IELTS test in USA – June 2010 (Academic Module)

IELTS topics in Writing and Speaking were shared by F from USA (thank you!), who remembered the following: Writing test Writing Task 1 (a report) There were 2 different bar charts. The charts showed the emissions of Carbon Dioxide in 5 countries – Australia, China, India, Japan, and UK. Writing Task 2 (an essay) Many schoolchildren and students are taught to try to push themselves to be competitive and to do better than other students, instead of teaming up. Do the disadvantages of making students competitive outweigh the advantages? Speaking...

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IELTS Speaking Module

Written by Rad Danesh    Tuesday, 24 April 2007 The Speaking Module of the IELTS consists of a 60 minute module with three parts. Part 1 You will need to answer general questions about yourself, your homes/families, your jobs/studies, your interests, and a range of familiar topic areas in four to five minutes. Part 2 You will be given a verbal prompt on a card and asked to speak about a particular topic (listed on the card)....

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IELTS Writing Module

Written by Rad Danesh    Tuesday, 24 April 2007 The Writing module of the IELTS consists of a 60 minute module with two tasks. Task 1: A diagram or table will be presented to you and you must write out approximately a 150 word discussion on it within approximately 20 minutes. You must evaluate the diagram or table, organize your ideas, and develop them into a cohesive and coherent explanation. Task 2: A topic will be presented...

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IELTS Reading Module

Written by Rad Danesh    Tuesday, 24 April 2007 The Reading module of the IELTS consists of a total of 40 questions. There are three passages, with a total of 2,000 to 2,750 words. Skimming Your first task when you begin reading is to answer the question 'What is the topic of the selection?' This can best be answered by quickly skimming the passage for the general idea, stopping to read only the first sentence of each paragraph....

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IELTS Listening Module

Written by Rad Danesh    Tuesday, 24 April 2007 The Listening module of the IELTS consists of a total of 40 questions. There are four sections:Social Needs – Conversation between two speakers Social Needs – Speech by one speaker Educational or Training – Conversation between up to four speakers Educational or Training – Speech by one speaker Main Ideas Important words and main ideas in conversation are ones that will come up...

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IELTS Secret Key #4 - Prepare, Don't Procrastinate

Let me state an obvious fact: if you take the IELTS three times, you will get three different scores. This is due to the way you feel on test day, the level of preparedness you have, and, despite IELTS’s claims to the contrary, some tests WILL be easier for you than others. Since so much depends on your score, you should maximize your chances of success. In order to maximize the likelihood of success, you’ve got to prepare in advance. This means taking official practice tests and spending time learning the information and test taking strategies...

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IELTS Secret Key #3 - Practice Smarter, Not Harder

Many students delay the test preparation process because they dread the awful amounts of practice time they think necessary to succeed on the test. We have refined an effective method that will take you only a fraction of the time. There are a number of 'obstacles' in your way on the IELTS. Among these are answering questions, finishing in time, and mastering test-taking strategies. All must be executed on the day of the test at peak performance,...

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IELTS Secret Key #2 - Guessing is not guesswork

You probably know that guessing is a good idea on the IELTS- unlike other standardized tests, there is no penalty for getting a wrong answer. Even if you have no idea about a question, you still have a 20-25% chance of getting it right. Most students do not understand the impact that proper guessing can have on their score. Unless you score extremely high, guessing will significantly contribute to your final score. Monkeys Take the IELTS What most students don’t realize is that to insure that 20-25% chance, you have to guess randomly....

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IELTS Secret Key #1 - Time is your greatest enemy

To succeed on the IELTS, you must use your time wisely. Many students do not finish at least one module. The table below shows the time challenge you are faced with: Module Total time Questions Time for each question Listening 30 min 40 .75 min Reading 60 min 40 .67 min Writing 60 min 2 30 min Speaking 11-14 min N/A N/A As you can see, the time constraints are brutal. To succeed, you must ration your time properly. The reason that time is so critical is that every question counts the same toward your final score. If you run out of time on any...

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