There are too many reasons to write
about in one post, but I'll touch upon what I believe to be the main reasons:
Firstly, the mark that the
candidate is able to get will depend on 2 main things, the level of the
candidate and how prepared they are for the exam. There is a limit to how high
a pre-intermediate, intermediate, and upper intermediate level student can get
even with prep.
As IELTS trainers, we can prepare
candidates for the exam as much as possible, but the candidate's level of
English will always be a limiting factor. The areas of the writing exam that we
can work on and increase significantly are TA and CC.
TA and CC can be improved on
easily, because they are concepts that a candidate just has to understand. You
can get a student to understand the requirements of questions, how to organise
their answers, and the dos and don'ts in less than 10 hours sometimes. However,
raising the level of a student from pre-intermediate to upper-intermediate or
advanced will take 100s of hours.
I believe that exam prep is like
makeup. There is only so much you can do. A skilled IELTS instructor can cover
up some major defects, but there is a limit to how much can be covered up.
I've seen so many candidates
attempting the exam repetitively, but not managing to get a band 7. They blame
everyone and everything, but when I look at their writing, I see their GRA and
LR is in the band 6 range. There could be other factors, but getting 2 6s means
you need another two 8s in order to get a band 7.
Whenever I see sour students with
weak GRA and LR, I tell them to get general English courses, and to forget
about exam prep for a minimum of 3 months, they get upset, and prefer to
believe that they are being marked wrong, the universe is conspiring against
them, IELTS is a business, and the list could go on forever.
When candidates are aiming for a
7+ TA and CC, they need to develop their answers more. This will mean writing
350 +. The band descriptors say things like 'supported, extended, fully
developed, etc'. A weak student aiming for this might not have time for a fully
developed answer, and if they attempt one, they might make more GRA and LR
mistakes because they will be rushed for time.
All an instructor can do for TA
is to explain the requirements of specific band marks, and diagnose mistakes
that limit the band mark.
Regarding CC, an instructor can
explain how to present ideas in a logical way. They can also train a candidate
with linkers, and reference links. Another thing is to make candidates aware of
contradictions in ideas.
Regarding LR and GRA, a variety
of vocabulary and structures is needed. These structures need to be accurate as
well. If an instructor can identify repetitive mistakes, they might be able to
deal with them in a limited amount of time. However, if there is a range of
mistakes, there isn't much an instructor can do other than point them out, and
direct a candidate in what to study. Another thing that an instructor can do is
make candidates aware of the structures that are necessary for a band 7 + in
GRA. Sometimes the student has the GRA, but are not aware of what they need to
do.
The higher band marks require a
fully developed answer, with a wide variety of GRA and LR, and add to that a
high level of accuracy. Most candidates can't afford to get an instructor to
get them that because if they are below the level, it will take them 10s of hours if not
more to reach that. The most cost effective way for a weak student is to take
English courses until they are at an advanced level.
Another major issue is that
candidates get advice from too many instructors. They write an essay, and then
they post the same essay on many sites and groups. They get so many different
opinions that they get confused. Each instructor has their own strategy, and
they can get a candidate to achieve their goals following it, but when there
are too many opinions, the candidate loses focus and doesn't benefit from
anyone's advice.
In addition to the points made,
some candidates pay for services, but don't take the advice given to them. This
could be because of the point I just mentioned, but sometimes I get the feeling
that candidates believe that because they are paying, they should automatically
be benefiting from the service, and that means even without implementing
feedback.
The last point I'm going to
mention is that most advice given on websites is general advice. Many
candidates depend on these resources. The problem with taking it is that some
advice is for a band 6, some is for a band 7, etc. In addition to that,
different candidates have different weaknesses. An approach might work for 1,
but not work for another. For example, some candidates can write a perfect 300
word essay, but as soon as they go above that, the GRA, LR, and mistakes with
reference links increase, and limit marks even as low as a 6. For these candidates,
I might get them to stay in the 300 range, and try and get the marks for LR and
GRA instead of TA. So as you see, advice for one person, might not work for
another.
To conclude, the main reasons
instructors can't get the higher band marks out of their candidates are below
the level students, students taking advice from too many people, students not
implementing advice given, and taking general advice or advice that is for the
wrong band level.
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