IELTS Simon

Message from Simon: Christmas break

I'm going to take a short break from writing daily lessons here on the blog. My next blog lesson will be on the 1st January 2020 - the beginning of a new decade!

Whether or not you celebrate Christmas, I hope you have a great last week of the year, and I hope you're looking forward to 2020.

Note: My other resources (ebook, video course and teacher training) are still available, and I'll be answering questions on my member site as usual.

IELTS Reading: gap-fill

A student asked me for help with this exercise from Cambridge IELTS 14.

Here's the relevant part of the passage:

There are even more insects that are masters of exploiting filthy habitats, such as faeces and carcasses, where they are regularly challenged by thousands of microorganisms. These insects have many antimicrobial compounds for dealing with pathogenic bacteria and fungi, suggesting that there is certainly potential to find many compounds that can serve as or inspire new antibiotics.

Choose ONE WORD from the passage to fill each gap below.

They are also interested in compounds which insects use to protect themselves from pathogenic bacteria and fungi found in their _____. Piper hopes that these substances will be useful in the development of drugs such as _____.

IELTS Grammar: corrections

Here are my corrections for the sentences in yesterday's lesson.

1. "There are many reasons to believe why" is a clumsy phrase. Instead, write:

- There are many reasons why this is detrimental.
- There are many reasons why I believe that this is detrimental.
- I believe that this is detrimental for several reasons.

2. They have an impact on young adults' health. (plural possessive)

3. We need to use the uncountable (not plural) form of the word exercise. We're talking about 'exercise' in general, not a specific number of exercises.

- The number of people doing physical exercise is falling.

4. "By spending hours on television" is a problematic phrase because "on television" is usually used when we're talking about the people who appear on TV. For example, if you say "I was on television yesterday", it means that you appeared on a TV programme. To avoid confusion, we need to write:

- By spending hours watching television...
- We lead a sedentary life because we spend so many hours watching TV.

IELTS Grammar: explain these little mistakes

In Wednesday's video presentation, I showed you a band 8 paragraph that contained four little mistakes. Here they are (in simplified form). Can you explain what is wrong in each case?

1. There are many reasons to believe why this is detrimental.
2. They have an impact on young adult's health.
3. The number of people doing physical exercises is falling.
4. By spending hours on television, we lead a sedentary lifestyle.

IELTS Speaking Part 2: describe a festival

A common topic for the short presentation (IELTS Speaking Part 2) is "describe an important festival in your country".

My advice is to look for a description of your festival on Wikipedia. Copy the best parts of the description and make small changes if necessary. As an example, I've copied a short description of Christmas from Wikipedia.

Describe a festival: Christmas

Christmas is an annual holiday that, in Christianity, commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ.

Popular customs of the holiday include gift-giving, music, an exchange of greeting cards, church celebrations, a special meal, and the display of various decorations; including Christmas trees, lights, nativity scenes, and holly. In addition, Father Christmas (known as Santa Claus in some areas) is a popular figure in many countries, associated with the bringing of gifts for children.

Over the Christmas period, people decorate their homes and exchange gifts. In some countries, children perform plays re-telling the events of the Nativity, or sing carols that reference the event. Christmas, along with Easter, is the period of highest annual church attendance.

A special Christmas family meal is an important part of the celebration for many, and what is served varies greatly from country to country. In England and countries influenced by its traditions, a standard Christmas meal includes turkey, potatoes, vegetables, sausages and gravy, followed by Christmas pudding, mince pies and fruit cake.

IELTS Writing Task 1: connecting related information

When there's a strong relationship between the two charts (as below), it makes sense to connect the information in your 'details' paragraphs.

Let's try writing two sentences using the information that I've highlighted.

1) Connect the information highlighted in yellow:

Export earnings from petroleum products rose from around $61 billion in 2015 to $63 billion in 2016, which was an increase of 3%.

2) Connect the information highlighted in green:

There was a 15.24% increase in export revenue from textiles, with earnings rising from roughly $25 billion to over $30 billion.

IELTS Writing Task 2: errors or complex structures?

Which aspect of your grammar score is more important: errors or complex structures? Watch the short video below to find out what I think.

The full lesson is about 25 minutes long, and it's on my member site. If you find my advice useful, feel free to subscribe and join my class!

IELTS Listening: gap-fill about Isaac Newton

Watch the following short video and then fill the gaps in the summary below.

If you can't see the video, listen to this audio recording:

Click here to listen

Summary:

Isaac Newton was renowned for his expertise in 1)_____, 2)_____, 3)_____ and theology. His Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy was published in 4)_____ .

Newton’s first law is named the law of 5)_____.
His second law relates to 6)_____.
His third law states that for every action there is an 7)_____ and 8)_____ reaction.

Newton also invented the first 9)_____ telescope, he devised the theory of 10)_____, and he is credited with the invention of the mathematical study known as 11)_____. He is considered to have had one of the greatest scientific 12)_____ in history.

IELTS Reading: true, false, not given

Read the text below about Issac Newton.

Sir Isaac Newton was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian. His Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Latin for "Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy"; usually called the Principia), published in 1687, is one of the most important scientific books ever written. It lays the groundwork for most of classical mechanics.

Newton is considered by many scholars and members of the general public to be one of the most influential people in human history. French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange often said that Newton was the greatest genius who ever lived. Newton himself had been rather more modest of his own achievements, famously writing in a letter to Robert Hooke in February 1676: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

Are the following statements TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN?

1. Newton's Principia is recognised as a groundbreaking text in its field.
2. Many experts regard Newton as the greatest genius the world has seen.
3. Newton wrote that he had achieved everything without the help of others.

IELTS Advice: you can study alone (and pass)

Here's a screenshot of an email that I received from a student called Pegah this week. I think it's interesting that Pegah says she studied alone, without a face-to-face teacher.

I recently rewrote my 'welcome' page to include my IELTS teaching 'mission', and creating materials for self-study was one of my key aims. If you're organised and motivated, you can study alone and get the IELTS scores you need!

One student's re-evaluation story

Here's an interesting story. Look at the following email conversation that I had with a student called Ebenezer. It shows that asking for a re-mark is a good idea if you really believe that you deserved a better score.

13.10.19 - Ebenezer wrote:

Hi Simon, how are you doing... I wrote my test and got a 6 in writing. I’m quite surprised to be honest it’s even lower than my previous scores. I’m really tired to be honest. I even feel IELTS is biased based on my country Nigeria. I know a few colleagues that end up writing in another country and passing. I will ask for a remark and see. Because I am really really confident than my writing was so much better.

14.10.19 - My response:

Hi Ebenezer, I'm sorry to hear that the test is getting you down. I think you're right to ask for re-evaluation. Let me know how it goes! Best of luck, Simon

28.11.19 - Ebenezer wrote:

Hi Simon, I applied for the remark and result came out. My score was upgraded to a 7. I’m so so happy thank you so much.

IELTS Speaking Part 1: simplify

Your priority in part 1 of the speaking test should be to demonstrate fluency, not difficult grammar or vocabulary. You'll speak more fluently if you keep your part 1 answers simple.

Here are some examples of how I would simplify students' answers.
Note: the students' answers contain some mistakes.

Student's answer:
Logically people from different generation will have taste variation. Depending upon the maturity, music stars of their own age, impact of globalisation as well as technological development in music industry will divide younger and older generation.

My simplified answer:
Of course, people from different generations have different tastes in music. Popular music changes all the time, and most of us are influenced by whatever style of music is popular when we are growing up.

Student's answer:
Yes, I am fond of music. It is simply the medicine for my mind. When I am stressed, music remove stress. When I am happy, music inspires me to be more. It always in the centre of all my parties with friends. When I am sad, music takes me out glue and move forward.

My simplified answer:
Yes, I love music, mainly because it helps to put me in a better mood. When I'm stressed or sad, music picks me up and puts me in a positive frame of mind.

IELTS Writing Task 1: identifying key features / trends

The overview or summary is a very important part of your task 1 answer. Before you write your overview, you need to identify the key features, trends or differences. Look at the 'big picture' rather than small details, and summarise the information without mentioning any numbers.

Look at the key features that I've highlighted in yellow below.

Here's a two-sentence overview, describing the highlighted features:

It is noticeable that export revenues in all but one of the five product categories rose over the period shown. While petroleum products were the highest earning exports in both years, the textile industry saw the most significant growth in earnings.

IELTS Writing Task 2: improved 'music topic' plan

Some people say that music is a good way of bringing people of different cultures and ages together. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?

Here's the essay plan that I asked you to think about last week:

1. Introduction: completely agree
2. Main paragraph: why music transcends cultures and age groups
3. Main paragraph: how music connects people
4. Conclusion: repeat / summarise

But KiKi suggested an alternative plan, which I think is better:

1. Introduction: completely agree
2. Main paragraph: why music transcends or connects cultures
3. Main paragraph: how music connects different age groups
4. Conclusion: repeat / summarise

KiKi has noticed that the question contains two ideas: cultures and ages. It makes sense to look at these two ideas separately and use them as the basis for our two main paragraphs. This is a great way to approach many IELTS questions.

IELTS Listening: 'cities' topic

Listen to the following recording and complete the summary below.

Click here to listen

There are more people living in cities than in ______ areas. Urbanisation is the defining phenomenon of this century; half of the world’s population is urban. Many people are enticed from rural areas by the ______ of a better life. We need to improve living conditions for the urban poor by providing adequate ______, clean water and ______.

One key to making cities ______ better is good planning. Planners need to ______ cities to make them beneficial for all citizens. Cities need green transport and green ______; they need to be energy ______ and pedestrian- ______, with housing and jobs to ______ people to come to live there.

IELTS Reading: true, false, not given

Look at the following extract from a text about a psychology experiment:

In the year 1971, Zimbardo accepted a tenured position as professor of psychology at Stanford University. There he conducted the Stanford prison study, in which 21 normal college students were randomly assigned to be "prisoners" or "guards" in a mock prison located in the basement of the psychology building at Stanford. The two week planned study into the psychological impact of prison life ended only after 6 days due to emotional trauma being experienced by the participants.

Are the following statements true, false or not given?

1. The participants in the study were all psychology students.
2. They were given the choice of playing the role of prisoner or guard.
3. A real prison was used in the experiment.
4. The study aimed to investigate the mental and behavioural effects of life in prison.

IELTS Advice: examples bring your answers to life!

Examples are important because they bring your answers to life*. They make your message clearer and your answers more real.

Look at the examples that I used in my 'difficult jobs' answers in Friday's speaking lesson. Without these examples, my answers would be boring and abstract.

• concert pianist
• surgeon
• police officer
• firefighter
• soldier
• paramedic

*Look up the phrase "bring something to life". What does it mean?

IELTS Vocabulary: 'less common' phrases

Here's a list of the 'less common' phrases that I used in yesterday's speaking answers. Notice that I'm highlighting phrases and collocations, not individual 'big' words.

• are difficult in the sense that
• they require a high level of skill
• that must be developed through many years of study and practice
• might not require such high skill levels
• they are known to be extremely stressful and sometimes traumatic
• do something meaningful
• achieving a great ambition
• for altruistic reasons
• it's their duty to contribute to society
• in the grand scheme of things
• a tight deadline
• minor inconveniences
• the horrors of war that soldiers face
• life-and-death situations

IELTS Speaking Part 3: 'difficult jobs' answers

Here are my sample answers to the questions in last Friday's lesson. Can you find any useful vocabulary in my responses?

What are the most difficult jobs that people do?

I think jobs can be hard for various different reasons. Some professions, such as concert pianist or surgeon, are difficult in the sense that they require a high level of skill that must be developed through many years of study and practice. On the other hand, jobs like police officer, firefighter or soldier might not require such high skill levels, but they are known to be extremely stressful and sometimes traumatic.

Why do you think some people choose to do difficult jobs?

I suppose we all want to do something meaningful. For some people, this means achieving a great ambition that takes years of hard work. People who choose dangerous jobs might do so for altruistic reasons or because they feel it's their duty to contribute to society.

Do you agree or disagree that all jobs are difficult sometimes?

I would have to disagree with that. I think we all feel that our jobs are difficult or stressful at times, but in the grand scheme of things we have nothing to complain about. A tight deadline or a lost computer file are really just minor inconveniences when compared with the horrors of war that soldiers face, or the life-and-death situations that paramedics see every day.

IELTS Writing Task 1: bar chart and table

A few people have asked me for help with the following task from Cambridge IELTS 14. Let's start with a simple question:

Would you compare the chart and table, or describe them separately?

The chart below shows the value of one country's exports in various categories during 2015 and 2016. The table shows the percentage change in each category or exports in 2016 compared with 2015.

IELTS Writing Task 2: 'music' topic

A student on my member site asked me about the following question:

Some people say that music is a good way of bringing people of different cultures and ages together. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?

(From Cambridge IELTS 14, test 3)

The student asked whether the following plan would work. What do you think?

1. Introduction: completely agree
2. Main paragraph: why music transcends* cultures and age groups
3. Main paragraph: how music connects people
4. Conclusion: repeat / summarise

*I added the word 'transcend' myself (to summarise the student's point). What do you think I mean when I say that "music transcends cultures"?

IELTS Listening: 'work experience' transcript

Here's the full transcript for the listening exercise in last Tuesday's lesson. The speaker talks quickly, so it's useful to see exactly what she says.

Click here to listen

I wanted to spend a little bit of time today talking about the importance of work experience as you're considering different management programmes. Now this will vary a lot school by school. So some schools actually will have a minimum number of years of required work experience, so you should enquire with all the schools that you are interested in, sort of, what their recommendations are.

At Stanford specifically, we don't necessarily look at a certain number of years of work experience, but what we’re really looking for are your leadership examples that you’re able to draw from in your life. And as a result, some people actually come to us a little bit earlier on in their careers.

So, most years we might even have, you know, one or two students who come directly after university, but they’ve got incredibly strong leadership examples to draw from: maybe it is from being involved in student government, or clubs, or organisations, or starting a non-profit organisation, or having been involved in a family business growing up. So they’re able to draw and refer to those leadership experiences in the classroom.

IELTS Reading: paragraph headings

Read the following passage about a chess-playing computer.

A) On February 10, 1996, Deep Blue became the first machine to win a chess game against a reigning world champion (Garry Kasparov) under regular time controls. However, Kasparov won three and drew two of the following five games, beating Deep Blue by a score of 4–2. Deep Blue was then heavily upgraded and played Kasparov again in May 1997, winning the six-game rematch 3½–2½. Deep Blue won the deciding game six, becoming the first computer system to defeat a reigning world champion in a match under standard chess tournament time controls.

B) After the loss, Kasparov said that he sometimes saw deep intelligence and creativity in the machine's moves, suggesting that during the second game, human chess players had intervened on behalf of the machine, which would be a violation of the rules. IBM denied that it cheated, saying the only human intervention occurred between games. The rules provided for the developers to modify the program between games, an opportunity they said they used to shore up weaknesses in the computer's play that were revealed during the course of the match. This allowed the computer to avoid a trap in the final game that it had fallen for twice before. Kasparov demanded a rematch, but IBM refused and dismantled Deep Blue.

Choose the best heading for paragraphs A and B from the list below.

1. The first chess-playing computer
2. Developers’ intervention is questioned
3. Chess champion accepts defeat
4. Program developers caught cheating
5. A victory for artificial intelligence

IELTS Vocabulary: personal examples, stories

Yesterday we looked at two simple methods that can help you to generate ideas for IELTS topics.

Here's a third tip: Think about personal examples or stories.

So, do you have a personal example or story about how the arts have affected your life? I'm sure you remember a special experience, such as seeing a famous painting, attending a wonderful concert, or reading a great work of fiction. Practise telling your story!