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IELTS

Level: -

Subjects: IELTS Intro

Sunday, April 03, 2011

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Introduction

IELTS International English Language

Testing System

Academic Training Study

Programme

General Training Immigrants, work

experience

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Introduction

In general, the exam becomes harderas it progresses.

2.45 minutes

4 sections = Listening 30-40 min

Academic

Reading

60 min

Academic

Writing

60 min

Speaking 11-14 min

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Listening 4 sections, 40 questions.

30 min

Reading 3 sections, 40 questions

3 long texts

60 min

Writing 2 tasks

60 min

Speaking 3 sections

11-14 min

Academic

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Listening

30 minutes + 10 min (transferring)

4 sections 10 questions each

38-42 questions in total

Played once.

Questions become more challenging.

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Listening 1-2

Section 1-2 Social survival in anEnglish speaking country

1) conversation in a social situation

Ex: 2 friends holiday plans

2) monologue on a general subject

Ex: A short talk on healthy eating

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Listening 3-4

Section 3-4 educational or traningoriented

3) conversation between up to 4 people

Ex: 4 students discuss a topic

4) monologue

Ex: A lecture from an instructor

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Listening

There may be a variety of accents.

(UK, US, Australian, etc.)

Question types:

Multiple choice, short answers,

matching, diagram labelling

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Listening - Troubleshooting

Main Problems: Tape is played only once,

You dont have the opportunity to elicit

the answers from gestures, lips, etc.

The best way is to practice:

bbc.co.uk/radio

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Listening - Tips

Dont panic if missed. Its history, keepmoving.

Make a wild guess, never leaveunanswered.

Be careful with spelling, grammar.

Take notes and mark on the qs paper.Transfer later.

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Academic Reading

60 minutes. 38-42 questions.

3 long reading passages.

(2000-2750 words)

Passages may be from journals, books ornewspapers.

Multiple choice, short answers,completion, matching

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Academic Reading - Tips Time management is vital.

Read the instructions very carefully. T / F , 3 words not 4

Remember, texts become harder.

So, dont spend too much time on one

text. A reasonable guideline:

17 min 20 min 23 min (check your watch)

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Academic Writing

60 minutes.

2 tasks.

1) describing a graph

2) an essay

Instructions tell you the word limit /recommended time for questions.

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Task 1

Diagram a table of some sort

Present information in your ownwords.

At least 150 words. 20 minutesrecommended.

Task 1 is less important in terms ofoverall writing mark, yet we dont write

as we please.

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Task 1-Grading We get a mark from 1-9.

1) Task Fulfillment

(have you answered the question?)

2) Coherence / Cohesion

Coherence : How your writing fits together.

Content / ideas flow logically?

Cohesion : Reader understands what youare saying.

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Task 1 I cried although I was unhappy.

(coherence and vocab error)

I cried because I was unhappy.

3) Vocabulary usage

4) Sentence Structure (Grammar)

*Vocab and s.s. focuses on the use of words.Dont worry too much about grammar becauseIELTS focuses on communication, not

mechanic English.

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Writing Task 1 -Tips

Be careful with figures.

It costs 1000. ? Dollars, euro?

Begin like this:

In this reportIm going to describe 2graphs. The first one is about the

exceptional rise in unemployementlevels, while the second one is aboutthe amount of reported crime due tounemployement in the last 5 years.

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Writing Task 1 - Tips We dont have to make comments, we

can just describe the trends.

We must always have some numerical

data.

Expressions of movements in a line.

(Imp.)

Simply end like this:

This ends my report.

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Bar Charts

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Serie 1

Serie 2Serie 3

* If there are too many bars, group them.

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Pie ChartsSales

1st quarter

2nd quarter

3rd quarter

4th quarter

*Segment Values / usually in %

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Tables

Price Export Import

x y z

x1 y1 z1

x2 y2 z2

x3 y3 z3

x4 y4 z4

*These can be tricky, most of the time we

should choose the most significiantinformation.

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Line Graphs

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 4

Title

Title

Serie 1

Serie 2Serie 3

*Describe the movement line / trend.

*If there are too many lines, just describe the

trend.

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Academic Writing - Task 2

A short essay.

Recommended time: 40 min

At least 250 words. lose points if less.

The topic: discussion of a subject of generalinterest.

Maybe: present youropinion, give thesolution to a problem, compare differentideas.

This part is more important in terms of

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Task 2 - Marking

From 1-9. (Combined with Task 1)

1) Arguments / Ideas and Evidence

1. Content of your essay

how good areyour ideas

2. Evidence, very imp.We should bring

in real evidence.

/terrorism is a major problem in thisprovince because 90 people lost their

lives. /

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Task 2-Marking 2) Communication Quality

Conveying your ideas how you areunderstood

3) Vocab / Sentence Structure

Choice of words, expressions, phrasals,

grammar (not too much, again, only 1/3)

5-paragraph essay ( 1intro, 3 body, 1conc.)

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Tips Timing: 20 / 40 is good.

We are writing a formal academic essayfor teachers.

We should formulate and develop ourarguments, opinions with properevidence.

We should persuade the reader.

Dont use numbered paragraphs, write atleast 250 words.

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Tips

Planning: very important.

Clusters, spider diagrams, etc.

Structure: Intro, body, conclusion.

Sample Question:

Do you believe that capitalpunishment should be an option indealing with notorious crimes? Orshould there be alternative

unishments?

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Sample - Task 2

Intro:What cp is. I dont believe in it, alternatives.

Body:

Supports: 1) inhumane2) we may be wrong

3) prisons full

4) alternatives

Conclusion:

Repeat the main idea in the intro.

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Speaking Shortest section. (11-14 min)

3 parts:

Part 1: 4-5 minutes

Introductory your name, city, job, etc.

Part 2: 3-4 miutes

Monologue : pick a card and talk about it for 2

minutes. 1 minute preparation. You can andshould take notes.

Finally, there may be 1-2 brief questions by theexaminer.

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Speaking Part 3: 4-5 minutes

Detailed version of Part 2. More abstract, more creative questions.

Listen carefully. Expexted to give more

complex answers.

Overall, topics are chosen from general,easy subjects.

Open Questions: Why do you like tennis? Not Closed Questions: Do you like tennis?

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Speaking - Marking

4 areas:

Fluency / Coherence Easy, smooth,flowing / how well do you understand?

Lexical Resource words in right place

Grammatical Range richness / only 1 /4

Accuracy and Pronounciation how

clearly you speak