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IELTS
Taking the IELTS test
IELTS is compulsory for all those whose first language is not English and who wish to study in an English university either at post or under-graduate level. In fact the Academic version of the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) is the English test you have to take before applying to enter many universities in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. IELTS is also now accepted by more than 200 universities in the USA.
Starting from IELTS guide, I suggest to explore completely the pages of this site: you will find good tips and IELTS exercises.
IELTS guide: the way to the exam
Let us suppose you have just heard about the IELTS and you arrived at this page looking for more information. Possibly you have just visited the site of the University you dream to study in and now you know the IELTS is a necessary step for your future. What to do now? This is a guide to help you taking the right steps and doing it at the right moment.
First of all, you need to know what the IELTS is: to have a first idea of how the exam is structured and how it is evaluated. Everything is in the IELTS official handbook,
Now the second point is: where and when can I take the test? Do not worry. There is an IELTS centre in almost all countries in the world.
However, usually there is a large number of dates to choose from. Ask for information about the price, payment methods and test registration as well. Ask to receive an application form.
If you are not in a hurry, there is no need to book for your exam at once. Do some practice first.
At this point you can start preparing the exam. Obviously this is the most difficult part of the process. The fact is that points (1) and (2) are the same for everyone. The preparation, on the contrary, differs depending on your English starting level.
The good news about the IELTS is that it does not test your grammar, but your use and comprehension of the language. You do not need to know a very rich grammar (as, for example in the Proficiency); you must be able to write and speak without grammatical mistakes and to listen and read properly. However, this is not enough: even if your English is perfect, you still need to practice on some IELTS tests in order to get used to the test format. I will try to give you some guidelines for your preparation.
The work you need to undertake depends on two crucial factors:
- your current level of English;
- the band score you need to obtain.
My first suggestion is: unless you are forced to (say, because of time constraints) do not take the exam if you are not ready. It would be a loss of money. This is the reason why I told you above not to book your exam without doing any practice first. Take the time you need.
Try to be as frank as possible about your level of English: if your level is low, there is no sense in doing IELTS exercises now. Look for IELTS material only once your English fundamentals are in place. Otherwise practice all aspects of English (listening, writing, speaking, reading) in traditional ways, with traditional English textbook and courses. This is the first step of your preparation: improve your English to an acceptable level.
The appropriate level of English to start practicing on IELTS material depends on the band you need: if a 5.5 is enough, then you can start earlier. If a 7.5 is required, then your fundamentals have to be very strong.
Now that your level of English is acceptable, you should start to get used of the IELTS format. Your English will improve as well while doing IELTS exercises. You have basically two choices:
- to attend an IELTS course, in order to receive help directly from IELTS experts;
- to prepare the exam on your own, using appropriate material.
My suggestion is: always choose IELTS courses that are recommended by the British Council.
to find a good course in your country or, if you can, invest a couple of months in an English speaking country attending an IELTS course there. If you have difficulties in finding a course ask your local IELTS centre for assistance.
If you attend a course they will provide you with everything you need. If you do not, you need to do everything on your own: in particular you have to find IELTS material to practice with.
Remember: irrespectively of your English level, you need some specific IELTS material in order not to have bad surprises the day of the test.
Before doing any practise, remember to read carefully all the pages of this site, in particular Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking: the IELTS is not only an English test, it is also a time-management test. During the test, you have to use properly your precious time and this site provides you with good tips on this as well as other aspects of the test.
During your preparation, when you realize you are about to be ready for the exam, fill in the application form your local IELTS centre has provided you with and send it to the centre in order to book your test. The countdown begins!
The day of the test has arrived. It is very important to sleep as much as you need the night before as concentration is an important part of the IELTS. Be relaxed. Do not panic. If you followed the steps above you should not have problems. Arrive at the centre at least half an hour before the exam. Take your time.
Good luck!!
IELTS Listening
The listening part of the test is the first you will encounter. It is divided into four sections with increasing difficulty. The main problem is that you will be allowed to listen to the cassette just once. Usually you have to write something you hear (a telephone number, an address, a name, etc.). Some questions are multiple choices. The total number of questions you have to answer is 40. More than 30 answers right means a good mark, but sometimes you may get an acceptable mark even with 27 or 28 correct answers. The first suggestion is the following: write the answers as you hear them. Waiting could be a mistake because later you will not to remember the answer, particularly if you have to write something, and you won't get the chance to listen to the same piece again. You will have the chance to read the following questions before listening each section. Use this chance: in this way you will be able to concentrate your attention just to the part you are interested in. In fact you do not have to understand everything if you want a good mark. You need to understand just what answers you have to give. Do not lose time trying to understand everything. You always have to know what question you are waiting for: when you hear the answers write it at once or, if you do not understand it, start reading the next question and waiting for the answer.
At the end of the listening test you will have 10 minutes to transfer your answers to an answer sheet: use those minutes to complete the answer sheet and try to write something in all the 40 spaces even if you are not sure of the correct answer. A wrong answer is as wrong as no answer: so try! You could be lucky!
Tip from Ros (April 2001):
Between questions you, as the test candidate, are given 30 seconds (1) to check the answers to the section just completed and (2) 30 seconds to read the section which you are about to do. Since time is given at the end of the test to check all your answers, I suggest that you use all 60 seconds to read the next section. Do not waste time checking your answers at this point. One of the biggest difficulties of the IELTS listening test is that you have to read and listen at the same time. Try to read as much as you can during the 60 second break as this will help you to listen for the specific information you need to answer the questions.
 
IELTS Reading
In the reading section, the problem is the time. You are supposed to read three passages and to give a total of 40 answers. You have one hour. Therefore you can devote just 20 minutes for a passage, which is sometimes not enough time. First of all: use just 20 minutes for each section: if after 20 minutes you do not have some answers, guess and pass to the next question. Remember: you won't have extra-time at the end of the hour to transfer the answers to the answer sheet. Therefore write them on it at once: this is an important difference from the listening section, where you will be given time to transfer your answers.
Second: read the questions carefully before reading the passage: this is very very important. If you read the passage without knowing the questions, you will waste your time. Here is a useful procedure: use 3-4 minutes to read the questions; use 10-12 minutes to read the passage and to answer where you can. In this way you should be able to find a lot of answers. Use the last minutes to find the answers in the text that you did not find when you first read the passage. Usually, but not always, you will find the answers in order.
Third: read the instructions given carefully: if you are asked to answer a question taking no more than two or three words from the text, then an answer with more words is definitely wrong. Sometimes you are given a sentence and you have to write YES if it is true according to the text, NO if it is not, NOT GIVEN if the information is not in the text. Remember: ACCORDING TO THE TEXT. You have to be very precise: sometimes just a word in the passage can make you have to decide between two alternatives.
Other times the text is divided into a number of paragraphs and you are asked to choose a title for each paragraph from a list of possible titles. In the weeks before the exam, test when you read an article in a newspaper or in a magazine, try to give a title to each paragraph. The title is usually the main point of the paragraph. This will help you very much.
Read the following text and try to answer the question you will find at the bottom.
One day my family and I decided to try windsurfing. We went for a few lessons first (only 5) which gave us some idea of the techniques to use when trying to windsurf. After our introductory course we hired a board and off we went for a day at the sea. Although we were not very good, we knew HOW to practice to improve. We only knew this because of our introductory lessons. Just watching others do it would not have been helpful at all, in fact we would have become frustrated and given up. Reading other peoples model essays is a bit like this. When you read it you think 'it seems so easy' but when you try you find out that it's exasperatingly, frustratingly, anxiety provokingly DIFFICULT. Like the poor people who had no lessons to learn to windsurf, you too feel like giving up. REMEMBER THIS: We only needed 5 lessons to learn enough to be able to HELP OURSELVES. We will never be champion windsurfers, just as you will most likely never be able to write English like me and I will never be able to write Chinese (which I am trying to learn) or any other language, like you. THE GOOD NEWS IS: you don't have to - you only have to get through the IELTS test. We didn't aim at being champion windsurfers - we only wanted to have fun. You, like us, only need to be given some techniques and away you will go. A WORD OF CAUTION: If I had only one hand, for example, I would not have been able to learn to windsurf. If you do not have the basics of English you will be in the same position. However, if you do have the basics all you need is the techniques to tackle the IELTS. MY VIDEO WILL HELP YOU WITH THIS.
After reading the message decide which of the following would be the best heading for it:
(a) The IELTS test and wind-surfing are similar.
(b) The best way to succeed in the IELTS is to get some help from an expert.
(c) The IELTS Tutor will help you to do well in the IELTS
Which one is the best heading (a), (b) or (c).
If you have thought enough, read the answer
The Answer:
The best answer is the last one since this was the MAIN point of the message. You are often asked to do this type of question in the Reading section.
IELTS Writing
There are two writing tasks and you can use an hour to write both. The first is an analysis of a chart, a graph, a table or something similar. The second is a composition about an argument of general interest. It is suggested that you spend 20 minutes on the first task and 40 on the second. I always used more than 20 minutes for the first and about 30 for the second, but you have to decide on your own strategy on the basis of your abilities. Use your time in an intelligent way: remember you have to compose two different tasks and you can't devote too much time to the first (or the second). You can decide to start with the analysis or with the composition. It's up to you. However, remember to read both titles before you start writing. In this way your subconscious will start thinking about the second task while you are writing the first.
Now let me give you some suggestions about the tasks. First of all you have to write at least 150 words. This doesn't mean you have to count the words. The best thing to do is the following: when you write as practice before taking the real test, count the words. In other words, you have to know how long a text you write is. Don't write less than 150 words. However, a composition of 200 words will be perfect; a composition of 300 will be too long and boring for the examiner. In this task you have to present the data shown in a graph (or somewhere else) in a formal way. Try to understand the main points and write about them. In addition, try to explain the reasons of the trend shown: for example if the graph shows that in the last decades the use of cars has increased and the use of bycicles has decreased, you should say something about the possible reasons of this phenomenon. A possible organisation of the work could be the following: devote a paragraph to the introduction (say what you are going to write about); write a second paragraph describing the graph; use a third paragraph to explain the trends. Of course, this is just an example. The point is: you have to organize your work before writing. When you start writing you already have to know what you are going to write.
Expressing movement: nouns and verbs
Rose (to) a rise
increased to an increase
went up to growth
climbed to an upward
boomed trend
a boom (a dramatic rise)
fell (to) a decrease
declined (to) a decline
decreased (to) a fall
dipped (to) a drop
dropped (to) a slump (a dramatic fall)
went down (to) a reduction
reduced (to)
levelled out (at) a levelling out
did not change no change
remained stable (at)
remained steady (at)
stayed (at)
stayed constant (at)
maintained the same level
fluctuated (around) a fluctuation
peaked (at) reached a peak (of)
stood at (use this phrase to focus on a particular point, before we mention the movement, for example: In the first year, unemployment stood at...)
Describing the movement: adjectives and adverbs
dramatic dramatically
sharp sharply
huge
enormous enormousely
steep steeply
substantial substantially
considerable considerably
significant significantly
marked markedly
moderate moderately
slight slighty
small
minimal minimally
Describing the speed of change
Adjective adverbs
rapid rapidly
quick quickly
swift swiftly
sudden suddenly
steady steadily
gradual gradually
slow slowly
The suggestions about the number of the words and the organization are valid for the second task as well. The difference is that you have to write at least 250 words for this task. Use the first minutes to think about what you are going to write. Remember: ORGANISATION. You can decide your own way to write the composition; the following is an example: an introduction to write something general about the argument; a first paragraph to write the arguments of those who support a position; a second paragraph to write the opposite arguments. A conclusion with your own ideas about the problem. Try to avoid mistakes in grammar and make a composition in order: the paragraphs have to be clear. Leave a line between them.
IELTS Speaking
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. 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 comunicate what you think is far more important than doing it with a perfect English accent. Therefore, don't worry 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 comunicate without grammatical mistakes is more important. The conversation usually lasts 15-20 minutes and will be recorded. Don't panic about that!
The Speaking part of the test have been changed on July 1, 2001. It is now made up of three parts (this is the description of the test taken from the official IELTS website):
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.
- Tip from Ros (March 2001):
In the speaking section of the test you are often asked for your opinion about something. For example, if you are a student studying in Australia, the examiner may say; ‘What do you think of Australia?’ Most students would have an opinion about this but they often wouldn’t know where to begin. REMEMBER whenever you are asked for your OPINION about ANYTHING you can always give both the ‘positive’ and the ‘negative’ aspects of the subject in question. So your answer would go something like: ‘Well, I like Australia because the people are friendly and the pace of life is slow, HOWEVER I don’t like the hot weather and shopping hours are too short.
You will get a better score because you have made a COMPARISON about what is good about Australia and what is bad. Also you have opened the way for the examiner to ask you about the weather or shopping in your country.
Practice doing this with all sorts of topics. Here are a few for you to practice on.
(a) Chinese food (b) Computers (c) Swimming (d) visiting other countries.
THE IELTS TEST IS NOT DIFFICULT IF YOU KNOW HOW TO APPROACH IT
 
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