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Recent IELTS exams

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

IELTS exam in Melbourne, Australia – February 2009 (General Training)

This update arrived from our friend M in Melbourne, Australia. She tells us about her General Training IELTS, here goes:

Writing test

Writing task 1 (letter)
“You have organized a 90th birthday party for your relative in a hotel. Describe the details and explain why it was a successful party for elderly guests, write about one of the staff that helped you through the party. ”

Note: this topic has already appeared in the recent updates.

Writing task 2 (essay)

Discuss competitive sports advantage and disadvantage for child’s education.

Speaking test

Interview
– What is your home like?
– What advantages and disadvantages your home has.
– If you could make an improvement to your home, what would it be?
– Tell me about your family.

– Do you like travel? Why?
– Which country you want to visit next.
– Describe one of the memorable places that you have been to.
– Do you enjoy cooking?
– Do you think student should learn cooking from school?

Cue card
Tell me one of the advertisement you have seen recently:
– What was the advertisement about
– Where do you see it from
– What do you learn from it

Discussion
– Tell me why do you think advertisement always targets kids? Is it good or bad?
– If so, what do you think advertisement can improve in order to educate a consumer?
– What do you think about too much advertisement in this world? What can it do to us?

IELTS exam in Abu Dhabi, UAE – February 2009 (Academic Module)

Thanks to B. from Abu Dhabi, UAE we know this much about a recent Academic IELTS exam there:

Listening test

Section 1 was about an employee speaking over the phone to an agent, looking for a job.
Section 3 was about nomads in Africa.

Reading test

Passage 1 was about the invention of writing (a difficult one!)
Passage 2 was about bees
Passage 3 was about the invention of compass

Writing test

Writing Task 1 (report)
There was a pie chart showing the percentages of tourists in Australian resorts by countries of origin: Asian 35%, European 30%, American 18%, Other 10%, etc. There was also a table that showed their average length of stay and type of accommodation.

Writing Task 2 (essay)
The topic was about youth dropping out of school and thus presenting a problem to their society. We were asked to make suggestions on how to solve that problem.

Speaking test

In the interview there were questions about my house and the type of music that I listen to, and the cue card was about a person I am impressed with.