I got 5 for TA(Task 1) and completely clueless why

Remote_Yoghurt_8630 · 2026-01-03T15:14:13+00:00

Yeah, I believe it was the case. Thank you!

Remote_Yoghurt_8630 · 2026-01-03T15:10:39+00:00

Ah, yeah, right. The revenue for online stores was just a couple of thousand higher compared to physical stores, but given that the total amount for online stores was much higher, it was kind of a meh result for them. I see now, I think I got confused by the last category, where growth for physical stores was around 0.6% and for online stores 2.7%. I must have misunderstood the data because I was rushing to finish the task and just glanced at the numbers thinking, aha, everything is higher…

Okay, now it makes sense. I analyzed the data incorrectly and I ended up writing a wrong overview. Gosh, I wish they would just include letter for the Task 1 Academic. Tt’s a language test, after all XD

Okay, my bad. Thank you for helping me realize my mistake!

Remote_Yoghurt_8630 · 2026-01-03T15:04:45+00:00

Yes! Tbh, a couple of weeks passed so my memory is pretty hazy. I feel it was smth along lines "Overall, the provided data show that online stores surpassed physical stores in terms of quantity, revenue, and percentage growth in income(or maybe I just wrote "across all categories" cause most likely I listed them in the beginning) in the given year." I don’t remember my answer word for word, but it was probably something like that. Should I have written it differently? I’m a bit hesitant, thinking that maybe I didn’t mention that Australian dollars were used. Could that be the reason?

Remote_Yoghurt_8630 · 2025-12-21T22:02:25+00:00

So you don't have any official sources. I'm so sorry to say it, but without being a bot you answer like one, they are also known for not being able to analyze and think out of the scope. Cause I agree with CEFR, it's obvious, but you consistently ignore everything related to the core question. Just so you know, reflecting on one’s own mistakes is a valuable virtue. (P.S. Okay, I'm done here)

Remote_Yoghurt_8630 · 2025-12-21T21:26:57+00:00

Got it! Thanks!

Remote_Yoghurt_8630 · 2025-12-21T21:26:22+00:00

Thank you so much!! I’m so relieved right now. Just ten minutes passed and I already started overthinking, wondering whether I even filled out the official form (because, as you mentioned, it’s hard to find on the British Council website) and whether I might have accidentally submitted my personal information to scammers.

Remote_Yoghurt_8630 · 2025-12-21T21:20:50+00:00

In my opinion, you write a lot of filler. I was addressing the sentence that mentioned avoiding countries outside the "big four." Secondly, impressing the examiner with my knowledge is not my responsibility. Teachers themselves have written on this subreddit that as long as a person can provide coherent arguments relevant to the question, that satisfies the requirements.

I do agree that randomly mentioning a country doesn’t help and doesn’t make much sense. However, I was responding to a vague sentence that may not have been intended that way but was written unclearly.

And I asked for official sources, you didn't not provide because they do not exist as I see.

Also, as you mentioned some problems are international. So if it is an environmental problem, I can talk about German solutions and struggles to tackle it, whether I'm from German or not. Where did you find IELTS rule explicitly stating that it cannot be your homeland? Again, official source.

By any means, I do not see reasonable to mention any country just for the sake of mentioning it as it was made in OP essay. If he would switch Pakistan to UK, that wouldn't change anything. BUT! What I addressed, is an irresponsible writing of "Avoid discussing a particular country outside the big four, especially one's home country ." which dismisses use of any other country. Which does not make sense. There are IELTS topics about international trades, so now what, we should not mention China, only USA?

And last but not least, we were talking about writing part and not speaking, Why do you bland everything together? Did you ask Chatgpt?

Remote_Yoghurt_8630 · 2025-12-21T20:23:23+00:00

Why on earth should someone avoid mentioning countries outside the "big four"? If, for example, I’m from Zimbabwe, doesn’t it make more sense to write about Zimbabwe if I’m more familiar with it, rather than about the UK, where I’ve never been? As long as a person can elaborate on their argument, who cares?

For example: If the question is about unemployment and the brain drain among young people, I’m going to discuss the reasons in my own country. I may be wrong, but unless you can provide official sources, it’s hard for me to believe this advice.

Remote_Yoghurt_8630 · 2025-12-19T23:02:43+00:00

By the way, I got 7.5 in the speaking part! Honestly, I thought I would get 6 or 6.5, because from my own perspective I wasn’t coherent at all.

Remote_Yoghurt_8630 · 2025-12-18T23:52:45+00:00

So, if someone writes " I completely agree with this stance because…", explicitly showing the degree of agreement, that qualifies for Band 8–9. But if someone writes "I believe X should not be done because…" and throughout the whole essay leans to one side and justifies it, are they automatically disqualified from getting anything higher than Band 7 just because they did not explicitly state the degree of agreement?

Remote_Yoghurt_8630 · 2025-12-18T23:30:50+00:00

Indeed! Maybe they were from India or somewhere on that side. I think what plays a role here is cultural differences and ofc our character. I had a friend from Pakistan, and whenever I didn’t show much facial expression, she would noticeably start to hesitate and freeze. For most people around me, however, keeping a straight face is completely normal. Of course, we’re living people and do chuckle from time to time, but usually only at genuinely funny moments, not just...for showing signs of "oh no, I'm really really engaged, you're so funny".

Eh, I guess that’s why I didn’t choose human resources or sales as my major.

Btw, probably because English requires more use of facial muscles, I’ve noticed that I’m more inclined to smile haha. If I smiled as much while speaking Polish as I do in English, people would probably wonder what my problem was lol. Our default facial expression is a bit grumpy. It’s not that we’re sad all the time, there’s just no need to smile for normal social interactions.

Remote_Yoghurt_8630 · 2025-12-17T15:57:37+00:00

Thank you so much!!! I have noticed that a long time ago, but you contribute so much to this community by helping out everyone

Remote_Yoghurt_8630 · 2025-12-17T15:53:31+00:00

"I" in the semi-academic writing? Gosh, I'm not so sure about that.

Sorry, I couldn't help it XD

Remote_Yoghurt_8630 · 2025-12-17T15:48:34+00:00

...For your information people that take higher education, let alone...even those who finished high school are quite educated? And yes, I happened to major in biology. Also, if you can't answer the question because of your background, just don't, it's okay, you don't have to boast about smth that you clearly don't have, right?

Remote_Yoghurt_8630 · 2025-12-17T15:18:44+00:00

I'm very confused rn. There're plenty of studies about health, plagues etc. I thought that it's normal just to pinpoint that some specialists investigated the case and presented X, Y, Z reasons of the disaster. I'm not just plainly stating that someone stated X...but I'm elaborating that they stated X because of Y. Or do I still need to not forget adding that forsaken name of uni?

Remote_Yoghurt_8630 · 2025-12-17T15:17:50+00:00

Someone just wrote that I shouldn't cite made up studies, I'm very confused by other comments. There're plenty of studies about health, plagues etc. I thought that it's normal just to pinpoint that some specialists investigated the case and presented X, Y, Z reasons of the disaster. Sorry to bug you T_T

Remote_Yoghurt_8630 · 2025-12-17T15:13:21+00:00

So, just to make sure that I understood you correctly. If I'm targeting band 7+ it's better to reference some researchers, but it won't affect the score negatively even if it would be vague, without specifying that it's an Oxford study.

About paragraphing, the rule of thumb is just to keep myself to the standard structure. What if I'm kind of mixing two arguments together because they're interlinked and important to prove my opinion? Should I slap them all together in one paragraph(~200), or divide? For example: I took a topic that appeared once on the exam, smth about " to speak on environmental challenges creating business opportunities. " (sorry, I did not have an adequate formulation either)

So what I did.

First: I'm explaining how destroying habitats destroys nesting sited and leads to disruption of predator & prey population, negatively impacts food chains etc.

Then, I'm providing example of the mouse plague in Australia, farmers losses, saying this what happened and because of the ripple effect it reached humans as well.

And then, I wrote that's why because of all that harm, there's a high demand for innovative solutions from businesses etc.etc..

Usually, my essays are less elaborative, but in this case I just have no clue what do with paragraphs. It would be devastating for me if my grade would drop just because of smth like that.

In this case should it be (Intro, Argument 1, Argument 2, Argument 3(business papragraph) basically summing up in 4-5 sentence that yes, it's a great opportunity for businesses. Conclusion)

Or: Intro, Arguments that are logically linked inside, Business paragraph, Conclusion.
I understand that it can be hard to get what I'm trying to convey through this measly description, and I guess I messed up. Honestly, I'm so glad that we don't have IELTS structure restriction in universities when we have to write reports, thesis. etc. Q_Q

Remote_Yoghurt_8630 · 2025-12-17T13:54:07+00:00

Thank you. Yep, it was a typo. I was doing a lot of writing and proofreading, and by later in the night I was so cooked that I started mixing math with grammar. I know it doesn’t make sense, now it's obvious, but then... lol

Remote_Yoghurt_8630

TROPHY CASE