And here is a point regarding the latest exam. As you know it was identical in many countries and apparently many people had the same problems, because they weren’t mentally prepared.

Assumption # 1

People assumed that task 1 in Academic IELTS will be a chart or a graph - and when they were given a diagram, it came as a complete shock. As a result, it took them longer to get their head around the task and they spent over 30 minutes only thinking what they are going to write in their report. Then it’s a chain accident - if the first task takes you longer, you don’t have enough time for your essay and you are stressed, so the performance goes down the drain.

This could be easily solved by practicing beforehand. Guys, when you practice - don’t choose just graphs, prepare for diagrams as well, it;s important to be prepared for whatever they throw at you and not things you think are likely to appear. If you’re under time pressure and have only a week to study - fine, do just one or two diagrams, but at least try yourself at it.

Assumption # 2

I don’t know why, but people assume that IELTS questions never repeat - when this blog is a proof that they do, and quite often. I’ve got an email from a student that said: “You know what is really ironic? I saw my speaking question the night before my exam in IELTS-Blog, but thought I will never get the same and didn’t practice for it.”

Do yourself a favor - go through the list of recent exams and familiarize yourself with the latest questions. The best chances to get the same questions as before are, of course, in the Speaking test, however in the Writing test we too have seen that the questions were repeated over time.

And above everything else - good luck with your preparation and I wish you an easy exam!

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Speaking test in the Philippines

Interview
- What is your full name?
- Do you study or work?
- Where did you study?
- Do you drive? If not, why?
- At what age your children are likely to learn driving, you think?

Cue card
Talk about one of the happiest events in your childhood, you should say
- Why was it important
- Where it happened
- When was it?
- Does your family still remember it? Why?
- Are you still keeping something from your childhood, like toys or pictures? For what reason?

Discussion
- Fresh fruits and vegetables in the day to day life.
- Are you eating fast food? Why?
- Is it available in your place?
- Are people following the old traditions these days? Why?

Speaking test in Iran

Interview
- Talk about your place
- What kinds of transportation you use in your hometown?
- How often do you go out?
- How do you spend your spare time?
- How often do you read books?
- What kinds of books?

Cue card
Talk about a party you would like to hold
- What do you do to hold it?
- What special things you do at this party?

Discussion
- What are the differences between old and young generation’s parties?
- Which one do you prefer, friendly gathering or family gathering? Why?
- What special things you do in family gathering?
- Talk about national ceremonies in your country.
- Are they useful or not? Why?

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Listening test

Section 1: a customer complaining about a flight at an airline help desk. Filling in gaps, multiple choice questions.

Section 2: a tourist tour to a harbor with several attractions. Shown was a map with areas named A-F and we had to identify things like meeting place etc.There was also completing a table and I think gap filling.

Section 3: two students talking about a maritime project about whales, the questions were completing a table and filling in gaps.

Section 4: I can’t remember.

Reading test

Passage 1: article about “The carbolic smoke ball”, a story about flu 150 years ago in London. The questions were multiple choice, True / False / Not Given and completing sentences.

Passage 2: an article about an Australian company producing a bathroom cleaner, how they restructured the company and earned a fortune after producing only 1 sort of cleaner instead of 700 different ones in the past. A bit complicated to read, it was easy to get confused. Questions: completing sentences, multiple choice, True / False / Not Given.

Writing test

Writing Task 1 (report)
A diagram (cross section) about the MontBlanc tunnel in Europe and a Japanese rail tunnel. Describe information and compare where necessary.

The writing test shocked me! I was mentally fixed on graphs, bar charts, pie charts and so on and the vocabulary so it was a shock to me when I saw the diagram.

Writing Task 2 (essay)
The government has to provide primary and secondary education, but for university education s.o. (students, their parents etc) should pay. To what extent do you agree.

Well, not a piece of cake actually, but I remembered the hints in your book, made a list for pros and cons and started writing. Finished the last word when the examiner said. “Stop writing, pencils on the table” so I couldn’t check for mistakes.

Speaking test

Interview
I entered the room and we had a little smalltalk (the examiner started this smalltalk) and I was very confident. Up to the moment when the examiner said: “Oh by the way, that’s not the test. I have to start the recorder first” Then she did, stated date, time , center number, my name and candidate number and so on.

The examiner was nice and very kind, no problem about our relation and so on but it felt like a bloody police questioning and I was not able to answer the bloody questions in two sentences.

Cue Card
What kind of course would you take if you had the time, you should say
- what would you learn in this course
- why would you chose it

Discussion
A few questions about
- quality of teachers
- sport facilities in my town,
- what kind of sports I’d like to do

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Listening test

Section 1: a conversation between a girl and a man about arranging a program (the questions were to fill in the gaps).

Section 2: The questions were multiple choice and True / False / Not Given. I couldn’t exactly remember the topics, but they were difficult.

Section 3: a map and a detailed program of a festival, the questions were fill in the gaps, but in a form of table, easy.

Section 4: Types of whales with their names, etc - easy.
 
Reading test

Part 1: there were 7 or 8 advertisements of recreational and physicial activity clubs. The questions were T/F/NG and gap fills, easy ones.

Part 2: a passage about cherry pickers and packers, the questions were T/F/NG, easy ones.

Part 3: Factory rules for employees, times and allowances, including holidays (moderate difficulty).

Part 4. Ant types, their life and functioning pattern. The questions were summary completion and gap fills, difficult ones, then T/F/NG and matching (moderate difficulty).

Writing test

Writing Task 1 (letter)
Write a letter to an editor of a newspaper regarding your concern about construction of multistory building in the current park location. In your letter say:
1. How did you come to know about the plan
2. Why it is important for you
3. What is your opinion about this plan.

Writing Task 2 (Essay)
Doctors are against fast food but still people eat it. Why do people eat fast food? What can be done to solve this problem?

Speaking Test

Interview
- Tell me your full name.
- Do you work or do you study?
- Do you like driving?
- Why do you use car?
- When are you offered to drive a car?
- When do you allow your children to drive a car?
- What are the problems & harms of reckless or bad driving?

Cue card
Talk about a conversation you had recently
- when and where was it?
- what was it about?
- why it was important to you?

Discussion
- What topics people chat about?
- What is the difference between a conversation between two men and two women?
- What is better, a conversation on a phone or a face to face conversation, why?

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Listening test

Section 1: Police report. A lady was reporting a robbery that happened in her home. We just have to jot down some details about the incident. It was the easiest part.

Section 2 : Parts of a water heater and location of some household items. We were asked to identify the parts and we were given some multiple choice questions. This section was the most confusing. I have to re-read the questions 3 times!

Sections 3&4 : I can’t exactly remember the topics but they were a lot less confusing than in section 2. Overall impression - quite easy.

Reading test

Part 1: transport improvements in the UK and European Union (the hardest of the three for me).
Part 2: parrots in Australia (relatively easy).
Part 3: Voynich manuscript (moderately easy and the passage was interesting).

Writing test

Writing Task 1
We were given 2 maps of a certain college campus. The first one was the map of the campus in 1955 and the second illustrated the changes and developments after 50 years (2005).

Writing Task 2
Developed countries give aid to developing nations. Some think financial support is enough while others believe that help should be given out in the form of practical aid and advice. Discuss each view and give your opinion.

Speaking Test

Interview
- Tell me your full name
- What should I call you?
- Do you work or do you study?
- Is it an easy job?
- Do you use machines at work?
- Do you think its going to change in the future?
- Do you like writing letters?
- What do you prefer, to receive letters or telephone calls?

Cue card
You should speak about how you achieved success and mention
- what did you do?
- when was it?
- why did you choose this?
- do you consider yourself successful?

Discussion
- What should people do to achieve success?
- But there are some people who do not achieve success despite having what you’ve just said. Why do you think that is?
- What do you think of society’s perception of success?
- And you do not think the same?

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Listening Test

Section 1: a man was complaining about problems that he had - this one was easy.
Section 2: Information about a tour guide (museums , interesting areas) - very easy.
Section 3 was about an exposition (about whales , sea birds) - quite easy.
Section 4 was about technology.

Reading test

Section 1: about dangerous diseases (questions were True/False/ Not given), we had also a diagram to complete.
Section 2: about a new invention, very hard.
Section 3: about different personalities, the questions were headings matching, True/False/ Not given, this passage was very long.

Writing test

Writing Task 1 (report)
Describe a process about the construction of tunnels

Writing Task 2 (essay)
While government should pay for the primary and secondary studies, university studies should not be subsidized. To what extend do you agree or disagree?

Speaking test

I had to do two speaking tests, one in Thursday, and one Saturday , because they had a problem with the recorder in the first Speaking test.

Interview
- What is your name?
- Do you work or study?
- Do you think your work is going to change in the future?
- Do you use machines at work?

Cue card
Describe a sports event you attended recently, you should say
- when was it
- where was it
- who were the players
- and why did you like it

Then I was asked different questions about the sport and its advantages for people and for the society.

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Speaking Test 1

Interview
- Tell me your full name
- What should I call you?
- Where are you from?
- Can you tell me something about your home / apartment?
- What improvement for your home you think needs to be done?
- When was the last time you went out with your friends?
- Do you prefer to go out alone or with friends?

Cue card
You should speak about a special toy you got as a child
- describe the toy
- tell why it was so important to you.

Discussion
- Do you think toys should be shared by children?
- What do you think is the impact of sharing toys between children?
- What can you tell about toys before and toys nowadays?
- How would a toy help in the development of children?

Speaking Test 2

Interview
- What is your name?
- Where do you stay?
- Tell me about the area you live in.
- Do you like to stay there, why?
- Any public transport available in your area?
- Do you drive? If yes, why?
- Do you want your children to drive in future?
(I was quite shocked to be asked about 10-13 questions during my 1st interview.)

Cue card
I was asked to talk about my trip which was not up to my expectations and say:
- what happened,
- what did I do and
-what was my feeling.
( I finished it in less than 2 minutes and frankly I didn’t encounter any such bad experience before.)

Discussion
I was asked question about the tourist industry, the impacts of it, both positive and negative, future tourists, etc.

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Listening Test

Section 1: A caller getting details regarding an exhibition to be held in Toronto That was an easy section & we were required to fill in the blanks etc. The rest of the recording was about the Quarantine Services in Australia. Multiple choice questions.

Section 2: There was a discussion between two students and a teacher regarding deciding which course to enroll.

Section 3: This was about information on Red Sea Urchins.

Reading Test

This part was comparatively lengthy & not too easy.

Passage 1: Detailed information on steps taken by some research organization on drinking water. Questions: filling in blanks, multiple choice questions, True / False / Not Given questions.

Passage 2: Very detailed passage on Bitterns. Questions: choosing headings for the paragraphs, multiple choice questions, short answers (no more than three words).

Passage 3: Topic on Risking change. Questions: choosing appropriate heading, short answer questions, multiple choice questions.

Writing Test

Writing Task 1 (report)
There was a table representing the percentage of young people from the age 15 to 21 years, employed in different sectors in the years 1997 and 2005 in one region of Oceania. We had to write a comparative report based on the table.

Writing Task 2 (essay)
Maintaining public libraries today is a waste of money with the present increase in the computer technology. Do you agree or disagree with the system?

Speaking Test

Interview
The examiner started with some general questions about myself, where I stayed and my family. Then he asked
- What is the change that you suggest for the present accommodation?
- What is your favorite room in the house?
- Do you enjoy traveling?
- What country would you like to visit?
- Did you start cooking when you were in school?
- Do you enjoy cooking?
- What is the dish that you can cook best?
- Do you think that students should be allowed to cook while at school?

Cue card
Tell me about a famous historical place that you have visited:
- where is it located?
- what is it about that place that interests you the most?

Discussion

Then I was asked:
- Some of the famous historical places in my country & where they are located.
- Do you think people have stopped visiting these historical places and museums nowadays?
- Are you okay with purchasing tickets in order to visit these historical places and museums?
- Where else besides the Internet can you get information about history?
- Do you think TV is a good medium to convey the message?
- What about films, do you think they give complete information about the event?
- How far do you think the information is true?

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Listening test

Section 1: booking and inquiry about a room(quite easy)
Section 2: about a car and modifications done to it (a little bit confusing)
Section 3: about an assignment and division of topics (quite easy)
Section 4: about spices and their uses (amazingly it was easy as well)

Reading test

Passage 1 was about glass and its history, the questions were to fill in the blanks and diagram completion (easy)
Passage 2 - the topic I really don’t remember, but questions were heading and paragraphs matching (easy) and True / False / Not given.
Passage 3 was about dreams and their research and finding, questions were about statements which are True / False / Not given and research and researcher matching (the topic was really interesting and tasks were easy).

Writing test

Writing Task 1 (report)
We had a line graph of world energy source’s requirement from 1970 to 2030 (prediction graph)

Writing Task 2 (essay)
School children should not be forced to learn other foreign languages as their ability differs. Do you agree or disagree?

Speaking test

Interview
- What is your name?
- What should I call you?
- Do you study or do you work?
- What type of study you are doing?
- Is it easy to learn / what equipment do you use to learn?

Cue card
Tell me about the famous person you would like to meet.
- who is the person
- why he is famous
- explain: why do you want to meet him?

Discussion
- Why some people want to become famous?
- Do they have private life?
- How do you know the news?
- Do old people and youngsters have different choices of news? Why?
- What is the view of younger people of the fame? Did it change from the past?

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Speaking test

Interview
- What’s your name? What can I call you?
- Tell me about your home town.
- Why do you like your town?
- Do you like parties?
- Do you like to go to parties with your friends or with family members?
- What do you dislike about parties?
- Do young people enjoy parties more than older people?
- What was the recent gift you have given to anyone?

Cue Card
What famous person would you like to meet if given the chance? You should say
- Who the person is
- Where you’ve heard about him
- What you like about him

Discussion
- Why people want to be famous?
- Do famous people have private life?
- Does their attitude change toward others after becoming popular?

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