IELTS Advice: 'I know this already'

Language learners often think they know something (e.g. a word, phrase, grammar rule) because they understand it or because they have studied it before. However, there is a huge difference between understanding something and really knowing it.

'Really knowing' means being able to use the word, phrase or grammar rule.

For example, you might understand the vocabulary in this lesson. But does that mean that you know it? Could you use those words and phrases in different contexts in your own essays or spoken answers?

Comments

[Shakhzod]

Hi Simon

Could you prepare lessons for the essay I experienced in the real exam recently, in fact I expected to get at least 7 but to my surprise I've got only 6 and I still can't understand the reason why I scored very low. I would be really glad if I saw band 9 essay from you and understood my mistakes for this task:

In many parts of the world children and teenagers are committing more crimes.
Why is this case happening?
How to punish them?

[hakan]

hi simon
ı really understand what you would like to say
because my problem is already that is what you said
what can ı do for this problem you think ? ı am waiting for your suggestions

[zara]

Hakan

One way is to explore the usage of a word through a good dictionary:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/explore

Another way is to use:
https://books.google.com/advanced_book_search

Or use the asterisk wildcard on ngrams:
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=explore+the+*&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t2%3B%2Cexplore%20the%20%2A%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bexplore%20the%20country%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bexplore%20the%20possibilities%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bexplore%20the%20possibility%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bexplore%20the%20coast%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bexplore%20the%20interior%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bexplore%20the%20nature%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bexplore%20the%20world%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bexplore%20the%20whole%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bexplore%20the%20unknown%3B%2Cc0%3B%3Bexplore%20the%20relationship%3B%2Cc0

If you use Longmans, then the markers "S3" W2 indicate how common the word is: one issue is determining which words to research and learn. My answer is anything that is marked as W1/W2/W3 in Longmans.

https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/explore

This will also give you the pronunciation.

A completely different approach is just to keep reading material on IELTS topics. The words you need will naturally resurface.

Finally, do not overlook listening. It is a quick way to recycle a lot of vocabulary and learn the pronunciation.

[he li]

Some people believe all the wild animals should be protected while others think only some animals need to be saved. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.
(is this essay able to get band 7 or more? Thank you in advance)

It is thought by some that we should protect all the wild animals on our planet, however, others argue that it is unreasonable to do so, instead we should mainly focus on the protection of some wild animals which indeed need protection, such as endangered species. In my view, humans should actively engage in protecting all the wild animals because each species is playing a part in contributing to the healthy, sustainable ecosystem.

There are two reasons why some think all wild animals should be protected. Firstly, the damages to our natural environment caused by the development of human society are undoubtedly threatening all the animal species. For example, it is not hard to understand that air pollution, effluents in water and lack of habitat are having a negative impact on nearly all the wild creatures in a direct or indirect way. Secondly, A sustainable ecosystem is guaranteed by both the healthy existence of all the animals living on this planet and the reasonable species structures. The bad effects on some species caused by their lack of protection would eventually ruin the achievements we would make in terms of protecting our target wild animal species.

On the other hand, from the perspective of viability, critics claim that compared to protecting all wild animals we have, it is more realistic to make full use of our resources to conserve some wild animals needing protection from humans. Because limited economic resources governments have cannot allow us to protect all species of wild animals. In fact, it is only an ideal state of protecting all of them. Instead, it is really urgent for authorities to put their limited money to establish natural protected areas to conserve some endangered wild animals, such as rhinos, tigers, lizards etc.

To conclude, while it seems more feasible for us to concentrate our resources to protect some of the wild animals which do need to be conserved, it is more advisable for humans to protect all wild animals on the earth.