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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 – January 2009 (General Training)

A very kind student, T. from Melbourne has shared the following topics and questions from the recent General Training IELTS exam:

Reading test:
In the last section the passage was about a desalination plant in USA somewhere, it was long and boring.

Writing test

Writing task 1 (letter)
Write a complaint to a manager of furniture company regarding the purchase you made and the problems you had when delivery arrived. You should describe:
-Things that you bought,
-The broken items in the furniture,
-What do you want the manager to do.

Writing task 2 (essay)
Young people nowadays tend to be less polite and respectful than in the past. What do you think are the reasons for this situation, discuss and suggest solutions.

Speaking test

The speaking was a bit tough, but I did well.

Interview
– How much do you like arts?
– Did you make any drawings or arts when you were young?
– How do people in your country spend weekends?

Cue Card
– What movie is your favorite?
– What have you learnt from it?
– How did it affect you?

Discussion
– What do you think about the future of movies?
– How important is the movie industry for the country?
– What things are important in making movies?
– Is there a movie industry in your country?

Did this update help you? Then please share your topics after your exam, email to simone[at]ielts-blog.com. Thank you!

IELTS exam in the UK – January 2009 (Academic Module)

R.S from the UK has kindly sent me this update after her Academic IELTS exam. Here’s what they had:

Listening test

The tasks were quite easy but I don’t think I answered the questions perfectly. Well, nobody’s perfect anyway 🙂

Reading test

The reading passages were difficult.
Passage 1 was about Tea Discovery
Passage 2 and 3 – I can’t remember the topics but I found them difficult, especially the last 2 parts of the test.

Writing Test

Writing Task 1 (report)
We had a bar graph about the percentage of unemployment in EU between 1996-2002 (all workers, manual and professional workers)

Writing Task 2 (essay)
Manual jobs are being done by sophisticated machines. Does the positive effects outweigh the negative effects?

Speaking test

Interview
1. Tell me your full name.
2. Are you a student or you work?
3. What is your work?
4. Do you enjoy your work?

Cue card
Topic:About Photography
1. What, when and who did the photograph?
2. Did you dislike or like the photograph you saw?

Discussion
Followup questions to part 2:
1. Is photography important to you?
2. Do you agree that it is important to take all photos?(I answered yes, even on sad days)
3. So the examiner asked if I took sad photographs? Do you practice it in your country?

Another Discussion topics:

1. Is birthday important to you? How did you celebrate birthdays?
2. Is birthday more important to kids or to adults?
3. What National Museum do you like? What museums have you visited when you were little?
4. In your country what are the common photos taken by the artist?