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Recent IELTS exams

Real students tell about their recent IELTS exams: IELTS questions, topics, tasks, answers.

IELTS test in Poland – March 2011 (Academic Module)

Our friend M from Poland shared a recent IELTS exam below, with a comment “I used many tips from your blog – it’s incredible how helpful your ideas are! I’m really grateful!”.

Listening test

Section 1. We heard a recorded message that sounded like an answering machine, located in some sort of Public Transport Museum (it was mostly about trains). The booklet had various questions a person could ask regarding a museum, such as ticket prices, what exhibitions are on, etc.

Section 2. An interview with a young man, who was describing his experience when he found his first job.

Sections 3 and 4. Don’t remember.

Reading test

Passage 1. The text was about lost civilizations – why they failed and what should we do differently to survive. There were also some success stories, similar to Japan’s (how they managed to survive only because of cooperation between different classes).

Passage 2. A description of a new technology to produce power – tidal power.

Passage 3. Don’t remember.

Writing test

Writing task 1 (a report)

We were given a table and a line chart describing trends in employment in a certain country. The chart was showing an alarming trend – there were less and less people willing to work over 40 hours a week, but the number of people working on average 40 hours or less was growing. Also, the table contained information regarding the number of public holidays.

Writing task 2 (an essay)

The big cities are constantly growing. Why is this happening, and what problems does it bring? What can be done to improve people’s lives?

IELTS test in Tehran, Iran – March 2011 (Academic Module)

The following IELTS exam was shared by our kind friend M who recently took her IELTS test in Iran.

Listening test

Section 1. A phone conversation about a children’s complex and its facilities, prices and needs.
Questions: filling in blanks.

Section 2 and 3. Don’t remember.

Section 4. About the library of Alexander, the way they gathered books, and people who were involved in renovating it.
Questions: multiple choice, information matching (match a person to an action, 5 out of 7-8 names).

Reading test

Passage 1. About the history of Homeopathy and its founder Samuel Heinemann, the way of cure and so on.
Questions: True/False/Not Given, headings matching, information matching (statements to paragraphs).

Passage 2. About a lake and the way scientists found out about its history of climate during the last thousand years via the sediment settled at the bottom.
Questions: diagram labeling, True/False/Not Given.

Passage 3. An article about language, it was divided into basic language that was used by apes and their babies which covers just basic communication and the whole language that was just used by human beings, including all emotions, logic, discussion and so on.
Questions: multiple choice, headings matching.

Writing test

Writing task 1 (a report)

We had a table showing percentage of people in 5 countries who lived in cities (urban areas) in 2001, 2005, 2010 and a projection for 2020.

Writing task 2 (an essay)

Some people think that government should support artists (poets, musicians) financially, other argue that money should be spent on other, more important, issues. Do you agree or disagree?

Speaking test

Interview

– Which city do you live in?
– Do you go out often?
– Why do young people spend most of their time outside?

Cue Card

Talk about books that you like to read. Please say

– What kind of books do you read (scientific, novels, poems and so on)?
– Why do you like this kind of books?
– Do you suggest these books to others?

Discussion

– Is reading important? Why?
– What is the role of the Internet on our generation’s lifestyle?