Tips by an IELTS examiner

I was fortunate to have met a very special person, a former IELTS examiner. He sent me an email and it was filled with GREAT tips, real insider information and, of course, I wasn’t going to keep all of that to myself :).

IELTS Writing tips

It is better to write in regular, not very sophisticated English, than to use phrases or structures you don’t fully understand.

If you need Band 6 – no need for complex sentence structure. If your goal is Band 7 – then show advanced sentence structure, language and vocabulary.

Don’t write more than 260-265 words in IELTS Writing 2 task. Why? Not because you will get a lower mark, but because of these 2 reasons:

1) It takes more time
2) More words = more mistakes

If you are told to cover specific points in your essay/letter – cover every point, examiners do actually count them.

Don’t overuse connecting words (like However, Furthermore, Moreover, etc) – examiners are watching for you to do that.

IELTS Speaking – interview tips

Speak until they stop you, don’t just answer the question and stop. Display you best English. Behave as if it was a driving test – keep going straight until told to turn right, left or park.

It is quite possible that you have to speak about something you have never heard of, or have no opinion of. If you don’t know the subject – tell the examiner immediately, so he could ask you another question. If you don’t tell him and start trying to speak, he might think that it is not a knowledge problem, but a language problem.