SUMMARY - Fast Track IELTS



IELTS ASSESSMENT: REVIEWDURING THIS LESSONLearned what the four sections of the IELTS exam are and how each test is structured.Practiced all four areas of the IELTS test ad gained understanding of strengths and areas for pleted study plan in preparation of future lessons.Set homework for Lesson Two: IELTS Writing Task 1.03810REVIEWThe IELTS consists of four sections: reading, writing, listening and speaking. Today we looked at all four of those areas and developed a good understanding of each. The future lessons will target these areas in further detail. This worksheet will summarise the information we have learned in the assessment lesson to ensure that you have a good understanding of each of the four areas and will provide further practice material for you to work with. You should complete this activity workbook before your second lesson.By now your teacher will have a good understanding of your needs based on today’s lesson and will be working to target your areas of improvement in the future.THE LISTENING EXAMAnswer the following questions to make sure that you understand the test format. You can review your answers further below. You may place a cross (X) next to the correct answer.1. How long does the listening test take?A 30 minutesB 45 minutesC 50 minutesD 90 minutes2. How many parts are there in the listening test?A fiveB twoC threeD four3. What will you hear in Recording 4?A A person reading their shopping listB A monologue on an academic subject, e.g. a university lectureC An advertisementD A conversation between two friends4. How many questions are there in the listening exam?A 4 – one for each sectionB 12 – 3 for each sectionC 48 – 12 for each sectionD 40 – 10 for each section5. Will you have time to read the questions before you listen?A Yes – for all sectionsB NoC Yes – but just for sections 1 and 3D Yes – but just for sections 2 and 46. What will you hear in Recording 2?A A conversation between two people in an everyday social contextB A monologue set in an everyday social contextC An excerpt from a radio programmeD A recording of two strangers speaking on public transport.7. Will you ever come across multiple choice questions in the listening exam?A No – they are not allowed to be includedB Yes – but only in Recording 4C Yes – they can appear in all sectionsD Yes – they will definitely appear in each section8. How many times will you be able to hear the recording?A Up to three times – the choice is yoursB Always twiceC OnceD Twice if you ask nicely ANSWERS1 A 2 D 3 B 4 D 5 A 6 B 7 C 8 CNow let’s try a few questions to practice this area. Remember, in your assessment session we talked about the format of the questions in the IELTS listening exam. In all sections, it is possible that you will encounter a selection of the following question types: multiple choice, matching, plan/map/diagram labelling, form completion, note completion, table completion, flow-chart completion, summary completion, sentence completion and short answer questions. This sounds like an awful lot of options but it is important that you are familiar with these different question types so that you can feel fully confident when you enter the exam. Therefore, the more practice that you do, the more prepared that you will be when it comes to the big day. Let’s have a look at the following questions, which come from Section 4 – the academic monologue.You will require the audio file: IELTS ASSESSMENT REVIEW AUDIO. When you are ready to begin please play the audio file and then answer the questions below. The audio file can be found in the ‘Assessment’ section of your IELTS course area.PRACTICE TESTQuestions 31 - 35Choose the correct letter, A, B, or C.31. The tomato originally came fromMexicoSpainPeru32. The original colour of the tomato wasA. RedB. GreenC. Yellow33. The Aztec word for tomato meansGolden applePlump thingSmall fruit34. in the 1500s, people in Spain and ItalyEnjoyed eating tomatoesUsed tomatoes as ornamental plantsMade medicine from tomatoes35. In the 1600s, the BritishSaw tomatoes as poisonousPublished tomato recipesAte tomato sauce dailyQuestions 36 – 40Complete the timeline with information about the history of the tomato in the United States. Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each answer.1806 – Tomatoes were mentioned as a food in a (36) ……………………………1809 – Thomas Jefferson (37) ………………………… at his home in Virginia.1820 – A man proved that tomatoes were not poisonous by eating them (38) ………………….1830s – (39) ……………………… appeared in newspapers and magazines.1930s – People began to eat (40) ……………………ANSWERSQ31. CQ32. CQ33. BQ34. AQ35. AQ36. CalendarQ37. Served tomatoesQ38. In publicQ39. Tomato recipes/tomato recipesQ40. Raw tomatoesSome useful tips are:As you will hear, you are given time at the beginning of each set of questions to read through the information provided. Use this time wisely! For example, in multiple choice questions, underline key words; in sentence completion exercises, read the sentence around the missing word carefully and think about whether the space leaves room for a noun, verb, adjective or adverb. Don’t panic if you are not certain of the correct answer, take an educated guess. You are not penalised for wrong answers and you might just gain an additional mark!Develop confidence at identifying different question types; while in this example, it asks you to complete the ‘timeline’, this is actually a straightforward summary completion activity which you will have undertaken many times in the course of your practice. If a question format looks unfamiliar at first, take a deep breath and look again, you probably have seen it before. THE READING EXAMAnswer the following questions to make sure that you understand the test format. You can review your answers further below. You may place a cross (X) next to the correct answer.1. How long does the Reading sub-test take? A 30 minutes B 45 minutes C 60 minutes D 90 minutes2. How many passages are there in the Reading test?A oneB twoC threeD four3. What type of language is used in the passages?A Complicated languageB Academic vocabularyC Sometimes maps or illustrationsD All of the above4. How many marks are available in the reading test?A 20B 30C 40D 505. How long should you spend on each passage?A 5 minutesB 10 minutesC 20 minutesD 30 minutes6. Should you answer with ALL CAPITAL LETTERS?A YES DEFINITELY B No, neverC Only put capitals at the start of words that need them (names, places etc.)D It doesn’t matter7. When is the reading exam structured on the day of your test?A At the beginning of the dayB After the speaking testC After the writing testD After the listening test8. What type of task do you do in Part B?A summary completionB flow chart/table completionC multiple choice questionsD all of the aboveANSWERS1 A 2 D 3 A 4 C 5 A 6 D 7 A 8 CNow let’s try some practice questions. REMEMBER we haven’t yet studied this section of the test nor the techniques required to find the correct answer. The aim of this activity is to give you a better understanding of the test. Don’t worry if you don’t get the correct answer just yet but well done if you do! The below questions are from part A of the text.Now take a few minutes to read through the texts below.Text AText BUnderweight patients rival the obese in health outcomes. A recent study compared the admission information of 1,747 children who were admitted to an Oklahoma hospital via the Paediatric Emergency Department. Surprisingly, the data revealed that underweight patients were admitted to hospital with greater frequency than both normal-weight and obese patients. Of the admissions, 24.5% were underweight, 14.6% were obese and 16.6% assessed as being within the normal weight range. The underweight children tended to present more frequently with respiratory infections and with fractures. A 5-year comparison study at a university hospital demonstrated a similar deviation from common thinking about the health risks associated with obesity. A large multi-institutional ICU database was used to research the mortality rates of underweight and obese adult patients who had been admitted to intensive care units. The study found that not only did patients with a high BMI demonstrate better outcomes with regard to mortality rates than those patients with low BMIs, but they also showed faster recovery following discharge. Patients who were underweight had higher mortality rates and spent longer in the Intensive Care Unit. They also had poorer hospital discharge functional status.Text CObesity proves to be a costly health issue in the UK. Obesity is expected to cost the National Health Service (NHS) in Britain around ?6.4 billion per annum by 2015 and significantly more by 2025, unless changes can be put in place to reduce obesity rates across all age groups. Statistics show that around 25% of English adults and 16% of children had a Body Mass Index (or BMI) of higher than BMI 30 in 2011, classing them as obese (30-40 BMI) or morbidly obese (>40 BMI). In Scotland, 27% of adults and 14% of children fell into the same overweight categories. Increased obesity is placing increased pressures on hospitals. While obesity may not always be a direct cause of hospital admission, it increases the risk of complications from other conditions requiring hospital treatment. A study of over 1.25 million UK women between the ages of 50 and 64 discovered that around one in eight hospital admissions were due to obesity-related conditions. In the group of women with a BMI greater than 30, being extremely overweight was found to be the cause of 59% of diabetes admissions, 51% of knee replacements, 20% of hip replacements and 24% of admissions with gall bladder disease. Other studies have shown that risk of coronary heart disease increases 2 to 3 times among obese people, while mortality from cancer is increased by around 40%. Carrying large amounts of extra body weight is also associated with debilitating conditions such as shortness of breath, knee failure and back pain leading to reduced mobility and poor quality of life. Caring for obese patients effectively requires costly supplies of special equipment such as bariatric hospital beds and operating tables. Obese patients also tend to have a slower recovery rate, in part due to the difficulty of mobilising them post-operatively. Slower recovery translates into extended hospital stays, with obese patients accounting for more than two million extra days per annum in hospital.Now that you have read these passages, turn to the next page and fill in the summary completion task using the information provided in the above three texts.Replace the numbers (e.g ‘…..(5)…..’) in the summary with the correct answer.SUMMARYObesity is projected to cost Britain’s National Health ……(1)…… (NHS) ?6.4 billion per annum by …… (2)…… and, according to the same report, will lead to significantly rising …… (3)…… over the following …… (4)…….Part of the expected cost increase is due to a jump in hospital admissions. One UK ……(5)…… found that among women aged 50 to 64, one in eight ……(6)…… nationwide were due to obesity-related conditions including diabetes, ……(7)…… and hip replacements and gall bladder disease. Obesity has also been found to ……(8)…… the risk of coronary heart disease as well as the risk of cancer-related deaths.While the expected rise in admissions is costly in itself, the ……(9)…… equipment required for the ……(10)…… of obese patients increases costs further. There is also a ……(11)…… for obese patients to experience slower post-……(12)…… recovery, resulting in an ……(13)…… stay in hospital. It is estimated that obesity costs 2 million additional nights a …… (14)…… in UK hospitals.Surprisingly, other studies suggest that being ……(15)…… can be as much of a problem as being obese. One study there found that underweight children were more …… (16)…… admitted to hospital. Another found that obese adults in ICU …… (17)…… better outcomes than their underweight counterparts with …… (18)…… to mortality rates and that they ……(19)…… better after discharge.Being underweight may well be unhealthy but it is not in danger of becoming an epidemic in the way that obesity is. According to a 2011 study, approximately one ……(20)…… of English and ……(21)…… adults have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of over ……(22)……, classing them as obese or ……(23)…… obese with a BMI over 40. Around 15% of children from England and Scotland were also ……(24)…… as obese.All this points to an increasing burden on costs to the health care system. A study based on 2001 ……(25)…… suggests that the cost of treating five conditions ……(26)…… related to obesity will rise considerably until 2050. CORRECT ANSWERS1. Correct answer:?ServiceWhy?The first sentence of the summary is a paraphrase of Text C, Paragraph 1. Scan the paragraph to find the missing word: ‘…the National Health?Service?(NHS)…’ The answer is the same word as in the text. It’s a name, so it should start with a capital letter.2. Correct answer:?2015Why?The first sentence of the summary is a paraphrase of Text C, Paragraph 1. This gap needs completing with a date. A quick look at Text C, Paragraph 1 gives us the answer: ‘…by?2015’.3. Correct answer:?costs?Why?In Text C, Paragraph 1, we learn that: ‘Obesity is expected to?cost?… around ?6.4 billion … by 2015?and (cost) significantly more?by 2025’. In the summary, the wording is different. Read the sentence carefully and think about the missing word: ‘…and lead to significantly?rising costs?over the next (ten years).’ To make the sentence grammatically correct, you will need to use the noun ‘costs’, not the verb ‘cost’ that is given in the text.4. Correct answer options:?decade / 10 (ten) yearsWhy?In Text C, Paragraph 1, we learn that: ‘Obesity is expected to cost … around ?6.4 billion per annum by 2015?and significantly more by 2025’.In the summary, the wording is different. To make the sentence grammatically correct, you will need to think of a word/phrase that is not given in the text, eg: ‘…and lead to significantly rising (costs) over the next?ten years.’5. Correct answer:?studyWhy?Scan the text for key words from the summary such as ‘UK’ ’50 and 64’, ‘hospital admissions’ and ‘one in eight’. You should find that gaps 5-8 relate to Paragraph 3 of Text C. The word needed to fill gap 5 is?study, which is given in the first sentence of Paragraph 4: ’A study of over 1.25 million UK women …’6. Correct answer options: hospitalisations / hospital admissions / admissionsWhy?Gap 6 relates to paragraph 3 of Text C. Scan the text for the key words ‘one in eight’. The words ‘hospital admissions’ follow immediately after: ‘one in eight hospital admissions were due to obesity-related conditions’.7. Correct answer:?kneeWhy?Gap 7 relates to the information in the second sentence of Paragraph 4, Text C: ‘…being extremely overweight was found to be the cause of 59% of diabetes admissions, 51% of?knee replacements?…’ In the summary, less detail is given. Scan to identify the key word that is missing: ‘…diabetes,?knee?and hip replacements, and gall bladder disease.’8. Correct answer options:?increase / heightenWhy?Scan the texts for key words in the summary such as ‘coronary heart disease’ and ‘cancer’. These appear in both Text A and Text C, so you may need to read carefully to check which information is relevant.The relevant information is found in Text C: ‘Other studies have shown that?risk of coronary heart disease increases 2 to 3 times…, while?mortality from cancer increases by around 40%’. This is rephrased in the summary text. You will need to find the key word to describe the trend (‘increases’) and change the form to ‘increase’ to make the sentence grammatically correct.9. Correct answer options:?special / specialistWhy?Scan the texts for key word in the summary ‘equipment’. This appears in Text C. Look at the term which describes the equipment: special equipment. The word ‘specialist’ has the same meaning in this case.10. Correct answer:?careWhy?Gap 10 relates to the sentence in Text C: ‘Caring for obese patients effectively requires costly supplies of special equipment such as bariatric hospital beds and operating tables.’ The answer for gap 9 points you to this sentence. The terms ‘care of obese patients’ is a paraphrase of ‘Caring for obese patients.’11. Correct answer:?tendencyWhy?Gap 11 is found in Text C: ‘Obese patients also tend to have a slower recovery rate’. The terms ‘tendency for’ is paraphrased as ‘tend to’.12. Correct answer:?operativeWhy?Scan the texts for the prefix ‘post-‘. You may predict the term post-operative as this is quite common. You will find this term as ‘post-operatively’ in Text C. Now, change the term into an adjective ‘post-operative’ as it describes recovery.13. Correct answer:?extendedWhy?Scan the text for the term extended. You can find it in Text C: ‘extended hospital stays’. Gap 13 is a paraphrase of the term in text C.14. Correct answer:?yearWhy?Gap 14 is an alternative term to the term in Text C. The phrase in the text is ‘for more than two million extra days per annum in hospital’. You need to change ‘per annum’ to ‘a year’.15. Correct answer:?yearWhy?Gap 14 is an alternative term to the term in Text C. The phrase in the text is ‘for more than two million extra days per annum in hospital’. You need to change ‘per annum’ to ‘a year’.16. Correct answer options: frequently / oftenWhy?Scan texts for the terms ‘underweight’, ‘underweight children’, ‘admission to hospital’ or ‘admitted to hospital’. In Text B you’ll find the phrase ‘underweight patients were admitted to hospital with greater frequency’. In this text ‘underweight patients’ is used in the context of a Paediatric Emergency Department so we know that ‘patients’ refers to children. You need to change the noun phrase ‘with greater frequency’ an adverb with the same meaning - ‘frequently’ or ‘often’.17. Correct answer options: demonstrated / showed / showed evidence of / hadWhy?Scan the texts for the terms ‘obese’, ‘better outcomes’. The terms ‘better outcomes’ are in Text B: ‘patients with a high BMI demonstrate better outcomes’. The term ‘obese’ is in Text B as ‘patients with a high BMI’. You’ll need to use a verb in the past tense because the sentence starts ‘Another found that…’18. Correct answer:?regard / respectWhy?Scan the texts for the terms ‘mortality rates’. You’ll find them in Text B: ‘The study found that not only did patients with a high BMI demonstrate better outcomes with regard to mortality rates’. Gap 18 can be deduced from the surrounding words ‘with…to’. This is a fixed phrase ‘with regard to’.19. Correct answer options:?managed / coped / fared / recoveredWhy?In the last sentence of Text B, Paragraph 1, we learn that: ‘They also had poorer hospital discharge functional status’. In the text, ‘they’ refers to underweight patients.In the summary, you are asked about how obese patients manage after discharge in comparison with underweight patients. Underweight patients have ‘poorer hospital discharge functional status’ so you can deduce that obese patients manage better after discharge.20. Correct answer:?quarterWhy?Scan the texts for ‘2011 study’, ‘English adults’. You need to change the text ‘Statistics show that?around 25%?of English adults and 16% of children had a Body Mass Index (or BMI) of higher than BMI 30 in 2011’ to ‘approximately one quarter of’ to be grammatically correct.21. Correct answer:?ScottishWhy?Gap 21 uses statistics from the same paragraph. The summary joins statistics which are similar. Gap 20 and gap 21 suggest that the statistics for obesity are similar in England and in Scotland.?‘Statistics show that?around 25% of English adults?and 16% of children had a Body Mass Index (or BMI) of higher than BMI 30 in 2011, classing them as obese (30-40 BMI) or morbidly obese (>40 BMI).?In Scotland, 27% of adults?and 14% of children fell into the same overweight categories.’ In the summary, you need to use the adjective form ‘Scottish’.22. Correct answer options:?30/thirtyWhy?Scan Text A for the terms ‘BMI’ or ‘Body Mass Index’.You should also expect to find a number which reflects the BMI score.23. Correct answer:?morbidlyWhy?Gap 23 relates to the figures for obesity and morbid obesity in Text A: ‘classing them as obese (30-40 BMI) or morbidly obese (>40 BMI)’. The previous gap related to the BMI for obesity. Gap 23 explains that the classification of morbid obesity starts at a BMI of 40.24. Correct answer:?classedWhy?Scan Text A for the terms ‘around 15%’, ‘children’ and ‘obese’. Gap 24 is a paraphrase of the last sentence in paragraph 1 of Text A: ‘In Scotland, 27% of adults and?14% of children fell into the same overweight categories.’ The expression ‘fall into a category’ has been rephrased in the summary as ‘classed as’. A way of checking your answer is to look at the word following the gap ‘.....(24)...as’. You know that the gap must be a verb form, ‘to class as’25. Correct answer:?dataWhy?Scan the texts for the terms ‘2001’ and ‘data’. You’ll find the terms in the last sentence of paragraph 2 of Text A: ‘Note that the costs are an approximation only and have been produced using?2001 data.’Gap 25 is a paraphrase of ‘produced using 2001 data’. The expression ‘based on’ has a similar meaning to ‘produced using’.26. Correct answer:?commonlyWhy?Scan the text for the terms ‘five conditions’, ‘related to’ and ‘obesity’. The second sentence of paragraph 2 of Text A: ‘Data is based on the potential annual cost of the provision of health care for?five common obesity-related conditions.’ You need to fill gap 26 with an adverb to be grammatically correct. The adjective ‘common’ in the text needs to change to 'commonly’ in the summary.So how did you get on? Feel free to discuss your attempt with your teacher. Once again, don’t be concerned if you found this passage difficult. The reading test gets more difficult as it goes on and this example is a very difficult passage. In future lessons we will be looking at the reading section in further detail and in particular we will look at the techniques which will help you to understand and break down the reading passages.THE WRITING EXAMAnswer the following questions to make sure that you understand the test format. You can review your answers further below. You may place a cross (X) next to the correct answer.1. How long does the writing sub-test take?A 35 minutesB 60 minutesC 55 minutesD 85 minutes2. How many tasks are there in the writing test?A twoB oneC threeD four3. What does Task 2 of the writing test involve?A Describing a graphB Writing an essayC Creative writingD Describing a past experience4. How many words should you write in Task 1 of the writing test?A 100 - 120B 150 - 170C 250 - 270D 200-2205. Will the examiner check spelling in the writing test?A NoB Yes – but only in Task 1 C Yes – in both Task 1 and Task 2D Yes – but only in Task 26. How long should you spend on Task 2 of the writing test?A About 20 minutesB 50 minutes C It doesn’t matterD About 40 minutes7. How much is Task 1 worth?A Half of the overall marks in the writing testB One third of the overall marks in the writing test C 10% of the overall marks in the writing testD It depends how good it is8. What does Task 1 of the writing test involve?A Writing a letterB Writing a report about your work placeC You can decide the topic to write aboutD Writing a report based on a chart/graphANSWERS1 B 2 A 3 B 4 B 5 C 6 D 7 B 8 DTASK ONEFor Task 1 of the writing exam, you will be required to write a short report describing a chart of graph provided for you by the examiners. Your answer for this task should be around 150 words and you will need to complete this activity in approximately 20 minutes. This is not much time so it is really important that you become skilled at determining the key features of a chart and develop your ability to compare and contrast the trends shown by the chart. Let’s look at the question below which features a bar chart:361949113030The bar chart shows the divorce rates in two European countries from 2011 to 2015.?Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.020000The bar chart shows the divorce rates in two European countries from 2011 to 2015.?Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.77089010477500The most important job that you have here is to take note of the main features shown in the chart and to make relevant comparisons. This requires you to select information from the chart and turn it into sentences that are easy to read and contain the most important information. To support you with developing your understanding of what exactly needs to be included in an IELTS writing Task 1 answer, we have written up a model answer here for this question which is at a band score of 8. Your task is to fill in the blank spaces in this model answer with the appropriate word/phrase. Ensure that the words that you use to complete this answer make sense not only grammatically, but are also accurate in the context of the chart:‘The (1)……………….. provides (2)………………… about the percentages of divorces in Finland and Sweden between 2011 and 2015.(3)………………., Sweden experienced a downward trend, while Finland showed an (4)……………….. trend throughout the period. Both counties’ divorce rates had some fluctuations. Although Finland initially had a lower rate, it (5)…………….. Sweden at the end of the period. Sweden’s divorce rate was about 45% in 2011, being higher than Finland’s rate by approximately 8%. Then, it rose to (6)………………… fifty percent in 2012. However, the figure showed a gradual decrease to about 47% in 2013, and continued to decline steadily to the end of period, reaching around 45% in 2014 and hitting a (7)……………….. of about 37% in 2015. The percentage of divorces in Finland was (8)…………………. Than 40% in 2011, and it decreased in 2012, when about one third of marriages in Finland ended with a divorce (as (9)……………….. to almost a half in Sweden). However, the figure experienced a steady growth during the next two years. It rose to approximately 39% in 2013, then increased by around 3% in 2014, and remained steady for the next year, outracing the rate of Sweden.’ANSWERS1. bar chart2. information3. Overall4. upward5. outraced6. almost7. low point8. less9. opposedTASK TWOFor Task 2 of the writing exam, you will be required to write an essay. You can get a lot of different topics for your IELTS Writing task 2. You can be asked to give your opinion, to state solutions to some problem, to describe advantages and disadvantages of something and so on. Determining the type of essay question that you are being asked is crucial in beginning to plan your answer effectively and so should be your first thought when you open your question paper. This activity asks you to determine which type of essay question that you are being asked to complete in the following tasks. Take a read of the questions below and determine whether you are being asked to:Give your opinionAgree/disagreeGive causes and solutionList pros and consFor each of the questions below, choose which of the options above you believe is correct. Some people believe that violence on television and in computer games has a damaging effect on the society. Others deny that these factors have any significant influence on people's behaviour. What is your opinion?Question type: Some students work while studying. This often results in lacking time for education and constantly feeling under pressure. What do you think are the causes of this? What solutions can you suggest?Question type: Some people advocate death penalty for those who committed violent crimes. Others say that capital punishment is unacceptable in contemporary society. Describe advantages and disadvantages of death penalty and give your opinion.Question type:Influence of human beings on the world's ecosystem is leading to the extinction of species and loss of bio-diversity. What are the primary causes of loss of bio-diversity? What solutions can you suggest?Question type:Today more people are overweight than ever before. What in your opinion are the primary causes of this? What are the main effects of this epidemic?Question type:Big salary is much more important than job satisfaction. Do you agree or disagree?Question type:Despite a large number of gyms, a sedentary lifestyle is gaining popularity in the contemporary world. What problems are associated with this? What solutions can you suggest?Question type:ANSWERS1 A 2 C 3 D 4 C 5 C 6 B 7 B 8 CHow have you got on with this introduction to the writing exam? Many IELTS test-takers spend a lot of time training to write top-notch essays. To achieve a desired score, they stuff their essays with uncommon vocabulary, overuse complicated grammar or write too many words. But are these means really necessary? The answer is NO.There are a lot of much simpler writings that score 8.0 and higher! This is because you don’t need any special knowledge: the examiner will assess your writing, not your thoughts. Even simple but accurately expressed ideas score better than too complicated ones. To succeed in IELTS Writing, you need tobe accuratewrite simple things wellRidiculously, even well trained candidates often lose points on IELTS Writing because of making simple mistakes: from going off topic to writing too many words. In your next lesson we will cover this in a lot more detail, but it is worth keeping these two thoughts at the forefront of your mind. THE SPEAKING EXAMAnswer the following questions to make sure that you understand the test format. You can review your answers further below. You may place a cross (X) next to the correct answer.1. How long does the speaking test take?A 5 minutes exactlyB Approximately 30 minutesC 11 – 14 minutesD 15 – 16 minutes2. How many parts are there in the speaking test?A OneB FiveC ThreeD Four3. What happens in the first part of the speaking test? A Read a role-play cardB Engage in a question and answer sessionC Do a talkD Fill in a form4. How many questions will you be asked in part 2 of the test?A OneB TwoC ZeroD Seven5. In which section of the exam do you need to discuss world issues or broad, complex questions?A Part TwoB None of the sectionsC Part One and Part ThreeD Part Three6. In which section of the exam are you likely to be asked questions about your life, home, country or holidays?A Part ThreeB Part One and Part ThreeC Part Two D Part One7. What will happen if you speak for longer than two minutes in Part Two?A You will gain more marksB You will fail the examC The examiner will stop you D The examiner will shake their head8. Should you expand your answers in the speaking test?A Yes – when the examiner asks you a question about what you have saidB Yes – you should try to expand your answers naturallyC Yes – you should talk over the examinerD NoANSWERS1 C 2 C 3 B 4 C 5 D 6 D 7 C 8 CAs part of your preparation for the writing exam, it is useful to think about useful vocabulary for the various topics that you may be required to discuss. Memorising key words and phrases for each topic can help you feel more confident and composed during the exam. We recommend that you get started on this early so that you are able to expand and deepen your vocabulary naturally. For the topics in the boxes below, brainstorm and write down around 10 – 15 key pieces of vocabulary which could be useful were you to be asked about this area in the exam. This is a good exercise to get you thinking – you can come back to these lists later and ensure that you have these words/terms memorised:210502534290Environment00Environment417195062865Health00Health-1905062865Food00Food1876425-438150Technology00Technology3867150-438150Sport00Sport-38100-438150Holidays 00Holidays We will be covering the speaking exam in more detail in a future lesson but keep coming back to these vocabulary lists in the meantime as they will really build your confidence and enable you to flourish in the exam!IN THE NEXT LESSONWe will look at the writing exam and explore how the tasks are structured and what the examiner expects of your answers. ................
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