Active IELTS help tips

Here you will find all our tips from 2007, in reverse order

12th October - Today’s tip is for task 1 of the writing test, General Module. Remember you can start your letter with a name, but use the right title:

Dear Mr Jones – for men
Dear Mrs/Miss/Ms Jones – for women. It could be a good idea to use Ms (a general title for women) as the examiner will be impressed!

18th September - Today’s tip is for the listening exam. Get to know the different stages of the listening exam well and know what to expect.
Remember the structure:

Section 1 - a conversation between 2 speakers e.g. about making arrangements
Section 2 - a monologue e.g. about student services on a university campus
Section 3 - a conversation of up to 4 people
Section 4 - a lecture or talk of academic or general interest

Try to practice by listening to all of these types of discourse and be ready for each part of the listening test.

7th September - Today’s tip is some general advice. When you are preparing for the IELTS exam never think it is enough to do lots of practice tests.
This is wrong. The IELTS is a very good test of English and you must make sure your speaking, writing, listening and reading are as good as they
can be. Don’t just do test after test – you will not get significantly better

28th August - Today’s tip is for writing task 2. Good answers to task 2 use examples to support ideas, either from personal experience or evidence,
e.g. statistics. If you want to use an example or mention a statistic, it doesn’t have to be true but it does have to be convincing. This is not easy, which
is why it is a good idea to use examples you have invented about your own life.

For example, if you are arguing that smoking should be banned in public places to help people give up it is difficult to think of statistical data to help
your argument. But you could say that your uncle, who had smoked for 20 years, went to live in the US and stopped smoking because it was banned
in public places there. An easy and effective example.

14th August - In Writing Academic Task 1 there are a variety of possible questions, including describing processes, cycles and maps. They are not
so frequent but be prepared for them. Make sure you know how to answer these kinds of questions – they are very different from graphs, tables and
charts.

28th July - When you are practicing for the reading exam, try to identify the question types you are good at and the ones that cause you problems. For
example, you may find Yes/No/Not given questions difficult but be good at summarizing a text. In the exam, you might want to spend more time on a
question that you find easier to answer.

14th July - Don’t worry if the instructions for the two writing tasks are different from the ones you have seen before. The way you need to answer the
question is always the same. For example, you may see something new like:
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples or evidence from your own experience or knowledge (Task 2)
Or
Summarise the information by choosing the most important features, and make comparisons where relevant (Task 1 Academic)

Remember, the task is the same and you just need to do what you have been practicing.

25th June - People have a lot of trouble with reading questions that need a Yes, No or Not Given answer, or True, False, or Not Given. You have to
think about what these terms mean. Look at this example:

Does the following statement agree with the information in the passage? Write Yes if it agrees, No if it doesn’t, and Not Given if there is no
information on this in the passage.

1. Cats have four legs

Yes means that the reading text says the same thing about cats – maybe in different words.
No means that the reading text says the opposite, e.g. cats have three legs.
Not given means the text doesn’t say anything about this.

Even if you know something is true or false yourself, if it is not in the text then the correct answer is Not Given

18th June - Remember that if you have a problem with the sound in the listening test – for example, because of the volume of the machine being
used or noise from the street – then you must tell the invigilator immediately. They may not be able to solve the problem but it will be noted. Don’t
wait until after the exam or even until you get your result to complain!

4th June - Remember that paragraphs are very important in the writing test, especially in task 2. If you don’t use them, you will get a lower mark. If
you are worried that your paragraphs are not clear, then leave a line between each just to make them really obvious.

21st May - When you are waiting for your speaking test, find someone else who is waiting and speak English with them. Don’t speak your own
language! Your English must be as good as possible as soon as you start the test, and speaking English before you begin will get you ready.

14th May - Remember that somewhere in the listening test – usually the start – you will have to write down a name or a number. The name will be
spelt for you. So make sure that you know the English alphabet and numbers really well, and practice listening to telephone numbers and names
and writing them down quickly. Don’t lose an easy mark!

28th April - In Writing General Task 1 you need to write a letter. Remember that the tone of language you use must be right for the person or
organization you are writing to. You need to decide if your English should be formal, informal or neutral, and you must decide what are the right
words to communicate your message. For example, if you have to complain to a shop then you will need to be very careful how you do it.

21st April - Part 3 of the speaking test is very similar to Task 2 of the writing, with the same kinds of questions. This means you can use the same
strategies to help you give good answers: explain what your opinion is, explain why, and support this with examples or evidence from your own
experience. This makes full and interesting answers for the questions in this very important part of the speaking test.

14th April - Remember that before each section of the listening test you are told what you are going to listen to. For example:

You are going to hear a conversation between a tutor and two students.

Listen carefully to this as it gives you useful information for the questions. Don’t start looking at the questions and miss this introduction.

7th April - f you are taking the Academic version of the exam, then you will have to describe a diagram or table of some kind in task 1. If this diagram
involves numbers, then you must use some of these numbers in your answer. If you only write about the information in general, without mentioning
some specific figures, then you will not get a good mark.

28th March - Remember that it is very important to use examples and evidence to support your ideas in writing task 2. These do not have to be true
but do have to be convincing. For example, if you are writing about banning smoking in public places and say that this helps protect people from
passive smoking, then you could support this with statistics:

Statistics show that since smoking was banned in pubs in Ireland, there has been a 50% reduction in the number of cases of illness related to
passive smoking

Or you could use a personal example:

My grandfather smoked all his life and my grandmother, who didn’t smoke, suffered from many smoking-related illnesses.

21st March - Remember when you are practicing part 3 of the speaking test that this part is much freer than parts 1 and 2. This means that the
examiner does not need to follow a script, but uses their exam guide to start a conversation and then ask lots of questions to explore your answers
more. Be careful! Don’t just practice questions and answers, even if the answers are long ones. Practice having long conversations with someone
who can ask you lots of questions to really test what you are saying.

14th March - Very often in the listening test you will hear something that you think is the right answer, but a moment later it will be corrected by the
speaker. For example, you need to identify a time for a train and you hear:

‘The train will leave at 9.30 from platform 10… sorry, we would like to correct that last announcement, the train will leave at 10.30 from platform 9’

Be ready to change your answer and be careful!

7th March - Often the question in task 2 of the writing will give you a statement with two opposite opinions and then say ‘… Discuss both these
points of view and give your own opinion.’ For example:

‘Some people think that animals are always less important than people but others say that sometimes they are more important than us. Discuss both
these points of view and give your own opinion’.

Remember that this means you must fully discuss both points of view with at least a paragraph on each one, then give your own opinion. If you don’t
write enough on each then you will lose a lot of marks.

28th February - When you are preparing for the speaking test, you need to practice the topics that we mention on the site but you also need to be
ready with useful language like ‘I’m sorry, could you repeat the question?’, ‘Interesting question. Can I have a moment to think about that?’ and ‘Is it
OK if I talk about ….., not just the question on the card?’. This kind of language is very natural and the examiner will like it.

21st February - Writing practice is important but remember that you should always practice these answers by hand, then copy them into an
electronic format if you need to. There are different reasons for this:
- You may not be accustomed to writing by hand (most of us aren't) and this is what you need to do in the exam, and quickly
- your handwriting may need work - remember if the examiner can't read it they won't mark it
- you can get an idea of what 150 words and 250 words look like - this is very useful as you don't want to waste time counting words in the exam.

14th February - Remember that in Part 2 of the speaking you need to talk for 1-2 minutes but you must keep talking until the examiner tells you to
stop. Never stop before this, even if you think you have spoken for long enough.

6th February - Successful answers to writing questions are always well-planned. You have time to do this – for example, you can take 5 minutes for
task 1 and 10 for task 2. Use this time well. It will make a difference.

21st January 2007 - Always remember that you have 10 minutes at the end of the listening exam to transfer your answers from the question paper
to the answer sheet.

28th January 2007 - If you don't understand what the examiner says to you in the speaking test, this is not a problem. Remember, this happens in
normal communication. Tell the examiner that you didn't understand and ask them to repeat what they said. If you do this well, the examiner will be
impressed.