IELTS PREPARATION SINCE 2006!
Now read the model below to see how to write a full letter. WRITING TASK I You should spend about 20 minutes on this task. You were recently shopping in a local clothes store and the shop assistant was extremely rude to you. Write a letter to the shop owner about the...
Now practise your skills by taking a quick test. Click the link below to get started!
One of the most common errors in Task 1 complaint letters is when the candidate uses overly aggressive language which sounds overly rude or excessively argumentative. For example: BAD EXAMPLE: Give me an answer immediately. BETTER REPHRASED AS: I trust that I will be...
Now we will look at complaining, starting with this quick test. Click the link below to get started!
Narration: Now we will look at each of the letters from the previous exercise. Letter 1 was the most suitable response for a number of reasons. First, the register of the letter is appropriate – it is formal, which suits a letter of apology in a business context....
This is the title of the Task 1 letter you saw in the previous presentation. You are writing an important report for your Managing Director who is based at your company’s head office. You are unable to meet the deadline and need an extension. Write a letter to your...
Narration: Apologising tips. If you have to write a letter of apology in Task 1, as with any writing for IELTS, you have to address all of the points given in the question. Sometimes it can be difficult to write enough words in a Task I letter. Here are some...
Before we continue with this lesson, let's just make sure you can identify whether you are being asked to write a letter of complaint or a letter of apology. Click the link below to get started!
To complete this lesson, you will need to know the following vocabulary. When you are sure you know all the words, continue to the next page. SUITABLE CONFRONTATIONAL APOLOGY COMPLAINT AGGRESSIVE REPLY DAMAGE DEADLINE ACCUSING CONTEXT RECTIFY RESPONSE REPETITIVE...
In this lesson, you should have learned... the types of lessons where you need to complain or apologise in Task 1 the essential language you should use how to avoid being too direct or rude when complaining a model example of a letter of complaint Now take the end of...
By the end of this lesson, you will know: the types of IELTS letters where you might need to apologise or complain essential language you should use useful tips for writing letters of apology and complaint common and advanced phrases for apologising and making...
In this lesson, you should have learned... what register is and why it is important in Task 1 how the language you use changes depending on the register what situations / contexts require which register how using the wrong register can make your writing seem rude, too...
Now practise your skills by taking a quick test. Click the link below to get started!
Narration: Formal and informal writing styles vary because of the language that we use. The following points should be considered when deciding what register to use in your Task I letter. First of all, phrasal verbs (for example: take part in, look into, watch out...
Before moving on with this lesson, take this quick test to see if you can identify formal, informal and semi formal language. Click the link below to get started!
Now practise your skills by taking a quick quiz. Click the link below to get started!
Narration: 'Register' refers to the style of language that you use depending on the situation and who you are communicating with. In Task 1 of the IELTS General Training writing test, your register should relate to who you are writing your letter to. As you saw in the...
To complete this lesson, you will need to know the following vocabulary. When you are sure you know all the words, continue to the next page. EXTENSION REGISTER FORMAL INFORMAL SEMI-FORMAL RESPOND SUPERIOR SLANG COLLOQUIAL TURN DOWN...
By the end of this lesson, you will know: what 'register' is and why it is important in Task 1 of your writing test what register you should use depending on the situation / context of your letter how to vary your writing to show different levels of register some...
READING: 5 tips to improve your reading result Are you taking practice test after practice, but not seeing your score improve? Stuck on the same level with your reading for ages? You're not alone - this is a very common problem, especially when you are studying on...
The answer below has been rated based on the public IELTS descriptors. Click the word or words in red to see the correction, and scroll to the bottom of the page to read our comments on the essay. You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Write about the...
Band score: approximately 5.0 The answer below has been rated based on the public IELTS descriptors. Click the word or words in red to see the correction, and scroll to the bottom of the page to read our comments on the report. You should spend about 20 minutes on...
The following vocabulary is useful for understanding and discussing types of communication / communicator Types of spoken communication A discussion - when two or more people discuss a specific matter. It is often a formal situation where topics are discussed, often...
The following vocabulary is useful for understanding and discussing communication and language. Communicating without speaking Body language - how a person positions themselves (e.g. facing someone, looking at the floor, crossing their arms) that tells us how someone...
The following vocabulary is useful for understanding and talking about the media. Types of Printed Media Journal Magazine Newspaper Tabloid Presenting the news Article Editorial Column Review Breaking news News bulletin News update News flash People in the media...
Narration: Multiple choice questions test your ability to identify key points and details in the recording. There are three different styles of multiple choice question. You might have to answer a question by selecting one answer from a choice of three. You might have...
By the end of this lesson, you will know: the steps you need to take for multiple choice questions in the listening test the best techniques for approaching this type of question how to avoid the common errors that result in lost points some tips and hints to help you...
Narration: Sentence completion questions are designed to test your ability to understand specific information shown in a passage. There are two types of sentence completion questions. This is the instruction for Type A. This is the instruction for Type B. For type A,...
When you are comparing two different adjectives, you need to know the correct form to use. For example: Dogs are smaller than horses. Learning grammar is more difficult than vocabulary. I have to get up earlier than my classmates because I live far from school. To...
The past continuous is also known as the past progressive tense. Example: He was washing his hands when the phone rang. We were singing and they were dancing all night. Past continuous form: was / were + [verb -to] + ing Uses of past continuous: 1. To talk about an...
In this lesson, you should have learned... some useful vocabulary for discussing likes and dislikes how to express indifference how to express preferences how to demonstrate a range of vocabulary some model responses for talking about likes, dislikes and preferences...
Here are some complete examples of giving an extended answer when talking about likes, dislikes and preferences: 1. I’d prefer to live in the countryside than in the city. Admittedly, the night-life is a little bit lacking but tranquillity is more important to me. 2....
Narration: Expressing preferences. In addition to saying whether you like or dislike something, you may also have to show a preference. Look at this example question. To give a full response to this, you could use some of the following language. When expressing...
Read the response below. The candidate has made 5 errors. See if you can identify them, then scroll down to check. Ermm.. well I am not minding it. I suppose it has some good and bad points. I really love the garden we have in the back of the house. It's quite privacy...
Narration: Expressing likes and dislikes. You have just seen that there are a number of different words and phrases that can be used to express likes, dislikes and indifference. It is important to note that they show different degrees of feeling as we can see here. I...
Now practise your skills by taking a quick test. Click the link below to get started!
To complete this lesson, you will need to know the following vocabulary. When you are sure you know all the words, continue to the next page. CONCESSION INDIFFERENCE PREFERENCE
By the end of this lesson, you will know: how to use a wide range of vocabulary to talk about likes and dislikes how to express indifference on a subject how you can demonstrate a wider range of vocabulary when talking about preferences some model responses you can...
In this lesson, you should have learned... about some common Part One questions a range of useful vocabulary to describe people how to use a range of adjectives to describe character and personality how to describe places using a six-point checklist how to use a range...
Take this quick test to help you build better sentences when talking about places. Click the link below to begin.
Narration: Describing places. In Part One, you may need to describe a place. Commonly this is your hometown. In Part Two of the speaking test, you may get a topic card asking you to describe other places, such as a holiday destination. When describing a place, there...
Take the quick test below to improve your ability to describe people! Click the link below to get started!
Narration: Describing people. If you are asked a question about people you can often give a more complete answer by describing that person. For example, if the examiner asks you about your brother, you could comment on a number of points. His appearance. His...
Narration: Using adjectives. In your IELTS speaking test, you will have to give descriptions. These descriptions may be about people, places or objects. For example, in Part One you may be asked about the following points. Describing relies on the use of a wide range...
To complete this lesson, you will need to know the following vocabulary. When you are sure you know all the words, continue to the next page. CHARACTER RECITE APPEARANCE SIMILARITY SYNONYM UNIQUE
By the end of this lesson, you will know: more about the common Part One questions you may be asked a range of vocabulary you can use to describe people how to use different adjectives to extend your answer when talking about personality and character a range of...
In this lesson, you should have learned... what you have to do for sentence completion questions in the listening test the best way of approaching these types of completion questions some useful tips for choosing the correct answer some of the common errors you should...
Narration: Here are some additional tips for this questions style. Tip 1. You should follow the instructions for the number of words. Tip 2. Wrong spelling will cost you a point. Tip 3. Consider the grammar of the question you are completing. Tip 4. Although you may...
Narration: Now we will consider how we found the correct answers. Having completed Step 1, we knew that we should be completing the questions with up to three words or a number. We also knew that because the instructions mentioned numbers that at least one of the...
Now practice! Note: This is PART of a Section 4 listening section. In a complete Section 4, you would have 10 questions. For this exercise, we are only focusing on sentence completion questions. Click the link below to begin.
Narration: Here are the steps for answering this type of question. The first step is that you should read the instructions carefully. Once you are sure you know what you should be doing, the next step is to quickly look through the questions to see what the recording...
Narration: Sentence completion questions test your ability to follow the recording, identify key points and understand rephrased information in the questions. Here is a sample question style. With sentence completion questions, you have to complete a sentence using a...
To complete this lesson, you will need to know the following vocabulary. When you are sure you know all the words, continue to the next page. PARAPHRASE REPHRASE IDENTIFY ANTICIPATE CONTEXT ATTRIBUTE OPEN-MINDED
By the end of this lesson, you will know: what abilities sentence completion questions are testing how best to prepare for sentence completion questions the best approach to listening for the answer some tips to help you stay focused on the answers during the...
In this lesson, you should have learned... about the categories of IELTS Task 2 subjects how the different Task 2 essay types affect brainstorming and paragraph planning how to brainstorm ideas for Task 2 essays that there are differences in brainstorming for open and...
Now practice the steps by applying them to a question. Click the link below to begin.
Here are the steps so far: Read the title Decide what type of Task 2 title it is Give an opinion/challenge a point of view Compare both points of view Give solutions to a problem Discuss a given situation Turn into direct question (make sure you have understood the...
Narration: These are the 5 ideas we have brainstormed already. We may not use all of the ideas we brainstorm in our essay so we need to choose the ideas that we can write the best essay about. Now we need to look at which ideas we can best expand by developing,...
Now we will look again at the essay we have been developing throughout the lesson. In many countries, young people have difficulty getting a good job. Therefore employees over the age of 50 should be made to retire so that the younger generation has more...
Narration: Now we will look at brainstorming ideas for the open question we saw earlier. We could think of the following points. As we did before, we would then look through the list we have brainstormed and reject any points that are not relevant, are weak or would...
Now practise your ability to brainstorm closed questions by taking this quick test. Click the link below to get started!
Narration: To get ideas for what you are going to write about in your essay, you need to brainstorm. The idea of brainstorming is simply to write down everything that comes into your head when thinking about the topic. How you brainstorm for ideas is slightly...
Narration: The final type of essay is discussing a given situation; for example benefits, advantages or reasons. For this type we use a similar paragraph structure to solutions essays. As we can see, it is a good idea to start with the strongest point and end...
Narration: An essay that asks for solutions to a problem again has a different paragraph structure to the first two essay types. In all three paragraphs for solutions essays you should simply present your chosen solutions. A good way of presenting your ideas is to...
Narration: Now let's look at putting everything together into a complete plan. The paragraph plan you use will vary depending on which type of Task 2 essay you are writing about. [Narration still being completed]
Narration: We have looked at finding the essay type, the direct question and whether the title is open or closed. Now we will look at how this information helps us to get ideas for our essay and organise these ideas into paragraphs. We will begin by looking at the...
Narration: Before we move on, let's quickly review the skills we studied in Units 1 and 2. For this review, we will look at two different Task 2 questions, starting with this one. Here are the 6 steps you need to follow. So, what type of Task 2 essay is this? It's a...
Click the link below to test whether you can identify the appropriate question category.
Narration: With practice, you will find the most effective technique for getting ideas. Although there are thousands of possible Task 2 titles, the majority fall under one of the following headings. The best way to improve your ability to get ideas is to practice with...
To complete this lesson, you will need to know the following vocabulary. When you are sure you know all the words, continue to the next page. SENIOR MATURE RESENTMENT BALANCED FIRST HAND CONCESSION OPPOSING INEVITABLE IRRELEVANT VALID REJECT ACKNOWLEDGE BEAR IN MIND...
Narration: So far in this course, we have covered the 4 different types of Task 2 essay you might find, and in Unit 2, we looked at analysing the question. In this lesson, we will look at how to get ideas and plan your answer. By the end of this lesson, we will have...
In this lesson, you should have learned... how the 5 point plan can be caused with line graphs how to prepare your answer when writing about a line graph about the language of trends and how to use the correct expression show to convert sentence structures using the...
The language and principles of describing line graphs can also be applied to bar charts. Click the link below to test your skills with describing trends relating to bar charts.
Narration: Now let's look at the same graph using adverbs. One way of constructing the sentence is to use this pattern: a subject, a trend verb, an adverb of degree and a time scale. We already know that the subject is sales. We can also see that the trend increased....
Narration: Just describing the direction of the trend is not enough to get a good result in your IELTS test. You will also need to describe the speed and amount of change in the trend. In each of these illustrations, you can see that there was a downward trend....
Here's a handy table of trend nouns and trend verbs: Trend verbs to increase to rise to climb to recover to improve to decrease to fall to plunge to decline to deteriorate to drop to level off to remain steady to plateau to stabilise Trend nouns an increase a...
Narration: To complete most Task 1 essays, you will need to know the language of describing trends. For an upward trend, you can use the following vocabulary: to increase, an increase, a rise, to climb, to recover, to improve. For a downward trend you can use these...
Narration: Describing trends. In Task 1 of the IELTS test, you may be required to write about a graph or a chart, identifying trends. A trend is the general direction of movement in a graph. This is an upward trend. This is a downward trend.
This is the five point checklist you saw in the Bar charts lesson in Unit 2: The 5 point checklist. What is the graph about? What is on the vertical axis? What is on the horizontal axis? Is a specific time given? Is there any other information? This checklist can also...
To complete this lesson, you will need to know the following vocabulary. When you are sure you know all the words, continue to the next page. IDENTIFY TREND INVERT CONSTRUCT NOUN ADJECTIVE VERB ADVERB
By the end of this lesson, you will know: how the 5 point plan from Unit 2 applies to line graphs that fully understanding the axes is essential how to use a range of appropriate language when describing a trend how to avoid repetition by converting sentences using...
You looked at skills for planning a Task 1 essay in the Bar charts lesson ('Planning'). The skills for planning a line graph essay are the same. Remember that you can divide your paragraphs in a number of ways: You can divide paragraphs by countryFor...
In this lesson, you should have learned... what you need to do with headings style questions the best way to approach these questions some useful tips to help you get the right answer some common errors with this type of question Now take the end of lesson...
Now practise your skills by completing a headings style reading section. Click the link below to get started!
Now test your knowledge by taking a quick quiz. Click the link below to get started!
Narration: Before moving on to practising some headings questions, here is a brief summary of some important tips for headings questions. TIP 1: There are always more headings than paragraphs. TIP 2: You are never required to match all of the paragraphs in a passage....
Now practise your skills by taking a quick test. Click the link below to get started!
Narration: Throughout this course, we will show you the steps needed to get the correct answer for each question type. However, it is assumed that you will have already skimmed the text at least once. To complete headings style questions, there are six steps you need...
Narration: Headings questions are designed to test your ability to understand the main idea presented in each paragraph. The instructions for the question can be phrased like this or like this. In both cases, you are required to match a heading to the main message of...
To complete this lesson, you will need to know the following vocabulary. When you are sure you know all the words, continue to the next page. PENALISE RELEVANT SUPPORTING INFORMATION SUITABLE MAIN MESSAGE
By the end of this lesson, you will know: what headings style questions are testing your ability to do the best technique to complete headings style questions how to avoid the common errors that cost points some useful tips to help you improve your accuracy with this...
By the end of this lesson, you will know: what you need to do to answer the 'completion' group of questions (forms, notes, tables, summaries and flowcharts) the best steps to take with these types of completion questions how you can use the preparation time you are...
By the end of this lesson, you will know: how to understand the data presented in a bar chart how to avoid common errors with data labels in Task 1 how to apply a 5 point checklist to a Task 1 report the best way to plan your answer for Task 1
Unit 3 vocabulary list. Look carefully through the list to make sure you know the words and are confident that you can use them in your written or spoken English. Look up the meaning of any new words and put them in a sentence. Make a handwritten note of any new...
GENERAL TRAINING
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ACADEMIC MODULE
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GENERAL TRAINING
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MASTER Membership includes everything in the SPEED membership, as well as 10 writing tests assessed with comments and corrections AND 2 live speaking assessments one to one with your support tutor (a trained IELTS examiner) via Skype or Whatsapp.
6 MONTHS ACCESS
…or click here to learn more
ACADEMIC MODULE
MASTER MEMBERSHIP
MASTER Membership includes everything in the SPEED membership, as well as 10 writing tests assessed with comments and corrections AND 2 live speaking assessments one to one with your support tutor (a trained IELTS examiner) via Skype or Whatsapp.
6 MONTHS ACCESS
…or click here to learn more