Yesterday, a student called Tamara posted a great little tip about toilet breaks in IELTS.

Her points were these:

1. It’s important to drink water because you are nervous and the exam is long. But inevitably you might need the toilet.
2. IELTS do not provide toilet breaks. So, you need to choose the best time to go to the toilet.
3. Don’t go during your listening test. The listening test will not stop because you have gone to the toilet. You will miss answers and you will get a lower score as a result.
4. Go to the toilet during your reading or writing test.
5. The writing test is usually really hard to complete on time, so for most students, it’s best to go to the loo during the reading test.
6. Be prepared for your IELTS test. Sleep well, eat well and be ready to concentrate.

Tamara did very well in her test, getting band score 8.5 overall. Brilliant!! Well done to her 🙂 See her score and read her tips as well as tips from other students on this page: IELTS Results Page

Get On the Day Tips by click on the link. My on the day tips cover listening, reading, writing and also speaking. So, read them all well.

Good luck everyone!! 🙂

Liz

Below are three IELTS model essays for IELTS essay questions that students have reported this month in their test. You can find the full list of 20 essay questions on this page: IELTS Essay Questions 2017.  I did say that I would write only one model essay but, due to student demand, I have choose the three most popular essay questions.

Paragraphs: The model essays below all have two body paragraphs. Please note it is also possible to have three body paragraphs in IELTS writing task 2 – your choice depends on your ideas.

IELTS Essay Model Q#1

Nowadays young people lack an understanding of how to manage their finances after they finish high school. Explain why they do not know how to manage money and how this can be changed.

Below is an IELTS cause / solution model essay.

Many young people are leaving school without a basic and vital understanding of how personal finances ought to be managed in the adult world. This lack of knowledge is due to a lack of life experience and limited education which can be solved in two simple ways.

One main reason why so many young people are unable to manage their own finances upon finishing high school is that they have been living with their parents for free. As a result, they have never needed to earn a salary or save their money in order to pay bills. Another cause is that schools do not factor personal financial management into their curriculum. Schools focus instead on classic subjects, such as maths, geography, history and languages, which means important life skills are not being taught. Both teachers and parents are failing to prepare young people for the real world.

There are two options for solving young people’s inability to manage personal finances. Firstly, parents should spend time with their children teaching them how money is earned, budgeted and used for either savings or expenses. One simple step could be for parents to start by teaching young children how to manage their pocket money and, as their child grows up, expand into more serious household expenses. Secondly, schools should incorporate life skills into their curriculum for final year students. In this way, children will be able to learn in a supportive environment how their finances need to be budgeted and managed to avoid debt problems later in life.

In conclusion, young people lack financial management skills due to the negligence of parents and schools, which can only be solved if both take more responsibility for equipping school leavers with the right skills.

IELTS Essay Model Q#4

Advertising discourages us from being different and individuals eventually look the same. To what extent do you agree or disagree.

Below is a partial agreement (a balanced view) model opinion essay.

It is sometimes thought that advertisements result in people becoming increasingly similar and that they discourage individuality. In my opinion, advertising certainly  does promote conformity amongst certain people but most people will always make their own individual choices which will make them appear different.

The role of advertising is to promote products in a way that encourages people to buy them and this in turn means that people inevitably end up buying the same things and appearing the same. This is particularly true of the fashion industry which tells followers of fashion what colours to wear in which seasons, what styles of clothes they should wear and even the length of their hair. The adverts put pressure on young people to look fashionable by following looks which have been planned by the fashion industry. As a result, those who are easily influenced by fashion trends will tend to appear more similar and with less individuality in an attempt to be considered fashionable.

However, the wish to appear fashionable and follow fashion trends with strict conformity only applies to a certain group of young “trendy” people. For others, the fashion trends are interesting but not something that should be followed religiously. For instances, while some of them may choose to follow the fashionable colour that season, they may prefer a different hair style which is more suited to their own face shape or character. Consequently, although some aspects of their dress may be similar, the majority of what they wear and how they wear it is different and shows their individual character.

In conclusion, although fashion victims follow trends and may appear similar, they are in the minority as most people prefer to select what they wear and how they look for themselves.

IELTS Essay Model Q#9

Some people believe that development of business results in a loss of cultural ties between countries. Other people contradict this belief. Give your opinion.

Below is a one sided model opinion essay.

The development of business, according to some, has had a negative impact on cultural ties between countries. I do not agree with this as international business can often encourage cultural ties and does not impact on existing ones.

Firstly, international business has resulted in new relationships between countries that previously had little contact. Consequently products from countries all around the world become available to the everyday person which raises their awareness of these countries. As awareness between countries grows, so too does cultural respect and interest. For this reason, there are more people travelling abroad today to experience new cultures than ever before. One good example of this is the long lasting cultural interest between China and Europe which was initially brought about by the silk trade.

Another point to consider is that cultural ties that already exist between countries are not necessarily disturbed by business. Most cultural ties have actually been established due to the development of transportation which has enabled people to travel further distances from their homes. For decades, if not centuries, the British were known to travel to France and even as far as Egypt to enjoy warmer climates as well as to appreciate their culture. Regardless of business or business problems which came later, these cultural ties continue to exist today. In other words, although business may throw a spanner in the works with regards to international relationships from time to time, it cannot undo the deep cultural connections between these countries that have evolved and been enjoyed over time.

To conclude, business mostly certainly does not cause a loss of cultural ties between countries and can, in fact, be the root of establishing new ones.

IELTS Writing Task 2 Tips & Lessons

You can find writing task 2 tips and more model essays on this page: IELTS Writing Task 2 Main Page

Hi guys,

Share your thoughts…

1. Do you think it is possible to get an overall band score of 9 in IELTS?
2. Have you ever known someone get band 9 overall?

Post your answers in the comments box below.

Liz

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.

1. John can’t have  ……………or …………….
2. Mary will need  to buy …………… for the car park.
3. The car park will close at ………………………

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:

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 guys,

This video is a free video lesson about how to prepare for IELTS. It is posted on my home page but I feel many students are not finding it. So, here is your chance to watch it and think about the points given.

In the video, it mentions about knowing your level of English. Let me explain:

• Band 5 = frequent errors
• Band 6 = some errors
• Band 7 = few errors
• Band 8 = most sentences are error free

I am sure you all know how many errors you make on average. You don’t need a teacher to tell you. You can use spell check and grammar check in ms word doc. You should also review your vocab frequently and your understanding of grammar tenses. You can also review your range of grammar tenses by recording your speaking answers and playing it back to check. Or writing a task 2 essay and underlining each grammar tense you use.

IELTS Video Lesson: How to Prepare