The template trap — make each phrase serve the argument · Le piège du modèle — les expressions qui vous coûtent des points
Give the reader a policy and a reason
- Original prompt: “Should universities offer flexible lecture times?” “With the development of society, education is very important” does not answer it. “Flexible lecture times can help students with caring responsibilities attend” names the policy and a relevant possible benefit.
- Develop the claim: a carer could choose a session outside a dependent’s appointment. This is an illustrative possibility, not survey evidence or a guaranteed outcome. The opening has introduced the argument; it has not finished its shift.
Why can a generic memorised opener weaken an essay?
An opener should introduce this topic and position. A generic sentence can consume space without doing that; no phrase alone guarantees a band change.
Judge a phrase by its job in this response
- “In my view” can introduce a position, and “Finally” can signal the last reason. Familiar expressions are not automatically wrong. Keep wording when it contributes a clear meaning or relationship to this task.
- “Every coin has two sides” alone identifies neither side of the policy debate. Replace it with the actual contrast: flexible sessions may help carers, while staffing additional sessions can require resources. Deleting filler should create room for relevant development, not just a shorter answer.
For an essay asking whether libraries should extend opening hours, which fragments add no specific argument by themselves? Choose all.
The shift-worker sentence names a policy benefit. The other fragments provide no developed reason about opening hours.
Learn vocabulary with its pattern and meaning
- The standard collocation taught here is draw a conclusion, alongside make a mistake and · et heavy traffic. A word record should include meaning, a useful pattern and an original example; matching a verb to a noun is one part of vocabulary use.
- An uncommon word is not forbidden. Choose it when its meaning and register fit; do not insert it merely to look advanced. “Improve the situation” and “ameliorate the situation” can both be grammatical, but the surrounding meaning determines suitability.
Which option uses the standard verb–noun collocation taught here?
Draw a conclusion is the taught standard collocation. Learning useful patterns supports accurate vocabulary use; it is not the whole Lexical resource criterion.
Make the relationship real before adding the linker
- “Evening sessions offer another attendance option. This option could help carers” uses a clear reference. “However, staffing them may require extra resources” introduces a relevant limitation, rather than another supporting benefit.
- There is no fixed maximum of two linking expressions and no automatic penalty for one phrase. Repeated unnecessary signposts can sound mechanical. Review logical order, reference and conjunctions as well as overt linking words.
There is a fixed maximum of two signpost linkers in a 250-word essay.
There is no fixed acceptable count. Use a linking expression when it clarifies the relationship; avoid mechanical repetition.
What relationship does However introduce in “Evening sessions may help carers. However, staffing them may require extra resources”?
The second sentence qualifies a possible benefit by introducing a resource consideration.
Support a claim without manufacturing research
- You can develop a relevant reason or use a clearly framed hypothetical example. “A carer could attend after an appointment” illustrates a mechanism. “A study proves 90% attend more often” invents a measured finding if you have no such evidence.
- “A growing number” and “more and more” can both express an increasing quantity. Neither proves that growth happened. In an evidence-reporting task, the underlying trend must be supplied; in an essay, avoid unsupported empirical certainty.
Complete this alternative wording: “___ growing number of people use bicycles.”
A completes a growing number. More and more can also express an increase; neither phrase supplies evidence that an increase occurred.
Which sentence develops the attendance mechanism without inventing a measured finding?
Could frames a possible mechanism. The alternatives claim unsupported measured or universal outcomes.
Transfer the revision to another policy
- For “Should libraries extend opening hours?”, develop a specific benefit: shift workers could reach study space after work. Then consider a relevant limit such as staffing costs. “Education matters” alone neither explains this policy nor evaluates it.
- Criteria checked on 2 October 2026: official IELTS Writing guide and · et Writing preparation resources. These original revision checks teach relevance and precision, not a phrase blacklist or band prediction.
- Choose phrases for their meaning, develop relevant reasons and preserve the limits of illustrative examples.
Match the distinctions in this worked case.
Develop the consequence: a carer can choose a session outside a dependent’s appointment. That hypothetical example gives the reader a reason rather than another grand adjective.
What makes the revised opening more useful?
Weak opening: “With the development of society, education is very important.” Specific opening: “Flexible lecture times can help students with caring responsibilities attend more consistently.” The revision names a policy, people and consequence. Develop the consequence: a carer can choose a session outside a dependent’s appointment. That hypothetical example gives the reader a reason rather than another grand adjective.
The familiar phrase In my view is automatically unsuitable in every IELTS essay.
It can introduce a relevant position. Judge the phrase by its purpose in the response, not a blacklist.