Spelling rules (Should I use the American or British English spelling?)

We all know that the IELTS test can be challenging to most non-native speakers (like me) due to a lot of factors. We may be excellent in one skill but weak in another. I am particularly unconfident with my Writing skills because of the fact that I find myself having a hard time producing an output within the given ideal time limits for both tasks. I tend to overlook or overthink of my ideas and examples that I simply cannot plan for my essays in a short span of time. However, one particular micro skill in writing has been bothering and sometimes crushing my students' dreams of getting a high band score in Writing - Spelling.

Spelling can be tricky at times. Sometimes, even if we try and study rules and patterns, there will always be exceptions. But for this blog, I'm going to concentrate on one of the most commonly asked questions that have constantly bugged my learners, "Should I use the British or American English spelling in writing my essays?"

Well, to put it simply, both are accepted but with one condition. Some people recommend using the British English spelling format more since the IELTS test is owned by the "British Council" and "IDP". Another plausible reason is that when we take the IELTS Listening test, we can often hear the UK and other European accents as well as the Aussie accent. On the other hand, in the Reading section, we can somehow read articles or passages that focus on Scientific and/or historical events that took place in most European countries. Although this may seem true, there is no recommended spelling format to follow. There is, however, what we call "Consistency".

When writing, the candidate MUST remember to use one pattern ONLY. That means if the candidate used the American way of spelling, he/she MUST be consistent with this and vice versa. If a candidate is more comfortable and more knowledgeable in the American spelling style, he/she is free to use it. The only dilemma of the candidate would be to spell the words correctly, which I believe is a more pressing problem.

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