One very common problem that students (below band 6) encounter is a limited range of vocabulary. Even if the vocabulary is used relatively effectively and accurately, the limitations become obvious due to repetition.
Here are some examples from student writing:
Sample 1
In this first sample, the word country is used repetitively. There are two main methods to fix this problem: deletion and the use of alternative expressions or synonyms. For example, the first instance of country could readily be replaced with nation; the third and fourth instances of country could simply be deleted because they don’t really serve any useful purpose; and the sentence containing the fifth and sixth instances could be rephrased as a comparison between international and domestic enterprises rather than relying excessively on the word country. You can try rewriting the paragraph following my suggestions (and if you are a Mushroom member, please share your efforts in the comments below).
Also note that it is generally considered to be bad style to repeat the same word in one sentence (except for short grammatical words like prepositions, articles and auxiliary verbs).
Sample 2
I may have deemed the point that the student was making to be a good one (introducing the impact of AI long before the recent prevalence of AI apps), but this second sample shows a very common issue – overuse of ‘you’. If you are preparing for the IELTS test because you want to go to an English medium of instruction university, it is a good habit to avoid using ‘you’ in this way in your writing. The problem is that you really do not know who is going to be reading your paper, so making assumptions about the reader through such direct address is inappropriate.
Do you need help checking your practice papers for repetition?
