IELTS Advice: tangible daily progress

If you want to make tangible progress every day, aim to do one of the following:

1. Analyse one grammar or vocabulary mistake that you made, and understand the correction.
2. Analyse one mistake in a reading or listening test, and understand why you got the answer wrong.
3. Learn one new word, collocation or phrase.
4. Learn how to express one idea in a 'natural' way. Find out how a native speaker would say it.
5. Prepare ideas, opinions and vocabulary for one IELTS topic.
6. Read one sample band 9 essay, and highlight anything useful e.g. vocabulary, cohesive devices, how ideas are developed.
7. Write one paragraph and get it checked by a teacher.
8. Record yourself doing one speaking test. Transcribe the recording and analyse the transcription or get it checked by a teacher.

I could add more points, but I'm sure you get the idea. Just do one thing that feels like real progress every day. Imagine where you'll be after 100 days!

Comments

[Keiko]

Thank you so much for always giving us many useful tips.

[Mari]

Dear Simon

Hello, Simon. I'm Mari.

I want to express to you my gratitude.
I finally got 7 in writing last month. I still can't believe that I achieved this score and I appreciate you a lot.

Here's my experience. I hope this will help those who study IELTS.

I read and practiced some questions and band9 answers about writing Task1 and Task2 (10 pages each in total). I reviewed and re-practiced them a few times and made some notes to memorise useful tips. I also used an IELTS report/essay collection service (Not here, sorry Simon!).

The scores elevated little by little as I studed.

The duration of study: score
3 months: 6.0
5 months: 6.5
7 months: 7.0

I believed that followed the methods that Simon provided here. What I want to tell is believe Simon and practice examples a few times. Then, you'll get a required score!

Thank you so much, Simon. I couldn't have obtained that score without your blog.

I appreciate all your efforts for people who study IELTS. You're blog is incredible.

I wish your all the best!

[ilovemetoo]

thank you so much

[Simon]

FROM SIMON:

You're welcome!

And congratulations to Mari for making those gradual improvements! I'm happy that my lessons and methods helped you to make steady progress - that's the aim of my blog and other materials, so thanks for sharing your success with us!

[Vishaal]

The internet has transformed the way information is shared and consumed, but it has also created problems that did not exist before. What are the most serious problems associated with the internet and what solutions do you suggest?

Consumption and sharing of information have changed drastically owing to the internet, and this has developed many issues that were not possible in the past. The main concerns linked with the internet are rise in the juvenile crime and proliferation of mental issues, and I would suggest the strict punishment for accessing harmful websites and public awareness sessions as the best possible measures.

The influence of the internet on children is tremendous and thus leads to an increase in crime committed by children. Some contents that are unsuitable for younger ones are easily accessible on some websites, which means that immature brains can easily catch up with such information and develop negative characteristics or violent behavior. In India, for instance, many cases of vandalism, murder, and rape committed by the internet addicts who are just between 15 to 20 have been reported in the past five years. To sort out this issue,
I think a government should impose either heavy fines or prison sentences for even visiting illegal websites. The fear of such a stringent rule will prevent most children from being influenced by negative information on the internet and hence the crime rates associated with adolescents will drop significantly.

The internet is also responsible for the rise in mental illnesses among people around the world. The World Health Organization has recently revealed that people who chat or post on social media or on any other websites for more than 5 hours a day for 5 days a week are highly likely to develop severe depression, anxiety and suicidal behaviors in a year or two. This happens because such people will completely lose connections with the real world and start living in the virtual world. In my view, this problem is more related to the lack of education than anything else, therefore, if state authorities initiate educational campaigns to explain the negative consequences of being online daily for many hours, people will stop the excessive use of the internet. Without a doubt, this will result in lesser people suffering from psychological diseases.

To conclude, the growth of crime involving immatures and mental disorders are indispensable concerns of the internet, but a government can certainly play a crucial role to solve these issues by educating people and implementing rigid penalties for surfing banned websites.