Showing posts with label IELTS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IELTS. Show all posts

Dec 29, 2006

Electronic IELTS results to Receiving Organisations - Update

Overview

IELTS results are increasingly high-stakes as the test grows in recognition and candidature. Sophisticated features have been built in to the IELTS Test Report Form (TRF) to maintain the security of test results. To provide a further safeguard, in 2002 IELTS developed an on-line service which enables those recognising IELTS to be totally confident about the authenticity of any TRF with which they are presented. The service has been in operation for the last 3 years and has proved to be a great success with most major universities and immigration departments in the English speaking world having signed up. The initial success of the verification service was built upon with the addition of candidate photos in September 2003, ensuring that verification was even more convenient and reliable for verifiers.

In response to requests from key stakeholders, IELTS will be introducing an electronic bulk download facility where organisations will be able to download IELTS results for all IELTS candidates who want the organisation to recognise their result. This new feature will be available in early 2006.

A number of key questions relating to the new development are answered below:

What are the benefits of this facility?

Many stakeholders have suggested that it would make their administrative procedures more efficient if verified results could be downloaded in bulk and loaded into their own data systems.

How does the electronic download facility work?

Candidates registering for IELTS will continue to have the option to specify up to 5 organisations to whom their IELTS test scores should be sent. This information will be recorded by the centre in their local administration systems and subsequently uploaded to the central IELTS processing systems and websites. Users from organisations which have registered for the electronic download facility will be able to login to the existing IELTS TRF verification service and navigate to a new section from which the downloads can be initiated. It will be possible to select date parameters for the download and the file type, either CSV or XML.

Do I have to pay for this service?

The bulk electronic download service and the existing IELTS TRF verification service are provided to appropriate organisations free of charge.

What do I need to do get access to the new service?

If you are an existing user of the IELTS TRF verification service:We will contact the administrator for your organisation later in 2005 and ask whether or not you wish to have access to the new bulk download service. Once your organisation has signed up it will appear in the list of organisations available to Centre Administrators.

If you are a new user of the IELTS TRF verification service:If you would like to access either the IELTS TRF verification site or the bulk download facility, then please refer to the IELTS website for further information on registration.

What is the impact of registering for the bulk download service?

Once you have registered for the service and you have received confirmation from IELTS administration, all users at your institution will be able to access an additional area of the web site which will allow them to download candidate results. You will not receive hard copy TRFs for these candidates. However to start with you may receive some TRFs as hard copy and some results electronically, as all centres switch over to the new system.

Unfortunately, at the moment, once an institution has subscribed to the bulk download service it is not possible to unsubscribe. Candidate preferences in terms of who receives their results are captured when the candidate registers for IELTS and allowing institutions to withdraw from the service would mean that some candidates may not be able to get their TRFs verified easily.

Which university student administration packages will be supported?

To support users in universities IELTS is developing interfaces which will allow universities to import IELTS scores directly into the most popular student administration packages without the need for any kind of bespoke development.

Initially an interface is being developed to allow IELTS scores to be imported into PeopleSoft Campus Solutions versions 8.0 and 8.9. PeopleSoft users will be able to download PeopleSoft projects which can then be applied to their instance of PeopleSoft Campus Solutions. IELTS scores can then be imported, in the same way as other test scores, without any further bespoke development. Full supporting documentation explaining how to apply the projects will be provided.

It is anticipated that similar support will be available for the Banner Student Administration System in 2006.

Users of other student administration systems or those with bespoke systems cannot be supported at this time although organisations are free to develop their own import routines.

When will the electronic download functionality be available?

The electronic download functionality will be available in early 2006.

What is the file format for the download?

The file is available to download in either CSV or XML file formats. Please note that the photo is only available in the XML format and is not transferred as part of the CSV download.

Currently the hard copy TRF shows the Writing and Speaking as an integer but the Listening and Reading and Overall band score to 1decimal place. The download formats output each of the 4 skills and the overall band score all to 1 decimal place for the XML format and to one decimal place in the CSV format where the band score is not an integer.

Good Luck!!

Dec 12, 2006

Learn Some Root Words

http://vocabularytips.blogspot.com

Dec 11, 2006

Possible Questions from the Interviewer of the IELTS Test!!

This is only for practice purpose


The questions here list Vietnam/Australia. However they will be posed keeping in mind the country you are from ad the country you intend to visit for your studies.


1. What is the meaning of your given name?

2. Does your name affect your personality?

3. Tell me something about your hometown.

4. What are the differences in accent between your hometown and Hanoi?

5. What is the character of the people like in your hometown?

6. What is people's favorite food in the region where you live?

7. What will you do during the Spring Festival this year?

8. Are there any traditional festivals in your region?

9. Describe a typical Spring Festival for a Vietnamese family.

10. Tell me something about the Hue Festival.

11. How have weddings changed in recent years?

12. Tell me something about the Hung King Festival.

13. Describe a traditional wedding ceremony.

14. How do Vietnamese usually celebrate birthdays?

15. Are there any traditions concerning the birth of a baby?

16. How do you like Hanoi? Compare it to your hometown.

17. What place do you like best in Hanoi?

18. What places in Hanoi should a foreigner visit?

19. What places would you recommend a visitor to go to in your region/hometown?

20. If you had the choice, where would you choose to live in Vietnam?

21. Which parts of Vietnam would you recommend a foreigner to visit?

22. Tell me something about your family.

23. Which is the worst place you've been to in Vietnam?

24. Who takes the greatest responsibility for bringing up your child in your family?

25. Which is the best place you've been to in Vietnam?

26. Who does most of the household chores in your family?

27. Are the traditional sexual roles within the family changing?

28. Why is the divorce rate increasing so rapidly? Is it a problem?

29. What is your opinion of the planning family policy?

30. How do you discipline your child?

31. Is it acceptable for couples to live together without marrying?

32. If you had the choice, would you have a son or a daughter?

33. Are you going to bring your child up any differently to the way your parents did?

34. What hopes do you have for your child?

35. Do women still have too heavy a burden in their day to day life?

36. Is the increasing influence of the West largely a positive or negative thing?

37. What, according to you, has been the greatest change in recent years?

38. What, according to you, has been the most problematic change in recent years?

39. If you are a lecturer, what changes have you seen in education over the past few years?

40. Who should bear the responsibility for payment of tuition fees?

41. What can be done to improve education in rural areas?

42. Have recent changes affected your job in any way?

43. Do you agree with private education?

44. What can be done to close the gap between urban and rural areas?

45. If you had the power, what reforms would you carry out within education?

46. Describe a typical working day for you.

47. How do you see yourself in ten years time?

48. If you had the opportunity to change your job, what would you do instead?

49. If you had one million dollars, what would you do with it?

50. If you could start your life again, would you do anything differently?

51. Do you have any ambitions?

52. Which country/place would you most like to visit?

53. What changes do you think Vietnam will see in the next few years?

54. Will any possible future changes affect your job in any way?

55. How do you think you will cope in Australia?

56. Does anything worry you about going to Australia?

57. Are you looking forward to anything in particular in Australia?

58. What are your plans on your return to Vietnam?

59. What do you do in your spare time?

60. What will you do if you fail the IELTS?

Common connective words!!

Familiarity with these words would be useful in all IELTS test modules.

Common connective words indicating:

Addition Consequence Contrast

in addition

and

similarly

likewise

as well as

besides

furthermore

also

moreover

and then

too

not only ... but

even

besides this/that

 

 

 

 

as a result

thus

so

therefore

consequently

it follows that

thereby

eventually

then

in that case

admittedly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


however

on the other hand

despite

in spite of

though

although

but

on the contrary

otherwise

yet

instead of

rather

whereas

nonetheless

even though

compared with

in contrast

alternatively



Certainty Definition Summary

obviously

certainly

plainly

of course

undoubtedl

 

 

 

is

refers to

means

that is

consists o

 

 

 

in conclusion

in summary

lastly

finally

to sum up

to conclude

to recapitulate

in short

Example Time

for instance

one example

for example

just as

in particular

such as

namely

to illustrate

 

 

before

since

as

until

meanwhile

at the moment

when

whenever

as soon as

just as

Dec 10, 2006

THE IELTS ACADEMIC WRITING TEST - TASK 2 TUTORIAL

Task 2 in the IELTS Academic Writing Test is more important than task 1. You have to write more, it's a more difficult task and it is worth more to your final band for writing as more weight is given to Task 2 than to Task 1.

The IELTS Academic Writing Test


The IELTS Academic Writing Test lasts for 1 hour and includes 2 tasks. Task 1 is a letter and you must write at least 150 words. You should spend about 20 minutes out of the hour for Task 1. Task 2 is an essay and you must write at least 250 words. You should spend about 40 minutes for Task 2.

The Task for the IELTS Academic Task 2 Writing


The IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 asks you to write a short essay of a minimum of 250 words. The essay is usually a discussion of a subject of general interest. You may have to present and justify your opinion about something, give the solution to a problem or compare differing ideas or viewpoints.

Marking for the IELTS Academic Task 2 Writing


Your task will be marked in three areas. You will get a mark from 1 to 9 on Arguments, Ideas and Evidence, Communicative Quality and Vocabulary and Sentence Structure. Your final band for Task 2 will be effectively an average of the three marks awarded in these areas. Task 2 writing is more important than Task 1 and to calculate the final writing mark, more weight is assigned to the Task 2 mark than to Task 1's mark. To get a good overall mark though, both tasks have to be well answered so don't hold back on Task 1 or give yourself too little time to answer it properly.



Arguments, Ideas and Evidence


This mark grades you on the content of your essay. The argument is how you present your case as regards the question. The ideas part is how many and how good your ideas are in helping your argument. The evidence is the facts that you use to back up your ideas. Evidence is very important in Task 2. You need to bring in facts from your own experience in order to support your ideas. The three parts (Arguments, Ideas and Evidence) are not independent but blend together to give a good answer. Together they really present the content and substance of your essay.


Communicative Quality


This is how you are making yourself understood and whether the reader of your writing understands what you are saying. Are you communicating well with the reader and are your ideas that you want to present understood by the reader?


Vocabulary and Sentence Structure


This area looks at the your grammar and choice of words. The marker will look at whether the right grammar and words are used and whether they are used at the right time, in the right place and in the right way. Most people are predominantly worried about their grammar but, as you can see, grammar is only half of one section of three used to grade your writing. IELTS is much more interested in communication rather than grammatical accuracy.


Paragraphing for the IELTS Academic Task 2 Writing


This is a very easy thing to do but it can have an enormous effect on the clarity of your writing. I have said this for Task 1 but for Task 2 it's is even more important. In Task 2 you will be writing more and it is therefore more important to divide your writing up into divisions to make it easier to read.

Very often people use no paragraphing and the examiner is faced with a "sea" of writing with no breaks from start to finish. For me, the best writings are those where there are paragraphs separated by an empty line and also indented. In this way your ideas are separated clearly. It shows and gives organization to your writing and makes it more readable.

For Task 2, have a paragraph break after your introduction, and then for every differing section of your separate ideas with the supporting evidence. Then have a final paragraph for your conclusion. You should aim to have 3 or 4 paragraphs plus the introduction and conclusion.

Look at this section on paragraphing. It is divided into 5 separate paragraphs dividing the 5 different areas that I want to present to you, the reader. The 5 areas are:

Paragraph 1 Why paragraphing is important for Task 2.
Paragraph 2 How to divide your paragraphing.
Paragraph 3 Where your paragraph divisions should occur.
Paragraph 4 The division of paragraphs in this section.
Paragraph 5 Explaining the comparison with this section and the one below to show how paragraphing can work.
Below I will repeat paragraphs 1 - 4 of this section on paragraphing but I am going to remove all the paragraphs and line breaks and make it a "sea of writing" as I said can happen above. I hope you feel that this section is easier to understand than the one below!! (By the way, I haven't used line breaks through this entire tutorial as there would be too many and it would be too confusing).


Paragraphing (bad example section)


This is a very easy thing to do but it can have an enormous effect on the clarity of your writing. I have said this for Task 1 but for Task 2 it's is even more important. In Task 2 you will be writing more and it is therefore more important to divide your writing up into divisions to make it easier to read. Very often people use no paragraphing and the examiner is faced with a "sea" of writing with no breaks from start to finish. For me, the best writings are those where there are paragraphs separated by an empty line and also indented. In this way your ideas are separated clearly. It shows and gives organization to your writing and makes it more readable. For Task 2, have a paragraph break after your introduction, and then for every differing section of your separate ideas with the evidence. Then have a final paragraph for your conclusion. You should aim to have 3 or 4 paragraphs plus the introduction and conclusion. Look at this section on paragraphing. It is divided into 4 separate paragraphs dividing the 4 different areas that I want to present to you the reader. The 4 areas are: Paragraph 1: Why paragraphing is important for task 2: Paragraph 2: How to divide your paragraphing. Paragraph 3: Where your paragraph divisions should occur. Paragraph 4: An example to show you how paragraphing works.

I hope you feel that the first section was easier to understand than this second one!!


Ideas to Think About for the IELTS Academic Task 2 Writing


1 Timing


The exam paper recommends that you spend about 40 minutes on this question and this is about right. Remember that Task 2 gives more to your final writing band and so you should make sure that you have enough time after Task 1 to properly answer Task 2. Some students do Task 2 first in order to make sure that Task 2 is answered well before they get onto Task 1. There is no problem with this but make sure you write the 150 words to give a good answer for Task 1 as well.

So, whatever you decide to do about your approach to Task 1 and Task 2 in the writing paper, make sure that you spend approximately 20 minutes on Task 1 and 40 minutes on Task 2. This should give you the right amount of time to provide good answers to both tasks.


2 Answering the question.


Although this sounds very straightforward, people don't often properly answer the question set and therefore don't get the band that they should even if the writing is very good.

First of all read the question very carefully in order to see exactly what it asks you. Very often there will be more than 1 part to the question; sometimes even 3 or 4 parts. When you produce your answer you must answer all the different parts of the question. How much you produce on each part depends on how important you think it is.

You have to write a formal academic English essay of the type that would be required for teachers or tertiary education courses. Formulate and develop an argument and show a personal response. Give your opinions and back them up with evidence and examples. Your answer should persuade, be consistent and develop logically towards a conclusion, which answers all parts of the question.

Another important basic is to write at least 250 words. Writing less does not answer the question, which tells you to write at least 250 words. If you write less than 250 words, the examiner marking your paper will give you a maximum of 5 for Arguments, Ideas and Evidence or even less. It is no problem to write more than the 250 words; there is no upward word limit on the essay. Time is your only constraint.

The question wants you to produce an essay. Therefore don't give a list of numbered notes (your paragraphs should not be numbered). Give the examiner a proper essay with an introduction, a main body with your ideas and evidence and a conclusion, all divided of course with the paragraphing techniques discussed above.


3 Planning


Many students that I have taught have regarded writing an essay plan as a waste of time. The only answer I can give is that it depends on the individual. If you are a good essay writer who can automatically organize your ideas and structure in your head so well that you can produce a good structured essay without planning, then I say that's it's fine not to write an essay plan.

Also if you're really short of time and you need to get writing on page, then you don't want to waste time on planning. However, if none of these conditions apply, then 1 or 2 minutes thinking about your ideas and how you are going to present them will not be wasted. I'm not saying that you should spend 10 minutes on this. Just take a scrap of paper and jot down some ideas that you are going to use in your essay.

Then you can divide the ideas into 3 or 4 paragraphs in a logical order. This shouldn't take you long and the structure that this will give your essay will be well worth the time that you spend doing it.


Writing The Essay in the IELTS Academic Task 2 Writing


1 The Introduction


First of all, don't repeat any part of the question in your introduction. This is not your own work and therefore will be disregarded by the examiner and deducted from the word count. You can use individual words but be careful of using "chunks" of the question text.

Your introduction should first say what you understand by the question. Then give the main issue or issues that you intend to bring into your answer. Don't go into any detail; you can save that for the later paragraphs.

Finally, the question often asks you to take up a position over an issue. There is no right answer for putting your views at the start and then explaining this through the essay, or developing your opinion though your essay and stating your final stance at the end. I personally like the opinion at the start of the essay. Quickly and clearly answer the question, making your attitude plain. Don't give any reasons. Again, that's what the body of your essay is for. You don't have to do it this way though. You can wait until your conclusion to give your position as regards the question.


2 The Body of Your Essay


You should aim to have 3 or 4 paragraphs in your answer. This is not exact. You can write more or fewer paragraphs, as your answer requires. Remember you've only got about 40 minutes to cover all the question areas so don't be too ambitious and try to write too much.

In the body of your essay you should do several things. You need to examine all parts of the question. Remember there is often more than 1 question contained in the essay question text. You need to look at all that is asked and look at both sides of every issue. IELTS essay questions usually ask you something which has two or more points of view, and you need to consider both sides of every argument no matter what your opinion is.

Look below at the example. The question asks whether or not you believe whether societies should use capital punishment. There are, of course, two points of view:

(1) capital punishment should be used and

(2) capital punishment shouldn't be used.

Let's say for example that you don't believe that capital punishment should be used by societies. No matter what point of view you have, you should look at both sides, though naturally your writing will favour the position that you have taken. Give the reasons why you don't believe in capital punishment but then look at the opposing view and say why you don't accept it. In this way you will show the reader your powers of analysis when looking at such an issue.

Don't forget that when you have finished looking at this issue there is a second part of the question to be analysed too.

As we said earlier, your ideas need to be supported by examples and it is in the body of your essay that they should appear. For every idea that you present try and give an example from your own experience that shows that your idea is right.

An example from your own experience means something that you know from your life, from your country's news or history or anything that you have read anywhere. You can actually invent examples if you need as long as they seem realistic and believable. The examiner is probably not going to research anything you write about.

The example below should illustrate what we have been discussing here.


3 The Conclusion


This doesn't need to be a long paragraph. You need to sum up your points providing a final perspective on your topic. All the conclusion needs is three or four strong sentences, which do not need to follow any set formula. Simply review the main points (being careful not to restate them exactly or repeat all your examples) and briefly describe your feelings about the topic; this provides an answer to all parts of the question. An anecdote can also end your essay in a useful way.


An Example of the IELTS Academic Task 2 Writing


It's very difficult to visualize and understand all the things that I have said above. Here I will try and provide you with an example question and then go through the stages of thought to show you how to approach an IELTS Task 2 essay.

Here is a possible question that would be typical for a Task 2 essay question.

"Do you believe that societies ought to enforce capital punishment or Are there alternative forms of punishment that would be better used?"

First of all you need to consider the question. What does it ask? Straight away, you can see that it asks 2 things.

It wants to know if you believe that society should use capital punishment and it also wants to know if you can offer any alternatives to capital punishment. Your answer should give a balanced view of both parts of this question. What is important to realize is that there is no correct answer here. You can present any point of view as long as you can support it.

So, in your planning stage you should have a roadmap for the introduction, each paragraph and the conclusion. Here is my brief plan for the essay.


Intro


What cp is. Where it's used. (not my country). Differing opinions.
I don't believe in cp.
There are alternative punishments.
Body
Inhumane - we shouldn't sink to the level of criminals.
We can get convictions wrong; prisoners can be released if there's an error. Mentally ill. Examples.
Alternative punishments: life means life; hospitals for criminally insane. Costs more but society has a duty to care.


Many countries favour it and they say it works. Prisons too full. Killers deserve nothing less. Some crimes deserve it. Not my morals though.


Conclusion


I don't agree. We can do other things. Avoid mistakes and make modern society a humane one.

The above is a basic plan of how I want to write my essay. It's not rigid. I can change my ideas and format as I write if I feel I can do better.

I can also add things that I've forgotten as the essay goes on. It's normal of course for you to have new, good ideas as you write and the skill is to get them into your essay without upsetting the balance of the essay. How do you do this? It's practice again. You won't get good at writing essays and adapting your writing well without practice.

So, below is an example essay using the plan above as a basis.


Example Essay for the IELTS Academic Task 2 Writing


Capital punishment is the killing of a criminal for a crime that he has committed. Previously most countries employed this method of punishment but nowadays it is much less widely used. I personally do not believe that societies today should use capital punishment and I also believe that there are alternative punishments that can be used.

My main argument against capital punishment is that I believe we do not have the right to kill another human being regardless of the crime. I don't believe in the old religious maxim of "an eye for an eye." Modern societies shouldn't turn to such barbaric punishments.

Another argument against capital punishment is that people can be wrongly convicted and executed. If a man is in prison, he can be released if later proved not guilty. If he is dead, there is nothing that can be done. In the UK, a group of supposed terrorists were convicted of murder in Birmingham in the 1970s. They were proved innocent about 15 years later and released. If they had been executed, innocent people would have died.

There are alternative punishments available. For bad crimes prison life sentences can be given with criminals imprisoned for the rest of their lives. Also a lot of horrific crimes are committed by people who are mentally sick. These people are not responsible for their actions and can be kept safely and permanently in secure hospitals. Yes, this costs a lot more but I believe it is the duty of society to do this.

There are arguments for capital punishment. Many people feel its threat stops serious crime and that criminals deserve nothing less. It's cheaper and keeps the prisons manageable. I can understand this point of view but I cannot agree with it.

So, in conclusion, I don't believe in capital punishment, as there are less barbaric alternatives available. We can avoid horrific mistakes and make modern society a humane one.

Final Comment for the IELTS Academic Task 2 Writing


I hope that this essay shows how to approach the Task 2 question and illustrates the ideas that I have written above.
Finally I will leave you with the message that I always do. To really improve your skills at writing essays, you need to practice. Get some essay titles, sit down when you get the chance, give yourself 40 minutes and write some essays. Try and do it as I have directed with a couple of minutes for planning, as this will train you to make a better-constructed essay in the long run.
You can get essay titles probably from surfing the internet or you can use the ieltshelpnow.com tests, along with other practice, which are available to download on this site at a fraction of the cost of books in the shops.

Tips for Writing !!

The writing part has two tasks: minor & major.

The minor task should be done in 20-25 minutes. Usually three things asked in the minor task; 1. Object (eg a cycle is shown & various parts are

labeled)

2. Process (eg the various ways in which solar

energy is used)

3. Data; (graphs of all types eg line graph, bar graph, pie charts, tables etc)



For data one have to write;

1. Introduction (what it is about do not copy the question what. Use your imagination & write in your own words what the data is about)

2. Then in the next Para write three things, this is very important.

The three things are General trend, Comparisons, differences.

3. In the last Para write conclusion.



Use pencil to write & take with you a new good quality eraser & sharpener. Write at least twenty words more than required. This way examiner gets an idea that you are confident & can write


ELTS Writing Topics

Task 1
1. The tables compare the amount of students who study at different levels of education in different countries?
2. Compare people's income and tax in different countries.
3. Compare the different household tasks and who does them.
4. Compare the difference between the rates of car theft, insurance costs and number of policemen.
5. Describe what kind of jobs people do in relation to their university major.
6. Describe how water is gathered?
7. Compare the construction of houses and how well they insulate the houses in summer and winter.
8. The tables compare the amount of students who study at different levels of education in different countries?

Task 2:
1. Most high level jobs are done by men. Should the government encourage a certain percentage of these jobs to be reserved for women?
2. Are famous people treated unfairly by the media? Should they be given more privacy, or is the price of their fame an invasion into their private lives?
3. Should developing countries concentrate on improving industrial skills or should they promote education first?
4. Safety standards are important when building people's homes. Who should be responsible for enforcing strict building codes - the government or the people who build the homes?
5. Does modern technology make life more convenient, or was life better when technology was simpler?
6. In your opinion what factors contribute to a good movie?
7. Does modern technology make life more convenient, or was life better when technology was simpler?
8. Does travel help to promote understanding and communication between countries?
9. If children behave badly, should their parents accept responsibility and also be punished?
10. What should a government do for a country to become successful?
11. Should sports classes be sacrificed in High School so students can concentrate on Academic subjects?
12. Nowadays doctors can become very rich. Maybe they should not focus on profitable activities such as plastic surgery or looking after rich patients and concentrate more on patients health, no matter how rich they are?
13. Will modern technology, such as the internet ever replace the book or the written word as the main source of information?
14. Discuss the advantage and disadvantage of giving international Aid to poor countries.
15. Should criminals be punished with lengthy jail terms or re-educated and recapitulated, using community service programs for instance, before being reintroduced to society?
16. Computers can translate all kinds of languages well so our children don't need to learn more languages in the future?

General Tips

Success in the IELTS exam requires a candidate to know the test format and the specific techniques for answering questions. Make sure you are fully equipped with this knowledge. ( Please see Resources on the Internet and Books )

Don't believe people who tell you that IELTS needs no preparation if your English is good. Even if it is, you still need to learn the right skills for the test. I would suggest a period of two weeks as preparation time, though this would vary depending on your level of familiarity with English. The test fees are high and if you don't get the band score you need, you have to wait for three months before you can take the test again.

Like in all other exams, practice is the key to doing well in the IELTS. Make sure you have plenty of it before you appear for the test.

Answer all questions. There is no negative marking for incorrect answers.

Preparing for the test

Start by familiarizing yourself with the test format. Then read the online resources I have suggested. After that you could start with Step Up to IELTS to build the basic skills that you will need to do the test. Lastly, go on to doing the 4 tests in Cambridge IELTS 3 under test conditions. This should get you ready to take on the IELTS.

The British Council offers preparatory courses for IELTS. A placement test is held first to assess the candidate's level of English. This costs Rs 400/-. A four day intensive course is held before the date of the test. This costs Rs 5600/-. If you can afford the fees, the course might be a good idea as it gives you an insight into IELTS along with lots of practice. I think it would not help those whose level is very poor (possibly they would not do well in the placement test itself) or very good (they may not need the course). It would be most useful for those who lie somewhere in the middle of the spectrum.

Test day

Make sure you have visited the venue of the test a few days before the test date. Arrive at least half an hour earlier than the reporting time specified. Arriving late could send your tension levels soaring and the exam requires you to be absolutely relaxed and ready to give of your best.

There is no break between the four components of the test. This means that for around 3-3.5 hours, you can't eat, drink or visit the restroom. However, water was provided in the test hall where I took the exam and students were allowed to visit the restroom, but only while the test was in progress ( not in the period between different modules ). Since time is such a crucial factor in the exam, no one would want to waste time going to the toilet in the middle of the test. Make sure you visit the restroom before the test starts.

Carry your original and valid passport as it is mandatory. Also take the letter which gave you the venue of the test and your roll number. The receipt for the IELTS fee is another document that is sometimes asked for. Take it too.

Take a number of sharpened pencils, a pencil sharpener, an eraser and pens. Do all the components of the test in pencil. For listening and reading, use of a pencil is mandatory. For writing, it is much easier to erase what you write in pencil when you want to modify a sentence. If you use a pen, deleting sentences or words creates a mess.

Time is a crucial factor in the test. Make sure you take a watch that works and shows the correct time. Keep it in front of you on the desk as you work. It is all too easy to forget how much time has elapsed.

You can write anything you like on the question sheet. It is not read by the examiner. You can underline words, jot down your ideas for the writing test or write the answers for the listening test.

New Policy 90 Day Re-Take Rule

From 1 May 2006 the policy on candidates re-taking IELTS will be amended. The restriction on re-taking IELTS within 90 days will be removed and candidates will be able to repeat the test whenever they wish.

The current restriction on repeating the test within 90 days at any centre will remain in place for all candidates until the end of April 2006. All candidates from 1 May will be able to repeat at the next available test, regardless of the date of their previous test.

IELTS is now used by a range of receiving organisations across the world and many of them require candidates to demonstrate adequate performance overall as well as by individual skill. It is possible for candidates to attain their required overall band score but fail to achieve a specific module score in a particular skill area. As a result they are required to re-take the test but have to wait 90 days and this can result in hardship and distress. It is in the nature of tests that scores on individual components may vary to some extent from occasion to occasion and a candidate may be able to make limited improvements in their performance when repeating the test. In consideration of this the decision was made to remove the re-take restrictions.

It should be noted however that IELTS scores are not substantially improved merely by taking the test on multiple occasions. To significantly improve a score it is necessary to engage in further study of a serious nature. Gain score studies carried out under the IELTS funded research programme indicate that scores are unlikely to improve dramatically without extensive English language tuition in the interim.

Candidates will still be asked to indicate on their application form whether they have taken the test before. This information will appear on the Test Report Form and will only be used for monitoring purposes.

The Test Day

Reach the test center in time.

Make sure you look your best. Wear your best apparel and your best smile.A formal/ semi formal attire is the most suited for the purpose.
Don’t try to show off your casualness by moving in a pair of shorts nor overdo things by wearing a jazzy party dress.

Be confident. This is also one important aspect they are going to judge you on.

Don’t try to talk to candidates coming out of the interview room. By doing this you will be breaking the examination rules and invite a disqualification for yourself.

I always advise to talk calmly to the other candidates waiting for the interview in the same waiting room as you are. Its always a good warm up.

Knock and enter the interview room confidently.
Think before hand how exactly you would like your sitting posture to be and in which you r most comfortable.

Keep your hand movements or other gestures you use during conversing, in control. You should not sit like a statute either. Just that you should not over do such things which looks unnatural in a day to day conversation.

Keep your cool. Be calm and be polite.
Make an interesting conversation. Smile and involve the interviewer in your conversation.

Remember that the interviewer is all too exhausted and bored by interviewing so many candidates before you. Your conversation should refresh him up.

If the interviewer keeps a view in front of you tell him if you fully agree with him, that he is right or if you have another view, be polite and say that you think some thing else.

Did he say he enjoyed talking with you? Tell him that it was nice speaking to him too.
Thank him in the end.

The Mantra

The mantra for a great score in speaking is to be confident, calm and cool.

Project yourself as an interesting person. Be yourself.

Talk clearly, loudly, pronounce correctly and no grammatical mistakes.

You will come out with flying colors.

Good Luck!

Test day advise

Advice and Information
Make sure you attend on time

Know the date, time and place of your test and arrive before the scheduled starting time.
If you arrive late for any of the papers, report to the supervisor or invigilator. You may not be allowed to take the test.
Bring what you need

Take into the test room only the pens, pencils and erasers which you need for the examination.
Correction fluid and highlighters must not be used.
Leave anything which you do not need, or which is not allowed, either outside the test room, or as instructed by the supervisor.
You may not lend anything to, or borrow anything from, another candidate during the test.
Examination instructions

Listen to the supervisor and do what you are asked to do.
Tell the supervisor or invigilator at once if you think you have not been given the right question paper, or if the question paper is incomplete or illegible.
Read carefully and follow the instructions printed on the question paper and on the answer sheet.
Fill in the details required on the front of your question paper and on your answer sheet before the start of the test.
Advice and assistance during the test

If you are in doubt about what you should do, raise your hand to attract attention. The invigilator will come to your assistance.
You may not ask for, and will not be given, any explanation of the questions.
If on the day of the test you feel that your work may be affected by ill health or any other reason, you must inform the invigilator at the time.
Leaving the test room

You may not leave the test room without the permission of the supervisor or invigilator.
You can not leave your seat until all papers have been collected and you have been told you can leave.
When you leave the examination room you must leave behind the question paper, your answer paper, any paper used for rough work clearly crossed through and any other materials provided for the test.
Do not make any noise near the examination room.

IELTS Examination Tip - Timing Yourself

While the IELTS Examination is carefully monitored by proctors, no one will tell you how to use the time you are allotted for each section of the test. Watch your watch, or the clock in the examination room, closely. The examiners time each portion of the test very strictly. It’s important that you monitor your own progress carefully, so you don’t leave portions of the test unfinished – or even unstarted!

The IELTS Listening test is more or less self-timing, in that the tape is played without pauses. Even so, making the wisest use of your time makes a difference.

- At the end of the Listening test, you are allowed 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. That’s more than enough time to accomplish that.

- So, instead of putting your answers directly onto the separate answer sheet, put them in the question booklet you are given. Not going back and forth between the booklet and the answer sheet can prevent you from getting lost, which is one of the worst things that can happen in IELTS Listening.

- If you are unsure of your answers, you can note your best guesses in the question booklet and make your final decision at the time you are transferring your answers to the answer sheet.

- The IELTS Reading test consists of three readings and about 13 questions about each, all of which have to be finished within 60 minutes. Monitoring yourself here is of critical importance. If you spend too much time on either of the first two readings, you may not have time to complete the third – and you will have lost one-third of the points toward your reading band score.

- So, even though the readings become slightly more difficult over the course, limit yourself to 20 minutes for each. Once you get into the rhythm of the test, you will start working faster, which will compensate for the increasing difficult of the readings.

- If you finish early, you can always go back and work on questions from earlier readings about which you are unsure. In contrast to our recommendation for the IELTS Listening test, we suggest that you write your answers on the answer sheet as you go along.

- You can always change them (the answer sheets are hand-corrected) later, and it saves time – and keeps you on schedule – to record your answers directly.

Timing yourself is perhaps most critical in the IELTS Writing tasks. The test is in two parts, Writing Task 1 and Writing Task 2. You should write the Writing Task 1 report first, timing yourself strictly to a maximum of 20 minutes. Then you should write the Writing Task 2 essay in the remaining 40 minutes.

- It probably will not feel like enough time for either task. However, since the band score given your Writing Task 2 essay counts more heavily toward your overall Writing band score, you must make sure you give it at least 40 minutes. Most candidates find completing the essay in that amount of time difficult anyway.

- You probably will feel like you need more than 20 minutes to write a complete Writing Task 1 report, too. Just do the best you can in 20 minutes and then finish the report and move on to Writing Task 2.

- Remember: By writing concluding paragraphs to both writing tasks, beginning them with “In conclusion,…” and then repeating the information summary (in Writing Task 1) or the Thesis Statement (in Writing Task 2), you technically have completed the task.

- In the IELTS Speaking task, timing yourself is important only in the central section, called the Long Turn. In it, after one minute’s preparation (which the examiner will time), you are to speak, unassisted, on a topic for a minimum of one minute and, ideally, two minutes.

- If you feel you are running out of things to say on the topic but are unsure whether you have spoken for an entire minute, look at the clock or your watch to see. Make sure you reach the one-minute mark at least, or there will be a lowering of your band score.

- If you speak beyond the two-minute point, the examiner will give you some indication, probably a hand signal, that you should conclude your remarks in this section.

Svend Nelson is a university lecturer and Internet entrepreneur. He is director of UniRoute Limited, a Hong Kong based company with offices in Bangkok and London providing IELTS preparation and a free online application service to study abroad including courses like tourism management. Svend lived and worked in various countries across Latin America, Europe and Asia before settling in Thailand.

Tips for Speaking and Speaking Test Tutorial!!

It is now made up of three parts :-

In Part 1 the candidate answers general questions about themselves, their homes/ families, their jobs/studies, their interests, and a range of similar familiar topic areas. This part lasts between four and five minutes.

In Part 2 the candidate is given a verbal prompt on a card and is asked to talk on a particular topic. The candidate has one minute to prepare before speaking at length, for between one and two minutes. The examiner then asks one or two rounding-off questions.

In Part 3 the examiner and candidate engage in a discussion of more abstract issues and concepts which are thematically linked to the topic prompt in Part 2. The discussion lasts between four and five minutes.

The speaking part is usually a conversation about you, your plans for the future, your past studies, the reason for which you are taking the IELTS, your country, your town. Therefore be prepared for these subjects. You should prepare something to say about them. In addition, the examiner will show you a card with an argument you are supposed to discuss about. The thing you have to remember is: use easy words and expressions if you are not very confident and everything will go well. To be able to communicate what you think is far more important than doing it with a perfect English accent. Therefore, don't wary if your pronunciation is not exactly a British one. That's not the main point. Your understanding of what the examiner says and the ability to communicate without grammar mistakes is more important. The conversation lasts usually 15-20 minutes and will be recorded. Don't panic about that!!

The Test

How good are you at chatting? Are you fluent? Are you aware of the particular accent with which you go around speaking English? Do people understand clearly what you speak?

Well,this is what the speaking component of IELTS is all about. This is a test to find out how well you can converse in English while carrying out your daily activities.

The test is divided into 3 different steps, not very discrete, but you will be definitely able to point out when one step conclude and other step begins.

The entire interview is recorded in a tape as you go ahead with the conversation.

This is just a formality and it is in your own interest that the conversation is recorded, so that in case you are not satisfied with your score, this tape will help in RE evaluating.

Let the tape not bother you and you go ahead with the speaking freely.

However, keeping in the view of importance of the tape recording your voice,make sure that you are loud and clear enough. The interviewer’s voice will also be recorded and you are at an advantage here that 1st the interviewer will ask you if he/she can start the tape and then the interviewer starts with the 1st question.

Note his loudness level and the clarity with which he is speaking.Make sure your quality of sound should matches with his, for a conversation which isn’t clear and loud will produce more irritation than any favorable effects on your score.

Remember at all steps that this is a test to check your ability to converse efficiently. So you should not be quiet.

You have three main aims here
1.yap,
2.yap and
3.yap!

The interview has three main parts:

1st part :

1st part of the interview starts with introduction.

The interviewer will ask your name, where you coming from ,your job ,your life and your interests.

The topic will change swiftly to some thing very common like the weather that day, or even traffic. Or you might be just asked to describe how did you reach the test center from home.

Do not hesitate.Sit back relaxed and make the conversation enjoyable.

The aim is to impress the interviewer and I believe that each one of us have our own style to do this;Use yours!

This part of interview lasts for not more than 4-5 minutes.The topics are of general interests and usually deal with the following :

. Your country of origin
. Your hometown
. How long you have lived there
. What you do: work or study
. Your interests and future plans
. why u want to go abroad
. are you aware of the situations there
. why this particular field interests you
. Shopping
. Your hobbies
. your family
. interesting places in your hometown - which one u like the most? Why? Whats the most interesting thing there? Would you like to change some thing there?
. climate/seasons
. festivals in your country
. traditions in your country

This is just a general overview to give you an idea of what exactly the 1st step consists of.
The topics may vary with the interviewer’s choice.

Make sure that you are fully aware of your future plans, the reasons why you are planning to go abroad, the competition in your field and any alternative plans you have if this one do not materialize.

Prepare your mind for these sort of questions.

Its definitely impossible to predict the questions but the idea is that always be prepared, for processed speaking always better than random speaking.

2nd Part :

Though its totally upto the interviewer to decide when the 1st part ends and 2nd part begins,you will be able to clearly identify that you are into the 2nd part when the interviewer says, “ Now I will give you a topic to speak on (and will hand over the card with the topic). You will be given 1 minute to think over it. You are allowed to make notes if you wish.”

The topics will be of general interest and something on which any one can speak on. It is carefully selected that it doesn’t requires any professional knowledge to speak on these topics.

Common Topics are :

-Your Favorite Tourist Destination : Where would you like to go? With whom?
-Your Favorite Home/place of living
-Men- Women Relationships
-Sports and Fitness
-What you think is the best way to combat stress
-Country living or City life : what you prefer and why
-Why do you think people go abroad for
-Family or friends : who is more important to you
-Pollution in cities
-Your view on technology : is it helpful?
-Education

There can innumerable topics here and this list is just to help you with the TYPE of topics usually allotted.

There will be sub topics or suggestions following the main topics, giving you the idea on which you need to elaborate.However, you should note that you can speak on any idea which isn’t mentioned in the sub topics,but should be related to the main topic.

The card will look something like this :

"Q. Describe a person from your youth who had a great influence on you:

You should say:
where you met them
what relationship this person was to you
what was special about them
and explain how they influenced you so much."

Utilize the one minute efficiently.Prepare your mind of what exactly u will speak on! Write down the key words quickly on the paper provided. Can remember any interesting incident or example? Quote it! This will make the conversation more interesting. Get ready and plan how exactly you r going to start.

For e.g. for the sample question above :
If say,I want to tell about one teacher who had greatly influenced me, my rapid 1 minute note will be something like this :

-Ida Borrison (note that, writing just the name prepared my answer for the main topic and next 2 sub questions as well.)
-teaching style
-school journal

These 3 words did not take more than 30 sec for me jot down, but will provide me enough matter for me to speak for the next 2-3 minutes.

Make sure that your start is correct and your every sentence is ‘propagative’ (i.e. automatically helps you start with the next sentence), rather than dead sentence ,which starts and ends by itself.

for the given e.g.,

a dead sentence would be like : My school teacher, Ida Borrison influenced me the most.

Note that though this sentence is on the topic asked and is grammatically correct , it will not help you much with your fluent conversation.

Perhaps I found that,if the FLOW of the conversation is good and you could involve the interviewer in whatever you speak, the interviewer will have no choice but to give you a great band.

A good start for the above e.g., could have been like,

O well, Ida Borrison was one person I just cannot forget. She was our English teacher when we were in 9 th standard. She taught us just for an year and then she got transferred .But that one year was so influencing that ....!

Note that,

Here the essence is, the candidate first told the name and then explained who she was. He met her when he was in 9th standard and he wants to talk about just 1 year he was in contact with her.

Note how gradually the conversation is propagating rather than jus saying , “ My school teacher, Ida Borrison influenced me the most.” and STOP!

Learn to master this when you start practising.
Learn to use sentences which automatically leads to the next one and there is no thought blocking.

This is the 2nd part of the interview and is regarded as the most important determinant of the final score.

You are supposed to speak for 2-3 minutes on this following which the interviewer will ask you to elaborate on certain points you have mentioned.

Don’t bother if the interviewer stops you and asks his question. Immediately change your concentration on the immediate question put forth to u.

3rd Part

Step 3 of the interview deals with the same topic but the interviewer will ask you more deeply and into the topic.

It will usually depend on what you have described in the 2nd part.

Don’t bother much. Speak as much as possible. Don’t bother if the you don’t know the exact answer to the question put forth by the examiner.

Don’t sit back and think that , “You don’t know”! Speak this aloud!

You are being judged on your speaking skill not the depth of your knowledge about traffic controls or teaching styles of different people(for e.g.).

The interviewer puts forward a certain question to prompt you to speak; The question should not make you silent.

This is the last part of interview and lasts for around 3-4 minutes.

Total duration of the interview varies from 11-14 minutes approximately.

Be polite through out. Do not overdo things. Just be yourself.

The Practice

Its always a good idea to practice speaking with a partner. Form a group, make a list of the topics and go ahead discussing one by one.

Make sure the number of persons in your study group should be just optimum.In my view, 2 are best and more than 3 is crowd. Of course,it also depends on ur own convenience and preference.

Don’t bother much if you r alone and cant find a study partner. Take a topic and practice speaking for 2-3 minutes at a stretch.

Record ur conversation while speak. Play ur recorded conversation later to find out what exactly are your mistakes and weakness and where you need to improve upon.

Fluency :

This measures your ability to speak without too many pauses and hesitations. It is also to do with how easily and clearly your ideas can be understood.

Some pauses are normal and acceptable for a good conversation. However, check if your pauses are just too frequent or too long.

Learn and choose, how exactly you would pause. “...aahhmm” is the most commonly used one.You can even use a gesture with your eyes,eyebrows or hands.

Watch interviews on TV and try and observe these small things and try to adopt it in your style.

Vocabulary :

A good vocabulary is a very strong point for your interview. But do you use all that you know when you speak? Well, most of us don’t!

Listen to your recorded conversation when you practice. Identify if you are using one particular word repeatedly. Find out if you can replace that with some another word (and same meaning).

Try using thesaurus and list down various words with similar meanings which you would use while speaking.

Do this for every topic you speak on.

You will be rich in no time.

However, learning new words is never easy and more difficult is to use a new word in your conversation,especially when you will be under stress at the time of the interview.

Keep this in mind when you learn a new word. Make sure you will be able to use it as easily as you use the other words you know.

New words can be learnt from dictionary, thesaurus. What I found as the best way for this is to sit with newspaper article with a pencil in hand and a dictionary by your side.

Mark any unfamiliar words, search the real meaning in the dictionary and then see how it has been used in the article. Try and use these words as much as u can till your brain gets adjusted to the new addition.

The following bbc link I found very useful for improving vocabulary :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/newsenglish/witn/index.shtml

There are more resources here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/index.shtml
Explore and find out what you need the most.

Pronunciation and Accent

Pronunciation is the most important factor in speaking. Most of the time it actually doesn’t matters if you don’t show off much of your vocabulary power with complicated words, but whatever you speak should be correctly prononunced.

You wont be aware of your wrong pronunciation till you actually think over it. Watch BBC (or even HBO or Star Movies). Note if your pronunciation is wrong.

How do u pronunce “HEART”, as ‘hurt’ or as ‘hart’.These are small things which you might have never thought on before,but beware, the interviewer is going to mark you on these.

Don’t bother much about the accent.Its always good to maintain a ‘neutral’ accent.

Remember that the Interviewer is usually a trained person from the city, where u r taking the test.Don’t TRY to introduce any foreign accent for the interview sake, the interviewers are trained to catch these.

Grammatical mistakes :

The variety of grammar you use and how correctly you use it are both judged by the interviewer. So, the range of tenses as well as the appropriate use of them is important in all parts of the Speaking test.

Don’t panic if you realize that you just spoke a grammatically wrong sentence. Go ahead and correct it. This is what we do in our day-to- day conversation, isn’t it? and the interviewer also gets to know that you actually know correct English.

Listen to your recorded conversation while practicing. Is it grammatically correct?

Ideas to speak:

Most candidates complain that though their English is good ,they have a good vocabulary and are strong with the grammar, too, yet they stop as soon as they start the conversation.Do you experience the same problem?

It is usually because we don’t get actually what we want to speak or rather it’s the scarcity of ideas.

You are what you know and you know what you read. So improve your ‘Idea Bank’.

Read articles on Men-Women,Technology, Sports, Pollution, Tourism and such general topics.

Prepare your mind for the ‘Personal Topics’ say, your most funny experience. Am sure you must have had many,but which one would you like to quote? Make sure its interesting and that you talk on it for at least 5 minutes at a stretch.

Prepare beforehand, what you will talk if you are asked to describe about yourself, your family, your job, your future plans or even your favorite tourist destination.
These topics should be at your finger tips.

Don’t mug up preformed speeches.Interviewers are trained to catch these.

Also, you should develop your own spontaneous conversation which should be as unique and interesting as you are.Try giving interesting examples.

The following link gives you a wide range of topics to practice on.Hope you find it useful.
http://www.writefix.com/ieltsspkg/


THE IELTS ACADEMIC SPEAKING TEST TUTORIAL

The IELTS Academic Speaking test is the shortest of the components of the IELTS test - only 11 to 14 minutes. In this short time you have to convince the examiner who will be speaking with you of your level of English.

The IELTS Academic Speaking Test is the same for both the Academic and General Training modules. The test is conducted with 1 examiner and 1 candidate. The Speaking test is recorded. The Speaking Test is divided into 3 sections:

Section 1

Section 1 begins with some general introductory questions. This is followed by some questions on personal information similar to the type of questions one would ask when meeting someone for the first time. Finally the examiner asks a series of questions of 2 topics of general interest. (4 - 5 minutes)

Section 2

Section 2 is a monologue (1 person speaking) by the candidate. The examiner will give the candidate a card with a subject and a few guiding questions on it. The student must talk for 1 to 2 minutes on this subject. The examiner decides on the exact length. The student has an optional 1 minute in order to prepare for his talk and is provided with some paper and a pencil in order to make some brief notes. After the candidate's talk the examiner will ask 1 or 2 brief questions in order to finish off the section. (3 - 4 minutes)

Section 3

Here the examiner will ask some more questions generally related to the subject spoken about in section 2. These questions will be more demanding and require some critical analysis on the part of the candidate. (4 - 5 minutes)


Question Types


The types of questions that come in the IELTS Academic Speaking Test are very general in nature and are designed so that anyone around the world, regardless of what background or culture they come from, should be able to answer them. The questions will not be overly personal and will avoid contentious subjects such as politics, *** or religion.

All the questions will be open questions rather than closed questions. An open question asks the candidate to give an extended answer, and so have the opportunity to show how good his English is. A closed question is one that can be answered by a single word or a couple of words. So, you will not get a question like:

Do you like living in your town?

A student could just answer yes. Any answers like this will just be followed by the question why? so you have to extend your answer (what you should have done after the "yes" anyway). Anyway, the question is more likely to be:

Why do you like living in your town?

Here the candidate has to give an explanation and therefore the examiner hears plenty of English which will help him or her evaluate you.



Marking - IELTS Academic Speaking Test Marks, Bands and Results


In the IELTS Academic Speaking Test you will be marked in 4 areas. These 4 areas are: Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy and Pronunciation. For the first 3, you get a mark out of 9. For Pronunciation you get a 2, 4, 6 or 8. Finally an average is taken to give you your final band for the Speaking. Let's look at these areas in more detail.

Fluency and Coherence: The examiner grades your fluency, which is how easy, smooth and flowing your speaking is. To get a good grade here, any gaps in your speaking should be associated with searching for the right idea rather than hesitancy with finding the right word or structure. For the coherence part, the examiner looks at how easy you are to understand. Does your flow of ideas run smoothly, logically and with consistency? Do you communicate well?

Lexical Resource: This mark grades the range of words that you use in your speaking test and whether you use the words in the right way, at the right time and in the right place.
Grammatical Range and Resource: This mark grades your range of grammatical structures, your accuracy at producing them and whether you use the right structure at the right time and in the right place. This is the area that worries the candidates the most as it is the dreaded grammar. Remember it is only 1 part out of 4.

Pronunciation: This mark grades you on how clearly you speak English.

The Three Sections of the IELTS Academic Listening Test
Here we will look at the three sections in more detail. Remember, the IELTS test always tries to mirror situations that you will encounter as a student or immigrant in an English speaking country. The speaking test is no different and each of the sections has a specific purpose. Like all the different modules of the IELTS, the speaking gets more difficult as it goes on. The questions that are asked in Section 1 are easier than in Section 2 and so on. This does not mean that by Section 3 they are impossible but they are more demanding linguistically.

Section 1 (4 - 5 minutes)


This section is divided into three parts.
i) The first part involves general introductions. Here the examiner checks that he or she has the right person by checking the candidates name, origin and identification. This only takes a few seconds.
ii) In the second part the examiner asks some personal (not too personal so don't worry) questions about some familiar topics such as yourself, your family, your home or your work/study. These questions are the type that people would use when meeting someone for the first time. This should last for a couple of minutes.
iii) In the third part the examiner chooses 2 sets of questions from his selection. These sets of questions will cover general ideas on a theme of general interest.

Section 2 (3 - 4 minutes)


In this section the candidate has to give a small "speech" or monologue on a general subject chosen by the examiner. The examiner will hand you a card with the subject written on it, along with about three questions on the subject in order to guide and help your speaking. The examiner will then tell you that you have 1 minute to prepare your mini-talk and he or she will give you some paper and a pencil to make some notes during that minute. You can refer to your notes while you are speaking. After the minute, the examiner will ask you to start talking and you must talk on the subject until the examiner asks you to stop. After he has asked you to stop, he may ask you 1 or 2 general questions about what you have been discussing. You cannot ask the examiner for another card. You must use the one that he gives you.


Section 3 (4 - 5 minutes)


In Section 3 the examiner will ask you a series of questions thematically linked to the subject that you spoke about in Section 2. These questions will be of a more demanding nature and will require a more analytical and thoughtful answer. You will also probably need to use more complex language as regards grammatical structure and vocabulary.


How to do Better in the IELTS Academic Speaking Test


There are a number of things you can do to have a better performance in the IELTS Academic Speaking Test.

First of all practice. This is the key to all the different modules of IELTS. Below you will find a separate section devoted to practising the speaking.

When you are in the test, smile and look the examiner in the eye. Try and be friendly and look as though you are enjoying the conversation. This has a big effect on the examiner. If an examiner has to talk with someone who doesn't talk much, doesn't smile at all and who clearly doesn't want to be there, then it has a negative effect on the examiner. Being nervous is fine. The examiner understands that and will try and put you at ease. But be friendly. It makes a difference.

Don't worry about the occasional mistake. The examiner will expect some mistakes - after all, English is a foreign language for you and people make mistakes in speaking foreign languages. The examiner is not making a note of every single mistake that you make. This would be impossible to do and concentrate on your speaking. He will more get a general impression of your English accuracy so individual errors don't matter. More important is your communication.

You have to talk. Without your talking input, the examiner can't grade you very well. Try and give as full an answer as you can so that you show the examiner that you are comfortable at talking at length and can communicate well. Don't do this to extremes though. When you have finished what you have to say stop. Don't try and force more out as it will probably be strained and repetitive. The examiner will see that you have finished and will give you the next question. Similarly, you won't be able to answer all questions at length. Different people can talk about different questions more and the examiner knows this. If you don't know much about something, say so and then say what you do know. When you're finished, the examiner will give you another question. You can't duck out of every question though - the responsibility is on you to talk.

Don't try and be too clever. Just try and talk normally as that is when you will perform at your best. If you try and extend yourself too much, then that is when you will make the most errors.

Perfection is not needed. You can still make some errors and get a 9 (not many errors though). So don't let making errors upset you. Get on with the talking and concentrate on your communication.

One thing that puts candidates off is that the Speaking test is recorded. This is done so that, if necessary, the speaking can be re-marked. If the bands for a candidate's writing and speaking for instance are very different, then the candidate's test is re-checked. If the speaking was not recorded, then this could not be done. This doesn't happen very often. Sample recordings are also sent to the IELTS administration to be monitored to make sure that examiners are doing a good job and assigning the correct bands. So, try and forget that the recorder is there and get on with answering the questions.

Don't forget your ID! You need it at the start of the test.

Don't give yes/no answers unless you continue with a because. It gives a bad impression. If you do give a yes/now answer, you'll probably get a why next anyway.

Practice
As in all parts of the IELTS, this is the one thing that will really improve your band. There are various things that you can do to improve your performance.

Prepare the types of questions for each of the different sections.

Section 1
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In section 1 you start with personal questions such as about yourself, your family, your home or your work/study. So, sit down with your dictionary and try and think of all the vocabulary you would need to completely describe all parts of your life, home, family and work/study. Then sit down with a piece of paper and write down every question you can think of about these ideas. Try and come up with about 20. You can then practice them in 2 ways:

i) Get a friend to ask you the questions and practice giving long, full answers. Do this again and again. It doesn't matter if you do the same question frequently, as you will give better and better answers with more and more information. The more often you practice this, the better you'll get.

ii) If you don't have a friend who can do this, then you can do it by yourself. You just look at your list and imagine that someone has asked you the question. Then, off you go. You can do this sat at home, you can talk to the cat, the mirror or do it driving on the way to work. It may feel a bit strange at first, talking by yourself, but it works and you will improve. You don't have to do either method i or ii, you can mix both. It all helps.

In the second part of Section 1 you have to answer questions on themes of general interest. These are not complicated but are more demanding than the ones that you did in the part before. Let's say for example that the theme the examiner chooses is travelling. The examiner will have a set of questions to ask you. How many he asks depends on how long you talk for in your answers. The first question could be:

Do you enjoy traveling and why/why not?

Then this could be followed by:

Where would you like to travel to and why?

You can find other sample themes and questions in IELTS Practice Now Question Papers and from other sources. Once you have an idea of the types of theme and question, you can start to make your own examples and practice answering them in the ways (i and ii) above. I have done this with classes and it works very well. Students doing this, more often than not, come up with actual themes and questions from the test itself!!

Section 2
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Preparation and practice for Section 2 is similar to the practice in Section 1.You have to talk for 1 to 2 minutes in English. Speaking for this time in your own language is quite hard, so in a foreign language it is harder. The reason it is hard is that you don't often talk uninterrupted for 1 to 2 minutes about anything, whether it is in your language or English. So, how do you get better at it? By practising it again and again. Let's say that your task is as follows:

Describe a favourite holiday destination that you like.

You should say:

When you first went there.
How you get there.
What you do when you're there.
And explain why this place is so special for you.
So, you can see the format of this section. The practice procedure is as before. Check out other question types and soon you're be able to develop your own. Then practice them with someone or by yourself. Soon, talking for 2 minutes without stopping won't be a problem. Remember you don't have to talk fast or without breaks. They want you to talk normally. Talk at a normal speed, pause to take breaths and take time to consult your notes to give yourself ideas about what to talk about next.

The follow up question to end Section 2 is not so important that it needs to be practiced as it only requires a few words as an answer. An example question from the examiner for the subject above could be:

"Do you think I would enjoy a holiday in this place too?"

The candidate would just be expected to say something like:

"Oh yes, I think so."


Or:

"Maybe not. It might be too hot for you."

You can see that nothing very long is required.

At this point I'd like to explain about the 1 minute preparation time and the notes that you can write during it. First of all, use your preparation time and make notes. Before you begin your monologue, you will have 1 minute to prepare for it. Some people think that they don't need the time at all and will start straight away. Very often these people will dry up early and be at a loss about how to continue. Use your time. Someone starting straight away does not get any advantage at all over someone who takes the full minute to prepare.

So, what should you write in your notes? First of all, don't try and write out your whole talk word for word. You don't have enough time. Looking at the question above (which is a typical layout for this section) you can see that there is a main question (Describe a favourite holiday destination that you like.) and then 3 mini-questions following (Say when you first went there, how you get there what you do when you're there and explain why this place is so special for you).

These questions are here to help you as they give you ideas to talk about and give your talk a bit of structure. However, it asks you to talk about these things so you should talk about them. In your notes quickly jot down one or two ideas for each of the questions, so that they will remind you about things to talk about when you look at your notes during your talk. Finally, if you have time, maybe make a note of something from your own experience connected to the talking theme. When you are talking about something from your own experience, it is easier to talk at length. For example, for the question above, you could be just finishing and still have 45 seconds left to talk. You could be saying why the place is so special to you. As you run out of ideas you could give an example out of your own experience. You could say:

"Actually why I like the place so much is shown from something that happened to me the last time I was there. I was in a restaurant having some food and..."

The subject of your story doesn't matter as you are still on the subject of your talk. The main thing is that it's keeping you talking.

Section 3
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Section 3 really carries on from where Section 2 left off. The examiner will ask you questions that are thematically linked to the subject that you talked about in Section 2. For example, for the question we looked at above about a holiday destination, the examiner might choose to ask you questions about tourism and the airline industry. The examiner will have a set of questions to ask you. How many he asks depends on how long you talk for in your answers. None of the questions will be of a technical nature or require any specialist knowledge as that would be unfair, but you will be expected to give your opinion on what is asked you.

So, let's look at some examples.

Tourism

Can you predict any major changes that could happen in the Tourist Industry over the next 50 years?
Can you compare the tourist industry in your country today with the tourist industry when your grandparents were young?Can you identify some of the factors that have led to the Industry success of the airline industry?
Airline

Can you suggest any ways in which air travel could be made safer?
You can see that the questions here are more analytical and require more thought than the questions in the previous sections.


As regards practice, the procedure is as in the previous sections. You need to get someone to do the questions with you, or do them alone and then develop your own questions and practice with them. ieltshelpnow.com Practice Tests also provide practice and often we provide much fuller examples. Our tests are also at least half the price! The choice is yours.

Anyway, work hard and good luck with the IELTS Academic Speaking Test. I hope that this tutorial has helped you