IELTS Simon

IELTS General Writing: 'thank you' letter

Several people have asked for another lesson about letter writing for the General Training test. Let's look at one of the questions from Cambridge IELTS book 10:

I would call this a "thank you" letter task. Before writing your letter, have a look at some "thank you" letters by searching online. There's a good example here.

IELTS Advice: an important question

Here's a question that a student wrote in the "comments" below one of my lessons this week:

Dear Simon,

I'm reading your model essays and find them easy to follow and understand. They are totally different from what I'm being trained to write in my IELTS class. We are advised to include linking words, adverbs and descriptive clauses in almost every sentence, while your sentences are much shorter and cleaner. Please give me your opinion about this difference.

(Note: I've corrected a few small mistakes that the student made)

For me, this is an important question because it highlights one of the main reasons why I started writing this blog: I disagree with the way that many teachers, books and websites teach IELTS, and I wanted to suggest a different approach. Examiners are pleasantly surprised when they see essays that are 'clean' and easy to follow, and you might find that your scores improve as you start to focus on real content instead of linking words and memorised phrases.

IELTS Speaking Part 2: expand each point

Many people find it difficult to keep talking for 2 minutes because they give very quick answers to one or two of the bullet points on the task card.

Take last week's question for example:

Describe a long walk that you enjoyed.
You should say

- when you went on this walk
- where it took place
- what you saw while you were walking
- and explain why you enjoyed the walk.

It would be easy to answer the first two bullet points very quickly:

"Last summer I walked along a beach during my holiday in..."

The problem now is that we need to spend almost the full 2 minutes on the last two bullet points. It would be better if we could expand on all four points, like I did in this lesson.

Task:
Can you invent some more information to expand on the short answer that I gave above (about walking along a beach last summer)? Try to invent as much as you can about the "when" and the "where".

IELTS Writing Task 1: grammar exercise

Try this quick exercise to practise your grammar and vocabulary for IELTS writing task 1. The phrases come from the report that I wrote for last week's lesson.

Fill each gap with one word.

1. the amount of money spent _____ coffee
2. sales of coffee _____ up in 2004
3. the UK saw by _____ the highest levels of spending
4. revenue _____ bananas was highest in the UK, _____  €15 million
5. the year 2004 _____ dramatic increases _____ the money spent

IELTS Writing Task 2: balanced introduction

If we want to write a balanced answer for the question below, it's important to make our balanced view very clear in the introduction.

Here's the question again:

In some countries, many more people are choosing to live alone nowadays than in the past. Do you think this is a positive or negative development?

Here's my 'balanced opinion' introduction:

In recent years it has become far more normal for people to live alone, particularly in large cities in the developed world. In my opinion, this trend is having both positive and negative consequences in equal measure.

Note:
Notice that I wrote two sentences as usual. The first sentence introduces the topic by paraphrasing the question statement, and the second sentence makes my opinion very clear.

IELTS Listening: test your spelling

Many IELTS candidates lose marks because of spelling mistakes.

Test your spelling by listening to the following recording and writing the words
(I've recorded the words quickly, so stop the recording after each word).

Click here to listen

Remember, even one wrong letter means that your answer is wrong!

IELTS Reading: similar words

Here are some of the key words and phrases that helped my students to get the answers to reading test 4.1 in Cambridge IELTS book 7:

uncannily: means strangely or extraordinarily

IELTS Advice: how to improve

Many people ask me how they can improve their IELTS scores. In my experience, improvements tend to happen in the following way:

Note: The numbers on the graph refer to stages of improvement, not scores.

Here's my explanation of the four stages of improvement:

1. When a student first starts taking IELTS lessons, they learn useful exam techniques and they do some practice tests. They often improve quite quickly at this stage.
2. However, there is a limit to the improvements that you can make with exam techniques alone. Stage 2 represents the frustrating period during which your score stays the same.
3. The only way to reach point 3 is by working hard to improve your English. There are no secrets, shortcuts or special techniques; learning a second language takes time and practice.
4. In the end, students who persist do tend to get the scores they need! (I'm afraid nobody can tell you how long this will take).

IELTS Advice: homework should be perfect!

Students often make simple mistakes that could be avoided. In exam conditions this is understandable, but there is no excuse for making careless mistakes in your homework!

If you are writing an IELTS essay at home, don't do it as a test. Take your time, check everything carefully, and aim to write a "perfect" essay. Homework is an opportunity to learn and improve, not just a test of your current level.

IELTS Speaking Part 2: describe a walk

Try preparing an answer for the following task:

Describe a long walk that you enjoyed.
You should say

- when you went on this walk
- where it took place
- what you saw while you were walking
- and explain why you enjoyed the walk.

Tip: Maybe you can use a topic that you have already prepared e.g. description of a holiday, or a city that you have visited.

IELTS Writing Task 1: 'coffee and bananas' table

Here's my full answer for the table question that you can see here:

The tables show the amount of money spent on Fairtrade coffee and bananas in two separate years in the UK, Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium and Sweden.

It is clear that sales of Fairtrade coffee rose in all five European countries from 1999 to 2004, but sales of Fairtrade bananas only went up in three out of the five countries. Overall, the UK saw by far the highest levels of spending on the two products.

In 1999, Switzerland had the highest sales of Fairtrade coffee, at €3 million, while revenue from Fairtrade bananas was highest in the UK, at €15 million. By 2004, however, sales of Fairtrade coffee in the UK had risen to €20 million, and this was over three times higher than Switzerland’s sales figure for Fairtrade coffee in that year. The year 2004 also saw dramatic increases in the money spent on Fairtrade bananas in the UK and Switzerland, with revenues rising by €32 million and €4.5 million respectively.

Sales of the two Fairtrade products were far lower in Denmark, Belgium and Sweden. Small increases in sales of Fairtrade coffee can be seen, but revenue remained at €2 million or below in all three countries in both years. Finally, it is noticeable that the money spent on Fairtrade bananas actually fell in Belgium and Sweden.

Note:
This report is a bit longer (216 words) than necessary, but I think it's a useful model answer in terms of its structure and the language used.

IELTS Writing Task 2: positive or negative development?

Questions that ask "Is this a positive or negative development?" seem to be quite common in the IELTS test these days. For example, here's a recent question that several people told me about:

In some countries, many more people are choosing to live alone nowadays than in the past. Do you think this is a positive or negative development?

Here's my advice:

• This type of question is asking for your opinion, so don't write about the views of other people.
• Three different answers are possible: (1) You think it is a positive development. (2) You think it is a negative development. (3) You believe that there are some positives and some negatives.
• As usual, make your opinion clear in the introduction, support it with good ideas in the main body, and repeat / summarise it in the conclusion.

IELTS Listening: spelling

A good way to improve your spelling is by keeping a "mistakes and corrections" list. Here's an example with some real mistakes that one of my students made:

Every time you make a spelling mistake, write the word on your list, and learn the correct spellings by heart. Which words would be on your list?

IELTS Reading: new video lesson (free)

I've just published a video lesson about "matching sentence endings" questions in the IELTS reading test. You can watch the lesson here.

IELTS Vocabulary: try this exercise

Let's take some of the phrases from yesterday's lesson, and see if you can use them to make new sentences about completely different topics.

Here are the phrases to use:

1. The focus of _____ is on _____ rather than _____.
2. I've recently started taking an interest in _____.
3. I would never have _____ when I was younger.

Remember to choose a new topic (not TV). You can put as many words as you want in the gaps.

IELTS Vocabulary: from yesterday's lesson

Here are the good words and phrases that I used in yesterday's speaking lesson:

• primarily for entertainment
• people treat television as a form of relaxation
• talent shows
• soap operas
• the focus is on entertainment rather than education
• what is morally right and wrong
• traditional fairy tales
• toddlers
• we start taking an interest in
• my own preferences have changed over the years
• I would never have watched news programmes when I was younger
• our viewing habits mature ('mature' is used as a verb)

IELTS Speaking Part 3: 'TV programme' answers

Here are my sample answers to the questions that I shared with you last week. Notice that I use the 3 or 4 steps that I recommended, and remember to note down any good words or phrases that you find.

1. Do you think most people watch TV for education or for entertainment?

I think people watch TV primarily for entertainment. There are far more entertainment programmes than educational ones, and in my experience most people treat television as a form of relaxation in the evening. If I think about the most popular TV programmes in the UK, such as talent shows like 'X Factor' or soap operas like 'Eastenders', the focus is definitely on entertainment rather than education.

2. Should TV play a role in educating children? How?

Yes, it definitely should play a role in my opinion. Good children's TV programmes should tell stories that contain some kind of lesson about how to behave or what is morally right and wrong. Many of the traditional fairy tales, such as 'Cinderella', have been made into TV programmes, and there is always a positive message in those stories.

3. How do you think TV viewing habits change as people get older?

TV viewing habits obviously change a lot as we get older. While toddlers might watch programmes about talking animals, teenagers prefer action and adventure or sports, and as adults we start taking an interest in news and politics. My own preferences, for example, have changed over the years - I would never have watched news programmes when I was younger. I think it would be very strange if our viewing habits didn't mature!

IELTS Writing Task 1: paragraphs 3 and 4

After writing your introduction and overview, you should try to write two more paragraphs to describe the most important details that you can see on the graph, chart or diagram.

Looking again at the table below, one problem that we have is how to separate the information into two groups, for paragraphs 3 and 4.

Examiners like comparisons, so I would prefer not to write a separate paragraph for each table. Because the countries and the years are the same, I would try to compare the information in the two tables.

So how can we separate the information in a different way? Here's what my students and I did:

• Paragraph 3: Write about sales of both products in the UK and Switzerland (which have the highest figures).
• Paragraph 4: Say something about sales of the two products in the other three countries.

Try this, and I'll show you my full report next week.

IELTS Listening: gap-fill about happiness

Watch the presentation below, and fill the gaps in the following short summary of the first 2 minutes.

Aristotle called happiness the ______ ______, the end towards which all other things aim. The reason we want a big house, a nice car or a good job isn’t that these things are intrinsically ______, it’s that we expect them to bring us happiness. The paradox of happiness is that even though the ______ conditions in our lives have improved ______, we haven’t actually gotten any happier. In the last few years there’s been an ______ in research on happiness; we’ve learnt how things like income, education, ______ and ______ relate to it.

IELTS Advice: step by step

Yesterday I was reading some advice from a successful musician, and it struck me as being equally relevant to language learning and IELTS preparation:

"It is true of any subject that the person that succeeds has the realistic viewpoint at the beginning, and knows that the problem is large and that he has to take it a step at a time, and that he has to enjoy the step-by-step learning procedure."
(Bill Evans, pianist and composer)

Do you have a realistic idea of what you need to do to reach your required IELTS score? Are you tackling the problem in a step-by-step manner? And are you enjoying the challenge?

Students' questions

Here are my answers to some questions that people have asked me recently:

1) I've just found this website, but where should I start?

There's no particular order, so it doesn't matter where you start. Try looking through the most recent lessons, or the different categories in the menu. I've done lessons about every type of question and most IELTS topics, so if you look hard enough, I'm sure you'll find something that will help you. Note: If you want a step-by-step course, try my video lessons here.

2) What books should I use if I've finished Cambridge IELTS 1 to 10?

There are two other official books of IELTS practice materials (click here to see one of them). Apart from that, I personally don't use or recommend any other books. If you've finished all of the official books, follow tips 5 and 6 in this lesson.

3) What is IELTS for UKVI?

Don't worry about this; it's really just a new name for the same exam. If you want to read more, this website explains everything.

4) Do you recommend using thesis statements e.g. "This essay will..." in introductions for writing task 2?

There's nothing wrong with doing this, but I find it unnecessary. If you read through my task 2 lessons, you'll see that I never write a thesis statement in my introductions. I prefer to spend the time getting started on my main body paragraphs, which are more important!

IELTS Speaking Part 3: 'TV programme' topic

After the part 2 question that I showed you in last week's lesson, the examiner would ask you some related questions in part 3 of the test.

Here are some part 3 questions about the 'educational TV programme' topic:

1. Do you think most people watch TV for education or for entertainment?
2. Should TV play a role in educating children? How?
3. How do you think TV viewing habits change as people get older?

Tip:
The secret to giving good answers in part 3 is to follow three simple steps: 1) give a direct answer 2) explain in more detail 3) give an example. There's also a 4th step if you want to say even more. Look at this lesson to see an example.

IELTS Writing Task 1: table overview

In last week's lesson I suggested taking 5 minutes to understand the question and to write your one-sentence introduction.

Next, try to spend another 5 minutes on your 'overview' paragraph. Just choose two main points, and write two sentences. Don't look at specific numbers; try to find general trends.

Look again at the table below, and choose two main / general points. Can you write a two-sentence summary in 5 minutes or less?

It took me less than 5 minutes to write the following overview:

It is clear that sales of Fairtrade coffee rose in all five European countries from 1999 to 2004, but sales of Fairtrade bananas only went up in three out of the five countries. Overall, the UK saw by far the highest levels of spending on the two products.

IELTS Writing Task 2: the problem with 'difficult' language

One of the main messages that I try to communicate in my lessons is that 'difficult' words and grammar are not the secret to a high score. You don't need to be Shakespeare to get band 7, 8 or 9!

In fact, 'difficult' language often has a negative effect on people's scores. Instead of impressing the examiner, the 'difficult' language may be unnatural, inappropriate, or just incorrect.

Look at these examples from Sunday's lesson. I've underlined the words that I think the students hoped would impress the examiner.

1. If schools administered with any teachers, disorder and lawlessness would arise.
2. If uncensored commercials had been banned, the crime rate would be seized from rising.

All of the underlined 'difficult' words are either used wrongly or they seem strange in these contexts. It would be better to write the following versions:

1. If schools were run without teachers, the behaviour of pupils would be much worse.
2. If violent commercials were banned, the crime rate would fall.

IELTS Listening: transcript for last week

Here's the transcript for the recording in last week's lesson. Listen again and try to fill the gaps.

The fact is, multitasking is a _____. Our brains can't do it. You simply become less efficient and more distracted, your error rate goes up 50 per cent, and it takes you twice as long to do the same task. Listen what Tim Jenkins has to say. He’s the co-_____ of Point B, a leading business consulting firm.

Well I think there’s a _____ out there, that folks that can multitask are more effective. There are times when it's just important to focus on one thing. I think we also need to give people permission to check out, to check out of the communications _____ temporarily to get things done; because when you're always on, when you're always online, you're always distracted, right, and the brain really is telling us that that is a very unproductive _____ to be in. So the always online organisation is actually the always unproductive organisation.

IELTS Reading: 6 tips

How can you improve your reading? Here are 6 tips:

1. If you want to improve your reading, the first thing to do is read a lot. There are no shortcuts or secret techniques; you will only improve with time and practice.
2. Anything you read in English is good practice, so read about subjects that interest you. Try to enjoy reading in English.
3. English is the most used language on the Internet. Whenever you search for information on the net, try searching in English first.
4. Remember that "understanding is not the same as using". Keep a notebook with useful words and phrases that you find when you're reading, and try using them in your own sentences.
5. Apart from reading things that interest you, you also need to read lots of IELTS passages. If you've done all of the tests in the Cambridge books, read the passages again without doing the questions. Use a dictionary, take notes, and try to fully understand each passage.
6. Another way to use the Cambridge tests is to look at the correct answers to each question first. Then, your task is to find out why those answers are correct by analysing the passage carefully and finding the 'keywords'.

I'm sure you can think of other suggestions. Be creative with your reading practice, try to enjoy the learning process, and trust that you will improve if you persist.

IELTS Grammar: conditional mistakes

Can you correct the mistakes in the following conditional sentences?

1. If there was a ban on cigarette, less people would smoke cigarette.
2. If the tax rate on junk food had increased, people would likely to prefer making food at home.
3. If schools administered with any teachers, disorder and lawlessness would arise.
4. If uncensored commercials had been banned, the crime rate would be seized from rising.