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Simone Braverman

Simone Braverman is the founder of IELTS-Blog.com and the author of several renowned IELTS preparation books, including Ace the IELTS, Target Band 7, the High Scorer's Choice practice test series, and IELTS Success Formula. Since 2005, Simone has been committed to making IELTS preparation accessible and effective through her books and online resources. Her work has helped 100,000's of students worldwide achieve their target scores and live their dream lives. When Simone isn't working on her next IELTS book, video lesson, or coaching, she enjoys playing the guitar or rollerblading.

IELTS exam in Sydney, Australia – May 2009 (General Training)

Our friend R reports from Sydney about his General Training exam. Luckily he remembers quite a bit:

Listening test

The recording was faster than usual, I think they are making it bit hard to clear all four modules.

Section 1 was regarding Caller record card. This was an easy to do section.
Section 2 was regarding improvements to red hills. There was a map in this section, which was very confusing…I think I didn’t do well in this part.
Section 3 was regarding self access center for students. This was bit tricky, but not too bad.
Section 4 was really bad. Here I missed everything, it was the toughest one I would say. The recording was a bit fast, and additionally the vocabulary was very hard.

Reading test

Passage 1 was regarding houses in Northern Ireland. It was very easy. This section also included something about water, I guess it was another easy one.
Passage 2 – please note that syllabus has changed. Now we got something on recycling waste at work.. It was a really easy one too. But after that, it became really tough.
Passages 3 and 4 were about interview questions and Organoleptics. It was a hard one, very confusing.

Writing test

Writing Task 1 (letter)
You are a member of a club located in an old building. The manager asked you to suggest some improvements to the building. Write a letter to your manager and say
– Why the club is important to you
– What improvements should be made in the building and
– How these changes would benefits the members

Writing task 2 (essay)
In what ways the customs and traditions relating to food are changing in your society? Why these changes are happening? Are they good?

Speaking test

Interview
My examiner asked about cooking. My interest in cooking and a few more things related to the same topic.

Cue card
In the cue card, I had to describe a situation when I was caught in traffic. I had to tell, when and where it has happened? What I did during this time? And how do I feel getting into traffic?

IELTS exam in Saudi Arabia – April 2009 (Academic Module)

According to our friend X who took IELTS in Saudi Arabia their exam was identical to the one in Ireland, except for the questions in Speaking. Apparently X was asked a lot of questions in the interview, which he didn’t expect. Here is what he says:

“I was asked a lot of questions in the 1st part (maybe 4 groups of questions on different topics). I was shocked because I didn’t expect that to happen.”

Speaking test

Interview

The first group of questions was about sports.
– What sports did you play when you were a child?
– What sport do you want to learn?
– Do you think sports facilities are good enough ?

Then there was a group of questions about my studies.
– What was your major at university?
– Why did you chose it?

Then we talked about travel
– Do you like to travel
– When and where did you travel recently

Cue card
Talk about about traffic jam, you should say:
– When and where does traffic jam occur?
– What do you do while you are waiting?
– Explain what problems happen because of the delay?

Discussion
All the questions were related to traffic jam and transportation.