IELTS test format - Academic writing Task 1

There are 2 writing tasks for the Academic and General tests. Total time is 60 minutes.

For the Academic IELTS exam, writing task 1 is 20 minutes and you have to write 150 words. The minimum you should aim to write is 140 to a maximum of 175 words.

You are given a table, graph, picture or some kind of visual information in which you need to write a report explaining the details into written form. Your ideas and explanations must be coherent and cohesive as you will be marked on these. Also grammar, vocabulary and most importantly if you have answered the question are taken into consideration in your writing.
Have a look at the following Task 1 for an idea.

The charts below show the number of Japanese tourists travelling abroad between 1985 and 1995 and Australia’s share of the Japanese tourist market.

Write a report for a university lecturer describing the information shown below.

You should write at least 150 words.

Taken from Cambridge IELTS 3, Examination Papers from University of Cambridge ESOL examinations, CUP, Cambridge, UK, 2002.

When writing your essay keep these questions in mind.

Did you understand the question?
Does your essay make sense?
Are there any spelling mistakes?
Is it grammatically correct?
Are you answering the question?
Does the essay flow from one point to another?

For writing task 1, use only the information that is provided - DO NOT add any other information that is not contained within the pictures / graphs. Analyse the graph(s) and provide a descriptive interpretation of your argument. There is no right or wrong answer as long as your answer is coherent and cohesive.

IELTS test format - Academic Reading

The second part of the test is the reading section. The reading section is divided into 3 parts; 60 minutes to complete the section and 40 questions. This gives you 20 minutes per reading passage.

You have between 1500 and 2500 words in total to read and answer the questions. If we average each reading passage there are 666 words to read and answer the questions in 20 minutes.

Let's break this down: You have approximately 13 questions to answer per reading passage; 666 words average to read giving you around 1 minute and 5 seconds to read, understand and answer the question.

The first reading passage is relatively easy and progressively getting more difficult, although it is not necessarily the case that the first reading passage maybe easier.

The reading passages are usually on various topics and at times the vocabulary will be very topic specific and technical. Do not worry about this, this is the whole idea of the test. Can you extract the information required of you to answer the questions.

The best thing to do is to go into a habit of reading various types of articles, books, news, magazines etc.

I will give further details on skimming and scanning in a later post. Watch this space!!!

LEGAL ENGLISH - Intellectual Property

Intellectual property is the common name given to intangible assets (defined as non-monetary assets that cannot be seen, touched or phyically measured) which is derived from creativity. For instance, a music cd may exist physically the rights of the composer of that album do not. This is now classified as intangible.

Intellectual property includes patents, trademarks, industrial design, confidential information and copyright. A short summary will be provided on each type of intellectual property in due course.

Suggestions

If you have any suggestions on what you would like to see posted here please feel free to let me know either on this blog or via email: mo_gulam@hotmail.com

Economics and Financial English

WILL BE UPDATED!!!

PLEASE BE PATIENT!!!

TECHNICAL ENGLISH

WILL BE UPDATED SOON!!!

PLEASE BE PATIENT WITH ME, THANKS

PRONUNCIATION

WILL BE UPDATED SOON!!!

IELTS test format - Listening

The IELTS test format is in 4 sections:

First - listening
Second - reading
Third - writing
Fourth - speaking

Let's start with the listening. For the academic and general tests the listening sections are the same or similar.

There are 4 sections, 40 questions, 30 minutes to answer the questions and 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. That gives you about 0.75 minutes to answer each question.

The first section is usually the easiest set in a social context between 2 speakers. Tip: really know your alphabet and your numbers - telephone numbers. If a name, address or anything like is spelt out and your misspell the word you will lose points. For Turkish takers of the exam learn the following letters properly: a, e, i, / c, s / g, j / u, y / v, w.

Section 2 is usually one person speaking or it could be a radio interview format so it will be a question / answer format or a presentation. This is also set in a non-academic / social situation. A little bit more difficult than section 1 but not that much.

Section 3 is up to 4 speakers usually a lecturer with students discussing a lecture, problem solving. This section is not really difficult, but you have to keep level-headed due to the number of speakers.

Section 4 (I'm not going to lie here) but as you may have guessed the most difficult of the 4 sections. In this part there is only one speaker but it is a lecturer giving a lecture on a particular subject. One of the things I have to say here is not to be petrified by the topic but to focus on the questions and to answer the question.

Get in the habit of listening first of all watching series, films, a lot of students have commented that Lost is probably one of the best series to watch for learning as the actors tend to speak slower and clearer. And once you start to feel more relaxed with listening start listening to radio programs and podcasts.

IELTS

For those of you who are planning to take the IELTS exam but don't really know what it's about. Here's a brief overview:

IELTS stands for: International English Language Testing System

IELTS is administered by: the British Council; IDP: IELTS Australia and the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations.

Approximately 6000 institutions worldwide recognise the exam for education, immigration and professional accreditation.

The IELTS test score is valid for 2 years.

Various companies in Istanbul encourage their staff to take the IELTS exam every 2 - 3 years.

Around 3000 American universities and organisations accept the IELTS exam.

The IELTS exam has 2 parts to the exams: Academic and General.

The Academic exam is for students who would like to enrol at universities and further education establishments. Generally, for a Master's program the accepted score is 6.5 for the majority of universities worldwide but you will need to check with the respective university's website as some, universities require 7.0 such as Bogazici University in Istanbul.

The General exam is usually for people who would like to immigrate or go for work experience to countries like Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK. Some companies in Istanbul accept the General exam opposed to the Academic exam.

Both the Academic and General exam formats are the same and are divided into 4 sections:

Listening
Reading
Writing
Speaking

The listening, reading and writing sections are generally held on one day with the speaking component held on a different day. On occasion it has been known that all four components have been held on the same day.

Past Real Conditional / Past Unreal Conditional

Using the words in brackets, complete the text below with the appropriate conditional form.

Claire: Eliza, have you ever had a teacher who changed your life or influenced you greatly?

Eliza: Yes. But that teacher influenced me in a very negative way. I have always had problems with maths, and I think it comes from my seventh grade maths teacher, Mr. Harrison. He thought girls couldn't do maths. When any of the girls (ask) _____________a question, he always (sigh) ______________and (say) _____________, "Girls can't do maths. It's a well-known fact." When a boy (ask) ________________a question, he (smile) _________________and (ask) ___________________for his answer.

Claire: That's terrible! Your teacher actually said that to you?

Eliza: Yes. If he ever did let me answer a question, and I actually got it right, he always (say) _________________that it was a lucky guess.

Claire: Your parents (should, do) _________________something about him. They (could, go) ________________to the principle of the school and complained about the way Mr. Harrison treated the girls. If you (be) _______________________my child, I (demand) _________________________that such an irresponsible teacher be sacked.

Eliza: You're right! If somebody (force) _______________Mr. Harrison to treat the children equally, I (become) ________________more confident in maths. His behaviour (might, affect) _________________every girl in that class.

Claire: It might have. I'm glad my children don't have teachers like that!