Students' questions

1. I've finished all of the Cambridge books. What should I do next?

My advice is to do them again! This time, don't use the books for testing. Study and analyse the questions and answers carefully, use a dictionary to look up new vocabulary, try writing essays without a time limit, and record yourself answering the speaking questions. There is so much that you can learn from past exam papers.

2. Which is correct: 'sport' or 'sports'?

Both are correct. 'Sport' is uncountable and refers to all sports in general (e.g. I like sport). 'Sports' is the countable noun and refers to more than one individual sport (e.g. I like team sports).

3. How would you define 'majority', 'few' and 'many' in percentages?

'Majority' normally means more than 50%. 'Few' and 'many' are normally used with numbers rather than percentages: a small percentage of people could still refer to a large number of (many) people. 'Many' and 'few' are difficult to define because it depends on the context, but in general they refer to large and small numbers respectively.

4. Is it correct to write "water is evaporated"?

Yes, you can write "water is evaporated by the sun", but I would probably just write "water evaporates".

5. How many points should I mention in a task 2 essay?

There is no rule about how many points or ideas you need. It's possible to write a full paragraph about just one idea, reason or argument. I tend to write between one and three ideas per paragraph. This lesson explains how I do it.

Comments

[tipi]

Dear Simon, Thank you so much for your online site.I appeared the test yesterday and you are the pioneer to teach all the students like me. It helped me a lot to crack the questions.
I provide you the task 2 writing here for you it may be the guide for the prospective students.

"Playing the computer games by children has a lot of beneficial to them. Though some people deny this assumption. Discuss the both views and give your opinion."

thank you Simon a lot.
I have speaking test on this Wednesday.
I hope it will be satisfactory result. I am reviewing your speaking strategies again. your strategies.

[Awais]

Hi Simon,
I have two querries which I would be much obliged if you answer!

I recently took the academic exam. In one of your answers to a querry on this website you mentioned that we should mention some figures when explaining the trends in task 1. What i am concerned about is that since I was a bit pushed up on time limit, I only mentioned the statistics shown in the figure once to describe one of the micro-distinctions between the trends depicted by two curves. For all other sets of data i just resorted to explaining the general disparities without making any use of the actual figures. Am I going to get penalised for this and if so, will it prevent me from achieving a band 8? Another thing i would like to mention is that I used a "conclusion paragraph" at the end, since I thought the differences between the data were stark (I know you said its preferable to use a summary - unfortunately i did not know about your website prior to taking the exam!. Is that also going to negatively impact on my score ?

Secondly, I wanted to ask you if I end up with a 7.66 overall for the writing band (7.5 in task 1 + 8 in task 2 = 7.66) will my score be bumped up to an 8 or just 7.5 ?
The reason I am inquiring about this is because I am aiming for an 8 in each of the IELTS modules. My reading, listening and speaking went perfect and I am very hopeful that I score an 8 in these sections (as before), but writng is some thing I am always doubtful about (even though this time my task 2 was almost flawless as I double checked it and used excellent vocab along with the sturcture that you have mentioned on this site!). Please explain the breakdown as to how a cumulative score is computed after rounding up the sum of individual scores of task 1 and 2 (I know that task 2 weighs twice as much as task 1 already!)

Many thanks,
And keep enlightening us with your valuable feedback.

Awais

P.S: Just so you know, I believe that this website is the most authentic resource for IELTS information - if only i had visited it prior to taking my test!

[JusticeForKHOJALY]

Hi Simon. I would like to know about Academic Module of IELTS. Please tell me how they calculate score of listening and reading! I mean how much correct answers give definite points. Please inform me about this topic. (H.Mardan from Nakhchivan/Azerbaijan)

[JusticeForKHOJALY]

Hi Simon. I would like to know about Academic Module of IELTS. Please tell me how they calculate score of listening and reading! I mean how much correct answers give definite points. Please inform me about this topic. (H.Mardan from Nakhchivan/Azerbaijan)

[thong]

Hi Awais,
If you found carefully in Simon post you could easily find the answer for your second question. Task 1 only takes 1/3 of the writing task. So if you could get 7.5 in task 1 and 8 in task 2, you would get 8 in over all of writing.
P/S: I don't know how you could get 7.66 because if these tasks were equally treated, it would have been 7.75.

[Adel Ansari]

Hello Simon,
When I take the exam (31st of March) I didn't share the questions.
Here the Writing Essay that I received:

Some people say that children should not play computer game because it is bad in every ways. Others say that it may develop children. Discuss both view and give relevant example. (not 100% the same)

Thanks

[Adel Ansari]

I'm 100% sure because I don't forget easily.

[Jay]

Hi Tipi and Ansari

Where did u give test yesterday??

[Maya]

Hello Simon,

Thank you so much for your lessons.I am waiting for the lesson that you've vouched to post on this Wednesday about writing part 2.
I am in turmoil whether to use;Last but not least, first and foremost, on top of that in writing task2 or not? Please do answer me.Thanks!

[SImon]

Thanks to those of you who shared questions here.

...

Hi Awais,

It's difficult for me to say whether it will have a big effect on your score, but it's quite important to include a few figures rather than only general statements.

You can put the summary at the end, so don't worry about that.

I calculated around 7.8 for the scores you gave, so that would be 8 overall.

...

Hi H. Mardan,

Here's what I know about scores:

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2010/08/students-questions-reading-scores.html

...

Hi Maya,

I wouldn't use those phrases in the writing test. Just use 'firstly, secondly, finally, furthermore' instead.

[Bob]

hi Simon
may I ask you one question?
the question is: what exactly does "travel to work" mean for native English speaker?
does it mean going to work by any means of transport like cars, buses, or subways? or does it mean a business trip?
thanks!

[Ashitha]

hi Simon how can i improve my English grammer.can u give some ideas?

[Maya]

Thank you very much Simon !

And again I have another question regarding writing task2.I know we have to write at least 250 words but I also heard that if we write a lot more then what have asked then the teachers would not necessarily check all the essay.So I am asking how many words are considered to be over the limit? 300 0r 350 or... Can you PLEASE give me a clear picture.I would really appreciate it and Thanks!

[Adel Ansari]

Hi Jay,
I took the exam in UAE. 31st of March
I'm wondering why your exam is different from us !

[paul]

Hi simon , may I ask you one question?
Which is correct: "years old" or " year-olds".

[Simon]

Hi Bob,

It's the first one you mentioned.

...

Hi Ashitha,

A good way is to ask someone to check your work and explain your mistakes. Then you can learn from your mistakes.

...

Hi Maya,

There is no limit at all.

...

Hi Paul,

Both are possible. I'll try to make a lesson about that this weekend.

[paul]

thanks Simon so much .

[Bob]

Thanks Simon

in below topic, is it talking about going out for work? does that include travelling for business to another city or country?
and, what's the opposite side of "travelling to work"? work at home?

"Parents who work in jobs that require a lot of traveling have no time for their family. How does this affect the family and the parents? Discuss and give your opinion."

[Simon]

Hi Bob,

In that question "jobs that require a lot of travelling" seems to mean more than just travelling to work. It refers to business trips where the person probably stays away overnight (maybe abroad or in different cities).

Yes, the opposite of "travelling to work" would be "working at/from home".

[kim]

Dear Simon,

Would you please give me advice on how to answer the question "what is the main topic/best title of the passage?", "what is the author's main purpose?"

Thanks,

[ZIAUL HUDA]

Dear Simon,
May i ask you about the sentence mentioned below, Is this correct or incorrect grammatically?
Thus, it is predicted that this course of action continues to be followed into the forseeable future.

[Jim]

Hi Ziaul. I'd write "will continue" instead of "continues".