IELTS VIP Podcast Episode 15: How Planning Can Help You Get the IELTS Score You Need

Summary

In this episode of the IELTS VIP podcast, the host emphasizes the critical role of planning in achieving high scores on IELTS writing tasks. Addressing common concerns like time management, staying within word limits, and fully developing ideas, the host shares strategies and analogies to illustrate the benefits of planning. The podcast also discusses the importance of structure in writing and how it can guide students to a more organized and effective approach, ultimately leading to improved performance on the exam.

Takeaways

• 🎙️ The podcast is part of the IELTS VIP series, focusing on providing in-depth solutions to IELTS writing tasks.
• 📅 The host plans to release a podcast weekly for the next six months, ensuring consistent content for listeners.
• 👥 The VIP group offers personalized assistance to a limited number of students, addressing their specific needs and questions.
• ✍️ The podcast addresses common issues in IELTS writing, such as finishing on time, staying within word limits, and developing ideas.
• 📈 Success stories from students who achieved a score of 7 or above often attribute their success to effective planning.
• 🗂️ Planning is emphasized as an investment rather than a waste of time, with analogies provided to illustrate its importance.
• 🏆 The podcast offers step-by-step structures for various writing tasks, which help students plan their essays systematically.
• ⏱️ The average planning time recommended by successful students is about 7-8 minutes, leaving ample time for writing and editing.
• 📝 The planning process involves thinking about the question, generating ideas, and creating a skeleton structure before writing.
• 💡 The podcast suggests that planning helps maintain focus, prevents changes in direction during writing, and ensures a structured essay.

Q & A

What is the main focus of the IELTS VIP podcast?

The main focus of the IELTS VIP podcast is to provide in-depth solutions and advice for IELTS writing tasks, particularly addressing common issues faced by students in Task 1 and Task 2.

Why did there seem to be a break in the podcast episodes?

There was a break in the podcast episodes because the host was on holiday before Christmas, and then there was the Christmas holiday period.

What is the frequency of the IELTS VIP podcast episodes going forward?

The host plans to release at least one podcast episode every single week until they go on another holiday, which won't be for at least another six months.

What is the VIP group mentioned in the podcast?

The VIP group is an exclusive group within IELTS Advantage where they work very closely with a small number of students, providing personalized help and support.

How does the podcast address students' concerns?

The podcast addresses students' concerns by asking them for their specific questions and worries, and then creating a podcast episode that goes in-depth into those issues.

What is the most common advice given by successful IELTS students according to the podcast?

The most common advice given by successful IELTS students is the importance of planning, which they say significantly changed their performance.

Why is planning emphasized as a key strategy in the podcast?

Planning is emphasized because it helps solve multiple problems such as finishing on time, staying within word limits, using the right number of ideas per paragraph, fully developing ideas, and staying focused during the writing task.

What are the analogies used in the podcast to illustrate the importance of planning?

The podcast uses analogies such as going on holiday without planning, millionaires budgeting their finances, and daily planning for productivity to illustrate the importance of planning in IELTS writing.

What is the 'skeleton structure' mentioned in the podcast for IELTS writing?

The 'skeleton structure' refers to a pre-planned outline of an essay that includes the introduction, main ideas, explanations, examples, and conclusion, which serves as a roadmap for writing the essay.

How much time should be allocated for planning according to the podcast?

The podcast suggests that on average, successful students plan for about 7-8 minutes before starting to write their IELTS essays.

What is the host's advice on how to handle the IELTS writing test effectively?

The host advises to follow a step-by-step process that includes thinking, planning, writing, and editing, and to use a structured approach to ensure a systematic and focused writing strategy.

Outlines

00:00

🎙️ Podcast Introduction and IELTS VIP Group Overview

The speaker welcomes listeners to episode 15 of the IELTS VIP podcast after a holiday break. They announce a commitment to producing weekly podcasts for the next six months. The IELTS VIP group is introduced as an exclusive course that offers close interaction with a limited number of students. The podcast's purpose is to address specific questions and concerns raised by these students, delving deeply into IELTS writing tasks one and two. The importance of planning in IELTS success is highlighted, with a promise to provide a solution to common writing issues.

05:02

🗂️ The Power of Planning: Analogies and Its Impact on IELTS Writing

The speaker emphasizes the critical role of planning in IELTS writing, comparing it to planning a holiday trip to New York and financial budgeting by successful individuals. Planning is likened to an investment that saves time and ensures a structured approach. The analogy of planning a trip illustrates the need for foresight and organization, while the financial planning analogy from 'The Millionaire Next Door' underscores the value of time investment in planning. The speaker also shares a personal daily planning routine to manage tasks efficiently.

10:04

✍️ Planning Strategies for IELTS Writing Tasks

The speaker outlines a step-by-step planning process for IELTS writing tasks, advocating for the use of specific structures tailored to different types of writing questions. These structures provide a roadmap for students to follow, ensuring a uniform and structured planning approach. The process involves understanding the question, brainstorming ideas, and creating a skeleton structure before writing. The speaker advises against starting to write until the plan is satisfactory, as this prevents wasting time on redoing work. The average planning time for successful students is noted to be around 7-8 minutes.

15:05

⏱️ Time Management and Structuring the Essay

The speaker discusses how planning helps manage time effectively during the IELTS test. By allocating specific minutes to planning, writing, and editing, students can ensure they finish on time and within the word limit. The speaker also addresses how planning helps in using the right number of ideas per paragraph and developing those ideas fully. They explain that by doing all the thinking during the planning stage, students can stay focused while writing, avoiding the temptation to change their minds mid-way. The speaker concludes by encouraging students to adopt a strategic approach to IELTS writing and offers contact information for further queries.

Keywords

💡IELTS VIP

IELTS VIP refers to an exclusive group or course within the IELTS Advantage program. It is designed for a small number of students who receive very close guidance and support. In the context of the video, the IELTS VIP group is highlighted as a resource where students can receive personalized assistance with their IELTS preparation, including tailored podcasts addressing their specific needs.

💡Podcast

A podcast, as mentioned in the script, is an episodic series of digital audio or video files that the user can download to listen to or watch. In this case, the IELTS VIP podcast is a tool used by the IELTS Advantage program to provide additional help to students, focusing on in-depth discussions of topics relevant to IELTS preparation.

💡Planning

Planning, as emphasized throughout the script, is a critical component of successful IELTS test preparation. It involves organizing thoughts, structuring responses, and allocating time effectively during the test. The speaker suggests that successful students often attribute their high scores to the planning process, which helps them manage their time, stay focused, and fully develop their ideas within the word limit.

💡Word Limit

The word limit in the context of IELTS refers to the maximum number of words allowed for each task in the writing section. For Task 1, it is typically 150 words, and for Task 2, it is 250 words. The script discusses the importance of adhering to these limits and how planning can help students manage their word count effectively.

💡Ideas Development

Ideas development pertains to the ability to not only generate relevant ideas but also to expand upon them in a coherent and convincing manner. The script mentions that students often ask how to fully develop their ideas, which is crucial for scoring well on the IELTS writing tasks. Planning helps in structuring these ideas effectively within the essay.

💡Structure

In the context of the video, structure refers to a predefined format or outline that students can follow for different types of IELTS writing tasks. Having a clear structure helps students organize their thoughts and write essays that are coherent and meet the requirements of the test. The speaker suggests that a good teacher can provide these structures to guide students in their planning process.

💡Success Stories

Success stories mentioned in the script are accounts of students who have achieved a high score (7 or above) on the IELTS exam. These stories often highlight the importance of planning and are used to motivate and guide current students. The script suggests that planning is a common factor among these success stories, indicating its significance in achieving a good score.

💡Editing and Proofreading

Editing and proofreading are processes involved in revising and correcting written work. In the script, these activities are part of the planning process, where students are advised to allocate time at the end of their writing task to check for errors and improve the overall quality of their essays.

💡Investment of Time

The concept of 'investment of time' is used in the script to describe the idea that spending time on planning and preparation will yield better results and save time in the long run. This is likened to planning a holiday or budgeting finances, where upfront time investment leads to more efficient use of resources and better outcomes.

💡Skeleton Structure

A skeleton structure, as discussed in the script, is a basic outline or framework that includes the main parts of an essay, such as the introduction, main body paragraphs, and conclusion. Students are advised to create this structure during the planning phase, filling it in with their ideas before they start writing, which helps in organizing their thoughts and ensuring a coherent essay.

Highlights

Introduction to the IELTS VIP podcast and its return after a break.

Commitment to produce weekly podcasts for the next six months.

Explanation of the VIP group and its close interaction with a small number of students.

The importance of addressing student questions in depth through podcasts.

The significance of planning in IELTS writing as emphasized by success stories.

Common student questions about finishing writing tasks on time.

Concerns about staying within the word limit for IELTS tasks.

Queries on how many ideas to include in a paragraph and how to fully develop them.

The challenge of staying focused during writing to avoid wasting time.

Planning as an investment of time, not a waste.

Analogies used to illustrate the importance of planning, including holiday planning and budgeting.

The impact of planning on achieving financial success as seen in 'The Millionaire Next Door'.

Daily planning as a personal productivity tool.

The role of structure in planning for IELTS writing tasks.

The process of thinking about the question before planning.

The importance of noting a skeleton structure during the planning stage.

The average planning time recommended by successful students.

How planning ensures finishing on time and staying within word limits.

The structured approach to developing ideas and staying focused in writing.

Contact information provided for further questions and engagement.

Aim to produce at least 50 podcasts for the year ahead.

Transcripts

hi everyone and welcome to the IELTS VIP

podcast welcome back after a long break

we are up to now episode 15 of the IELTS

VIP broadcast we took a little bit of a

break and I was on holiday before

Christmas and then there was the

Christmas holiday as well but we're back

now I will probably be making at least

one of these podcasts every single week

until I go on another holiday but that's

not gonna be for at least another six

months so you're good for for at least

six months with one of these per week so

as always let me explain what this

podcast is and and what we do so one of

the things that we do here at IELTS

advantage is we have an exclusive group

called our VIP group our VIP course

where we work very very closely with a

very small number of students one of the

things that we do with them is every

week we ask them well when I'm not

holiday that's a rare and what we do is

we ask them what do you need extra help

with and ask us any questions that you

have any worries that you have and we

will make a whole podcast on it going

really really deep into that problem and

really answering that question as deeply

and as thoroughly as possible so because

we were off for a few weeks when I asked

this question yesterday we got a quite a

few responses so but what I'm gonna do

today is give you one solution to many

many many many different problems that

come up with IELTS writing task two and

task one as well so I'll just going to

give you a selection of the questions

that we got about tasks to writing and

there is one really really important

solution that you should be aware of and

this is something that if you look at

our success story so if you go into

YouTube going to look at our webs or our

YouTube channel you will notice and a

part of that channel which just deals

with success stories so these are all

people that we've helped get a 7 or

above on one of

things that they say over and over and

over and over and over again is planning

I think 90% of them say that that

planning changed everything for them so

let's look at this in a bit more detail

so these are some of the questions that

we were getting a lot of people were

saying how can I finish writing on time

so either I struggle to get tasks what

one done in 20 minutes or tasks to done

in 40 minutes or both of them in 60

minutes a lot of people were also asking

how can I make sure that I don't go like

way over 300 words and for task 2 or way

over 200 words for task 1 and how could

I complete everything and do everything

properly and do it in a reasonable word

limit a lot of people were also asking

but like how do I know how many ideas to

use sometimes I have more than one idea

per paragraph or sometimes the question

asks and for multiple things like

advantages or solutions or problems like

can I put more than one idea into a

paragraph and then other people were

talking about how can I fully develop my

ideas how can when I take one idea how

can I know that I am sure that I have

fully developed it and then another

interesting question was how can I stay

focused on what I'm supposed to be doing

when I'm writing because when I'm

writing different ideas pop into my head

and I changed my mind and then I waste

time and everything's a mess and there

is one solution and it's a very elegant

solution because it solves all these

problems by doing one very simple thing

which is planning like anytime that I

mentioned planning to students then the

majority of people say one thing I don't

have time to plan or I have enough

things to do I don't want to add one

more thing in there my response to that

is don't see planning as a waste of time

or just an extra thing to do see it as

an investment

so let me tell you about a few

ooh analogies that will help you

understand planning and its importance

and then we'll talk about how to plan

and what to do during the planning

process particularly for writing task 2

so an analogy I always use is if you

were going on holiday so the holiday I

went on recently was to New York to see

my sister and would you if you were

going on holiday to New York would you

just decide on the day to just go to the

airport booked your tickets at the

airport get like without any planning

whatsoever get on the plane get off the

plane just walk into New York and just

start walking towards where your hotel

where it's going and then when you get

to your hotel just walk out into New

York and just you know try and find

things no you wouldn't you would plan by

booking the tickets by comparing the

different flights by my book a taxi to

bring you to the airport and when you

get to the airport you probably a pre

pre plans how you're going to get from

the airport into the city could be taxi

it could be a train once you get to your

hotel you'll have already pre planned

out and booked your hotel and then you

will have like research the different

sites you want to go to so it's all

about planning why do you do that you do

that because you know that if you don't

do that you're going to be wasting a

huge amount of time and money and

everything so exactly the same as

planning an IELTS test if you do not

plan you're going to get lost you're

going to waste a huge amount of time and

you're going to be doing things you

shouldn't be doing the other analogy I

always use is the most people who are

the most successful people financially

so there's a lot of studies done there's

a really good book called The

Millionaire Next Door and it was a the

biggest study ever on millionaires in

America and they were looking for like

commonalities common factors why are

these people millionaires and the the

surprising answer was budgeting they

spend a few hours every month sitting

down and planning out everything that

they

and so that could be on their groceries

on their travel and their mortgage or

whatever really boring and like you know

most people would never do that but it

is an investment of time

I'm not investment the time actually

made them millions and millions and

millions of dollars because what they

would do is they would always have a set

of mind over what they spend every month

and they would invest that in that

investment and would turn into millions

and millions of dollars and interesting

book you can have a look at it another

story this is the third and final story

about why planning is an investment of

time I try and do this every single day

myself I have a lot of different things

that I'm trying to do a lot of goals

that I'm trying to achieve a lot of

different departments within this

business trying to manage and what I do

every single day or try to do is when

I'm when I'm disciplined enough to do it

before I go home write down exactly what

I achieved that day so I know where I am

there and what I want to do the next day

so I'll plan it like 7:00 a.m. to 8:00

a.m. I'm doing this it a.m. to 10:00

a.m. I'm doing this 12:00 to 1:00 I'm

doing this and then when I wake up I

know exactly what I'm doing and I'm have

a very very very productive day if I

don't do that I wake up and I just like

I come into the office and there's

emails here and meetings here and like

messages from other and there's nothing

gets done it's a complete mess so always

think of your planning time as an

investment and it's absolutely crucial

and out of all the the factors that are

successful students talk about planning

is probably the number one thing so

let's think about how to plan and why

it's going to help you solve all of

these problems so one of the things that

we do on our VIP course is we teach

specific step by step structures for

each of the different types of writing

question if we're writing tasks to on

writing tasks one like we've got a

structure for and agree or disagree a

structure for discussion questions a

structure for two-part questions this

discussion for

if a chart comes up or a process comes

up or whatever comes up I'm one of the

reasons why we do that is so that

students can plan in a uniform

structured way so that when they see the

question they immediately go into the

planning stage and they plan every

single question that comes up what

depending on the type of question so if

it's an agree or disagree question they

have that structure in mind they know

exactly what to do and they plan

everything right if it's a task one

academic bar chart question they know

exactly what to do and they plan

everything like so provides that

structure and that certainty on what to

do and what the the reason for that is

not so much that these structures are

magic or these structures are going to

guarantee that they get a good score the

structures are more so that it is the

planning process so that they know

exactly what they're going to be doing

so the first step is to have some sort

of structure and I learned that there's

a lot of different structures that there

one thing I'd say is just be careful

there's a lot of teachers and websites

and you know YouTube channels and a lot

of things out there that say you know my

structure is magic and my structure will

guarantee you about nine none of those

things are true but if you have a decent

teacher if you have a good teacher who

has got past you know good past results

from some other students and they give

you a structure shoot you should be able

to to to help you with that and but

you're going to use this structure in a

very specific way during the planning

process so once you you have learned all

of these different structures and you

have them memorized by heart the next

part of the the process is when you see

the question you are not going to pick

up your pen or pencil or do anything at

all the first part of the actual

planning process whenever you're in the

on test day is just to sit and think

about the question because you know like

like my analogy of going on holiday in

New York you wouldn't just run out of

the hotel

and just like try and find the Empire

State Building or you wouldn't run out

of your hotel and just try and find like

Trump Tower or whatever you are you know

wherever you want to go you look on

Google Maps and think about it and think

about where you're going and planted

your journey and everything a lot of

people that might sound really silly and

but a lot of people look at the

questions and just immediately start

writing without really thinking about it

so the first stage is actually think

about do I understand the question what

are they asking me to do what are some

ideas that I could use here how would I

explain those ideas how would I support

those ideas with examples well how do I

want to answer this question what is my

opinion on this question what is my

position on each of the the questions or

each of the parts of it so just spending

one or two minutes thinking about it and

then the next stage will be after you

thought about it thinking specifically

about the ideas the content that you

want to come up with so your ideas your

explanations your examples specifically

your opinions your positions all of

these different things again that's

going to be another one or two minutes

so before you've even you know really

started planning you've already invested

not wasted and three or four minutes of

your time and we'll talk about time

specifically in a second then what

you're going to do is you're going to

quickly note our skeleton structure

so by skeleton structure I mean like

paragraph like just having like I for

introduction and then like part PR for

paraphrase and then below the part

phrase your two main ideas and then you

know main MVP one like main body

paragraph one I'm just populating this

like skeleton like you're creating like

the skeleton structure I'm populating

all of this with your your arguments

with your positions with your ideas with

explanations and I don't mean writing

them out completely

just in shorthand just so that it

provides like a roadmap think about it

like as Google Maps for you for your

essay and then what you're going to do

is you're going to

take all of that so you should have a

piece of paper with a skeleton essay and

then you're gonna write your whole essay

based on that plan and the key here is

that you don't start writing until

you're happy with your plan because if

you start writing and you're not 100%

happy with your plan then you're gonna

change your mind and you're gonna you

know go go over or you know change your

mind and have to go back and have to

redo the whole thing and that is a waste

of time and it by surveying my

successful students and asking them how

much time did you plan for the average

is about eight minutes so some of them

only plan for about five minutes

some of them plan for 10 minutes or more

than 10 minutes but I say the average is

is about 7-8 minutes something like that

so if you plan for 8 minutes you still

have 32 minutes left so if you let's say

you take another 5 minutes

off that for checking at the end for

editing at the end and proofreading at

the end that is my maths is terrible so

you're 40 minutes to say 8 minutes

that's 32 left and let's say you take

five minutes off that that leaves you

with 27 all right so let's divide let's

say there are there's not always 12

sentences in an essay but let's say for

argument's sake you write a 12 sentence

essay so 12 divided by 27 is going to be

just over 2 minutes isn't it if my math

is correct yeah to put just over 2

minutes yeah so that means that you have

to write a pretty much pre-prepared

sentence because you've already planned

everything out in 2 minutes you should

not be complaining about that at all you

should not have the audacity to say I

want to bind 7 and writing but I don't

want to write a sentence in you know

less than 3 minutes like you shouldn't

be doing

the test and hoping to get about seven

if you can't write one sentence in two

minutes or over two minutes when you

break it down and think about it that

way think about it strategically and

logically it just makes everything much

much much easier which is why a lot of

our successful students were able to go

from someone who was you know really

struggling and really worrying about the

test and had just no idea what to do did

a very systematic way of thinking about

it I'm gonna do this then this then this

then this it's just like a I don't want

to say formula because I don't I think

you should always have the freedom to to

change things a little bit and shouldn't

be too formulaic but to just make things

much easier for yourself by being a

little bit more strategic about it so I

think that is is about it but what I'll

do is just go circle back to these

questions the students were asking and

talked about hard planning solves them

so how can I make sure I finish on time

you literally will be spending like X

minutes on planning then X minutes on

sentence 1 and sentence 2 and sentence 3

or X minutes on introduction if X

minutes on main body paragraph 1 then

you know X minutes on editing at the end

you know exactly what you're doing

because it's just a process you're not

like one of our main principles for

students is a process is better than a

journey by a process better than the

journey means that like most students

are like oh it'll be okay like I'll be

lucky I'll get a nice question I'll be

able to write a nice essay and I'll be

fine like no you it won't be and but by

following a step-by-step process it

makes everything much much much easier

and word limit so because you have

memorized the structure and you're using

that structure each part will be you

know not exactly a set number of words

but you should definitely be within that

sweet spot of like you know over 250 but

under like

300 but you know if your 301 it's not a

big deal and ideas how many ideas to use

again because you're using a structure

you just stick to that structure don't

use a structure and then you know be

like ah but I'll only use 80% of it or

not you know just stick exactly to it

and then you won't go wrong and how do I

develop my ideas the structure will do

that for you because for example the an

agree or disagree question for the main

body paragraph the structure will be

state your first main idea explain how

your first main idea answers the

question support your main idea with a

example so you're just following that

and doing exactly what that says

obviously you're populating it with your

own ideas in your own your own thoughts

and but it's going to help tremendously

and and then the last question was like

how can I stay focused on what I'm

supposed to be doing and not change my

mind by doing all your thinking in the

planning stage I'm like that's that's it

that's done you've done all your

thinking ie decided all your ideas and

then you're not going to change your

mind because it's like you're splitting

up the the process into thinking

planning or started thinking planning

then writing then editing all right

so stage 1 thinking planning stage 2

writing stage 3 editing proofreading so

that's it that's why people who plan get

higher scores and people who don't very

very simple and it solves so many

problems and so try that out and if you

have any other questions or anything

like that you can feel free to get in

touch with us and my email address is

chris at il2 advantage com Chris that I

also Vantage con we answer every email

and either myself or one of my team will

get back to you

and if you have any questions or

anything like that and hope you enjoyed

our first podcast of 2019 and hopefully

we'll make at least 50 let's say let's

shoot for 50

that'll be one a week and that'll give

me two weeks holidays so thank you very

much again I hope you enjoyed that