07
request I wish to bring to your
9:09
attention the pothole in our road I wish
9:12
to bring to your attention the rude
9:15
behavior of your customer service
9:18
Representatives on July
9:21
5th 20125 whatever 2024 I'm writing in
9:26
response to an advert I saw I'm pleased
9:29
to inform you that
9:32
okay again if we're writing a reply we
9:36
can say in response to your recent
9:38
inquiry as discussed in our previous
9:42
conversation again if we're writing for
9:44
a job interview um a job application
9:48
sorry please find attached my CV please
9:50
find enclosed my resume now if you're
9:53
using resume make sure that most of your
9:56
other VOC all your other vocabulary is
9:58
American if you've got that opportunity
10:00
to choose between two okay um for examp
10:05
yeah um attached because in in British
10:09
English we use CV in American English
10:11
they use resume attached you will find a
10:15
brief overview of my skills attached you
10:18
will find my CV on my resume I would
10:20
like to highlight that I'm incredibly
10:23
motivated I would like to highlight that
10:25
I have the relevant experience regarding
10:29
the the job
10:30
advert okay making a request we should
10:33
use our modal verbs here could you
10:36
please could you please send me the
10:38
required information before November for
10:42
example I would appreciate it if you
10:45
could send the relevant information I
10:49
kindly request that you reply as soon as
10:52
possible as this matter is urgent please
10:54
let me know if you're available to work
10:56
on September the 3D whatever
11:01
okay again if we're offering assistance
11:03
we can say if you require any further
11:05
information please do not hesitate to
11:07
contact me I am at your disposable
11:10
should you need any further assistance
11:12
that's a great sentence there because
11:14
we've got inversion and we've put should
11:18
in slightly uncommon place okay we used
11:22
it um instead of saying you should it's
11:26
just the normal standard way we've
11:27
inverted it and we say should you need
11:29
any further assistance and it's
11:31
incredibly polite should you have any
11:34
questions please feel free to contact me
11:37
using these structures will help you
11:39
score higher next one expressing
11:42
gratitude or
11:44
appreciation thank you for your
11:45
attention to this matter I appreciate
11:47
your prompt response that's a great one
11:49
because it's incredibly versatile thank
11:52
you for your time and consideration I
11:55
mean a personal one that I do um is
11:58
thank you in advance Advance okay if I'm
12:01
requesting for some information if I'm
12:03
requesting a refund I just say thank you
12:05
in advance just sets the tone it's
12:07
incredibly
12:09
polite and it sets like an assumption
12:12
that I'm going to be thanking them sets
12:14
an assumption that they've done the work
12:16
and I'm thanking them already guess
12:18
things moving closing salutations yours
12:21
sincerely if you know the recipient's
12:24
name Yours Faithfully if you do not know
12:27
their name so if you started off with
12:29
Dear Sir or Madam then you're going to
12:31
end with yours sincerely if you started
12:34
off with Dear Mr
12:36
Jones then you're going to end with
12:38
Yours Faithfully best regards kind
12:41
regards yours sincerely or just
12:44
sincerely again if it's a neutral one an
12:47
email to a colleague we'll say best
12:49
regards or kind regards if it's a letter
12:53
to a friend we could use best regards or
12:56
kind regards I would personally use um
13:00
take care and wishing you the best
13:01
because it's just slightly more uh
13:03
informal because that's how we would
13:05
write to a
13:06
friend uh also just one more point when
13:11
we start this letter whether it's
13:13
informal or formal we will say dear or
13:16
Hi and then insert dear Sarah Madam
13:19
Yours Faithfully or even just start it
13:21
off to whom it may concern now the
13:22
important thing here is comma blank
13:26
space and then indentation which means
13:29
just a small space for the first word it
13:33
goes in slightly
13:35
um slightly further to the right than
13:39
normal normally it should be flush left
13:42
to the margin but for letters we just
13:44
start off with the space and then start
13:47
I am writing with regards
13:49
to right that's it for today's
13:54
tutorial a very brief one I honestly
13:57
believe that General task one is
14:01
probably one of the easier tasks among I
14:05
task 2 or academic task one slightly
14:08
easier because we can rely on the
14:10
phrases we don't have to argue we just
14:12
follow the bullet points write a few
14:15
sentences relatively straightforward
14:18
however having said that I would still
14:20
recommend getting feedback and just
14:23
making a list of your errors making a
14:25
list of your mistakes and just following
14:27
the standard process we teach Al podcast
14:30
which is you know uh we focus on minor
14:33
and that we break it down to the
14:34
smallest parts we Master those Master
14:36
part we Master those tiny parts and then
14:38
move on to the next bit we get the
14:40
basics and it be far easier to learn
14:43
this
14:45
way secondly we're noting uh our
14:48
improvements we're noting our errors and
14:51
we're keeping track of them and we're
14:53
focusing on them F and just making small
14:56
incremental improvements unless you've
14:58
already got the language skills in which
15:00
case in most situations you just need a
15:03
framework and the exam skills which are
15:04
far quicker to acquire
15:07
anyway this is the beauty of getting
15:09
feedback I mean the Aisa Checker is
15:13
fantastic don't get me wrong but
15:15
obviously you're going to get more
15:17
valuable feedback with a manual essay
15:20
correction because the the tutor will be
15:22
able to tell you okay your language
15:25
skills are solid focus on the exam
15:27
skills and the AI just isn't there yet
15:31
probably is in a couple of years but
15:34
we'll just have to wait until it's at
15:37
that level and if you're wondering
15:39
whether it's exam or language skills you
15:41
need to work on best way to do that is
15:43
just get
15:44
feedback you can do that at Alp
15:46
podcast.com and again you can sign up to
15:49
our newsletter you'll get tutorials in
15:51
your inbox you'll get a tutorial on how
15:53
to get the most out of the not a
15:55
tutorial you get a whole course on how
15:56
to get the most out of the
15:59
essay uh checking tool we have on our
16:03
site as I said before smart students
16:05
nowadays are using tools rather than
16:08
just information so that's it for me
16:11
today if you got some value from this
16:13
tutorial please share it we we don't
16:16
charge for these tutorials we give them
16:18
out for free um it' be a nice way to
16:21
just say thank you by sharing it and
16:22
spreading the word and we can help more
16:24
students get that I band 7 8 or nine or
16:28
even 6.5 in some cases whatever your
16:31
goal
16:32
is you probably will be able to achieve
16:35
it just by doing some focused work
16:38
getting organized setting up a routine
16:40
as I say in most of my tutorials that's
16:43
it for me today good luck with your ILS
16:46
exam and I'm wishing you all the best
16:53
[Music]
17:02
thanks for listening to IP podcast.com
17:05
[Music]
#Standardized & Admissions Tests
#Other
#Other