Compare modern shopping centers to local markets and shops. What way of shopping has more advantages for the people and the society?

That was the essay question in the recent exam in Malaysia. I wonder how I would be able to write this comparison in a real exam.

Spent more than 40 minutes here to write this.

Look at the topic, it says you need to compare shopping centers with local markets (from one hand) and shops (from the other hand) and also bring some advantages point for one of them. I can not see why the examiner put the local markets and shops at one side and shopping malls at the other side. In my opinion shopping malls are different from local markets and are different from shops at the corner of a street.

That's why I believe Ielts guru bring up philosophical essay topics.

Please give me your advices on writing hassle free comparison essays. Thank you all.

Thank you cracktoefl for your nice ideas.

My exam is on 22nd Sep; Hope I'll get a the mark.

David I hope you also get a good mark.

For writing exam, I guess you have tried your best.

In lexical resource you are strong, but you need to sum up

your knowledge of other syllabuses. Do not forget that examiners

assess your essay against a table thus you can navigate their mind

towards positive marks;

First do the task 2 because task one has 2 mark compared to 7 mark for task 2.

Next for the task 2, try to use a range of well-approved grammars so that you can

convince the examiner that you know the grammar; Passive, relative clause,

conditional, paired conjunction, verb tenses, modal, propositions, punctuation, collocation,

I can go on ... but it depends on your knowledge.

For coherence and cohesion, try to tailor your paragraph in way that it flows smoothly while

attracting no attention; Stay away from overindulgence because the examiner can detect it

easily.

For task response, first make sure you understood the question. Next try the strategy Enda

suggested in the other thread which intrigued me;

When you get the question, underline like crazy, highlight, draw arrows, draw circles, write related words, synonyms, opposites; change nouns into verbs and verbs into adjectives. Play for at least five minutes until you are sure of the question, and keep going back to it until you have a plan for each paragraph. Have examples for each idea.

Try to insert examples if they demanded; Notice that examples are a good place which you can

express your grammar abilities using past tenses, past perfect, conditional etc.

You can also apply a 6w pattern to generate ideas about the topic;

Some people think that cultural traditions may be destroyed when they are used as money-making attractions aimed at tourists. Others believe that is the only way to save these traditions. Discuss both these views and give your opinion.

You can generate ideas, however faked, while answering these questions:

- Why people think?

- What will be destroyed?

- Who will take benefit and who will make loss?

- What is affected and in what way?

- How is tradition affected in this way?

- Where tourists go and where do they come from?

- When the situation is getting deteriorated?

You see 6+1 W words help you generate ideas. Now you can eliminate those which

sound irrelevant to the topic. You know this is not a formula; try using your imagination as

well.

I also need to practice what I preach 🙂

Take care

Vincent

This is matter of practice. Take a look at this site:

http://esl.about.com/od/englishgrammar/English_Grammar_Help_Rules_Worksheets_Games_Quizzes_Exercises.htm

It classified the grammar topics for you. Also, you can do the quizzes at the end of each grammar lesson.

In the long run, you can study books such as English Grammar In Use. However, for your exam preparation, don't panic

yourself with a lot of grammar topics. What you need to stand out is a few number of topics such as those I named.

I also please Enda to give advices on this matter.