The 'backwards' writing method helps a 26-year-old man achieve 9.0 IELTS

Writing the body first, then going back to the introduction and conclusion is the way to help Dong Hoan increase one point in his Writing skill, achieving 9.0 IELTS overall.

Hoang Dong Hoan, 26 years old, a freelance teacher, achieved 9.0 IELTS on the March 12 computer test in Hanoi.

In particular, Hoan achieved absolute scores in two skills: Reading and Listening, 8.5 in Writing and Speaking. Compared to the last exam three years ago, Hoan increased one point in Writing and 0.5 points in Speaking.

Hoang Dong Hoan, 26 years old, achieved 9.0 IELTS on March 12. Photo: Provided by the character — Hoang Dong Hoan, 26 years old, achieved 9.0 IELTS on March 12. Photo: *Provided by the character*

The former Foreign Trade University student assessed that Writing skill is always a challenge for all test takers. Previously, Hoan only focused on vocabulary and grammar, always looking for ways to use difficult vocabulary. But now, the most important thing is to come up with ideas for the writing, according to Hoan.

"Before writing, I will think about which ideas are suitable, which highlights can be exploited and allocate them into the sections of the article," Hoan shared.

According to Hoan, the writing process usually consists of two steps. After about ten minutes of thinking, organizing and drafting ideas with basic vocabulary, Hoan finds appropriate vocabulary and grammar structures to complete the essay. The reason is that the writing must first be understandable to the reader, then one should consider how to write well.

For Task 1 which requires describing a graph, Dong Hoan often pays attention to the amount of data to find a solution. If there is a lot of data, or complex data combined together, Hoan prioritizes using simple structures and vocabulary to make the analysis easier to understand. For tasks with less data, Hoan often writes a draft and then edits and replaces more difficult vocabulary.

"I don't read IELTS sample essays but read economic articles from some foreign newspapers, through which I learn how to use words and filter out good structures," Hoan said. "This helps me master writing in a foreign style, avoiding Vietnamese-English translations, which lose their naturalness."

For Task 2, Hoan said that his way of doing the test was "opposite" to the majority of candidates. He wrote the body first, analyzed the ideas in detail, then went back to write the introduction and conclusion. Hoan said that this way the introduction would clearly express his point of view, and the conclusion would be consistent with the ideas presented.

"When I write the details first, I can generalize them and put them in the beginning. It allows me to show consistency and create cohesion throughout," Hoan added.

In the body of the essay, Hoan said that it is better to limit the specific subject if the topic is too general. The topic he received on the exam day was "In today's world, technology is very developed but artists are still respected. So, what does art do for life that science and technology cannot?"

According to Hoan, neuroscience cannot describe true emotions, and modern language models are not capable of expressing natural, creative language like humans. Here, Hoan limits "technology" to "neuroscience" and "language models," and "artist" is limited to how authors describe "emotions" and "word expressions."

In addition, Hoan writes each idea in a paragraph, focusing on digging deeper instead of having many ideas in the same paragraph like before. He considers this a big change in his writing style, after referring to the IELTS scoring criteria table updated in the middle of last year. Specifically, this table has added the keyword "in depth" in the 9-point scale, different from before.

"I think the examiner requires candidates to know how to turn a general question into an in-depth analysis of a problem and in a specific field," he speculated, arguing that it is necessary to cultivate background knowledge to do this.

In addition, Hoan commented that candidates with a score of 6-6.5 are often deducted points for making mistakes in writing long essays. He advised candidates to write under 300 words, practice cutting long essays into short ones to increase the connection in grammar and ideas, creating coherence.

In Speaking, Dong Hoan admits that he doesn't have much experience in reviewing. Usually, he tries to condense ideas, not using many phrases and idioms.

“For example, I look for other ways to express an idea in five words, instead of 10 words, or shorter,” he says.

For the remaining two skills, Listening and Reading, Hoan emphasizes the need to practice every day, even if it only takes about 10-15 minutes. He often watches Youtube and reads English newspapers.

Hoan also focuses on understanding how words are used in the way foreigners think, distinguishing between spoken and written language. "Vietnamese writing is different from English. If possible, ask a native speaker to check your writing and speaking," said Dong Hoan.

Doan Hung

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