Think about the possibility
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- Written by IELTS Mentor
To score high, you need to prepare really well and your preparation should include the type of questions you might encounter in the test. For instance, if you have never been to a foreign country and your cue card topic asks you to describe a country you have been to, that's a problem. So think about the possibility of such questions and make yourself ready to take the challenges. If you think about a single topic each day and plan for the answers, you would be better prepared after a few weeks than you can imagine. This way, you will have more confidence too.
Speaking Module:
Be prepared for the possible questions you might be asked in the speaking test. In the speaking session, there are 3 parts. In part 1, you will be asked basic questions about yourself. There are only so many possible basic questions that can be asked about someone. You can easily be prepared for every possibility. Go through and write down all the possibilities and a good answer for each. When you’re asked about your family, don’t have to struggle to come up with descriptions for your family members. Practice ahead of time and know what you are going to say. Right now as you are reading this, stop and take a minute to answer each of these following questions. If you were asked these in an interview, what would you say?
1. Please describe yourself.
2. Please describe your family.
3. Please describe your home.
4. Please describe some of your interests.
5. Please describe your job.
6. Please describe your studies.
7. Please describe your college.
8. Please describe your hometown/village.
With a little thought and practice, even you can turn your dull past experiences into exciting exploits. Stories are your strongest weapon for captivating the interviewer and demonstrating your mastery of speaking English. The questions in Part 2 of the Speaking Module literally beg for stories to be told. These need to be compelling stories, real-time drama, and you’re the hero. You want the interviewer begging for more, asking follow-up questions, eager to hear how it ends. Once you begin a quick exciting story, you set the tone of the interview, and you will determine what will be the follow-up questions.
The easiest way to prepare for these Part 2 questions is to scour your memory for any exciting instance in your past. Perhaps where you played a leadership role or accomplished a goal. These can be from any part of your past, during your education, at home with your family, projects at work, or anything that you might have had a part in. Identify the main characteristics of the story, you want to have things straight. Make sure you know the basics of what happened, who was involved, why it occurred, and how the events unfolded sequentially. You certainly don’t want to stumble over the facts and repeat yourself during the interview.
Some common topics you should be prepared to talk about in your IELTS Speaking test are given below:
Study
Work
Hometown/ Living place
Home/ Accommodation
Family
Friends
Clothes
Gifts
Daily routine
Daily activities
Food/ Cooking
Going Out
Hobbies
Internet
Leisure time
Music
Neighbours & Neighbourhood
Newspapers
Pets
Reading
Music
Shopping
Sport
TV
Transport/Travelling
Weather
Culture/Tradition
Listening Module:
In the IELTS Listening test, you need to listen to a recording and find answers as you listen. So always look at the questions first and then listen to what you are looking for. If you know the type of information this test often asks, you would be in a better position to extract information. Some common information you should listen to carefully includes:
Name
Date of birth
Age
Colour
Month
Year
Date
Phone number
Social Security Number/ ID number
Licence number
Price
Distance
Subject name
Course name
Location
Street address
City
Country name
Percentage
Menu
Time
Name of an equipment
The name of a club/programme/organisation.
Reading Module:
Following are a few resources that you can follow and prepare for the IELTS reading module. Have you ever wondered where the reading passages come from? Wonder no more. The following resource is the answer to your query.
1. https://www.bbc.com - BBC website comes with news, opinion, articles, views, videos and much more from the UK’s most famous media institution. Follow this website and enhance your English skills in a great way.
2. https://www.economist.com - A great resource for business news, international politics and opinion. They even have audio editions (might require subscription). This is one of my personal favourites as a reading resource.
3. http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/business-magazine - A great resource for IELTS candidates. It includes texts about work-related topics to help you improve your language skills and get ahead in your career.
4. https://www.the-scientist.com - It covers environmental issues, culture, nature, science, biology, psychology and animals. It has a rich collection of multimedia contents as well.
5. https://www.newscientist.com - It includes a wide range of interesting topics including technology, space, physics, health, earth, human and life- very similar to the IELTS reading topics.
6. https://www.nationalgeographic.com - Great source of reading- both for IELTS and general interest. It comprises article on science, environment, animals, history and culture.
Writing Module:
If you are taking the IELTS GT module, you will have to write a letter and an essay. For the academic module, candidates write a report based on a graph or a diagram and an essay.
Essay topics may vary but they are often one of the following categories:
Environment
Globalisation
Health
Education
Government
Technology
Communication
Society
Food and Diet
Tourism
Transport
Traditional Culture
International Aid
Economics
Business and Money
Crime and Punishment
Family
Media and Advertising
Art
Housing
Language
Leisure
Space Exploration
Sport & Exercise
Work
Development
Public Transport
Youth Crime
Traditional Culture
Government Spending
Report