Why Do Students Get a Low Score in IELTS Writing?

Writing is a kind of art. You got to avail a lot of spices to make it artistic and tasty. Unless your audience or examiner will not buy it moreover, they might through it in the towel. 

IELTS writing low score, it’s such a crucial issue and interestingly I am working on it for a while. Nowadays, it’s so obvious that applicants are having low scores in IELTS writing even though they are skilled enough in English. Being an instructor of IELTS, I am being informed very frequently about this sad news. Even though I have seen some applicants have achieved 9 or 8 however, they have got 6 or 6.5 in the writing module. I would guess it is an irony! Let me be very specific on this issue. As is mentioned earlier, I have been working to find out why students are scoring low in IELTS writing? I have sorted out a couple of reasons in this regard and those are given below:-

Reasons for low score in IELTS Writing

1. Informal approach
2. Falling short in terms of the range of grammar
3. Lack of resources
4. Not following the structure
5. Poor piece of writing

I will explain one by one all those issues. 

1. Informal approach

It’s sad but true, we are getting increasingly informal in our real life. In this regard, social media, different Apps, and electronic devices are largely responsible for it. When we have a chit-chat with our friends, colleagues, or kith and kin our approach is pretty informal, and importantly, that’s not a problem at all. Nevertheless, this approach is discouraged while you are taking a test or writing any piece of letter to anyone who you are not familiar with. This informal piece of writing does not bring any good but turmoil result for you. Additionally, we watch different types of movies or TV serials that are scripted with informal language nonetheless, we love those informal phrases and get used to them. When we write those types of phrases and words, it unveils a massive disaster for us. Hence, we score very low in IELTS writing.

2. Falling short in terms of the range of grammar

Having been used to the informal phrases, words, and writing, we often downplay the necessity of range of grammar. If we had used a vast range of grammar we would have scored satisfactorily high in IELTS writing. It is believed that having been stigmatized with popular versions of communication; we subconsciously use simple sentences very often and ignore the formal approach of writing that is capsulated with a great range of grammar.  We would have had to have been skilled with the usage of different grammar structures for our writing. Our daily pattern of communicative English which is ironically very short with respect to the range of grammar, makes us write a very poor piece of writing that resulted in a low score in IELTS writing. To have a high score in IELTS writing, we would have had to use the following range of grammar.

• Simple sentence
• Complex and compound sentences
• Passive sentences
• Causative sentences
• Conditional sentences
• Would/could/should+have+V3 sentences
• Having/To have been/Having+V3/Having been+V3  

The above-mentioned sentences will give you the upper hand in IELTS writing and you would achieve your auspicious score on the IELTS test. 

3. Lack of resources

A plethora of evidence are surfaced that applicants do not use writing resources namely, 

• phrases 
• signpost 
• topic vocabulary 
• degree of vocabulary

In IELTS writing, it is expected that students should produce a piece of writing that can qualify for a University lecture. It implies that expertise and formal piece of writing are required. To this end, topic vocabulary is greatly important to a larger extent. Downplaying the topic vocabulary leads to amateur writing that is never standardized with expert writing. Signpost plays an important role to develop a piece of writing. Signposts work like bridge lines in writing. Hence, without appropriate usage of signposts, resourceful writing will never be possible.  There are different types of phrases for writing task 1 and writing task 2. Writing phrases are used based on the topic, issues, sequence, and situation. Thus, the usage of proper phrases is immensely significant for IELTS writing. In addition, degree of vocabulary means which words are being used for your writing? Is it basic vocabulary, medium vocabulary, or advanced vocabulary? The fact is that your writing has to be mixed with all those. That is how you can produce a great piece of IELTS writing.

4. Not following the structure

IELTS writing task 1 or task 2 either should be written with the suggested appropriate structures. Again, for writing task 1, there are many topics and because of that writing patterns and structure would be different. By the same token, it is worth mentioning here that writing task 2 could be different due to question patterns and topics. All the above issues have to take into your account while you are writing for the IELTS test. 

5. Poor piece of writing

If the writing does not reflect the criteria that are used to justify your writing or any of the above-discussed issues eventually, your writing will be a poor piece of writing and thus, you will not have a good score in the IELTS writing.  For writing task 1, you are expected to write a minimum of 150 words and 250 words for writing task 2.  If you write shortfall you will achieve a low score. In the same manner, it is suggested that you have to address all the expected aspects of IELTS writing to ignore the pitfalls of the writing.