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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 test in Japan – July 2021 (General Training)

A big thank-you to M.K. who took IELTS in Japan recently and shared the following questions:

Writing test

Writing task 1 (a letter)

You recently flew with an airline and had a problem with the food on the plane. Write a letter to the company. In your letter

– Give the details of the flight
– Explain what the problem with the food was
– Say what the airline should do about it

Writing task 2 (an essay)

Some people think that children should be taught at school how to become good parents. Do you agree or disagree?

Speaking test

Part 1 (Interview)

– What is your full name?
– Can I see your ID?
– Where are you from?
– Do you live in an apartment?
– Can you describe your flat?
– What can you see from the window?
– Let’s talk about trees.
– Are there many trees in your area?
– Are trees important in our lives?
– What is the most popular tree in your country?

Part 2 (Cue Card)

Talk about your ideal job. Please say

– What job it is
– What skills you need for this job
– Why you would like to do this job.

Part 3 (Discussion)

– What do most children want to be when they grow up?
– Why do children nowadays want to work in the entertainment industry?
– What are the advantages and disadvantages of working from home?
– Can working from home be sustainable?

He got Band 8.5, she got 7.5, and YOU get to learn from their experience!

If there is ONE great shortcut that can help you in IELTS, it is learning from other test takers’ experience. Today we have two of our IELTS Results Competition winners, sharing what worked for them and contributed to their scores. Their experience can become yours – have a read, and then go and try their tips in action!

Nader Arvand from Iran, Band 8.5 in Academic IELTS

“My speaking practice covered common questions on your website, over quite a long period though, maybe a year or so. The videos on how to approach the questions in every part were another contributing factor that helped me organize my performance and ideas throughout the speaking test.

Reading is my everyday pastime, I am dealing with academic texts about various topics daily. This helped me a lot to manage my time, as I could skim through the main ideas and find the parts for detailed questions efficiently. By the way, how to improve READING? By doing so!

The story of my full score in the IELTS listening is more like what I did with the reading skill. Consistency in practice with reliable material, the full analysis of my mistakes, and also Simone’s tips on how to conquer different question types, all left me with no surprises on the test day.

I think other candidates would share the difficulty I had getting 7+ in writing. What are coherence and cohesion, good vocabulary, task response, and grammar? Although I had studied, and of course taken the test with no more than 6.5 in writing, for almost two years, it was not before I read Simone’s writing samples that I realized how those criteria work in practice. I would then highly recommend every IELTS candidate, at any proficiency level, to read those samples meticulously, attempt common topics, and have their writing assessed regularly to move up to the 7+ echelon.

I hope my experience could help other candidates, and once again THANK YOU!”

Chien-Yu from Taiwan, Band 7.5 in Academic IELTS.

“I got much support and practice when I used the writing correction service from IELTS-BLOG.com. I think it is a very useful and authentic correction service online.

In addition, there are a lot of free materials on your website, I read every exam update you sent via email and collected the latest questions from the exams worldwide. I used these questions to practice by myself and my Speaking teachers. If I had enough time, I would try to use your Speaking evaluation service!”

If YOU got a high score in IELTS, no matter when – this month, last month, a few months ago – we want to hear from you! We would like to extend our warm invitation to everyone who is happy with their IELTS score. Take part in our IELTS results competition today, and share your IELTS tips when you win!

Learn how to enroll here.