IELTS exam in Namibia – May 2009 (General Training)

This update about a recent IELTS exam was made possible thanks to the excellent memory of C from Namibia. Here are the questions and the topics:

Listening test

Section 1 was about a woman that was interviewing a man and asked questions about his occupation, where he stays, what does he do on weekends, how regularly he eats out, what language is he busy studying. This one was very easy, there were multiple choice (3 options) questions.

Section 2 was about diving in the British waters, what permit do you need before you can dive, what are the risks of diving there, what can you find in the water, and where can you collect information on the ships that has sunk there, how many ships has sunk, whether the water was clear or not. It was not that difficult and the questions were also multiple choice (3 options).

Section 3 was about a girl and a boy that must collect data for their project at college, where and what are everyone’s tasks. This topic was really difficult, they spoke around what they wanted to say and before you could hear, they were at the next question already and it was monkey puzzles. Wow, they went really fast.

Section 4 was about a marine biologist, why she prefers to work in a laboratory, what fish they run the tests on and what they found out about these fishes. This topic was also very hard and they went on very fast.

Reading Test

Passage 1 was about a show at the theater, the snack shop, the available parking for wheel chair ticket holders, whether they have ramps to the snack shop, and the certain days the shop is open. It was really easy, there were short questions (answer in 3 words) and True/False/Not Given questions about where you can buy tickets and the shop.

Passage 2 was about a training school, where people can take courses not shorter that 20 weeks. It was also really easy and had True/False/Not Given questions.

Passage 3 was about the benefits of scholarships in Australia.

Passage 4 was about the reasons why boys and girls don’t mix, how they associate us with animals and birds, why animals have different eating habits, dangers in nature, why men hunt in certain cultures. The questions were short answer questions and matching headings for all the paragraphs. All of the reading was a piece of cake.

Writing test

Writing Task 1
Write a business letter to your boss and explain about a course that you want to go on, why you want to do the course and what dates you planed on taking the course.

Writing Task 2
The number of people who live to the age of 100 is increasing these days. Why in your opinion do these people grow to this age, give examples. What is the effect of this on the individual person and the society?

Speaking test

I was a stress ball, the guy never smiled, and he had this cold look on him and made me very anxious. I barely looked him in the eyes, that was the worst part of all.

Interview
– What is your full name?
– Do you work or study?
– Do you like working alone or with other people?
– Why do you like working with other people?

– When was the last time you went shopping?
– Do you like to shop in small shops or in big ones?
– Why big ones?

Cue card
How do you keep healthy?

Discussion
– What can our government do to keep the people healthy?
– What are the consequences of living unhealthy?
– Why do unhealthy people not care anymore?
– Why is unhealthy living on the increase?

– Where do you go when you go out?
– What do you do for fun?
– Do you like to go out with 2 or three friends or in a big group, why?
– Why do you go out?
– When was the last time you went out?