IELTS Simon

IELTS Writing Task 1: fill the gaps

Look at the bar chart, and fill the gaps in the sentences below it.

1) Almost 53% of Australian men ______ 15 to 24, but only 47.7% of women of the ______ age, did regular physical activity in 2010.

2) Between the ages of 25 and 44, men were much less ______ on average than women. In fact, in the 35 to 44 age group, just under 40% of males did some form of regular ______, compared to 52.5% of females.

3) The proportions of men and women aged 65 and over who were ______ active were almost ______, at approximately 47%.

IELTS Writing Task 2: conclusion mistakes

Can you find and correct the mistakes in the following conclusion sentences?

1. In conclusion, Following trends and fashions or not, it is up to people.
2. In conclusion, some hobbies can temporary popular while some can last for ages.
3. Some entertainment becomes old-fashioned these days but there are other popular entertainments that trends have not affected on them.
4. In conclusion, I could conclude that some people are too much trendy in term of their preferred interests.
5. In conclusion, some hobbies and interests are changable time by time according to individuals while some of them everytime are liked people doing.

IELTS Listening: singular or plural?

Sometimes an answer in the listening test must be given as a plural, whereas on other occasions the answer can be given as a singular or plural. Let's have a look at two examples from Cambridge IELTS 13.

1) The underlined answer in the sentence below must be a plural

includes recipes to strengthen your bones (the singular 'bone' is not accepted)

2) The underlined answer below can be given as a singular or plural

Catarina Miranda focused on the behaviour of urban and rural blackbirds. ('behaviours' is also accepted)

Task:
Can you explain why the first answer must be a plural, whereas the second answer could be singular or plural?

IELTS Reading: examples from Cambridge 13

Here's an excerpt from reading test 1, passage 1 in Cambridge IELTS 13:

Tourism New Zealand website

On the website, visitors can search for activities not solely by geographical location, but also by the particular nature of the activity. This is important as research shows that activities are the key driver of visitor satisfaction, contributing 74% to visitor satisfaction, while transport and accommodation account for the remaining 26%. The more activities that visitors undertake, the more satisfied they will be. It has also been found that visitors enjoy cultural activities most when they are interactive, such as visiting a marae (meeting ground) to learn about traditional Maori life.

Are the following statements true, false or not given?

1. It was found that most visitors started searching on the website by geographical location.
2. According to research, 26% of visitor satisfaction is related to their accommodation.
3. Visitors to New Zealand like to become involved in the local culture.

IELTS General Writing Task 1: 'private teacher' topic

Let's use the 7 steps in yesterday's lesson to prepare the task below.

1. Key things to highlight: son needs extra language lessons, explain why, ask about experience and methods, suggest schedule
2. Choose the tone: assume we don't know the teacher = formal
3. Greeting: e.g. Dear Mr. Smith (assume we know the teacher's name)
   Ending: Yours sincerely, (then invent a name)
4. Overall purpose: ask the teacher to help your son
5. Paragraph structure: single sentence to state the purpose, then one paragraph for each bullet point
6. Paragraph aims: explain, request, suggest
7. Ideas: Your son has missed a term of Spanish lessons due to illness; looking for an experienced teacher who knows the school exams; son is available for private lessons at home any weekday after school

IELTS General Writing Task 1: steps

Here are 7 steps that I recommend taking before you write your task 1 letter. We'll follow these steps when we look at an example question tomorrow.

IELTS Speaking Part 2: 'apartment' vocabulary review

Did you note down the following phrases from last week's answer? Maybe you can reuse some of them in your own descriptions.

• brand new
• on the edge of the main commercial area
• the apartment overlooks...
• put (something) on the market = to advertise something for sale
• to view properties
• to go along with someone = to go with someone / to accompany
• nothing too remarkable = nothing special
• as far as I remember
• an off-white colour
• floors were done in whitish tiles
• kitchen appliances, kitchen surfaces
• dark grey granite
• the main feature
• in terms of the look (= the appearance) of the apartment
• floor-to-ceiling window
• allowed the sunlight to flood in
• white and silver decor
• wasn't to my taste
• cool, clean and spacious
• open-plan kitchen and living room
• all sorts of gadgets
• operated by a mobile phone app
• I found it fascinating that
• up-to-the-minute technology
• taking a glimpse into the future

IELTS Writing Task 1: overview sentences

Here are my answers to the three 'overview' questions that I posed in last Thursday's lesson:

1. Roughly speaking, close to half of Australian adults in the six age categories were physically active on a regular basis in 2010.
2. Overall, the figures for females were higher than those for males.
3. Middle aged females were the most physically active, proportionally speaking, while males aged 35 to 44 did the least physical activity.

Notes:
- I would choose just two of these ideas for my overview.
- We need to think about how to paraphrase 'physical activity'. Any suggestions?

IELTS Writing Task 2: write the conclusion for me!

I've almost finished the essay below, but can you write a one-sentence conclusion for me?

Popular hobbies and interests change over time and are more a reflection of trends and fashions than an indication of what individuals really want to do in their spare time. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Some leisure activities become fashionable for a short time and then disappear when a new trend comes along, whereas others seem to be perennially popular. I can therefore only partly agree with the assertion that hobbies reflect changing fashions rather than our true interests.

On the one hand, it is true that many hobbies are simply passing trends. Children and teenagers, in particular, are attracted to whatever activity is currently popular among their peers. My 10-year-old niece, for example, seems to have a new interest every month, as she joins in with the latest craze that sweeps through her primary school. Over the last year or so, she has been obsessed with Rubik’s cubes, fidget spinners, squidgies and slime. In a similar way, there have been several different fitness trends for adults over recent years, from jogging to yoga to circuit training, and I doubt whether the majority of participants continued to enjoy those activities in the long term.

On the other hand, many people spend their free time doing popular activities that are far from trendy. One good example would be the game chess. Children and adults who enjoy playing chess are certainly not following a new fashion or wasting their time on something that they do not truly like. On the contrary, they are passionate about a game that has existed for hundreds of years, and they find it inherently fascinating and absorbing. I would say the same about many other hobbies, from reading to swimming.

In conclusion,.....

IELTS Listening: use the 'audioscripts'

If you're practising with the Cambridge IELTS books, you'll find audioscripts (written versions) of the recordings at the back of the books. I recommend that you read and analyse these in order to gain a better understanding of what the speakers said.

Let's look at two example questions from Cambridge IELTS 12:

21. What will be the main topic of Trudie and Stewart's paper?

A) how public library services are organised in different countries
B) how changes in society are reflected in public libraries
C) how the funding of public libraries has changed

22. They agree that one disadvantage of free digitalised books is that

A) they may take a long time to read
B) they can be difficult to read
C) they are generally old

Here's the part of the audioscript that contains the answers:

(Trudie) Maybe we should concentrate on this country, and try to relate the changes in libraries to external developments, like the fact that more people can read than a century ago..... We're only supposed to write a short paper, so it's probably best if we don't go into funding in any detail.

(Stewart) But the digitalised books that are available online for free are mostly out of copyright, aren't they? And copyright in this country lasts for 70 years after the author dies. So you won't find the latest best-seller or up-to-date information..... (Trudie) That's an important point.

Task:
What are the correct answers to the two questions, and which 'keywords' gave you those answers?

IELTS Reading: choose the title

Read the following article, and choose the best title from the list below.

The setting is decidedly modest: a utility room in a red-brick house at the end of a cul-de-sac in Wales. But if the hype turns out to be right, this may be the starting point for an energy revolution in the UK. Householder Mark Kerr has become the first British owner of a Tesla Powerwall, a cutting-edge bit of kit that the makers say will provide a “missing link” in solar energy.

Like many owners of solar panels, Kerr and his family have a basic problem. They tend to be out at work and school when the sun is shining and the 16 solar panels on the roof of their home in Cardiff are producing power. The excess they miss out on is fed into the grid and they make a return on it but it does not seem right that they do not get to use the power from their panels. However, from now, energy produced but not used during the day will charge the Powerwall and can then be used to provide them with the energy they need when they’re at home and their lights, music centres, computers, televisions and myriad other devices need feeding.

Choose title A, B, C or D. Can you explain why the others are wrong?

A) The UK energy revolution.
B) Wales at the forefront of technology.
C) New device could herald energy revolution.
D) The problem with solar panels.

IELTS Advice: learn by copying

Yesterday I wrote that your English teacher should take you just outside your comfort zone. Your teacher should also be your best source of language and the 'model' that you try to copy.

Don't be afraid to copy the way I write or the way your favourite English speaker speaks. Copying is the best way to learn a language; it's much more reliable than translating word by word using a dictionary.

IELTS Advice: just outside your comfort zone

In the comments below Wednesday's lesson, one student wrote that he/she isn't able to write at the same level as me. This is a good thing!

If you can already write at the same level as me, you don't need my help!

The best way to learn is to have a teacher who takes you just outside your comfort zone. If the work is too easy you won't progress, and if it's far too difficult you won't be able to do it. A good teacher should give you work that is difficult, but achievable with help. Hopefully the paragraph that I wrote on Wednesday fits that description.

IELTS Speaking Part 2: 'interesting house' answer

Describe an interesting house or apartment that you have visited.
You should say

- where the house or apartment was
- who lived there
- what it looked like on the outside and/or inside
- and explain why you found this house or apartment interesting.

Here's my sample band 9 answer, using ideas from last week's lesson:

• I’m going to describe an apartment that I recently visited in the city centre of Manchester. The apartment was on the 10th floor of a brand new block that has just been built. This building is on the edge of the main commercial area of the city, and the apartment overlooks several of Manchester’s busiest shopping streets.
• Nobody was living in the apartment when I went there, because it had only just been put on the market. I went to see it with a friend who is thinking of moving to Manchester; he wanted to view some different properties, and I decided to go along and see what the newest apartments were like.
• From the outside, the apartment was in a tall, shiny glass building - nothing too remarkable. On the inside, as far as I remember, there weren’t many different colours: the walls were an off-white colour, the floors were done in whitish tiles, and the kitchen appliances were all silver metal coloured. I think the kitchen surfaces were made from dark grey granite. The main feature, in terms of the look of the apartment, was the huge floor-to-ceiling window in the living room, which allowed the sunlight to flood in.
• Although the white and silver decor wasn’t really to my taste, I did like the fact that the apartment seemed so cool, clean and spacious. I particularly liked the open-plan kitchen and living room, which had all sorts of gadgets that could be operated by a mobile phone app. For example, I learnt how to use the app to control the lighting, heating, blinds, security cameras and even the cooker. I found it fascinating that the apartment contained so much up-to-the-minute technology, and that everything seemed to be connected via wifi. It felt like I was taking a glimpse into the future.

IELTS Writing Task 1: 'physical activity' bar chart

Several people have asked me for help with the following task from Cambridge IELTS book 12 (test 5).

The bar chart below shows the percentage of Australian men and women in different age groups who did regular physical activity in 2010.

Before we describe the chart, let's get one important thing right: 'the big picture'. In other words, I want you to think about the information that you would put in your overview / summary paragraph.

Try to answer the following questions:

1. What was the overall percentage (i.e. average or range) of all Australian men and women who did regular physical activity in 2010?
2. Are there any differences between the figures for men and women, looking at all age groups?
3. Were any age groups noticeably more (or less) active than the others?

Remember: Most IELTS candidates fail to write a good overview of the information in writing task 1. We need to practise looking at the 'big picture'.

IELTS Writing Task 2: paragraph analysis

Here's a paragraph supporting the opinion that most hobbies are just trends (the full question is here).

On the one hand, it is true that many hobbies are simply passing trends. Children and teenagers, in particular, are attracted to whatever activity is currently popular among their peers. My 10-year-old niece, for example, seems to have a new interest every month, as she joins in with the latest craze that sweeps through her primary school. Over the last year or so, she has been obsessed with Rubik’s cubes, fidget spinners, squidgies and slime. In a similar way, there have been several different fitness trends for adults over recent years, from jogging to yoga to circuit training, and I doubt whether the majority of participants continued to enjoy those activities in the long term.

Let's analyse the paragraph:

• My position is clear, especially from these phrases: it is true that..., I doubt whether...
• Five sentences: 1) topic, 2) illustration using children and teenagers, 3) personal example, 4) personal example continued, 5) comparison with adults, examples and concluding view.
• Examples of passing trends are the key feature in the paragraph: Rubik’s cubes, fidget spinners, squidgies, slime, jogging, yoga, circuit training (7 examples in total). These examples really help to support the view given in the paragraph.
• Plenty of natural, appropriate 'topic' vocabulary: passing trends, attracted to, currently popular, among their peers, joins in with the latest craze, sweeps through her primary school, obsessed with, fitness trends, the majority of participants.
• Good coherence. For example, notice the use of the phrase 'In a similar way', which allows me to move from talking about children to talking about adults. Notice also the relationship between sentences 2, 3 and 4: children... my niece... she.
• Notice how I finish with a reference to the original question: "I doubt whether... in the long term" refers to the idea that "individuals don't really want to do these activities in their spare time".
• Grammar: there's a nice mix of long and short sentences, and I can't see any mistakes!

IELTS Listening: gap-fill about money

Watch the following video or listen to the audio recording below it.

If you can't see the video, listen to the recording below.

Click here to listen

Fill the gaps in the following summary of the first 4 minutes of the video:

1. Does the amount of ______ you have affect the kind of person you are?
2. In a recent study, drivers of luxury cars were three to four times more ______ to break the law than drivers of less expensive, low ______ cars.
3. The academic paper that resulted ______ ______ everywhere.
4. It is very clear that this study of social class touched a ______.
5. The results were ______ across thirty studies which were run on thousands of people all over the United States.

IELTS Reading: true, false, not given

Read the following text about photosynthesis in plants.

Although some of the steps in photosynthesis are still not completely understood, the overall photosynthetic equation has been known since the 1800s.

Jan van Helmont began the research of the process in the mid-1600s when he carefully measured the mass of the soil used by a plant and the mass of the plant as it grew. After noticing that the soil mass changed very little, he hypothesised that the mass of the growing plant must come from the water, the only substance he added to the potted plant. His hypothesis was partially accurate—much of the gained mass also comes from carbon dioxide as well as water.

In 1796, Jean Senebier, a Swiss pastor, botanist, and naturalist, demonstrated that green plants consume carbon dioxide and release oxygen under the influence of light. Soon afterwards, Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure showed that the increase in mass of the plant as it grows could not be due only to uptake of CO2, but also to the incorporation of water.

According to the text, are the following statements true, false or not given?

1. We now fully understand the process of photosynthesis.
2. Van Helmont's hypothesis did not take into account that plants consume carbon dioxide.
3. De Saussure demonstrated that both carbon dioxide and water contribute to an increase in mass in plants as they grow.

IELTS Vocabulary: 'easy' theme

Here's my quick brainstorm on the theme of the word 'easy'. I've divided it into a few different categories; you might find it helpful to do this yourself when brainstorming ideas.

Synonyms of 'easy'

• simple, straightforward, uncomplicated, effortless

Informal phrases

• a piece of cake, a walk in the park, a breeze, a doddle

Phrases with opposites

• it wasn't difficult, it wasn't hard, it didn't take much effort, it wasn't very challenging, it didn't present any real problems, I didn't really struggle

Use an example to create context e.g. 'the exam was easy'

• it was fairly simple, I found it quite straightforward, I breezed through it, I could have done it in my sleep, it was easier than I expected

IELTS Vocabulary: brainstorm themes

In yesterday’s lesson I brainstormed the theme of a modern apartment. It’s easy to brainstorm ideas when you focus on a specific word, and I was able to produce a useful list of ideas related to the word ‘modern’.

You can use this technique as a way to prepare for topics and to expand your overall vocabulary knowledge. Just choose a word (your ‘theme’) and brainstorm ideas related to it. You could also use the Internet as a source of ideas. 

Task: Let’s take the word ‘easy’ as our theme. Can you list between five and ten words or phrases related to this theme?

IELTS Speaking Part 2: interesting house

Let's return to the part 2 task below.

Describe an interesting house or apartment that you have visited.
You should say

- where the house or apartment was
- who lived there
- what it looked like on the outside and/or inside
- and explain why you found this house or apartment interesting.

If I were working on this topic with students in a lesson, we would begin by preparing some good vocabulary ideas. I would ask my students to develop some vocabulary 'themes'.

For example, if we imagine that we are describing an apartment, perhaps a key theme could be that it is modern. Now we can develop the 'modern' theme:

• up to the minute
• contemporary
• fashionable, cool, trendy
• decor, lighting, furniture
• open-plan
• colours and their effects e.g. relaxing, soothing
• materials e.g. glass, metal, granite
• rooms e.g. kitchen, living room
• gadgets, appliances
• windows, heating
• remote control, digital, phone app
• overall feeling e.g. sharp, clean, efficient, spacious

Try using some of these ideas to describe the inside of a modern apartment and to explain why you like it.

IELTS Writing Task 1: forget about 'grammatical range'

When I'm writing a task 1 report, either for this blog or with my students, I never worry about 'grammatical range'. Here's why:

• First, how many different 'grammatical structures' can we really use in the space of only 8 or 9 sentences?
• Second, do we have time to think about including an example of a passive, a conditional, various types of clause etc.?
• Third, will these different structures be relevant? Will they work in the context of the description?

I think it's much more important to spend the 20 minutes thinking about how best to describe the information on the chart in a clear and logical way. In other words, I suggest that you focus on task response, coherence and accuracy. This is what examiners are really looking for in task 1.

IELTS Writing Task 2: partly agree

Here's the 'hobbies' question that we've been looking at:

Popular hobbies and interests change over time and are more a reflection of trends and fashions than an indication of what individuals really want to do in their spare time. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

After thinking about some examples of hobbies, it seems to me that some of them are trends (e.g. video games or gym activities), whereas others have stood the test of time (e.g. jogging, football, swimming, reading).

I'll therefore write a 'partly agree' answer. Here's a possible introduction:

Some leisure activities become fashionable for a short time and then disappear when a new trend comes along, whereas others seem to be perennially popular. I can therefore only partly agree with the assertion that hobbies reflect changing fashions rather than our true interests.

IELTS Listening: spelling, capitals and plurals

People often ask me about spelling, capital letters and plurals. Here's my advice:

1. Correct spelling is very important. I know students who have lost up to 10 points in their IELTS listening tests because of spelling mistakes.
2. Capital letters, on the other hand, are not important. You can write all of your answers in capitals or in lower case - it won't affect your score.
3. Plurals are very important. e.g. If the question asks you to fill the gap "There are many ______", the answer could be "reasons" but not "reason".

Note: I don't recommend learning spelling rules. It's better to keep a list of your mistakes, and learn correct spellings by heart.

IELTS Reading: go deeper

When you do a practice reading test or even a short reading exercise, I think you can do more than just test yourself. You can go deeper into the passage and look at vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure, coherence etc.

For example, did you think about the word 'parentese' when you read the passage in last Monday's lesson? And did you note down any vocabulary? e.g. drawn-out, plays a vital role in, is characterised by, verbal signal, capitalise on...

IELTS Advice: how I can help you

Yesterday I suggested that you'll need to work on both exam technique and English language as you prepare for the IELTS test. So how can IELTS-Simon help you with these two things?

Exam technique
The fastest way to learn how to approach the IELTS test is to watch the video lessons that I published on this website. The videos take you step by step through each part of the test, and you'll see me giving band 9 answers using clear and simple exam techniques. I consider the video lessons to be my best work, and I don't know of any other course that provides such a methodical and effective approach.

Of course, this blog contains the same advice that you'll find in the video lessons. The difference is that the blog isn't written as a step-by-step course. If you have the time, go back through the blog's archives or search the blog for anything that you need. I think I've probably written a lesson about almost any IELTS problem that you might have.

English language
The ultimate aim of this blog is to help you to improve your English. You'll find many lessons in which language, rather than exam technique, is the main focus.

I'm also trying to cover as many IELTS topics as possible here on the blog, and you'll find plenty of vocabulary ideas (words, phrases, examples, opinions etc.) that you can 'copy' from me and use in your own answers.

IELTS Advice: advice for the new year

Let's think about what you're going to do in 2019. Broadly speaking, you'll probably need to work on two main things:

1. Exam technique
2. English language

Both of these areas are important, but if we're talking about a whole year of study, I think it's far more important to improve your English.

Imagine yourself at the end of 2019. Surely your priority should be to have a better overall level of English, not just to collect more exam tips and techniques.

IELTS Speaking: which part is the most important?

Do the 3 parts of the speaking test carry equal weighting when your score is calculated, or is one part more important?

The simple answer is that the 3 parts are not scored separately; the examiner rates the candidate's performance as a whole. In this sense, neither part is more important.

However, it's useful to think about the 3 parts like this:

• Part 1 is supposed to be quite easy (like a warm-up), so you won't get a high score if you only do well in this part.
• Part 2 is when the examiner really gets a chance to assess how good you are. He/she will now have an idea of what scores to give you.
• During part 3, the examiner is making his/her final decision. A good performance here can boost your score.

IELTS Writing Task 1: corrected sentences

Here are the three incorrect sentences from last Thursday's lesson:

1. In 1985, Canada was about 19 million tonnes.
2. Australia was lower, at 15 million tonnes of wheat exports.
3. In 1988, Canada increased by 5 million tonnes of wheat exports.

And here are the correct versions of those sentences:

1. In 1985, Canada exported about 19 million tonnes of wheat.
2. The figure for Australia was lower, at 15 million tonnes.
3. In 1988, Canada's wheat exports increased by 5 million tonnes.

IELTS Writing Task 2: opinion question about hobbies

Last week I asked you to vote on which of three different questions we should work on next. The opinion question was the most popular choice:

Popular hobbies and interests change over time and are more a reflection of trends and fashions than an indication of what individuals really want to do in their spare time. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Tip: start by thinking of examples.

For this type of question, I would begin by listing some hobbies or interests. Here are the first six that came into my head:

• playing / watching football
• swimming
• jogging / running
• going to the gym
• reading
• playing computer games

Next, we can decide whether or not these are hobbies that change over time. What do you think? Are these hobbies just short-term trends?

IELTS Listening: improve your luck this year!

Here's another interesting TED talk. The speaker gives us three tips on increasing our luck. What are they, and do you think we can apply them to our IELTS preparation?

Happy New Year!