IELTS Simon

IELTS Listening: keywords

Here's a table showing keywords from the most recent listening lessons here on the blog. It's always a good idea to review keywords, even if they seem to be easy.

IELTS Reading: more 'true, false, not given'

Read the passage and answer the questions below it.

A Work of Genius

By the beginning of the 15th century, after a hundred years of construction, Florence Cathedral was still missing its dome. The building required an octagonal dome which would be higher and wider than any that had ever been built, with no external buttresses to keep it from spreading and falling under its own weight.

The building of such a masonry dome posed many technical problems. Filippo Brunelleschi, who is now seen as a key figure in architecture and perhaps the first modern engineer, looked to the great dome of the Pantheon in Rome for solutions. The dome of the Pantheon is a single shell of concrete, the formula for which had long since been forgotten. Soil filled with silver coins had held the Pantheon dome aloft while its concrete set. This could not be the solution in the case of the Florence Cathedral dome, due to its size. Another possible solution, the use of scaffolding, was also impractical because there was not enough timber in the whole of the region of Tuscany.

Brunelleschi would have to build the dome out of brick, due to its light weight compared to stone and being easier to form, and with nothing under it during construction. His eventual success can be attributed, in no small degree, to his technical and mathematical genius. Brunelleschi used more than four million bricks to create what is still the largest masonry dome in the world.

Are the following statements true, false or not given?

1. For many years, people had believed that construction of such a huge dome would be impossible.
2. The architect Brunelleschi employed a building method that had previously been used by the Romans.
3. Brunelleschi was not able to use wooden scaffolding when building the dome.
4. The Cathedral’s dome is still the biggest of its kind.

IELTS Advice: don't get too technical

A student wrote to me with a useful question:

"My IELTS teacher told us not to mention complex subjects and show off knowledge in the speaking test. I tend to talk about my major using big words and terms to expand my answers. Would this be seen as "showing off knowledge"? And what do you think about this advice?"

To answer this question, let's compare two answers to the question "how often do you eat chocolate?":

Answer 1:
I probably eat something that contains chocolate, like a chocolate bar or a cake, every couple of days.

Answer 2:
I try to keep my chocolate intake to a minimum because it is relatively high in calories, and because sugary foods can lead to insulin resistance.

The second answer might look more difficult and impressive, but it actually seems inappropriate and unnatural. I much prefer the first answer. So, I think this is what the teacher meant when he/she advised students not to "show off their knowledge", and I agree with this advice.

IELTS Speaking Part 1: 'chocolate' answers

Here are my sample answers for the 'chocolate' topic. Remember that your priority in speaking part 1 is to demonstrate fluency by giving answers that are short, direct and natural, without hesitating too much.

1) Do you like chocolate? Why / why not?

Yes, I love chocolate. I like the taste, the texture and the feeling that you get when you eat it. And it goes really well with my favourite drink, coffee.

2) What type of chocolate do you prefer? Why?

I prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate, because it has a stronger taste. I also like chocolate when it's in a cake, and I love drinking hot chocolate too.

3) When do you usually eat chocolate?

I try not to eat too much, but I probably eat or drink something that contains chocolate every couple of days.

4) Do people give chocolate as a present in your country? When?

Yes, it's very common to give boxes of individual chocolates as a gift. You can give chocolates on any special occasion really: birthdays, Valentine's day, Easter, Christmas, and so on.

Note:
To see my corrections for the sentences in yesterday's lesson, look in the "comments" area below that lesson.

IELTS Speaking Part 1: 'chocolate' mistakes

Here are some of the answers that people wrote below last week's lesson. Can you correct the mistake(s) in each sentence?

1. I like white and milk Chocolate, cause dark chocolate is taste bitter for me, I like sweet one.
2. I adore all kind of chocolates and the reason behind this interest is that when I was young, my father was always giving me chocolate as a prize for the good behavior.
3. I'd love all types of chocolate, but my favourite one is dark.
4. I am certain that I detest dark chocolate: it does not exite my palate.
5. I'm into chocolate just like most people. You know, it is hardly forgotten when you have got access to it.

IELTS Writing Task 2: three recent questions

Here are 3 exam questions that people have sent me recently. Which one do you think we should work on next?

1.
It is inevitable that traditional cultures will be lost as technology develops. Technology and traditional cultures are incompatible. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this view?

2.
Some universities now offer their courses on the Internet so that people everywhere can study them. Is this a positive or negative development?

3.
Some people believe that the main benefit of international cooperation is the protection of the environment, while others think that the main benefits are in the world of business. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

IELTS Listening: film course transcript

Here's the transcript for the recording from last week's lesson. Listen again, and fill the gaps that I've left.

Click here to listen

Fill each gap with one word only.

Students, when they’re applying, really need to reflect, pause for a moment and think what it is that _____ bringing to the course, and _____ they want to go with it. We want to see evidence that they do have some experience of thinking of telling stories visually. We don’t need to see a great deal; they shouldn’t panic about quantity, but they should reflect on what they have got that can show _____ talent and _____ creative ability. Ideally we would like to see moving image work, but if an applicant has not had the chance to do that, then _____ welcome to show us drawings, photographs, animations - any work that is thinking about telling stories over time.

IELTS Speaking Part 1: 'chocolate' topic

A student sent me the following part 1 questions from a recent IELTS test. How would you answer them?

1) Do you like chocolate? Why / why not?
2) What type of chocolate do you prefer? Why?
3) When do you usually eat chocolate?
4) Do people give chocolate as a present in your country? When?

Remember that it's ok to give negative answers if you don't like chocolate. Or you could just pretend that you do!

IELTS Writing Task 1: pie chart answer

Here's my full answer to the pie chart question that we've been looking at recently.

The chart below shows the results of a survey of people who visited four types of tourist attraction in Britain in the year 1999.
...

...
The pie chart compares figures for visitors to four categories of tourist attraction and to five different theme parks in Britain in 1999.

It is clear that theme parks and museums / galleries were the two most popular types of tourist attraction in that year. Blackpool Pleasure Beach received by far the highest proportion of visitors in the theme park sector.

Looking at the information in more detail, we can see that 38% of the surveyed visitors went to a theme park, and 37% of them went to a museum or gallery. By contrast, historic houses and monuments were visited by only 16% of the sample, while wildlife parks and zoos were the least popular of the four types of tourist attraction, with only 9% of visitors.

In the theme park sector, almost half of the people surveyed (47%) had been to Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Alton Towers was the second most popular amusement park, with 17% of the sample, followed by Pleasureland in Southport, with 16%. Finally, Chessington World of Adventures and Legoland Windsor had each welcomed 10% of the surveyed visitors.

(181 words, band 9)

IELTS Writing Task 2: convert notes into sentences

It's a good idea to practise converting basic notes into full sentences. For example, the notes below come from an essay plan for the question about banning mobile phones (which you can see here).

1. cigarettes - toxic fumes, passive smoking, health issues
2. mobile phones - loud conversations - annoying, not dangerous
3. instead of banning, encourage polite behaviour
4. e.g. turning phones off in cinema - respect

Let's convert the above notes into full sentences:

1. Cigarettes produce toxic fumes which are inhaled by others; this is known as passive smoking, and can lead to serious health issues.
2. While loud conversations on mobile phones can be annoying for others, this is not comparable with the dangers of inhaling cigarette smoke.
3. Rather than imposing a ban, it is much more sensible to encourage polite mobile phone behaviour.
4. In cinemas, for instance, the audience is politely asked to turn phones off during the film, and most people respect this request.

If you can convert notes into sentences, you'll be able to convert an essay plan into a full essay. So practise doing this as much as you can!

IELTS Listening: multiple choice about film course

Listen to a teacher's advice for students who are applying to a film-making course.

Click here to listen

Which TWO things should students do when applying to the course?

A ... Understand what the course is about.
B ... Think carefully about what they can contribute to the course.
C ... Tell a story about an experience that they have had.
D ... Provide a large quantity of work that shows their ability.
E ... Show an example of their own film work if possible.
F ... Explain why they are interested in the course.

IELTS Reading: keyword review

The table below shows 'keywords' (similar words in the questions and passage) from four recent reading lessons here on the blog.

The reading test certainly becomes easier as you get better at noticing keywords, so it's always a good idea to review them.

IELTS Grammar: test it with an easier sentence

If you're unsure about a bit of grammar, see what happens when you look at it in a much easier sentence. I'll demonstrate this with an example.

A student asked me this question:

Should we write "Companies A and B saw waste output fall" or "Companies A and B saw waste output fell"?

I told the student to consider an easier example:

Do we say "I saw him go" or "I saw him went"?

Hopefully the easy example above makes the grammar point much clearer. "Companies A and B saw waste output fall" and "I saw him go" are of course correct.

IELTS Speaking Part 3: 'home' answers and structure

Here are my answers to questions 2 and 3 from last week's lesson:

2) Do you think it's better to rent or to buy a place to live in?

I think it’s better to buy your own home if you can afford to do that. Buying your own home is a better investment in the long term, because you can sell the home and perhaps even make a profit on it. The alternative is to pay rent to a landlord who can ask you to leave at any moment.

3) Do you agree that there is a right age for young adults to stop living with their parents?

I’m not sure what the ‘right’ age would be, but I do agree with the principle that young adults should try to live alone if they can. For some people, the right age is when they get their first full-time jobs and can afford to pay rent, and for others it's when they start university and move into a hall of residence with other students. This was what happened in my case; I moved out of the family home at age 18 when I started university.

Let's look at how I structured the above answers.

Answer 2
Three sentences: 1) answer 2) explain 3) alternative

Answer 3
Three sentences: 1) answer 2) explain 3) personal example

As usual, I try to use the technique shown in this lesson to build longer answers.

IELTS Writing Task 1: pie chart with extra detail

Here are my first two paragraphs (introduction and overview) for the chart below:

The pie chart compares figures for visitors to four categories of tourist attraction and to five different theme parks in Britain in 1999.

It is clear that theme parks and museums / galleries were the two most popular types of tourist attraction in that year. Blackpool Pleasure Beach received by far the highest proportion of visitors in the theme park sector.
...

...
Click on the image if you need to enlarge it.
Source: University of Leicester

Task:
Can you write the two main body paragraphs? Just describe the four pie chart categories in the first paragraph, and the 'theme park' figures in the second.

IELTS Writing Task 2: question types

People often ask me about question types. If you don't know what the 4 types of question are, start by reading the lesson linked here.

Now look at the two questions below. A student wrote to me this week to ask whether they should be treated as "opinion" or "discussion" questions.

1. Is this a positive or negative development?
2. Do the advantages of this development outweigh the disadvantages?

What do you think? Which of the four question categories (opinion, discussion, problem / solution, two-part question) do the above questions fit into? And can you find any previous lessons on this website that could help the student who asked me about this?

IELTS Listening: underlining

Last week I asked you which words you would underline in the questions below. Now let's see if we can get the correct answers, using only the underlined keywords.

Here are the questions again, with keywords underlined:

1. How might a guest feel when staying in a luxury hotel?

A     impressed with the facilities
B     depressed by the experience
C     concerned at the high costs

2. According to recent research, luxury hotels overlook the need to

A     provide for the demands of important guests
B     create a comfortable environment
C     offer an individual and personal welcome

3. What is the impact of the outside environment on a hotel guest?

A     It has a considerable effect.
B     It has a very limited effect.
C     It has no effect whatsoever.

Now here's the transcript of the recording. Choose the correct answers and explain them by referring to keywords in the questions and transcript.

You wake up in the middle of the night in a strange hotel miles away from home, disoriented most probably from jet lag, when even the most expensive surroundings can seem empty and dispiriting. The research suggests that even the most opulent, luxurious hotels seem to have underestimated the most basic needs of their customers - be they travelling for work or pleasure: the need to feel at home in surroundings which are both familiar and inviting. And the research concluded that what was outside the hotel building simply didn’t matter.

IELTS Reading: true, false, not given

Read the following excerpt from a passage about animal behaviour.

Thousands of experiments have been performed to study the preferences of hungry and thirsty animals. The results are universal: all animals are highly sensitive to subtle differences in amount of food or water.

Consider experiments using hungry pigeons. A pigeon is trained to peck at an illuminated button on the wall of its cage, and the experimenter follows each peck with delivery to the pigeon of a small amount of mixed grain. The pigeon soon learns to peck the button. Then the experimenter puts two illuminated buttons, a red one and a green one, side by side on the wall. If the pigeon pecks the red button, it gets 2 ounces of food; if it pecks the green button, it gets 1 ounce of food. Almost all pigeons soon learn to peck the red one and ignore the green one.

However, the results are completely different when a time delay is introduced after the red button is pecked. Virtually all pigeons strongly prefer 1 ounce of food delivered immediately to 2 ounces delayed by only 4 seconds.

(adapted from 'The Science of Self Control' by Howard Rachlin)

Are the statements below true, false or not given?

1. Experiments using hungry and thirsty animals give inconsistent results.
2. Pigeons can be taught to do simple actions in order to get a reward.
3. Hungry pigeons choose the larger reward, regardless of whether they have to wait for it.

IELTS Advice: yesterday's challenge

In yesterday's lesson I challenged you to read, watch or listen to something new and interesting (in English of course). Thanks to those of you who replied.

Here's my response to the challenge:
After trying to help my nephew to solve his 'Rubik's Revenge' (see picture below), I gave up and went online to find a proper strategy. The interesting text that I ended up reading was this one about how the Rubik's cube is similar to life. In some ways, I think it's also similar to the IELTS exam!

IELTS Advice: for 'down days'

If you're having a 'down day' when you don't feel like studying, my advice is this: just read (or watch or listen to) something interesting in English. Search the Internet for a hobby or an interesting topic, and see what you can find.

Here's a challenge to help you:
Can you find a short text or video about something that you have never thought about before today? I'll share my own response to this challenge tomorrow.

IELTS Speaking Part 3: 'home' topic

Let's have a look at some part 3 questions from Cambridge IELTS book 11. I've answered the first one for you. How would you answer questions 2 and 3?

1) How easy is it to find a place to live in your country?

Well, it depends on how much money you are able to spend and where exactly you want to live. Of course, if you have the money, it’s very easy to find a place to live. However, house prices have been on the rise in recent years, and it is becoming difficult for young adults to buy their first homes, or even to pay rental prices in some areas, particularly in central London.

2) Do you think it's better to rent or to buy a place to live in?

3) Do you agree that there is a right age for young adults to stop living with their parents?

IELTS Writing Task 1: pie chart with extra detail

Let's try to write a report about the pie chart below. First, can you write an introduction without having a question statement to help you?
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...
Click on the image if you need to enlarge it.
Source: University of Leicester

IELTS Writing Task 2: correct the mistakes

Here are some sentences that people wrote in the 'comments' area below the lesson on this page. Can you find and correct the mistakes?

1. Mobile phone has been widely used by people around the world.
2. Prohibiting mobile phone in public places is unequal with smoking ban.
3. Firstly, when people not respecting others privacy by talking aloud or not using vibration mode while in public areas.
4. They go to these places for having a good time such as playing a game by smartphone.
5. The main reason to ban smoking in certain places is passive smoking has a negative effect on public health, while mobile phones do not have.

IELTS General Writing: new video

I forgot to mention last week that I had published another video lesson for General IELTS writing task 1. The video is at the bottom of this web page.

IELTS Listening: minimal underlining

Before the recording starts, you should use the breaks to read through the questions and underline the key words that you'll need to listen for.

But don't underline too many words. For example, if I told you that you could underline only one or two key words in each of the choices (A, B and C) below, which words would you choose?

1. How might a guest feel when staying in a luxury hotel?

A     impressed with the facilities
B     depressed by the experience
C     concerned at the high costs

2. According to recent research, luxury hotels overlook the need to

A     provide for the demands of important guests
B     create a comfortable environment
C     offer an individual and personal welcome

3. What is the impact of the outside environment on a hotel guest?

A     It has a considerable effect.
B     It has a very limited effect.
C     It has no effect whatsoever.

(Questions from Cambridge IELTS 7)

Happy New Year!

The beginning of a new year is always a good time to assess where you are and to make some plans. I hope that you're feeling positive about what you'll achieve in 2017. My prediction is that most of the people who are reading this will pass the IELTS test at some point this year!