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2006

IELTS exam – an update from Vietnam

As you may have noticed, there is a new category in IELTS-Blog – Recent IELTS exams. You can find there everything my students are sharing about their IELTS exams : topics, tasks, stories.

This post is also about a recent IELTS – our friend D. P. Hieu from Vietnam sent an update from an Academic IELTS test he took on 29/7/06.

Listening :

Part 1: Complete a Table about the Recycling process.
Part 2: About Orientation Day.
Part 3: Foods for children.
Part 4: A lecture about a successful company run by a woman in India.

Reading :

Very, very hard.
Part 1 & 3: too complex to describe.
Part 2: About fishing in Alaska (US).

Writing :

Part 1: We were given a normal bar chart showing (and comparing) the number of employed workers in 7 sectors (trading, tourism, manufacturing, etc) in New Zealand in percentages between 1990 and 2000.

Part 2: Earlier developments in technology were more significant than the recent ones. Discuss and present your own ideas.

Speaking:

Quite a lot of questions. The test lasted for exactly 22 minutes (too long, isn’t it?). Yes, that’s true. Phew….
Examiner’s name : Peter Braigtain (or something that sounds like that).

Interview questions

  • Greeting. Please show me your ID.
  • Are you a student or do you work?
  • Where are you studying?
  • Do you like it? In what way?
  • Have you many friends? How about close friends?
  • How can you use time with your friends?
  • According to you, what is a good friend?
  • Are you spending time with your family?
  • Let’s talk about eating at home versus eating out
  • Advantages of cooking at home.
  • Please tell me about the person who cooks in your family

    • Cue Card

    Topic: Talk about your dream vehicle.

    Discussion

  • Vehicles’ effect on society in general
  • Are car ads on TV or radio effective?
  • Private vehicle VS Public Transport
  • Let’s talk about the advantages of Public Transport. What do you like best?
  • What are the disadvantages of Public Transport? What do you dislike the most?
  • Should the government play the main role in developing public transport? How can it be improved?

    • New tips by an IELTS examiner

    I am sure that after reading my previous post, you couldn’t wait for the next one. These tips were also shared by that great guy, a former IELTS examiner, from my last post.

    IELTS Speaking tips

    If your goal is Band 6, you don’t have to speak advanced English – just don’t make mistakes in the simple English.

    Don’t experiment with new words during your Speaking interview – it is not the time. Use only words and phrases you are sure about. For example, if you were reading a newspaper yesterday and saw a new word, but you’re not sure what it means or when people use it – forget about using it in IELTS.

    No one will judge you on your ideas, only on your English. If there is a movie you can’t describe (your favorite) and there’s a movie CAN describe (that you have recently seen) – choose the second one. The examiners are not interested in the truth, they just need to hear you speak.

    You have to think about what you’re going to say and HOW you are going to say it.

    Expose yourself to as much English as you can. Not just to learn new words and phrases, but also to practice until you master them.

    If you make mistake – that’s bad, if you correct yourself – it’s not that bad. Examiners don’t count your mistakes, and it makes a good impression when you show that a mistake you have made was not intentional.

    If you say “economic” instead of “economy” and make more mistakes like that – it’s a Band 5 job. If you make just a couple of such mistakes – it could be band 6. If the examiner can’t understand you – it’s a band 4.

    Band 7 people should show they can use some advanced vocabulary. Explain ideas very well, very clearly, and use not only simple words, but more advanced words, such as “economic environment”, “favorable conditions”, and so on.