IELTS Simon

IELTS Speaking Part 2: choose your topic quickly!

One of the most important things to practise for IELTS speaking part 2 is choosing your topic quickly. Take this question for example:

Describe a situation in which you were very polite. You should explain

• where the situation took place
• how you showed that you were polite
• and why you needed to be so polite.

It would be easy to waste your one-minute preparation time worrying about what situation to choose. If you still haven't decided what to talk about when the examiner asks you to start speaking, you'll be in real trouble!

Task:
Give yourself just 10 seconds to choose your polite situation. It doesn't really matter what situation you choose; the key is to give yourself enough time to prepare some ideas.

IELTS Writing Task 1: paraphrasing

The easiest way to start your Task 1 essay is by paraphrasing the question. Paraphrasing means writing something in a different way (using your own words).

Here are some simple changes you can make:

• graph = line graph
• chart = bar chart
• diagram = figure
• shows = illustrates (or 'compares' if the graph is comparing)
• proportion = percentage
• information = data
• the number of = the figure for
• the proportion of = the figure for
• people in the USA = Americans
• from 1999 to 2009 = between 1999 and 2009
• from 1999 to 2009 = over a period of 10 years
• how to produce = the process of producing
• in three countries = in the UK, France and Spain (i.e. name the countries)

Tip:
"The figure for / figures for" is a great phrase that not many people use (e.g. the graph shows figures for unemployment in three countries).

IELTS Writing Task 2: 'unpaid work' essay

Some people think that all teenagers should be required to do unpaid work in their free time to help the local community. They believe this would benefit both the individual teenager and society as a whole.
Do you agree or disagree?

Many young people work on a volunteer basis, and this can only be beneficial for both the individual and society as a whole. However, I do not agree that we should therefore force all teenagers to do unpaid work.

Most young people are already under enough pressure with their studies, without being given the added responsibility of working in their spare time. School is just as demanding as a full-time job, and teachers expect their students to do homework and exam revision on top of attending lessons every day. When young people do have some free time, we should encourage them to enjoy it with their friends or to spend it doing sports and other leisure activities. They have many years of work ahead of them when they finish their studies.

At the same time, I do not believe that society has anything to gain from obliging young people to do unpaid work. In fact, I would argue that it goes against the values of a free and fair society to force a group of people to do something against their will. Doing this can only lead to resentment amongst young people, who would feel that they were being used, and parents, who would not want to be told how to raise their children. Currently, nobody is forced to volunteer, and this is surely the best system.

In conclusion, teenagers may choose to work for free and help others, but in my opinion we should not make this compulsory.

(250 words, band 9)

IELTS Reading: another keyword table

Here's my keyword table for test 1.3 in Cambridge IELTS book 4:

This test also contains some tricky words to describe shapes and movement. Look them up in a dictionary if you don't understand them. Line shapes: curved, wavy, bent, dashed. Movement: spinning, wobbling, jerking.

IELTS Grammar: correct the mistakes

Try to correct the mistakes in the following sentences.

1. More proportion of American people in 1970 than in 2000 got married.
2. There are many things easy enough for those young people to do.
3. I am agreed that volunteer work can build up the responsibilities in youngs.
4. Society gets benefitted as the juvenile crime rate reduced.
5. Having a work experience may help to having a job quicker and easier.

PS. Nobody answered this question from Monday's reading lesson:

If a survey showed that "households spent seven hours a day on transporting themselves and their goods", does this mean that it was "a survey of household expenditure on transport"?

IELTS Speaking Part 1: 'work' topic

Here are some example questions with short, direct answers. Remember that part 1 is like a warm-up; you are not expected to give long, complex answers for this part.

1. Do you work or are you a student?

I’m a qualified doctor, but at the moment I’m studying English so that I can work in this country.

2. Do you enjoy your job?

Yes, I really enjoy my job. Ever since I was a child I have always wanted to be a doctor; I’ve always wanted to be able to help people.

3. What's the best thing about your job?

The best thing about my job is that I can make a difference in people’s lives. It’s a great feeling to see someone recover after an illness because my colleagues and I were able to help.

4. Do you prefer working alone or with others? Why?

In a hospital you have to work as part of a team. I’ve got used to working with others, and I think you can achieve a lot more as a team than you would alone.

IELTS Writing Task 1: more than one chart

Many students are still worried about questions with more than one chart.
Here are some tips:

1. If there are 2 charts, they often show different information. Don't worry about comparing them. Just do: introduction, overview, then one paragraph for each chart.
2. If the units are different (e.g. one chart shows 'millions' and the other shows 'percentages'), you can't usually compare them.
3. If the units are the same, you can probably compare the charts.
4. If there are 3 or 4 charts, you can usually compare them.

To see an essay about 2 different charts click here (Cambridge IELTS 6, p98).

To see an essay about 4 related charts click here (Cambridge IELTS 7, p101).

IELTS Writing Task 2: completely disagree

When you completely agree or completely disagree with the question statement, you don't need to write about the other side of the argument. Just state your opinion and give reasons. Today I'll show you how to write a 'disagree' essay for this question:

Some people think that all teenagers should be required to do unpaid work in their free time to help the local community. They believe this would benefit both the individual teenager and society as a whole.
Do you agree or disagree?

Here's my 4-paragraph plan:

1. Introduction: introduce the topic of unpaid work for teenagers, and make it clear that you completely disagree with the idea of requiring (forcing) young people to do this.
2. First reason: explain why this idea would not benefit teenagers e.g. they are already busy with school work, they should be allowed to enjoy being young, they have many years of work ahead of them when they finish their studies.
3. Second reason: explain why this idea would not benefit society e.g. forcing young people to work goes against the values of a free society, the current system of volunteering is better, this idea would be impossible to enforce.
4. Conclusion: repeat your opinion that requiring teenagers to work benefits neither the teenagers nor society as a whole.

IELTS Reading: more keywords

Last week I did a reading test from Cambridge IELTS 7 (page 48-52) with one of my classes. Here is some of the vocabulary that helped us to get the answers:

The fifth row of the above table is interesting: "20% outside the local area" means the same as "80% was within the local area".

Another question confused some of my students: If a survey showed that "households spent seven hours a day on transporting themselves and their goods", does this mean that it was "a survey of household expenditure on transport"?

Students' questions

Please remember that I can't answer every question in the comments area below lessons. Here are a few questions that people asked recently:

1) Which is correct: "we students are having a party" or "us students are having a party"?

"We students" is correct because it's the subject of the verb. If you delete the word "students", the sentence doesn't make sense if you say "us are having". Note: you might hear native speakers saying "us students", but this would be in very informal contexts.

2) Is it a good idea to write "It is disagreed that" or "It is believed that" to make task 2 essays seem more academic?

Be careful. If you write "it is believed", you are saying "people generally believe". Therefore, it does not tell the examiner what your opinion is. If the question asks for your opinion, do not use these phrases to express it. You need to write "I disagree" or "I believe".

3) What is the difference between "in + year" and "by + year"?

When you write "in 2007", you are only talking about that year. For example, "House prices were at their highest point in 2007" does not tell us what happened before 2007.

We use "by 2007" to express what happened in the period before and leading up to that year. For example, "House prices had risen to their highest point by 2007" suggests that prices were rising in the years leading up to 2007.

Notice that I used the past simple "were" with "in 2007" and the past perfect "had reached" with "by 2007".

IELTS Speaking Part 3: explain, alternative, example

In part 3 of the speaking test, you need to give longer, detailed answers. A good way to do this is by organising your answers according to the following steps:

1. Idea: answer the question directly.
2. Explain: give a reason or explain your answer in more detail.
3. Alternative: explain an alternative (e.g. the opposite) to your answer.
4. Example: give an example to support your answer.
5. Another idea: sometimes you think of another idea while you are speaking. Just add it on the end of your answer.

You can give a really good answer without including all five steps, but you might find it useful to practise including all five, as I've done here:

Why do you think some people prefer to buy products from their own countries rather than imported items?

(idea) I suppose it’s because those people want to support the economy of the country they live in. (explain) If they buy something that was made in their own country, they know that they are contributing to the salaries of workers within the same country, (alternative) whereas if they buy imported items, a foreign company and its employees will benefit. (example) For example, if I buy some meat that originates from a local farm rather than a farm in another country, I’m helping one of my fellow citizens to carry on in business. (another idea) Also, I think that trust is an issue; people might feel that they can trust domestically produced items more than imported ones.

IELTS Writing Task 1: why I'd start with task 1

Students often ask whether it's better to do task 1 or task 2 first.

In my opinion, it's best to start any exam with something quick and easy that gives you confidence. Hopefully you'll agree that the quickest and easiest part of the whole writing test is the introduction to task 1.

You don't need to think too much about the introduction to task 1; simply rewrite the question statement by changing a few words. Click here to read one of my lessons about introductions, and then read this lesson about paraphrasing. If you practise these techniques, you'll start your IELTS writing test with confidence.

IELTS Writing Task 2: fully respond to the question

One of the things that the examiner will check carefully is whether or not you have fully responded to the question. Here's a question that a student sent me:

Some people think that all teenagers should be required to do unpaid work in their free time to help the local community. They believe this would benefit both the individual teenager and society as a whole.
Do you agree or disagree?

The student who sent me this question wrote about the advantages and disadvantages of unpaid work for teenagers, but completely forgot to mention the benefits and/or drawbacks for society as a whole.

If you don't fully answer the question, it's extremely difficult to get a band 7.

IELTS General Writing: semi-formal?

IELTS books and teachers sometimes talk about formal, semi-formal, and informal letters. But a student asked me an interesting question recently:

Can we make things easier by forgetting about "semi-formal"?

Actually, I think the answer is yes! When writing to a colleague or neighbour, you can write in a friendly, informal way using the informal features mentioned in this lesson. I can't really think of any reason why we need the "semi-formal" category for IELTS writing purposes. Your letter will be either formal or friendly!

Note:
Feel free to disagree with me if you can find a reason why we need the semi-formal category. Maybe I've missed something.

IELTS Grammar: correct the mistakes

Here are some sentences about this week's writing task 1 question. Can you find and correct the mistakes? Not all of them are grammar mistakes!

1. There were 51 million pmt incidents than 35 million pmt injuries by bus.
2. In general, both the figures for serious fatalities and injuries were dramatically higher for the demand response field.
3. The number of people having injuries showed the more popular level than that of people having incidents.
4. There is a somewhat difference between the number of people using heavy rail and light rail.
5. The bar chart illustrates the amount of passengers who were been incidents and injuries travelled by five types of transport such as demand response, bus, heavy rail, light rail, and commuter rail in 2002.
6. The bus, which is used by almost 80 people, tallied 66 injuries.
7. In three types of rail, being lower than light rail, heavy rail surpassed commuter rail in the amount of incidents and injuries.
8. Injuries by bus was went up approximately 4 times than commuter rail.

IELTS Speaking Advice: record, transcribe, analyse

Here are some steps that you could follow when practising for the speaking test:

1. Choose a real speaking test from one of the Cambridge books.
2. Record yourself answering one or all of the parts of the test.
3. Listen to the recording and transcribe it (write down everything you said).
4. Analyse the transcript. How could your answers be improved?
5. Take some time to prepare better answers for the same questions.
6. Try the same questions again! Record yourself, transcribe and analyse.
7. Repeat the process a few times until you are happy.

Imagine if you did this kind of hard work every day for a month. I'm sure you'd be more confident and better prepared than you are now.

IELTS Writing Task 1: 'chart without years' essay

The chart below shows numbers of incidents and injuries per 100 million passenger miles travelled (PMT) by transportation type in 2002.

The bar chart compares the number of incidents and injuries for every 100 million passenger miles travelled on five different types of public transport in 2002.

It is clear that the most incidents and injuries took place on demand-response vehicles. By contrast, commuter rail services recorded by far the lowest figures.

A total of 225 incidents and 173 injuries, per 100 million passenger miles travelled, took place on demand-response transport services. These figures were nearly three times as high as those for the second highest category, bus services. There were 76 incidents and 66 people were injured on buses.

Rail services experienced fewer problems. The number of incidents on light rail trains equalled the figure recorded for buses, but there were significantly fewer injuries, at only 39. Heavy rail services saw lower numbers of such events than light rail services, but commuter rail passengers were even less likely to experience problems. In fact, only 20 incidents and 17 injuries occurred on commuter trains.

(165 words, band 9)

Note:
Don't worry about the repetition of "incidents and injuries" in this essay. There are no perfect synonyms for these words, although I managed to use "problems" and "such events" later in the essay. The most important thing is to describe the data clearly and make some good comparisons.

IELTS Writing Task 2: introduction without opinion

My normal advice for task 2 introductions is this: write two sentences - one to introduce the essay topic, and one to give a basic answer to the question. But what should you put in the second sentence (basic answer) if the question doesn't ask for your opinion?

Here are two example questions:

1. Many people believe that an effective public transport system is a key component of a modern city. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of public transport.
2. Crime rates tend to be higher in cities than in smaller towns. Explain some possible reasons for this problem, and suggest some solutions.

Here are two sample introductions:

1. Officials in many cities are keen to develop efficient public transport systems. While public transport has many benefits, there are also some drawbacks which are worth considering.
2. Cities generally experience higher levels of criminality than towns or villages. There are various reasons for this, but measures could be taken to tackle the problem.

Hopefully you can see that it's quite easy to write an introduction for these types of question. The approach is the same (topic + basic answer) whether the question asks for your opinion or not.

IELTS General Writing: how to start and end letters

It's important to start and end letters in the correct way, depending on who you are writing to. The table below should give you all you need.

Note:
You should follow the rules for formal letters, but there are many ways to end an informal letter. The main thing is to avoid mixing formal and informal.

IELTS Advice: what do the best students do?

Yesterday I was chatting to a really experienced high school teacher. I asked for his opinion on what makes an excellent student or learner. This is what he said:

"It's not really about what students do inside the classroom. The best students are always the ones that do the most outside the classroom: for example, the ones that go online after a lesson to search for more information, or to look for different ways to understand a topic or solve a problem."

The good news is that if you're reading this blog post, you're already one of these students. You're on the right track!

IELTS Speaking Part 2: formula phrases

A student asked me whether the following formula is useful for speaking part 2:

• I guess I could begin by saying something about (point 1) and I think I would have to choose...
• Going on to my next point which is (point 2), I really need to emphasise that (explain point 2).
• And now with reference to (point 3), the point I want to make here is that (explain point 3).
• And so finally, if I have time, in answer to the question of (point 4), really I should mention that...

So, are these 'formula phrases' a good idea? My answer is no!

As an English speaker and ex-examiner, I find these phrases annoying. It's obvious that they are memorised, and they do not address the question topic. Please don't expect the examiner to be impressed by this kind of thing.

There are a couple of benefits to learning a formula: it gives your answer some structure, and it might make you feel more confident during the test. However, the disadvantages are greater:

1. Your focus is on the phrases you have memorised, when it should be on answering the question with relevant ideas.
2. The examiner thinks that you are using memorised phrases because you are unable to produce good language spontaneously. In other words, your use of long formula phrases suggests that your level of English is lower.