IELTS Simon

New video lesson

I've just published a new video lesson at the bottom of this website.

In the lesson, I prepare vocabulary ideas for the topic area "Describe your favourite" in IELTS speaking part 2. I also give two full sample answers.

IELTS Writing Task 1: introduction problems

Look at the following statement from a question in Cambridge IELTS book 10.

The charts below show what UK graduate and postgraduate students who did not go into full-time work did after leaving college in 2008.

Now read an introduction written by a student (below). There are several problems in this introduction sentence - not only grammatical problems. Can you see them?

Introduction sentence:
The bar graphs give information and compare between the kinds of jobs opted by UK's undergraduate and postgraduate students who did not go for a full time job after completing their degrees in 2008.

IELTS Writing Task 2: choose the easy opinion

Look at the following exam question that a student sent me:

As well as making money, businesses also have social responsibilities. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

When deciding whether to agree, disagree or partly agree, I suggest that you think about your two main body paragraphs. What would you like to include in your two main paragraphs, and which opinion allows you to do this?

IELTS Listening: the origin of words

Following yesterday's reading passage about 'etymology', here's an interesting presentation about the origins of some English words.

If you do a YouTube search for "etymology of English", you'll find lots more videos like this. This could be a nice way to improve both your vocabulary knowledge and your spelling.

IELTS Vocabulary: paraphrasing and comparisons

Did you notice the paraphrasing that I used in Thursday's lesson?

• the amount of time = the time spent
• 10 to 15-year-olds = aged between 10 and 15
• chatting on the Internet = chatting online = chat online = engage in online conversation
• playing on games consoles = playing computer games = play on their consoles
• more popular = boys favour = girls prefer
• the majority of = most of them = most girls

and the comparisons that I made?

• ...is more popular than...
• Boys favour... / By contrast, girls prefer...
• while 85% of boys..., only 55%...
• close to 70% of girls..., compared to about 50% of this cohort who...
• most of them..., whereas most...

IELTS Vocabulary: band 7-9 phrases

Did you note down these good phrases from Wednesday's lesson?

• it is an abstract concept with no definite meaning
• it can mean or represent
• depending on a person's age, culture or background
• a feeling of pleasure in a particular moment
• a state of mind
• adults equate happiness with...
• health, security, financial stability or success
• we seek contentment
• in our own individual ways

If you want to write at a band 7-9 level, vocabulary is the key!

IELTS Speaking: review of tips

Here's a quick review of my main tips for each part of the speaking test:

Part 1
Keep it simple; there's no need to show off in this part. Give a short, direct answer and a reason for your answer. Then stop. If necessary, smile at the examiner to show that you are ready for the next question; if you keep speaking, the examiner will interrupt you. Answer using full sentences, and try not to hesitate; just say the first thing that comes into your head.

Part 2
Before the exam, prepare ideas for the six main topics. Focus on vocabulary, not grammar or linking. In the exam, try to note down as many ideas as you can during the 1-minute preparation time - hopefully you'll be able to use ideas that you have already prepared. You don't have to cover all of the points on the task card, but it helps you to structure your answer if you do. Say as much as you can for each point, and use a real example or story at the end of your description if you need to fill time. Keep going until the examiner stops you.

Part 3
Practise "3-step" answers: 1) answer the question 2) explain your answer 3) give an example. There's also a 4th step that you can sometimes use. By following these steps, you ensure that your answer "moves forward" instead of becoming repetitive - most people repeat the same ideas when they try to give a long answer, and the steps will help you to avoid this.

PS. I'll publish my next speaking video in the next few days.

IELTS Writing Task 1: 'details' paragraphs

In last week's lesson I wrote an introduction and an overview for the bar chart question below. Today I'll show you paragraphs 3 and 4, the 'details' paragraphs.

The chart below shows the amount of time that 10 to 15-year-olds spend chatting on the Internet and playing on games consoles on an average school day in the UK.

Boys aged between 10 and 15 clearly favour playing on games consoles over chatting online. According to the chart, while 85% of boys play computer games every day, only 55% chat online daily. Furthermore, the majority of boys play on their consoles for more than one hour each day, and 10% do this activity for four hours or more.

By contrast, girls prefer chatting online. Close to 70% of 10 to 15-year-old girls engage in online conversation each day, compared to about 50% of this cohort who play computer games. Of the girls who do play on consoles, most of them play for less than an hour, whereas most girls who chat online do so for more than one hour, and nearly 10% chat for four hours or more.

Note:
I decided to write about boys in one paragraph and girls in the other. However, it would also be fine to write paragraphs about chatting on the Internet and playing on consoles.

IELTS Writing Task 2: what makes a good paragraph?

I asked my students to plan some ideas for the 'happiness' question that you can see in this lesson (the students hadn't seen my full essay). We then wrote a band 9 paragraph together (see below).

Paragraph answering the question 'why is happiness difficult to define?':

Happiness is almost impossible to explain because it is an abstract concept with no definite meaning. It can mean or represent something completely different depending on a person's age, culture or background. For some people, happiness is a feeling of pleasure in a particular moment, whereas for others, it is a state of mind. Children, for example, are happiest when playing, laughing and having fun, while adults usually equate happiness with health, security, financial stability or success. In other words, we all have different views or requirements, and so we seek contentment in our own individual ways.

But what makes this a 'band 9' paragraph?
Can you analyse it in terms of the 4 criteria?

Listening practice: an interesting presentation

The video below isn't related to IELTS, but I found it interesting. The speaker gives some useful tips about how to have better conversations, and she uses plenty of good vocabulary.

If you have time, maybe you could note down the 10 tips and any good phrases that you hear.

PS. She speaks quickly, so use the subtitles to help you.

IELTS Reading: keyword gap-fill

Here's a keyword table for a 'true, false, not given' section in Cambridge IELTS book 10 (page 121). I've left some gaps to encourage you to study the keywords carefully.

Use the following words:
restaurant, vacancies, purpose, soon, leavers, catering, dream

IELTS Grammar: mistakes with the passive

In which of these sentences is the passive used correctly?

1. The amount of rainfall was increased last month.
2. An increase in rainfall was seen last month.
3. The UK was experienced an increase in rainfall.
4. Rainfall has been reduced this year.
5. Income tax has been reduced this year.

IELTS Advice: using my vocabulary is fine!

People sometimes ask me whether the examiner will reduce their scores if they copy my vocabulary ideas, either from this website or from my ebook.

The answer is no, the examiner will not reduce your score! Everyone has to get vocabulary ideas from somewhere, whether it's from a teacher, a textbook, a dictionary or my website. Besides, I wasn't the "inventor" of any of the words or phrases that I use.

New video lesson (free)

You can now watch my latest video lesson here. I hope you find it useful.

IELTS Speaking Part 2: describe your favourite

Have you prepared a description of your favourite film, book and website? I'm making a video lesson about these topics at the moment, and I'm trying to think of some vocabulary themes.

For the favourite website topic, I think we can say a lot about the features and the website's usefulness. For the film or book, we can describe the plot, but can you think of any other vocabulary themes for these topics?

By the way, my video lesson about the "describe an activity" topic will be ready later today. Because of the delay I'll make it free.

IELTS Writing Task 1: stacked bar chart

In this lesson I'll show you an example introduction and overview for the bar chart below. Next week I'll write the 'details' paragraphs.

The chart below shows the amount of time that 10 to 15-year-olds spend chatting on the Internet and playing on games consoles on an average school day in the UK.
...

...
Introduction
The bar chart compares the time spent by 10 to 15-year-olds in the UK on two activities, namely chatting online and playing computer games.

Overview
Overall, we can see that playing computer games is marginally more popular than chatting on the Internet. However, completely different trends can be seen if we look at the specific figures for boys and girls.

IELTS Grammar: corrected (simplified) sentences

Here are my suggestions for correct, simplified versions of the sentences in yesterday's lesson:

1. People who live in cities face various problems.
2. The problems that urban inhabitants face include a high cost of living, social problems, and poor air quality.
3. People who live in cities face various problems.
4. People who live in urban areas face various challenges.
5. City life is much more challenging than many people are led to believe.

Notes:

• Sentences 1 and 3 were trying to communicate the same simple idea, so I used the same easy sentence for both.
• Notice that I removed the words 'dwelling' and 'denizen'. Don't try to show off with difficult words in your introduction.
• Notice how the verb 'face' is used: A face(s) B. For example: people face problems.

IELTS Grammar: correct the mistakes

Can you see the mistakes in the following topic sentences?

1. On the one hand, people facing different situation living in a city.
2. The problems that urban inhabitants may face with are high cost of living, many kinds of social problems as well as poor air quality.
3. People dwelling in cities are facing different kind of issues every day.
4. On the one hand, the denizen need to face the challenge life in urban sprawl.
5. The fantasy of high standard city life is infact faced with reality of many daily challenges.

Tip: the easiest way to improve these sentences is by simplifying them.

IELTS Speaking Part 2: describe an activity

Today I'm working on a video lesson about the "describe an activity" topic. You might be asked to describe a hobby, sport or game, so it's a good idea to be ready for this topic.

My approach is to prepare ideas for one sport (e.g. swimming) and one game (e.g. chess). I start with a simple idea, such as "swimming is healthy". Then I search for good words and phrases related to this theme. For example:

"Swimming is healthy" theme:

• keep fit
• get in better shape
• a good cardiovascular workout
• feel refreshed, rejuvenated, invigorated
• gives me an energy boost

Can you think of any more words and phrases for this theme?

IELTS Writing Task 1: stacked bar chart

The chart below shows the amount of time that 10 to 15-year-olds spend chatting on the Internet and playing on games consoles on an average school day in the UK.
...

...
Before we write a description of this chart, here are a few quick questions:

1. Which activity is most popular overall?
2. What differences can you see between boys' and girls' habits?
3. What is the total figure for boys who play on games consoles?
4. What proportion of girls chat on the Internet for 4 hours or more?

IELTS Writing Task 2: add the 'topic sentence'

When writing a main body paragraph, I usually recommend that you start with a topic sentence. To see a good example, look at paragraph 3 in this lesson. Here's the topic sentence again:

However, there are various steps that governments could take to tackle these problems.

But did you notice that I missed the topic sentence in paragraph 2 of the essay? Can you suggest a short, simple topic sentence that we could add to the start of this paragraph?

IELTS Listening: transcript for last week

A few people tried writing the transcript for the recording in last week's lesson. You can see my version of the transcript below.

Click here to listen

I work in the healthcare field, and have always wanted to go abroad and offer my services.

I guess I just wanted to do volunteer work ‘cause* I wanted to do something different: travel around but, like, really see the people, you know, rather than just being a visitor.

Here you’re in a safe environment, where you’re looked after, and all the staff are really friendly.

They really want you to grasp the culture that you’re coming into, and the people that surround you, and just everything: the way that they live, their everyday lives.

If you’re willing to give the time and the energy, I think it can be an amazing opportunity, and you can learn so much.

There’s more than just, you know, reading a guide book and going to the tourist spots. It’s about sitting down and trying to communicate with people and trying to understand what their experiences are.

*Instead of because we often say ‘cause or cos in informal speech.

IELTS Vocabulary: the problem with synonyms

Someone asked me the following useful questions:

• Instead of 'reduce pollution', can we write 'bring down pollution' or 'lessen pollution'?
• Instead of 'reduce the pressure', can we write 'cut down the pressure'?

My answer is no. Although 'bring down', 'lessen' and 'cut down' can be used as synonyms of 'reduce' in some situations, most native speakers wouldn't choose to use them in the contexts above. In other words, 'reduce pollution' is a common collocation, but 'bring down pollution' isn't.

To see which verbs collocate (go well) with 'pollution' click here.
To see collocations with the word 'pressure' click here.

IELTS Vocabulary: essay analysis

Did you analyse the essay in Wednesday's lesson? Here are some good phrases that you could try to use yourself:

• seen as places of opportunity
• major drawbacks
• a large metropolis
• the average inhabitant
• the cost of living
• urban areas, rural areas
• high crime and poverty rates
• the air quality is poor
• public transport systems are overcrowded
• take steps to tackle these problems
• affordable housing
• ban vehicles
• promote the use of cleaner public transport
• traffic congestion, a congestion charge
• curb the traffic problem
• provincial towns
• reduce the pressure on
• implement a range of measures
• enhance the quality of life

Remember that 'topic vocabulary' is the key to a high score in writing task 2.

IELTS Speaking Part 2: describe an event

I've now published my latest video lesson (speaking lesson 6) at the bottom of this webpage. In the lesson, I look at 4 types of event:

1. party
2. festival
3. sports event
4. concert or musical event

Which type of event would you find the most difficult to describe? Can you think of any vocabulary 'themes' that could be used to describe any event?

IELTS Writing Task 1: 'overview' not conclusion

You should not write a conclusion for IELTS writing task 1. You should write an "overview" of the information.

But why shouldn't you write a conclusion? What's the difference between a conclusion and an overview?

First, a conclusion is a final judgement, decision or opinion. This is perfect for the task 2 essay, but task 1 asks you to write a description without analysis or opinions. On the other hand, an "overview" is a simple description of the main points. It is a summary of the information shown on the graph or chart.

Second, a conclusion should be at the end of a piece of writing. An overview or general summary could go either at the end or near the beginning. Personally, I think it's a good idea to describe the main features of the graph or chart near the beginning of your report.

So, my suggested structure for task 1 looks like this:

1. Introduction: what does the chart show?
2. Overview / summary: what are the most noticeable features?
3. Specific details: try to write 2 paragraphs.

Click here to see an example of the report structure above.

IELTS Writing Task 2: problem and solution essay

Here's my full sample essay for question below.

More and more people are migrating to cities in search of a better life, but city life can be extremely difficult. Explain some of the difficulties of living in a city. How can governments make urban life better for everyone?

Cities are often seen as places of opportunity, but there are also some major drawbacks of living in a large metropolis. In my opinion, governments could do much more to improve city life for the average inhabitant.

The main problem for anyone who hopes to migrate to a large city is that the cost of living is likely to be much higher than it is in a small town or village. Inhabitants of cities have to pay higher prices for housing, transport, and even food. Another issue is that urban areas tend to suffer from social problems such as high crime and poverty rates in comparison with rural areas. Furthermore, the air quality in cities is often poor, due to pollution from traffic, and the streets and public transport systems are usually overcrowded. As a result, city life can be unhealthy and stressful.

However, there are various steps that governments could take to tackle these problems. Firstly, they could invest money in the building of affordable or social housing to reduce the cost of living. Secondly, politicians have the power to ban vehicles from city centres and promote the use of cleaner public transport, which would help to reduce both air pollution and traffic congestion. In London, for example, the introduction of a congestion charge for drivers has helped to curb the traffic problem. A third option would be to develop provincial towns and rural areas, by moving industry and jobs to those regions, in order to reduce the pressure on major cities.

In conclusion, governments could certainly implement a range of measures to enhance the quality of life for all city residents.

(273 words, band 9)

IELTS Listening: 'volunteering' gap-fill

Listen to six people talk about their experiences of doing volunteer work abroad.

Click here to listen

Fill each gap in the summaries below with ONE word.

1. She works in the ______ field, and she has always wanted to offer her ______ abroad.
2. He wanted to do something ______, and not just be a ______.
3. She says that she's in a safe ______ with friendly ______.
4. She talks about the importance of grasping the ______ of the people.
5. She thinks it's an amazing ______.
6. He says it's about more than just reading a ______ book or visiting the tourist ______.