Our kind friend T shared the latest IELTS exam in China:

Listening test

Section 1. A woman was booking a campervan through a rental company. She was asked about her personal details and also other passenger’s details. License, age, insurance details, extras items required in the van and so on.

Section 2. A student was discussing the concept and details of a play she is to put up.
Questions: multiple choice, matching point of view to the person.

Sections 3 and 4. Don’t remember.

Reading test

Don’t remember.

Writing test

Writing task 1 (a letter)

You recently bought a product after seeing it in an advertisement. However, having received the product you’ve realized it did not match the description in the advertisement. Write a letter to the manufacturer saying:

- What was the product?
- What was mentioned in the advertisement?
- Why didn’t the description match the product you bought?
- What would you like the manufacturer to do?

Writing task 2 (an essay)

Some people are of the opinion that children should be rewarded for good behavior. Others think they should be punished for bad behavior. Discuss both views and give your personal opinion and reasons.

Speaking test

Interview

- Describe the house/apartment that you live in.
- Do you entertain people at home often?
- Is it common to entertain people at home in your hometown?

Cue Card

Describe a small business that you would like to start. You should say

- What business is it?
- Where would you like to start it?
- What would it require to make a start?
- Why have you chosen this particular business?

Discussion

- What are the skills required to start a business?
- Do you think a university degree is more important than getting experience?
- Should academic programs be modified to include an internship?
- If so, what percentage of the academic program should include practical training?

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The speaking questions below were shared by our kind friend S whose exam took place in Malaysia.

Speaking test

Interview

- What’s your full name?
- What can I call you?
- Do you work or study?
- Do you like flowers?
- Where do you live, in a house or in an apartment?
- What part of the house do you like the most?
- Why do you feel good in your house?
- What was your favorite toy in the childhood?
- What toys do you like to give to babies?
- What lesson did you learn from toys in your childhood?

Cue Card

Describe a lake or a sea that you visited. Please say

- What is its name?
- Where is it?
- When did you go there?
- What do people do there?

Discussion

- What was the most memorable part of that visit?
- Would you recommend that place to other people?
- What other water spots are there to enjoy?
- How should the government support these types of places?
- What do you think about people that used to travel by water in the past?
- Is traveling by water more time consuming?
- Can you compare water and air travel?
- How important is sea travel in your home country?
- What do you think about water travel in the future?

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The IELTS exams below were shared by J from the Philippines, who remembered the writing and speaking parts:

Writing test

Writing task 1 (a report)

Describe a chart about the percentage of water usage in Egypt, Canada and Turkey and the distribution of water in the world.

Writing task 2 (an essay)

In most countries, prison is the most common solution when people commit a crime. However, if they were to receive better education, it could prevent them from becoming criminals. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Speaking Test 1

Interview

- Can you tell me your full name?
- Where are you from?
- Describe the house you live in.
- What do you like about your house?
- What should your house or apartment look like in the future?

Cue Card

Describe a situation where people congratulated you for the things that you’ve done. Please say

- What was it that you did?
- When did it happen?
- What did people tell you?

Discussion

- What can drive a person to become successful?
- Can the competition help in making the person successful?

Speaking Test 2

Interview

- Can you tell me your full name?
- How do you spend your weekends?
- Where did you go on a holiday?
- Do you want to go to that place again?
- What problems did you encounter using mobile phones?

Cue Card

Talk about things that can make you a bit angry. Please say

- What are they?
- When and where are they happening, usually?
- Why do they make you angry?

Discussion

- When you think about it, do you still feel angry?
- Is it good to express emotions?
- What are the disadvantages of hiding emotions?

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Today I am happy to share with you the email we received from Rajdeep, a young man from Pune, India who won in our ‘Best IELTS Results’ competition. Rajdeep’s first language is Bengali, and to prove his English proficiency he had to take the IELTS exam – which was a great success. Read the whole story below, in Rajdeep’s own words.

“First of all I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the IELTS Blog team whose guidance helped me score more than I required in serving my purpose. But before pouncing onto the preparation strategy that I applied for IELTS, I would like to share my initial thoughts about the exam.

I come from the IT industry where we do weekly conferences, trainings, presentations etc with people across the globe. Therefore, somehow I initially developed a notion in my subconscious that cracking this exam would not be a big deal. But as soon as I started preparing, I realized that it is not easy. In our profession and especially in countries where English is not the native language, we do not measure or realize that even a frequent speaker might not be proficient in English.

Having said that, I believe the first step to master the language is to realize and accept your weaknesses.

And the three simple ways to identify your weaknesses are:

1. Grab a copy of “Ace the IELTS”.

2. Enroll yourself for the writing correction service.

3. Get at least one of your speaking recordings evaluated.

Trust me that if you have the above weapons, you do not need any local tuition . IELTS–Blog Team and their services are the best.

Listening – I seldom had issues in this module. However, the key to scoring well is to stay calm and focused (as if you are a part of that conversation) and of course follow the tips mentioned in the “Ace the IELTS” book, so that you do not fall into the traps. If you lose the answer to a question, accept it immediately and continue listening carefully for the next answers. For those who find this module difficult, get acquainted with the different foreign accents. Try to get all answers correct in the first two sections because the next two are the difficult ones.

Reading - In this module, time is against us. Hence, efficient time management is a must. Scan through the passages and underline the key words. However, mere scanning does not always help. You need to understand the gist of each paragraph to get the correct answers, especially for those who require 7. The strategy that helped me, was to read a paragraph and immediately scan all the questions and extract those, the answer to which were hidden in that paragraph, and then move on to reading the next one. Remember, it is easier to scan the questions multiple times than repeatedly scanning the lengthy paragraphs .

Writing - This module is challenging as we generally lose the habit of writing after our school days. The best way to improve writing is to read the sample essays in the blog, learn the types of essays and letters and their body structures from “Ace the IELTS”. Once you start practicing, get those evaluated with the help of the correction service. Expert’s evaluation is mandatory in this module. Besides, to score band 7, vocabulary is a must. One aspect which gives a feel in your essay and keeps the reader interested is to construct short and precise sentences while expressing the ideas. This can be developed by reading daily newspapers, magazines etc. Remember, “Brevity is the soul of wit”. Lastly, practice, practice, practice and stop not till the goal is reached. I remember writing 29 essays while practicing (whew!).

Speaking – This is the fun part, enjoy while practicing. Do not speak too fast but speak at a pace you are comfortable with. Remember, your speech gets recorded and hence it is crucial to get your sentences grammatically correct – an aspect which we often overlook while speaking. Usage of advanced vocabulary is needed to achieve 7. Record your voice and listen by using recording gadgets, software etc. In addition, get at least one of the recordings evaluated with the help of the speaking evaluation service.

Finally, force yourself to the examination conditions i.e. practice the listening, reading and writing modules without a break and when you’re ready, just go and crack it.”

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The speaking questions below were shared by A (thank you!) whose IELTS exam was in India.

Speaking test

Interview

- Do you study or work?
- What subjects did you study at college?
- Are other students from your country interested in the same course?
- Is your city noisy?
- What kind of noise do you like?
- Does noise affect your work efficiency?
- How were you as a child?
- Have you had a hobby as a child?
- Do you spend time with kids these days?

Cue Card

Talk about a family photograph. Please say

- Who is on that photograph?
- Who took the photo?
- Why do you consider it memorable?

Discussion

- Do you still take photos?
- Do you think photography is an art?
- Some photographs are considered to be works of art, what do you think?
- How does media use photographs?
- Would you agree that media can make or break famous people’s reputation?

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The IELTS exam topics you’re about to read were shared by our kind friend K from Poland (thank you!)

Listening test

Section 1. A lady was calling a gym to ask about membership options.

Section 2. A discussion about studying tourism.

Section 3. Don’t remember.

Section 4. A story about swimming pools and swimming techniques.

Reading test

Passage 1. Kindergarten offers.

Passage 2. Doctor’s appointment.

Passage 3. Don’t remember.

Passage 4. About the movie industry.

Writing test

Writing task 1 (a letter)

You have attended a course in college. The teacher was very helpful, however you are not satisfied with the college facilities. Write a letter to explain about the problems you have faced and provide suggestions for improvement.

Writing Task 2 (an essay)

Some people think that spending a lot on holding wedding parties, birthday parties and other celebrations is just a waste of money. Others, however, think that these are necessary for individuals and the society. Discuss both views and give you opinion.

Speaking test

Interview

- What is your full name?
- Tell me about your home.
- What would your dream home look like?
- Do you like having guests?
- What do you prefer: being a host or a guest?
- Do you like walking?
- Where are you walking?
- Will you continue walking in the future?

Cue Card

Talk about a letter you received recently. Please say

- Who was it from?
- What did it say?
- How did you feel about it?

Discussion

What are the advantages and disadvantages of emails and letters?

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Our kind friend R shared the questions he remembered from the recent IELTS Speaking exam:

Speaking test

Interview

- What is your full name?
- Do you work or study?
- What subjects do you study in your course?
- Do you like reading books?
- What kind of books do you like to read?

Cue Card

Describe something that you learned about another culture. You should say

- What did you learn?
- What is the new culture?
- How did you find out about it?

Discussion

- Is it easier to learn a language if you know about the culture?
- Does visiting a different country make learning a language easier?
- Does visiting another country help you learn your own culture better?

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Ravinder Singh, who won second place in our latest ‘Best IELTS results’ competition, comes from India. His first language is Punjabi, but it turns out that his English is almost as good – since he got Band 8 overall with an amazing 9 in Listening in a recent IELTS exam.

Here are a few tips that Ravider wanted to share with everyone:

“I think there is no real quick way to learn English truly. It is a slow process where you adopt a language in your daily life. If one is solely looking for a good score in IELTS (Band 8 and above), the following can be done:

1. Practice – it makes one perfect (at least 2-3 hours daily for 60 days). It helps you to tune yourself to the format of the test.

2. Read – get into a habit of reading (newspapers, novels, etc). This helps with absorbing English faster. Sentence structure, grammar, vocabulary will improve faster. This was the takeaway from the institute that helped me prepare for the exam.

3. Think – Start thinking in English, talk to yourself in English. You may call this a part of point 1 above.

More specific tips for the Listening and Reading Modules in IELTS:

a. Read ahead in the pauses in listening, skim the paragraphs in Reading.

b. Try to understand the context of sections being played.

c. Don’t panic if you couldn’t hear or concentrate and missed the conversation being played in Listening, concentrate on what you still have (the rest of the recording).

d. In Reading, don’t read the questions one by one and find answers. Read 2-3 questions (as many as you can remember) and try to find asnwers in comprehension.

I think the score also depends on current mastery of English, the practice efforts the student can make and a mix of analytical (for Listening and Reading modules) capabilities and interest (for Writing and Speaking modules) that one shows.”

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Our kind friend A from Ireland shared the recent IELTS exam below:

Reading test

Passage 1. About human’s impact on nature.

Passage 2. About ancient coins.

Passage 3. About road building in Africa.

Writing test

Writing task 1 (a report)

Describe a graph about daily calorie intake across the globe.

Writing task 2 (an essay)

Some believe elderly people should live in nursing homes, others think they should live with the younger family members. Discuss both view and give your opinion.

Speaking test

Interview

Don’t remember.

Cue Card

Describe your friend. Please say

- Who is he/she?
- How did you meet?
- Why do you like him/her?

Discussion

- Why is friendship nowadays so volatile?
- Why is exercising important?

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Our friend from Singapre (thank you U!) has shared the IELTS exam below. U didn’t remember the topics in the Listening and Reading sections.

Writing test

Writing task 1 (a letter)

You saw an advertisement recently and bought the advertised product. Upon receiving the product you discovered that the information in the advertisement was incorrect. Write a letter to the person responsible for the advertisement and say:

- What is the product?
- What information in the advertisement is incorrect?
- What do you expect the person to do about it?

Writing Task 2 (an essay)

Do children behave better when they are rewarded or punished? Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

Speaking test

Interview

- What holiday destination do you wish to visit?
- Why would you choose to go there?
- Have you already been there?
- Would you go there again and why?

Cue Card

Talk about a very good student friend that you had during school. Please say:

- Who this friend was,
- Why he/she was your good friend,
- What did you do together?

Discussion

- Are academic studies important?
- Can a person with high school education excel in life or do they need university education?
- Do you think a person who is famous is well liked? Why?

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