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All About IELTS

All there is to know about the IELTS test

News flash: IELTS breaks the 1.5 million tests record, IELTS-Blog follows closely

If you haven’t heard, IELTS has officially become the most popular high stakes English test. Quoting from the press release on IELTS.Org website,

“IELTS has cemented its position as the world’s most popular high stakes English language test with latest figures revealing a record 1.5 million tests were taken around the world in 2010.”

“North America followed by the Philippines and Hong Kong experienced the largest growth over the year, whilst China, Australia and India continue to retain their positions as the largest markets for IELTS.”

And do you know what I personally find amazing?

That out of those 1.5 million test takers, 1.089 million used IELTS-Blog.com in their exam preparation in 2010.

This basically means that out of every 4 people who took the IELTS test 3 were browsing through IELTS-Blog.com. No matter where they live, and no matter what language they speak. These folks have downloaded the unimaginable number of 9.5 million pages in 2010 and spent collectively 136,091 hours browsing through the same website you are reading now.

How did they find us? Most people just Googled “IELTS” and saw IELTS-Blog.com in the search results, others came through our Facebook page, and many just heard about us through “word of mouth”. The “how” doesn’t really matter – but the fact that we were able to help that many people fills my heart with an overwhelming joy. I can only hope that we can break this record in 2011 and help even more people achieve their dreams of a better life for themselves and their families.

I invite every reader of IELTS-Blog.com to spread the word and recommend it to their friends who are about to embark on their IELTS journey.

IELTS test in Manila, Philippines – February 2011 (General Training)

IELTS exam in Manila was shared by M from the Philippines, who remembered the writing and speaking topics.

Writing test

Writing Task 1 (a letter)

You have attended a short course training at Canada. Your friend wants to attend the same course and he/she sent you a letter to ask about it. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:

– Tell what you did in the short course.
– Explain how it has helped you.
– Tell what benefits your friend can get from it.

Writing Task 2 (an essay)

Older people often say that their life was better in the past than it is now. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Speaking test

Interview

– Can I see your ID?
– What is your full name?
– What do you want me to call you?
– Let’s talk about your hometown. Where is it?
– What is your hometown famous for?
– Have you studied about the history of your hometown at school?
– Why do you think that students need to study their hometowns’ history at school?
– Do you like meeting people?
– What are the common places where people prefer to meet?
– What were the places where people liked to meet in the past?
– What sports did you like to play when you were a child?
– What things can children learn from playing sports?
– Would you like your future children to play sports too?

Cue Card

Talk about a job that you would like to have. Please include in your answer:

– What job would it be?
– Why do you want to have that job?
– What skills are necessary to do the job?

Discussion

– Is it easy to find a job here in your country?
– What do you think people do first to have a job?
– What are the qualities that people must have so they can be employed easily?
– What are the qualities the bosses must have so they will be followed by their employees?
– Do you think it is important for the boss and employees to have a good working relationship?
– What do you think are the common complaints of the workers?