Hi guys,
Share your thoughts…
- Do you think it is possible to get an overall band score of 9 in IELTS?
- Have you ever known someone get band 9 overall?
Post your answers in the comments box below.
Liz
IELTS Preparation with Liz: Free IELTS Tips and Lessons, 2024
Hi, I'm Liz. Welcome! Enjoy your IELTS journey to success!
Hi guys,
Share your thoughts…
Post your answers in the comments box below.
Liz
A conclusion is essential for IELTS writing task 2. It is more important than most people realise. You will be penalised for missing a conclusion in your IELTS essay.
Conclusions: What are they worth in IELTS Essays?
There are four marking criteria for writing task 2:
Your conclusion falls under the criterion of Task Response. You are given a band score for each criterion and then a total band score for writing task 2. If you fail to have a conclusion, you will get under band score 6 in Task Response, which is 25% of your marks.
Paragraphs in Writing Task 2
You must divide your essay into paragraphs. You can have four paragraphs or five paragraphs in total. You should not have three and you can’t have six. See below:
Option 1
Option 2
Conclusion Length & Content
Your conclusion should be one or two sentences long. Not more. It is a waste of timing having a long conclusion and it won’t help your score.
Your conclusion should summarise the main points you provided in your essay.
Conclusion Linking Words
Use the right words to start your conclusion for IELTS writing task 2. This lesson is for IELTS essays in both GT and Academic writing. Using the wrong linking words will lower your score.
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Conclusions for writing task 2
Some students have written in and told me that they didn’t write a conclusion for their essay. They wanted to know if it is a serious problem to run out of time and miss the conclusion. The questions below are for both GT and Academic students.
Questions for you:
Answers
I have written a full page answer for these questions.
Click here: Is a Conclusion Important? Tips and Advice
Hi guys,
Here are your answers to yesterday’s listening exercise about choosing the correct answers.
Questions:
Answer using no more than three words and/or a number.
Possible Answers:
Choose below which are the correct answers for these questions
** You can choose more than one correct answer. In some cases, there might be two or three correct answers. **
Answer to Q1: a) milk or butter b) milk, butter c) milk / butter d) milk butter
Answer to Q2 a) ticket b) a ticket c) the ticket d) car park ticket
Answer to Q3 a) at 9.30pm b) at 9:30pm c) 9.30pm d)9:30pm
Answers
Click below to reveal the answers:
AnswersQ1 = You could choose b, c or d. All three were correct. Answer a was wrong. The word “or” was already given in the question and shouldn’t be used again.
Tips: When you have two words as an answer for one question, it is best to just leave a space between the words. For example, “milk butter”. You can separate the words if you want using punctuation but it isn’t necessary.,
Q2 = You could choose b. The other answers were wrong. The sentence must be grammatically correct to be marked right. So, you needed to write “a ticket” as your answer.
Q3 = You could choose c or d. Both of them are right. The answers a and b are wrong. The word “at” was given in the sentence so you should not repeat it.
Tips: When you write the time, there is no set rule for this. You could write 9.30pm or 9:30pm. As long as the person marking understands, it will be marked right.
Hi guys,
I continue to have students who ask me how to write answer for their IELTS listening test. See the questions below and decide which of the answers is correct.
Recording:
Hi Mary, I guess you are not home so I’ll leave a message for you. You mentioned popping round for lunch tomorrow. I forget to tell you two things. The first one is to ask you to bring a cake. Make sure it’s free from milk or butter for John. You know he’s lactose intolerant. Also I forget to tell you that there’s a car park behind my house where you can park. But you’ll need to bring some small change because you have to purchase a ticket which will cost about 75p. Also I must warn you that the car park shuts at 9.30pm so make sure you get your car out before that. Well, that’s all. See you tomorrow.
Questions:
Answer using no more than three words and/or a number.
Answers:
Choose below which are the correct answers for these questions
** You can choose more than one correct answer. In some cases, there might be two or three correct answers. **
Answer to Q1: a) milk or butter b) milk, butter c) milk / butter d) milk butter
Answer to Q2 a) ticket b) a ticket c) the ticket d) car park ticket
Answer to Q3 a) at 9.30pm b) at 9:30pm c) 9.30pm d)9:30pm
Answers to Above Options:
You can find the answers to this exercise on this link: Answers to Exercise Above
This page gives you my tips for how I got IELTS band score 8.5 overall in 3 steps. And also my tips for getting band 8 in IELTS writing and band score 9 in IELTS speaking.
by Deeksha
24th June; United States; First Attempt. I just received my IELTS score:
I barely had 5 days to prepare. 70% of my preparation included watching the videos on your blog, answering your sample questions, and going through your tips! For the rest 30%, I printed some of the full-fledged tests and
sample answer sheets from the Cambridge IELTS books and just practised using those.
For anyone of you who has a very little time to prepare, I hope that the process I followed can help you lay out a basic schedule.
See my 3 steps:
Step -1 (Know the test)
– Go through the test format.
– Spend some time and understand the question patterns in each segment.
– Keep in mind the time limit for every segment.
– Do an initial sample test (download from IELTS official website) just to see where you stand.
Links:
Step-2 (Prepare using Liz’s blog)
– Go through every one of the 4 segments (L, R, W, S) in this blog, one after the other. Links: Listening Tips, /Reading / Writing T1 / Writing T2 / Speaking
– In each segment, read every tip and watch every video.
– Make notes of the points that you would like to keep in mind.
– Try and answer every sample question that Liz has laid out there. She has specified at least one sample question for every possible pattern that could appear on the test.
– Look at the answers and compare with yours. Figure out what you got wrong and more importantly, “analyze why you got them wrong.” This helps you understand how you approached the question, and how you should have.
Step-3 (Practice)
– Download all the versions of Cambridge IELTS books (you can just google them out).
– From these books, print out the full-fledged tests and sample answer sheets.
– Take these tests using a clock and write your answers in the sample answer sheets.
– Grade your tests and find out your weak areas.
– Make notes of your analysis and try to keep it in mind during the following tests.
In addition, go through the comments in this blog and find out what the recent test takers said about their tests. Know about the tips that helped them, learn from their experiences and be prepared.
On my test:
– Apart from your writing skills and the topic at hand, it may help to do this section in a way that encompasses all the elements that the examiner is looking for. Liz’s writing section mentions specific guidelines for content organization, format, tone, logical reasoning, titles, signatures and many other tips. Go through them and try to follow all those tips as you write. In other words, you will have a shell prepared in your mind even before you know what the questions are. Click here: IELTS GT Letter Tips
– I didn’t have time to practice this section at all so I had a bit of an issue managing time on the test. If you have very little time to prepare for IELTS, make sure you squeeze in at least a few writing tests and see where you stand with the time limit.
Go through Liz’s list of sample topics, sample answers (Liz’s Speaking Page), comments from recent test takers (Recent Topics) on this blog and questions from IELTS Cambridge speaking tests. Try to answer them. These should be more than enough to help you familiarize with the test pattern and to understand what to expect on the test. From the comments, I also found out that most of these questions are being repeated so make sure you go through them. Almost all the questions that my examiner (whose name was coincidentally Liz) asked me were also from the above lot.
As Liz mentioned, they expect you to be casual and test you only for your language and not for your knowledge on the topic at hand. Think about this segment like you just bumped into a fan who would like to know some of your opinions and experiences. Well, you don’t simply meet a fan every day, so this is your chance – talk her ear off! J Be casual, funny, and confident and you’ll do just fine.
Try to book your test in a test center that does not use hallway speakers to play the audio in the listening section. There is a definite distinction in terms of quality compared to headphones. There is always a possibility of noise and distraction. I didn’t know about this while booking my test and I certainly experienced the difference.
Thanks,
Deeksha.
Good Luck!
Liz – Thanks again for the effort you are putting in, to assist so many test-takers all over the world, each with their own questions and training needs. It must feel incredible to know that most of these people credit their success to you. Keep up the good work!
Deeksha.
Message from Liz
Deeksha, you’ve done exceedingly well. Congratulations!! I love your tips! They are logical and very helpful for all IELTS students. Tackling IELTS methodically is essential and Deeksha has really hit the nail on the head !!! 🙂
Hi guys,
Yesterday, a student reported this IELTS cue card: Describe an Invention for speaking part 2. IELTS speaking topics can often be repeated so you should definitely prepare for this topic as well as other recent topics and common topics. I’ve provided links below.
An Invention: IELTS Cue Card
Date: 26th July, 2017
Describe an invention that changed people’s lives.
You should say:
· What it is
· Who invent it
· When it was invented
And explain how it changed people’s life.
Ideas for An Invention Topic:
Tips: Don’t choose something impressive. The examiner will not give you a higher score because your ideas are impressive. Instead, choose something which is easy to talk about. Something which can have plenty of ideas for. If you don’t know who invented it or when – it doesn’t matter. It won’t affect your score at all.
Don’t forget that IELTS speaking part 2 is mostly about you, so add your own details. Tell a story about yourself or someone you know.
If you have any other ideas, please post them in the comments box below.
Useful Links
Click below to open links:
Recently Posted IELTS Speaking Topics
How to Start your IELTS Speaking Part 2 Talk
All Common IELTS Speaking Topics, Model Answers & Tips
For information and tips about other parts of the IELTS test, click on the relevant links on the Red Bar at the top of my website 🙂
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Today (July 20th) the IELTS writing task 2 question was reported. Below you can see the essay question.
IELTS Essay Question: July 20th 2017
Billions of dollars are spent on space research. This is a waste of money. More money must be spent on improving the problems of people on earth .To what extent do you agree or disagree.
The topic of Space Exploration and Space Travel is for Academic students only. It is not an easy topic to write about so make sure you prepare ideas for this topic.
Hi, my name is Elizabeth (Liz). I am your teacher and the author of this website. I am an experienced, qualified English teacher specialising in IELTS test preparation since 2008. Please enjoy the 300 plus pages of free lessons, tips, model answers, topics etc.
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