As you prepare for the IELTS test, you might be concentrating on exam techniques and practice. But don't forget to keep working on your English!
If your English is at intermediate level, no secret tip or technique is suddenly going to take you to band 7 or higher. You'll need to spend time gradually improving your language skills.
Are language skills the listening, speaking, reading and writing? What else?
Posted by: Binh Thai Tran | September 22, 2019 at 11:35
yes sir, most of us are concentrating on exam technique during the preparation of IELTS.So, only exam technique will improve and other parts of English are not improving because of intermediate level.I think that investing time in other parts like reading story books, magazine ,newspaper, watching English movies, hearing news consume lot of time .It might hamper in preparation of IELTS. So, only focusing on recent questions and practise them.
Posted by: Pachu | September 22, 2019 at 12:51
@ Pachu
I don't think those methods you named above are useless at all. The language skills include speaking, reading and listening as well. To my perspective, what Simon try to cover here was the writing part. Every IELTS learners should upgrade their English to enhance their writing as well as speaking skill.
Posted by: Pepe | September 22, 2019 at 15:26
@ Pachu
If your level is intermediate, the last thing you should be worrying about is exam technique. It will not improve your English, nor your IELTS score. What will make a difference is improving your overall English level, and yes, this will take time. This is why Simon says there are no short cuts.
Please try and take this on board; otherwise you are doomed to failure, over and over again.
Posted by: Vinnie | September 22, 2019 at 20:41
Ok, thanks for comments@Pepe and Vinnie
Posted by: Pachu | September 23, 2019 at 01:57
That's so true. Sadly, many people think that passing IELTS is all about "tricks and tips" and focusing on exam techniques. It's not just some complicated series of procedures to pass... it's a test of English! If you speak English well, you'll get a good grade. There are no shortcuts. Sure, you could learn some essay structures in a day or a week, but improving grammar and vocabulary takes months and years of hard work. You can't just sit down and fool the examiner with a few learned phrases.
Posted by: David | September 23, 2019 at 03:08
Dear Sir,
When I did my ielts listening test, then
I checked it. That time, the requirement
Of the answer is 'no more than three words'. As I wrote the answer ' suggest study techniques'. But the answer is only 'study techniques'. Is there my answer is wrong or not?
Please tell me I'm waiting for your answer.
Posted by: Gurkaran | September 23, 2019 at 12:18
The IELTS issue explained:
https://ielts-teaching.com/the-trouble-with-teaching-ielts/
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=two+sides+to+every+coin%2CEvery+coin+has+two+sides%3Aeng_us_2012%2CEvery+coin+has+two+sides%3Aeng_gb_2012&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Ctwo%20sides%20to%20every%20coin%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CEvery%20coin%20has%20two%20sides%3Aeng_us_2012%3B%2Cc0
Posted by: Vinnie | September 23, 2019 at 18:01
Gurkaran
There is some flexibility around answers in the listening test. Generally an extra word, if it is still within the word count requirement, AND is grammatically and semantically correct, will not invalidate the answer. For example, in the right context, "local environment" or "the local environment" might both be allowed.
Posted by: Quack | September 23, 2019 at 20:38
Thank you so much Quack for answering my question.
Posted by: Gurkaran | September 25, 2019 at 07:58