IELTS Lexicon · free sample
Day 1
ETS Issue pool
Every pool topic, both sides
All official Issue topics, each with two model essays (side A and side B), about 600 words each, written to one 5-paragraph template. Turn on "Show structure" in an essay to see every sentence's job. Highlighted words come from your vocabulary deck; tap one for its meaning.
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Prompt
The full ETS pool is public: GRE Issue Topic Tool. Pick “Paste an ETS prompt” in the list to use one. To get feedback on an essay you wrote in POWERPREP, choose Untimed / paste and paste it in.
30:000 words
4:00 left: proofread now. NEG → NOUN → VERB → SPELL → SENTENCE. Add no new ideas.
The 4-minute proofread: five scans, always in this order
Start at 26:00 on the clock, whatever state the essay is in. Each scan looks for one thing only, which is why it catches what a general reread misses.
- NEG: meaning first. In each claim sentence, check not · no · never · cannot · few/a few · hardly. Does the sentence say what your argument needs? One dropped not turns your evidence against you.
- NOUN. Stop at every noun. Is it countable? One or many? Then choose a/an, the or nothing. Uncountable nouns never take -s: evidence, research, advice, information, knowledge, feedback, equipment, progress, logic.
- VERB. Find each verb's real subject, skipping of …, who/that … and along with …. The verb takes -s only when that subject is one thing. Use the present tense for claims and the past only inside past examples.
- SPELL. Read backward, from the last sentence to the first, word by word. Watch the near-misses: than/then · its/it's · none/non- · sometimes/sometime · affect/effect · lose/loose · whether/weather · principle/principal · led/lead · from/form · and/an · of/off · to/too · their/there. No contractions.
- SENTENCE. One main clause per sentence unless and/but/so or a semicolon joins them. A comma before however or therefore makes a splice: use a period or semicolon. Delete …, etc. and and so on. Every sentence needs a subject and a finite verb.
The 30-minute plan
- 0:00–2:00 Plan. Write your position in one sentence, with its condition. Then 2–3 reasons, one example per reason that a general reader knows, and where you will answer the specific instruction.
- 2:00–26:00 Write 5 paragraphs, about 450–600 words. Intro: 3 sentences (frame, position, roadmap). Body: 2–3 paragraphs, each claim → reason → example → why it matters. One paragraph does what the instruction asks. Conclusion: 2 sentences.
- 26:00–30:00 Proofread: the five scans. Start no new sentence after 26:00.
Take a position; don't hedge
A scientist's instinct is “it depends; more research is needed.” A rater reads that as no position. Qualify instead: one position plus the condition under which it holds.
- “I largely agree: X holds when A but fails when B, and because A is the usual case, the claim stands as a general rule.”
- “The recommendation makes sense only where …; elsewhere it would …”
- “Although the second view captures something real, the first better explains …”
State the position in the intro and repeat it in the conclusion with the same key words.
The six instruction types and what each one demands
| Type | The task asks you to… | So your essay must… |
|---|---|---|
| A When it holds | agree or disagree, considering when the statement might or might not hold | name a case where it holds and a case where it fails, and say how they shape your position |
| B Recommendation | judge a recommendation by the circumstances in which following it would or would not help | describe specific situations of each kind, not just general pros and cons |
| C Challenges | agree or disagree while answering the strongest objections | state the best opposing argument fairly, then answer it |
| D Two views | say which of two views is closer to yours | discuss both views, then explain why one fits better |
| E Claim + reason | evaluate a claim and the reason given for it | judge the claim and the reason separately (a true claim can rest on a weak reason) |
| F Policy | take a view on a policy by weighing its consequences | trace likely consequences, intended and unintended, and let them decide your position |
These are paraphrases. The ETS wording differs; read the real instruction twice before you plan.
Spoken → written
| Instead of | Write |
|---|---|
| a lot of, lots of | many (count) · much, a great deal of (non-count) |
| get, got | become, obtain, receive |
| kind of, pretty, really, so | somewhat, fairly, or delete |
| thing, stuff | the actual noun |
| So, … / And, … (opening a sentence) | Therefore, … / Moreover, … |
| etc., and so on, … | such as X and Y |
| don't, can't, it's, Im, wanna | do not, cannot, it is, I am, want to |
| I think … (in every paragraph) | state the claim; use “I” once, in the thesis |
Vietnamese → English traps
- “the” + a general noun:
The education is→ Education is. General plurals and uncountable nouns take no article. - Uncountable + -s:
evidences, researches, advices, informations, feedbacks, equipments, logics. To count, write studies or pieces of evidence. - “have” for existence:
In cities have many jobs→ There are many jobs in cities. - Double subject:
The government, it should→ The government should. - Two connectors:
Although costs rose, but/Because …, so: keep one. - Word form: economic (of the economy) vs economical (cheap) · historic (famous) vs historical (of the past) · success / succeed / successful.
- Nationality:
Vietnamese's economy→ Vietnam's economy. - Noun vs verb: a follow-up / to follow up · a setup / to set up.
- Prepositions:
discuss about,emphasize on,mention about→ no preposition · depend on · interested in · the reason for · result in.
Articles in four questions
- A name or a general idea? Most countries and cities take Ø (Vietnam, Hanoi), but write the United States, the Philippines, the Mekong. A general plural or an uncountable noun takes Ø: Vaccines save lives. Education matters.
- Does the reader know which one? If it was mentioned before, is obvious or unique, is a superlative or ordinal, or is pinned down by of … or that … after it, use the.
- Singular, countable, and the reader doesn't know which one? Use a/an.
- a or an? Go by sound, not spelling: an hour, an MRI, an NGO; a university, a one-time, a European.
Never leave a singular countable noun bare: Government should → The government should / Governments should.
Examples a rater can follow
- One example per reason, drawn from history, science, business, education or everyday life.
- Use at most one example from your own field, in plain words. Write antibiotic resistance, not AMR; write a global study of disease burden, not GBD.
- A specific, checkable example beats a hypothetical one: name the place, the period and the result.
- Make every number add up. Don't invent precise statistics; “roughly half” is safer than a fake 47.3%.
The 12 error codes used in this lab
Errors per 100 words
targets: ≤2.0 by Oct 18 · ≤1.0 by Oct 25Score: lab estimate vs official POWERPREP
target ≥4.5 · stretch 5.0Error types: first essays vs latest
Essays
Drill accuracy
Paste an email, an abstract or a paragraph of your statement of purpose. Claude marks the errors with the same 12 codes. Nothing on this tab is saved.