IELTS blog by Pete Jones and sponsored by Analyse Academic Help
My IELTS blog is where I share IELTS tips, book reviews, common IELTS topics and more. If you like what you read, subscribe via email or RSS or try my free IELTS course.
My IELTS blog is where I share IELTS tips, book reviews, common IELTS topics and more. If you like what you read, subscribe via email or RSS or try my free IELTS course.
There will probably be times in your IELTS Speaking test when you don’t know what to say. You may be asked a difficult question by the examiner, for example, or not be able to remember the right word to say what you mean.
To help you avoid hesitating for too long when you don’t know what to say, I’ve put together some useful phrases that you can use in IELTS Speaking, and Jason R Levine (Fluency MC) has written a rap to help you remember some of them.
Check out Jason’s video below and, when you’ve listened a couple of times, repeat the phrases to the music so that you learn to say them in a natural way.
Spelling is important in IELTS. If you spell an answer incorrectly in IELTS Listening or Reading, you won’t receive a mark for that answer. The more spelling mistakes you make in IELTS Writing, the less likely you are to get the Writing band score you need.
The good news is you can improve your spelling quickly by using the 3 simple techniques below. Continue reading
Reducing the number of mistakes you make in the IELTS Speaking test is one way to improve your IELTS Speaking band score.
So, if you’re worried about the number of vocabulary, grammar or pronunciation mistakes you make, follow the 3 simple steps in the infographic below.
Like many IELTS General Training Writing Task 2 questions in 2016, a lot of IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 questions have been on the topic of modern lifestyles.
The difference between IELTS Academic and General Training Writing Task 2 topics has been that IELTS Academic tasks have included questions on children’s lifestyles.
For those of you taking an IELTS test in 2016, it would be a good idea to look at the following examples of writing tasks on the topic of modern lifestyles and think about what ideas you would include in your answers.
Here are some examples of IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 questions (reported by candidates in Malaysia, Singapore, the UK and Vietnam in 2016) that focus on modern lifestyles (including children’s lifestyles). Continue reading
While the topic of many IELTS General Training Writing Task 2 questions in 2016 has been school education (as was the case in 2015), this year has seen another topic become common.
From what IELTS candidates have reported about their IELTS tests in 2016, a common IELTS General Training Writing Task 2 topic has been modern lifestyles.
If you’re planning to take an IELTS test in 2016, it would be a good idea to look at the following examples of writing tasks on this topic, and think about what grammar and vocabulary you may need to use in your writing.
Here are some examples of IELTS General Training Writing Task 2 topics (reported by candidates in Australia, Egypt, India and Malaysia in 2016) that focus on modern lifestyles.
To show the examiner that you have enough grammar to get a band score 7 in the IELTS Speaking test, you need to use different kinds of complex grammar.
Complex grammar includes:
Watch the following video to see me explain how an IELTS band score 6.5 candidate could use different types of complex grammar to get a higher band score.
In the first part of the video, the candidate, Ranhee, talks about an IELTS Speaking Part 2 topic for two minutes. In the second part, I explain what grammar Ranhee needs to use to get a band score 7.
I give a lot of advice on this blog about how to prepare for IELTS but I thought for this post I’d share some advice from other specialists in IELTS preparation.
So, apart from becoming familiar with the exam format and improving your English in general, what do the experts say about preparing for the IELTS test?
IELTS Trainer contains six complete IELTS Academic practice tests with guidance and tips on how to answer the questions in the first two practice tests.
Answering IELTS Speaking questions more easily is one way to improve your IELTS Speaking band score. That’s easy for me to say, of course, but may not be so easy for you to do.
So, I’d like to show you ten ways to answer IELTS Speaking questions more easily, i.e. speak more fluently in your IELTS Speaking test.
You can read about all ten ways below or hear me talk about some of them in the following IELTS video.
To get a band score 7 or above in the IELTS Speaking test, you need to use some collocations, i.e. combinations of words that native speakers of English often use when speaking or writing.
Here are some examples of collocations that you may be familiar with on the common IELTS topic of technology:
To see how a candidate could have used some of these collocations to improve their IELTS band score from a 6.5 to a 7.0, check out my latest YouTube video below.
In the first part of the video, the candidate, Efim, answers some IELTS Speaking Part 3 questions. In the second part, I explain what collocations Efim could have used to get a band score 7.0.