Who is the course for?

This course is suitable for anybody wanting to understand or to improve essay writing skills for exams  which require you to write a short academic essay of around 200-350 words under timed conditions, such as IELTS. It's also suitable if you need to write short essays for another reason, such as for university, college, or school.  The exams it can help you with are:

• IELTS: International English Language Testing System
  
• PTE: Pearson English Language Test
  
• FCE: Cambridge English First
  
• CAE: Cambridge English Advanced
  
• TOEFL IBT: Test of English as a Foreign Language
  

What skills does the course cover?

It starts from the very basics of building good paragraphs all the way up to writing concise and well-supported short academic essays. It's not a grammar course, but there is a focus on the critical aspects of sentence structure and the differences between simple, compound and complex sentences - examiners and teachers will be specifically looking out for your ability to write a mix of these sentence types. It covers coherence and cohesion by examining the ways to link ideas, sentences, and paragraphs to each other, as well as the important aspects of academic style when writing.   

What activities are included?

It gives you real practice as each section of the course has interactive quizzes and other activities to engage with and to ensure you have learned and understood everything from the lectures. The course also provides samples of common types of essay question and model answers with practice exercises so that you will know how to write the various types. 

Do I get personal support?

The learning materials are self-access, so they are designed to be taken by yourself and, within the course, full guidance is given. You can take them when you like and at your own pace, and you can go back over the lectures and materials as many times as you like over the enrolment period. However, a tutor is available if required to answer any questions you have as you take the course. There is a 'comment' function available to you to use if needed and your tutor will get back to you as soon as possible (1-2 days). 

How can I know what I've learned?

At the end of the course, you have the chance to submit an essay, which will be given back to you with comments from your tutor. This is an excellent opportunity to gauge what you have learned and to find out if there are any weak areas that you may still need to work on. 

For the course you'll need a pre-intermediate or intermediate level of English, a computer, speakers and an internet connection.

If for any reason you think the course is not up to standard, does not provide what you expected, or does not fit the description, then provided you contact us within 7 days of your purchase, we will fully refund your money.