Students' questions

1. Is there a difference between "Do you agree or disagree?" and "To what extent do you agree or disagree?"

Not really. I would just answer both questions in the same way.

2. My teacher told my to stick to one side of the argument for 'opinion' essays and give both sides for 'discussion' essays. Is that right?

There are 2 ways to answer an 'opinion' question (click here), but you might find it easier to follow your teacher's advice (to avoid confusion).

3. If I only rely on your website and ignore all the other books, is a band 7 achievable?

Yes, many students have demonstrated this. If you read too many different books, the differing advice will probably confuse you. I tell my students to use the official Cambridge test books along with the advice on my website. You don't really need anything else, apart from maybe a teacher to check some of your work.

4. Why do I keep getting 6.5 in writing?

I was speaking to a student about this problem yesterday. It turned out that he had never written a plan before starting writing task 2. If you don't plan your task 2 essay, it's likely to lack ideas and organisation.

5. In the listening test, should I write "gas works" or "gasworks", and "state rooms" or "staterooms"?

Don't worry too much about this. Both answers would usually be accepted.

Comments

[Suman Chandra Das]

Hi,
My name is Suman. I started using ielts-simon website just few day's before. This is my first post here. I just want to say it's really so helpful for IELTS students from all over the world who is using this site.
I just want to say, thank you so much Simon for the opportunities we are getting to prepare ourselves for the future career. And Thank's all of you here. I wish that everyone achieve desire score.
If anyone here can suggest me to highest score in academic reading? specially I am confused false, not given.
Thank's again.
Suman

[mehran]

Hi simon
I am confused about the word 'rate'.Does it present a percentage,a number or .....and what are best words can I rephrase it?a proportion,number,.....?

thanks

[Niveen]

Hi Simon,

Your lecture yesterday, about how to deal with writing topics in IELTS exam, was very helpful and realy it make me more organized and confident.

Many thanks for your effort.

Niveen

[Max Faber]

Hi, Simon. Could you give me a strategy to develop a few skills
to succeed in IELTS writing tasks.I feel that my problems are:
pour range of my English vocabulary;
insufficient range of sentence structures;
to much time is needed to construct sentences appropriate to my ideas and plan.

So I want
1-to expand range of my English vocabulary;
2-to be able to use wide range of sentence structures;
3-to express my ideas and construct sentences more fluent
and faster.

Now I regularly learn new words by writing phrases and sentences
with new words. I also practice in writing task 1 and task 2
on a regular basis. Finally, I read your blog and attempt to use tips
and strategies from it as well as from study books.

[thangngovan]

Hi Simon
I have trouble when doing the reading question like first two exercises in tets 2 IELTS Cambridge 4.
First is which paragraph contain the following information? There are lot of answers and they are disorganize in the essay, so i have to spend a lot of time to find the detail
Second is choose three answer from the list. I get the same difficulty with the first exercise.
Please tell me how to do the exercises of these type.

[Simon]

FROM SIMON:

I'm afraid I no longer have time to answer everyone's questions individually. However, I do still read them all, and I try to answer some questions in a lesson once a week (like the lesson above).

PS. I'm glad you enjoyed the course Niveen!

[Li]

Hi Simon,

I received my IELTS result last Friday. L: 8.5, R: 8.5, S: 7.5 and W: 7.5. It is the same as last time when I took the general training one without any preparation aaaa. I need 8 in all bands in either GT or Academic IELTS. I am so disappointed that I can not get over the 0.5 point even though I prepared for two weeks this time. As I read on the internet that many people had taken so many tests just to get 0.5 in one band, I feel very discouraged. I know I should not feel negative after only two attempts but I feel so down on myself. If anyone was in the similar situation and was able to achieve their goals, please share your thoughts and advice pleaseeee

[Jason]

Hi Simon,

With regard to listening tests, do examiners normally consider checking answers that are in singular and plural forms? For instance, the ideal answer is "application" but the student wrote it as "applications" and vice versa. My scores are inconsistent. I always get around 6.5-7 band score because of these concerns. Thanks and more power to your site.

[maj]

Hi Simon,
Is it okay to write an essay in all caps?

[Michelle]

Hi Simon,

Thanks your information, I know you suggest that we should give our idea in the introduction paragraph. But I am used to giving my idea in the conclusion paragraph. Does it influence my marks? Do I need to change?

Michelle

[sheshi]

hi simon .my results are out l 6.5 R 5.5 W 6.5 S 6.0 overall 6.0
i m writing for the second time .i booked the slot on feb23rd.plz help me to improve score in reading and overall.expecting a positive reply.i have to apply for may intake i dont have options.so please help me to improve my score in reading.

[anoosh]

dear simon
thank you for answering my question

[Petonia]

Dear Simon
I need to know if I answer quite irrelevant to the question in part 2, what will happen for my score?

Actually I did it. My examiner just read the question while she was giving the question to me, thus I didn't even read it. I thought the question was about Favorite sport as she said, however the question was about SPORT EVENT.
Although I spoke very well I deeply concern about my score. last time I got 7. but Now I wonder If she gave me or not??
what's your opinion???