IELTS with Fiona: a comprehensive guide to IELTS

This listening about a research project contains several examples of ‘academic’ language (language related to studying at university) that you need to understand Listening Part 3.

It's about a volcanic eruption, and is adapted from a Cambridge Past Paper (Book 18).

Get the full lesson notes and video in the Bronze Membership on my website ieltsetc.comand the Listening Course in the Members Academy.

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This Part 4 Listening is all about moving elephants.

In the lesson you'll learn about:

using word prompts to keep your place using intonation and sentence stress to identify answers using spelling patterns and plurals to get the right answers

The full transcript is available in the Bronze Membership on my website.

https://ieltsetc.com/2023/10/ielts-listening-part-4-keeping-up-with-the-speaker/

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This is a relatively easy Passage 2 from a Cambridge Past Paper, with 3 sets of questions [Matching Information, Categorising and Gapfill].

https://ieltsetc.com/2023/10/ielts-reading-forest-management/

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This Listening Part 4 about a writer called Victor Hugo is taken from the new Practice Book 18.

In the podcast you'll learn

why this particular test is more difficult than usual how reference words give you the answer (if you can remember what they refer to) techniques for predicting and retaining information common gapfill answers and how they're related to pronunciation

Get the full video, tapescript and tips in the Members Academy Listening Course with Members bonus features for 12 months.

ieltsetc.com/courses

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This is a Passage 3 review about a book about The Birth and Growth of Manhattan's Skyscrapers.

Seriously, I don't expect anyone to listen to this for more than 5 minutes.

If you've got the text in front of you, it might help, but not much.

All I can do is give you strategy tips for this one because trying to explain the answers is painful.

The only good thing about this text is that everything goes in COMPLETE ORDER and we know where everything is because it goes from 'Chapter 1' to 'Chapter 10'.

Actually the Yes, No, Not Given questions are pretty ok too.

But the last Gapfill Summary with Answers is a nightmare.

Good luck with it!

All the best

Fiona from IELTS with Fiona

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Farming and agriculture is my Number 1 Vocabulary topic for IELTS, and I noticed that most of the readings in this new Cambridge Practice Test Book (18) are related either to the environment (Week 1 of my vocab course) or to cities/architecture/buildings (Week 2 in my Vocabulary course - the Man-Made Environment).

So make sure you re-read this text for the useful vocabulary e.g. sustainable, organic, intensive farming.

Members: the video version of this podcast with pdf download is now available for you to watch.

Get my Members Academy Reading package (2 full courses plus all the new lessons over 12 months, plus Members Academy benefits - Private blog, live zoom meetings, private community, daily tips, Writing coaching lessons etc).

As I add more materials and benefits, the price will only increase, so join sooner rather than later so you can get the most of the resources before your test.

https://ieltsetc.com/courses

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This is a pretty straighforward Academic Part 2 about Stadiums.

In this podcast we'll go through 3 question types (Matching Statements, Gapfill Summary and Choosing from a list.)

Get more in the Members Academy https://ieltsetc.com/courses.

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I guarantee that you can do this in under 10 minutes if you follow my system.

Find the Reading online and do it yourself before you listen.

Learn more about my IELTS Reading techniques with TWO courses in the Members Academy.

ieltsetc.com/courses

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Get the full blog with audio on my website:

https://ieltsetc.com/2023/04/ielts-listening-tips-complete-guide/

In this lesson, I examine the MACRO and MICRO skills you need to get all of the answers right in this Section 2 IELTS Listening about a holiday company.

For example:

Background knowledge (what you already know about holiday companies, tour itineraries, travelling/place names in the UK etc etc) Vocabulary (phrasal verbs, synonyms, numbers) Spelling (ea words, al/ol words) Grammar (comparisons, 'used to', perfect modals for guessing) Accents (Northern English 'u') Pronunciation features (meet you) Linking (However...) Signalling (What we do is...) Predicting Remembering

The Members Academyteaches all of these skills in a variety of easy-to-follow short courses with quick video guides and plenty of practice.

Join todayhttps://ieltsetc.com/courses

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There are many free online IELTS Writing checkers available, and they can be useful when you’re starting your IELTS preparation.

Online writing checkers such as Grammarly can give you simple feedback on your grammar, vocabulary and linking words.

There are more sophisticated versions available that claim they can assess your IELTS writing using the Band Criteria, and give you a grade and feedback in a matter of seconds.

But how accurate and reliable are they?

I tested a few and here are my results.

The one I mention in the podcast is testpredikt.com.

Check out my blog here:

⁠https://ieltsetc.com/2023/03/best-online-ielts-writing-checker/

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[Skip the 5-minute introduction if you want to just get to the question types!]

Different websites have different ways of categorising IELTS Reading Question types.

See my latest blog for all the details:

https://ieltsetc.com/2023/03/how-many-ielts-reading-question-types/

In my online courses, I follow the official IELTS.org guidelines, and I have simplified the types so that you focus more on developing your reading skills. Developing good reading skills will enable you to answer all question types.

The 3 basic categories are:

Matching things (headings, statements, features, sentence endings, dates, people, choosing from a list) Filling in gaps (summaries, notes, tables, flowcharts, sentences, diagrams) Choosing from a list(Multiple Choice, True, False, Not Given and Yes, No, Not Given)

In this blog, I examine the official 11 Question Types as outlined on IELTS.org and explain how other teachers and websites might label them.

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The best thing about the IELTS Test is that you cannot fail it. The test simply takes a ‘snapshot’ of your current level of English.

So if you’ve suddenly realised that you need to take the test in 10 days don’t panic too much. Consider it a ‘practice run’.

10 days is just enough time to familiarise yourself with the test requirements so you can give yourself the best chance of getting the best indicator of your overall ability.

Here’s what I would do in the next 10 days.

Read the blog here

https://ieltsetc.com/2023/02/how-to-prepare-for-ielts-in-10-days/

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There are 7 key features of fast speech and pronunciation that you need to develop a better understanding of in order to increase your Listening Score:

Features of connected speech (dropping sounds, adding sounds, changing sounds, weak sounds and twin sounds). Word boundaries Homophones Sounds that are different or don’t exist in your language Accents and rhoticity (‘r’) Minimal pairs Consonant Clusters

Read the full blog here.

https://ieltsetc.com/2023/02/ielts-pronunciation-tips-listening-test/

Buy theworkbook guide here:

https://payhip.com/b/HzVmy

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In this episode, I'll take you through one of my Guided Readings - it's an Academic Passage 3 from Book 17 and, unusually, it's a book review.

Follow my Advent Challenge on my website:

https://ieltsetc.com/ielts-advent-adventure/

Join the Members Academy:

https://ieltsetc.com/courses

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Can you guess the answers to the gapfill before you listen? In this episode I talk you through a Passage 4 where I think about 60% of the answers are guessable!

Thinking of becoming a Member of my Academy?

Find out more on my website:

ieltsetc.com/courses

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I've spoken a lot about Mindset for IELTS in 2 earlier blogs:

1. How to train your mindset for IELTS

https://ieltsetc.com/how-to-train-your-mindset-for-ielts/

2. How to stop making excuses and start making progress

https://ieltsetc.com/2020/11/improve-ielts-score/

In this (rather long) podcast I talk about asking SMARTER questions to get smarter answers.

S = Specific (Why, What, Why, When, Where?)

M = Measurable (How much? How many?)

A = Achievable

R = Realistic

T = Time-bound

E = Evaluate

R = Revise

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In this podcast, you'll practice listening for the tricks in Multiple Choice Questions.

This is yet another Listening based on the topic of farming, and it includes many of the keywords on my IELTS planner list Day 1 (Agriculture), for example:

- breed

- bred/reared

- livestock

- to increase production

- domesticated animals

- controlling and eradicating those diseases

Add these to your wordlist and check out the other lessons related to agriculture on my website https://ieltsetc.com.

Get the full version of this Listening Part 3 lesson in theMembers Academy.

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This Reading will also help your Task 2 Writing.

Watch this quick video to see why:

https://app.getbeamer.com/ieltswithfiona/en/week-2-september-challenge-reading-about-farming

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In today's September Challenge, we're reviewing Task 2 essays, starting with how to write a good Introduction.

Check out the blog I refer to here (with a model essay):

https://ieltsetc.com/2021/03/ielts-band-9-sample-essay-charity/

and learn more about Introductions here:

https://ieltsetc.com/2020/05/ielts-writing-task-2-how-to-write-an-introduction/

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Day 3 of the September IELTS Planner Challenge is all about describing changes in Writing Task 1.

See the graph and video here.

https://app.getbeamer.com/ieltswithfiona/en/september-challenge-day-3-writing-task-1

Or just go to my Daily Tips Day 3 on ieltsetc.com

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Day 2 of the September 2022 Challenge.

This is a Part 1 but full of TRICKS!

Get the full video version in the Members Academy.

Join the challenge on my website: www.ieltsetc.com(find it in the Daily Tips section)

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This is Day 1 of my free IELTS September Challenge 2022.

Follow the challenge every day on my website (What's new - daily tips):

https://app.getbeamer.com/ieltswithfiona/en/september-challenge-day-1-reading-the-best-hiking-boots

Get your FREE copy of the planner and work through it with me:

https://payhip.com/b/7OZlV

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This is a fascinating Section 3 General Training Reading text about the origins of women's football and why it disappeared for 50 years.

Practice  Multiple Choice Questions, Matching Information and Gapfill Summary.

Get the full video version with all of the other General Training Courses in the Members Academy:

https://members.ieltsetc.com/academy

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Here's my roundup of daily tips from February. Watch the video version on YouTube with this link:

https://youtu.be/zZ0TLDv0qxc

In the podcast we'll review:  

- Idioms for IELTS Speaking ('food for thought' 'peckish' 'flagging')  - Formal language ('a high risk of failure')  - How to use inversion (Rarely I have? Or Rarely have I?)  - Tech tools to help you practise Speaking  - Collocations with sports (do, go, play or practise?)  - Can or Should? - Task 1 Graphs: "Temperature AVERAGED 25 degrees")  - Portmanteau terms: breakfast + lunch = ?  - 20 WRONG ways to say 'Although' - Pass a test? Take a test? Sit a test?   - What are 'Mustakes'? - Tuesday, Toosday or Chewsday?  - "It's not everyone's cup of tea"  - IELTS Vocabulary: Physical Health

Read the new blog about vocabulary lists for IELTS here:

https://ieltsetc.com/2022/05/ielts-vocabulary-lists/

Get all the daily tips here:

https://app.getbeamer.com/ieltswithfiona/en

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Here's my round-up of the weekly tips that you can find on my website (ieltsetc.com). 

This podcast is also on YouTube/fionawattam:

https://youtu.be/TNcyL63yWbI

https://app.getbeamer.com/ieltswithfiona/en 

In this episode we look at my daily tips from January 19th: 

- when to use the contraction 's' instead of 'is' (Pronunciation)  

- how to start a letter and why you shouldn't use 'maam' (GT Letter Writing) 

- 'claptrap' advice: "elucidate" (Academic Task 1) 

- when to use "Having said that" (Academic Task 2) - when to use 'triple' or 'treble' (Academic Task 1)

- feedback or feedbacks? (Grammar) 

- useful collocations with 'effect' (Vocabulary)

- phrasal verb: "I suppose I'll have to make do with it" (Vocabulary) 

- Spoonerisms (Collocations)

#ielts #ieltstips #ieltspreparation

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In today's podcast you'll review my daily tips from my annual advent challenge which you can find on my website under "What's New"and https://ieltsetc.com/ielts-advent-adventure/

Day 9: "It's not worth + ing" Day 10: Pronunciation - Juncture e.g. Ice-cream/I scream, That stuff/That's tough Day 11: Factor vs reason vs cause Day 12: Linking devices - the present participle Day 13: Modals of deduction (must) Day 14: Not only but also Day 15: Mustn't vs Don't have to  Day 16: Academic Phrasal Verbs Day 17: The grammar of very polite questions Day 18: rise vs raise Day 19: suggest + ing Day 20: Tense review Day 21: damage vs damages Day 22: as well as Day 23: whereby Day 24: a free gift for you

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In this episode I catch up with the daily tips that you can find on my website under "What's new".

This episode covers:

Pronunciation of phrasal nouns vs phrasal verbs (to give someone the go-ahead) The meaning of 'a shambles = shambolic' The real meaning of 'actually' The use of 'tripling' (reduce, reuse, recycle) Inversion (Never have I ever...) 'comfortable' gapfill in the Listening test "You do the math" (UK = maths) can vs be able to despite due to The closer you get, the slower I go (car sticker) Even if Few people vs a few people Good at/in Hyphens

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This is my weekly round-up of tips from the "What's New" tab on my free website: ieltsetc.com

In this episode we look at

Pronunciation mazes by Matt Hancock (the 'ou' and 'ow' sounds and spelling), What's the opposite of 'must'?, "It's not worth it", Listening tricks and synonyms "at least" and "a minimum of", Is it ok to use "etc" in formal writing?, Modal verb meanings e.g"That should be ok", fifTEEN versus FIFty (15/50) in the listening test, A GREENhouse vs a green HOUSE (word stress), How important is the introductionin IELTS Writing Task 2?

If you have a question that you'd like me to answer in the Daily Tips, please get in touch.

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That's a tough question. It's so hard for anyone to measure the quality and effectiveness of an IELTS course objectively unless they've taken all of the IELTS courses available!

So here's a quick checklist of things to look for in a course. Go to the blog to download the checklist; I designed it to help you make an informed decision. 

https://ieltsetc.com/2021/11/best-online-ielts-course/

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I'm trying out a new way of sharing my tips and advice for IELTS.

If you go to the 'What's new' tab on my website,you'll find a daily tip:

https://app.getbeamer.com/ieltswithfiona/en

You can leave a comment there and ask questions if you need help or if you have any requests.

In this podcast I cover the last 7 days of tips:

Should I appeal my IELTS score? https://app.getbeamer.com/ieltswithfiona/en/daily-tip-should-i-appeal-my-ielts-score Third Conditional and 'be able to'https://app.getbeamer.com/ieltswithfiona/en/daily-tip-can-vs-be-able-to 'Just shy of'Academic Task 1 https://app.getbeamer.com/ieltswithfiona/en/daily-tip-just-shy-of An elderly person you admire https://app.getbeamer.com/ieltswithfiona/en/daily-tip-no-crying- Bring back the big cats https://app.getbeamer.com/ieltswithfiona/en/daily-tip-maymight-have-been Polite requests https://app.getbeamer.com/ieltswithfiona/en/daily-tip-asking-for-help-polite-requests Phrasal verbs with 'with' (accompany = go with) https://app.getbeamer.com/ieltswithfiona/en/daily-tip-accompany --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ieltsetc/message

Have you ever been ripped off, conned, scammed, tricked, duped or just misled when buying an online IELTS course?

In this blog and podcast, I've outlined the 10 'red flags' that you need to know about before you decide which course provider to go with.

Here are are some common tactics that you may not even notice, and they range from being simply 'misleading' to illegal.

For more information and examples that I've collected over 5 years, head to my blog, where you might like to leave a comment.

https://ieltsetc.com/2021/09/read-this-before-you-buy-an-online-ielts-course/

The 10 sales tactics that might trick you into panic-buying an online course.

1. "The course is full" (but suddenly a place became available - buy it quickly before it goes!)

2. "Only 2 spots left!" (in an email to thousands of people, 2 weeks before the course starts)

3. "Totaly value $1999 - buy today for $9.99" (Meaning: it is only worth $9.99)

4. "Normal price $99 - today only $79" (Permanent discount - illegal in some countries)

5. "The world's most successful course" (Says who?)

6. "Lifetime access" (so you can buy it and forget about it)

7. "Unlimited Speaking and Writing" (you mean 24/7? Just write and speak all day?)

8. Affiliate Marketing

9. Testimonials

10. Other red flags - bad spelling and grammar, plagiarism from other sites, stolen watermarked images, Click Funnels.

If someone emails you to tell you that they could charge hundreds of dollars for their time, but they want to help you for free, there are red flags all over the place. Walk away. Find someone that you know, like and TRUST.

Big tutoring companies can afford to lose you because there are plenty more people who will fall for false advertising.

Maybe it's time to consider the smaller business who focus their time on developing quality courses rather than scamming their students.

End of rant.

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The Members Academy Reading Bootcamp started today (you can still join - it's just $28 and includes 28 days of both live and recorded lessons). This week's focus is on True False Not Given questions, so here's a taster of today's lesson.

This is an Academic Passage 1 about a sculptor called Henry Moore.

I try to get my students to make educated guesses about TFNG questions by the way they're written, and this text is a perfect example of how you can follow a hunch to get the right answer pretty quickly and save time. For example

NOT GIVEN: turn the statement into a question. If you can’t answer it, it’s NOT GIVEN. NO: there is usually an opposite word (antonym) e.g. similar – different; first – last YES: the answer is usually a synonym or paraphrase e.g complied = did what his father wanted him to do There is a balance in the number of True, False, Not Given (fewer NG). Don’t OVER-THINK the answer. e.g. Q7 doesn’t exactly say ‘more popular’ but it means the same thing.

I also teach my students to quickly divide the text according to the questions, so that they don't waste any time looking in the wrong place. This text is another perfect example of that.

The Bootcamp will run until the end of September, so if you're struggling to get your Reading Score up, come and join us.

https://members.ieltsetc.com/register/ielts-reading-skills-course/

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This is an Academic Passage 3 Part 3 (Book 16), so it's tough.

In this lesson we'll look at how the language that you learn for Task 2 will help you understand the Reading, and how Reading academic texts like this will help you improve your Writing.

Some of the points I mention include:

-Word formation

https://ieltsetc.com/2020/06/word-formation/

-The 'marc' system for pie charts(Makes up, accounts for, represents, consists of)

https://youtu.be/bsBKQPpVs5g

- Willing to vs want

https://ieltsetc.com/2021/02/willing/

-Hedging

https://ieltsetc.com/2020/12/hedging-in-academic-writing/

- Biased, subjective (Task 2 problems)

https://ieltsetc.com/2021/05/ielts-writing-feedback-40-words/

-How to talk about cause and effect

https://ieltsetc.com/2018/07/free-public-transport/

-The Language of effect

https://youtu.be/Eo8y8ygcgcI

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Are you using the right idiom in the right place with the right person and the right pronunciation?

To use an idiom correctly there are so many factors that you have to take into account, for example

who uses this idiom (age, gender, profession, location)? when do they use this idiom? (context) why do they choose to use this idiom (humour, anger, sarcasm, style)? how often do people use this idiom (once in a blue moon?)

In my latest blog, I talk about 3 key factors to help you use idioms correctly:

1. Accuracy

2. Appropriacy

3. Pronunciation

Find out more on my blog.

https://ieltsetc.com/2021/08/how-to-use-idioms-in-ielts/

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This episode is a Part 4 Listening about an ancient philosophy called Stoicism (don't worry if you've never heard of it - the Listening will explain everything). It's a gapfill summary (one word only) and we also discuss:

DESPITE (+ noun or + ing verb or + the fact that) US and UK spellings (do they matter in IELTS?) how my 2-minute Pronunciation feedback can fix a common problem related to your first language (in this case, Spanish).

Review the grammar of 'despite' and 'in spite of' on my blog.

https://ieltsetc.com/2020/12/despite/

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This passage 2 Academic IELTS Reading is a problem-solution structure.

The problem: air-conditioning units generate 'spectacular and largely unnecessary energy use and carbon emissions'. The solution: use natural ventilation, as they did in 19th-century hospitals.

This IELTS Reading is packed full of useful vocab like 'to squander energy' (= to waste) and 'it uses a FRACTION of the electricity/at a FRACTION of the energy cost' (=a small or tiny part, amount, or proportion of something).

There were also some interesting uses of nouns as adjectives (wards in hospitals = hospital wards) - see my blog about this useful IELTS topic here:

https://ieltsetc.com/2021/06/nouns-as-adjectives/

and adjectives as nouns ('the prosperous' = the people who are prosperous and 'the public').

Get all my reading tips and advice on my website:

https://ieltsetc.com/ielts-reading/

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This is a Section 4 Listening. I chose this Listening in order to show you why hyphens are NOT important in Listening gap-fill summaries.

There are 3 main types of words in gapfill summaries:

1) Words ending with a suffix like '-tion' or '-sion'

2) Commodities or materials like wool, gold, tea or sugar.

3) Irregular words like plurals ending in y/ies or irregular word forms like poor/poverty.

Get the full article about hyphens on my blog:

https://ieltsetc.com/2021/06/how-to-use-hyphens-in-ielts/

Learn more about Irregular Word Forms on my blog:

https://ieltsetc.com/2020/06/word-formation/

Learn more about the types of Listening gapfill AND the Pronunciation errors that affect your listening in theMembers Academy:

www.members.ieltsetc.com/academy/

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When you get IELTS Writing feedback from your teacher, you should be able to see why you are not achieving your desired score.

But this feedback is only useful if you understand exactlywhat the teacher is talking about when they are pointing out areas you need to work on.

Writing Feedback about LANGUAGE is usually easy to understand – most people know the language related to grammar (e.g. wrong tense, article missing, third person -s), spelling and punctuation.

But Writing feedback related toCONTENTandacademic STYLE is more difficult, especially if you are not familiar with the demands of academic writing. You need to have a good understanding of the terms that the teacher is using so that you can make the necessary changes.

Here is a ‘glossary of terms’ that I use regularly in my IELTS Writing Feedback Sessions in the Members Academy.

https://ieltsetc.com/2021/05/ielts-writing-feedback-40-words/

See also

How to make your writing more formal for Task 2:

https://ieltsetc.com/2020/11/ielts-formal-writing/

IELTS Task 2 Structures that strengthen your argument:

https://ieltsetc.com/2018/06/structure-strengthens-argument/

How to use 'hedging' in IELTS Writing Task 2

https://ieltsetc.com/2020/12/hedging-in-academic-writing/

#ielts #ieltswriting #ieltsfiona

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This is an Academic Part 1 text. The text and subject matter is difficult but the questions(YNNG) are NOT. 

In fact, in this episode I will show you how you can mostly guess the answers without reading or understanding very much of the text.

Get more help with Yes, No, Not Given questions on my website.

If you'd like to contribute to the upkeep of my website and podcast, you can buy me a coffee here:

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/fionawattam

Many thanks

Fiona

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This is a really useful Part 2 IELTS Listening (Book 15) about a community that closed their road to traffic so that the children could play safely outside.

It practises Multiple Choice and Choosing from a list.

Useful vocab:

'the idea caught on' = the idea became very popular in other places

'give it a go' = try it

Useful grammar:

Present Perfect vs Past Simple

'The scheme's been up and running for 3 years' = 'The Street Paly Scheme first took place 3 years ago'.

'Be able to' with conditionals

'We'd love to be able to close our road for longer'.

Conditionals

'People can use their cars as long as they drive at under 20kph'. 'They're happy to see children outside - even if it does get quite noisy'. 'Kids are getting fresh air, even if they're not doing anything energetic'.

Past Perfect

As we'd predicted, air quality was better, but what I hadn't expected was how much quieter it would be.

Academic Task 1 Vocabulary

'Sales in the shops went up considerably'.

Writing Task 2: talking about benefits/outcomes

develop confidence get fresh air get to know people in the street air quality was significantly better/less air pollution much quieter/less noise pollution they felt safer/improved safety

#ielts #ieltslistening #ielttutor

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This is a nice and easy Academic Reading Part 1 (great for GT too).

It goes in chronological order, so it's easy to find information from dates, names and places, and there are 2 sets of questions (TFNG and gapfill).

If you're aiming for 7 and you can get 10/13 correct in less than 20 minutes, you're doing very well.

Check your band score here:

https://ieltsetc.com/ielts-band-score-calculator/

Get the conditionals review here:

https://ieltsetc.com/2021/02/conditionals-review/

Learn about 'willing to' vs 'want to' here:

https://ieltsetc.com/2021/02/willing/

Join the Conditional Bootcamp here:

www.members.ieltsetc.com/academy/

☕Buy me a coffee to say thanks here:

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/fionawattam

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This is a really really useful passage to read because of how it can help your WRITING.

The passage itself is not difficult, but it is jam-packed full of excellent examples of Formal Academic Writing so if you have this reading at home, go through it carefully.

- 'PEEL' paragraphs

- Hedging

https://ieltsetc.com/2020/12/hedging-in-academic-writing/

- Linking words

https://ieltsetc.com/2019/07/ielts-complex-sentences/

- Noun forms

- Conditionals

https://ieltsetc.com/2020/03/ielts-conditionals/

- Critical Thinking

Want to say thanks?

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/fionawattam

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This is an extremely difficult Academic Reading Passage 3.

It took me 30 minutes to find the answers even with the answer sheet in front of me.

What can we learn from a text like this?

Background knowledge and vocabulary will aid understanding Strategies such as locating the researchers' names will speed up your responses Every little helps - 2 of my recent daily tasks from the Writing Challenge will help you break down the dense text

1) affect vs effect

https://ieltsetc.com/2020/12/affect-vs-effect/

2) factor vs reason 

https://members.ieltsetc.com/factor-vs-reason/

Add these synonyms to your list:

managers need to know = it is beneficial for hotel managers to understand to increase employee retention = to encourage staff to remain employees feel obligated to stay = staff feel they shouldn't move little is done = undeveloped practices employee development = improve their skills if cooperation is encouraged = if managers encourage employees to work together research has shown = evidence exists to support this hypothesis staff have a tendency to = employees have a predisposition to  to dislike their workplace = to view their work environment negatively they conducted a study = they carried out research to fit with company goals = to align with organisational goals

Want to support my podcast? Please click on the link below:

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/fionawattam

Many thanks

Fiona

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Is this Listening more difficult than usual? I got a special request from Elango in my Members Academy, and yes I think it is a tricky one!

I had to read the tapescript very carefully to figure out the answer to Question 27, and it even required a bit of background knowledge (possibly true of Question 28 too!).

Apart from that, this is a really good one to practise listening for:

- Signals and Signposts:

https://ieltsetc.com/2019/09/ielts-listening-how-to-recognise-signals-and-signposts/

- Synonyms (fascinating = interesting; amazed = surprised; type = genre)

- Grammar (not many = few)

- Language of hedging (comics can serve a really useful purpose = comics have the potential for being useful)

- Pronunciation of key words (ballet)

Catch up on the Free Writing Task 2 Challenge here:

https://ieltsetc.com/2020/03/ielts-writing-workouts/

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I had a special request from Isabella on Instagram today 👋🇧🇷. She asked me to look at a really difficult text (yes, this one's 9/10!).

It's an Academic Passage 3 and it follows the Reading Type 2 structure (discursive) which goes like this -

Title:asks a question (Why?The answer is not what everyone thinks).

1. Old theory: Everyone thinks fairy tales have endured because the STORIES give us WARNINGS about life e.g. Little Red Riding Hood.

2. New theory:Everyone is wrong. There's another reason.

3. Test to prove the old theory is wrong:Is the STORY important? 'NO'. Is the WARNING important? Answer: 'NO'.

4. Results of the test: The reason why fairy tales have endured is just that people enjoy scary stories.

5. Althernative theory (instantly proved wrong): The stories remain relevant because they're about women as victims.

6. Conclusion:Everyone likes scary stories because they build up our resistance to negative emotions, so the first theory is probably right.

You can find similar 'discursive' structures here:

What destroyed the civilisation of Easter Island? Is there anybody out there?The search for extra-terrestrial intelligence. Autumn LeavesCanadian writer Jay Ingram investigates the mystery of why leaves turn red in the fall.

My updated guide to Time Management in the Reading Testgives you 8 techniques to help you improve your Reading Speed for the #ielts test.

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Do you have a bike-sharing scheme where you live? In London there are the so-called 'Boris bikes'(named after Boris Johnson, who launched them in 2010 after being inspired by the success of a similar scheme in Paris, which is mentioned in this reading).

This is a Section 2 Academic Text with 3 types of questions: Matching Statements, Choosing from a List and Gapfill.

So whenever there's a lot to do, the text is slightly easier. This is a chronological text (in order of time) and is suitable for General Training practice too.

It has some fantastic language that you can use in your writing e.g.

urban bike-sharing scheme an answer to the threats of air pollution and consumerism. The police were opposed to the initiatives The council rejected ('turned down') the plan. 'The bicycle belongs to the past' That mentality has totally changed. By 1999, people had become more environmentally conscious. The system, however, was prone to vandalism and theft. The Parisian bike-sharing programme now boasts more than 20000 bicycles. Amsterdam is regarded as one of the two most cycle-friendly captials in the world. Today everybody longs for cities that are not dominated by cars.

Get all my 10-minute lessons on my website www.ieltsetc.com.

Join the Members Academy www.members.ieltsetc.com/academy/.

See you next weekend,

All the best

Fiona

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This is a difficult Section 4, but if you listen to my podcast regularly, you will be very familiar with this common IELTS topic!

It's about marine archaeology, the use of technology to find ancient shipwrecks and building under the sea, and the lessons researchers can learn about how ancient civilisations lived.

In this episode I refer to similar IELTS Reading/Listening texts, so you can see how important it is to learn the vocabulary that is relevant to so many IELTS texts.

Find the Modals of Deduction Grammar here [e.g. Atlit-Yam MAY HAVE BEEN DESTROYED by a tsunami, climate change MAY HAVE CAUSED glaciers to melt.

Find the Reading about the Lapita [Beyond the Blue Horizon] here.

Get all my lessons in one place in the Members Academy.

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Both texts are gapfill summaries.

The first one gives you practice with summary Flow Charts (IELTS 28-Day Planner Day 12) and the second covers the common topic of how to deal with absence in the workplace (good practice if you never usually read this kind of document).

Get more General Training Reading tips on my website.

Follow me on Instagram and Facebook for daily practice.

#ielts #ieltstest #ieltscourse

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Listen out for the 5 most common gapfill types in this Part 4 gapfill on the very common topics of Agriculture and Water (28-Day Planner Week 1).

Practise these topics on my website:

https://ieltsetc.com/?s=agriculture

Watch my YouTube 5-minute Vocab review of Agriculture here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha1KIJfkglA&t=56s

And here's the Honeybee Listening I mentioned:

https://ieltsetc.com/2018/08/ielts-listening-honeybees-australia/

Get the 28-Day Planner here - do NOT let it get lost in your computer. Print it off. Use it every day.

https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/j2u2r0

Listen to another Part 4 about agriculture in Africa here:

https://youtu.be/5tbkd0n5f4Y

Get lots more help on my website:

www.ieltsetc.com

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This is an Academic Reading Part 1 (so it's good for GT too).

The structure is chronological (in order of time) which helps you locate the answers more easily.

It's also very similar to a text on my website: The Story Of Silk, which you can find here:

https://ieltsetc.com/2018/12/ielts-reading-story-silk/

and I refer to last week's podcast about The Eucalyptus Tree to show you how similar they are in terms of the gapfill answers.

https://anchor.fm/ieltsetc/episodes/IELTS-Listening-The-Eucalyptus-Tree-in-Australia-ehm3hd/a-a2s5his

Check out my blog relating to the grammar in this reading here:

https://ieltsetc.com/2020/09/how-to-use-the-former-the-latter/

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IELTS Listening Part 3: How birth order affects your personality.

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IELTS GT Reading Part 3 - gapfill summary, multiple choice and choosing from a list.

Find a similar reading with the vocab you need to know about animals here:

https://ieltsetc.com/2019/04/ielts-reading-history-of-the-tortoise/

Listening about a dinosaur museum and how to spot distractors:

https://ieltsetc.com/2018/08/ielts-listening-dinosaur-museum/

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A long and difficult but FASCINATING text with SO MUCH useful vocabulary which I list at the end.

- Matching Information with paragraphs

- Choosing from a list

- Gapfill summary

It's a KEY TOPIC (see similar texts on my website - https://ieltsetc.com/2019/01/ielts-reading-doctoring-sales/ and https://ieltsetc.com/2018/10/ielts-gt-reading-snake-oil/) and I also talk about how parts of the text help us with Writing.

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This passage has an academic, theoretical structure rather than a factual, chronological one. 

Watch the video on YouTube to see how it looks:

https://youtu.be/7JHQdVkENMU

This video will show you how to use the structure to get answers even when the content doesn't make much sense!

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This video looks at Section 2 of the IELTS Listening Test, which often includes a MAP in the second half. 

Watch the video on YouTube if you would like to practice with the real test.

https://youtu.be/PwXSREaBQ-k

The first part is Multiple Choice and this video shows you how to recognise distractors: 'rather than' and 'instead of' are CLUES which tell you that you should choose the correct answer RATHER THAN/INSTEAD OF the trick!

I break the Listening up into more manageable parts, so this is a LEARNING video rather than a test, but you can pause the video to test yourself too.  

I also point out the useful vocabulary that you can extract from the listening to help you with Writing Task 1 (Academic - describe changes to a building; General Training - tell your friend about your new home)  Here is an extra Listening to help you describe changes to maps: 

https://youtu.be/RYwrFUphmrc

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So sorry for the delay - I'm back now! Been working on the daily YouTube lives during Lockdown. Did you miss them? Just go to my YouTube channel (I'll add this podcast as a video if you prefer to read the text and try it for yourself).

This is a difficult Academic Passage 3 with Matching Headings, Gapfill and TFNG.

Get more Reading practice on my website.

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In this podcast (also on YouTube) I ask my boss Max to give us his insider tips about #IELTS (it's exactly the same as what I say but people actually listen to him!).

Watch the video here:

https://youtu.be/vCqJ3zLGbcs

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Need to read faster in the test? In this video and podcast, I'll take you through a Reading test and show you what you can do at each stage to answer the questions more quickly.

The text is called 'The Birdmen' and you can watch the video and try it yourself on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/R7H38LB28P0

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This podcast is taken from my YouTube Video (watch this to see the text).

https://youtu.be/Fq000OEq_OU

I take you through the first part of a Computer-Delivered #IELTS General Training Reading Test and look at the benefits of taking the test online (as well as the drawbacks!). 

The first reading is horrendous - the second is much easier, so skip forward if you don't like the first one! 

This is the practice test I used: 

https://ielts.com.au/computer-delivered-ielts/computer-reading-practice-test/ 

Test 1 Part 1: Difficulty rating 8/10 😣 

Test 1 Part 2: Difficulty rating 3/10 😄 

And here's my FULL analysis of the Computer-Delivered test https://ieltsetc.com/2020/02/ielts-paper-computer/

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Do you rely on a teacher to correct your writing mistakes for the IELTS Test? Is this the most effective way?   

In this podcast I look at some research that's been done about the best way to learn from your mistakes - and the answers may surprise you!  

Here is the YouTube video, where you can see all the texts that I mention:

https://youtu.be/JPjqoJA-Fhk

You can find out more about the award I won from EnglishUK and CambridgeESOL for my research on error correction here: 

https://www.englishuk.com/en/about-us/news-press/english-uk-news?newsId=2202  

Here are some of the tools you can use to correct your own writing: 

https://www.grammarly.com/ 

https://prowritingaid.com/ 

https://www.grammarcheck.net/

I also talk about times when a teacher is essential for helping students meet the criteria of the IELTS test.

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I made this as a YouTube video so you can watch it here if you'd like to see the text at the same time:

https://youtu.be/3px5vTBQ5Mk

It's a Part 4 gap-fill Listening and I would give it a difficulty rating of 9/10!

What do you think?

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GT IELTS Matching Headings and gapfill practice.

Watch the podcast on YouTube so that you can see the text and my explanations (and try the test for yourself).

https://youtu.be/R7H38LB28P0

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This week I interview the creator of the marvellous Vocab Victorapp, Dr Heidi Brumbaugh.

Dr Heidi realised that my 28-Days of IELTS Word List would be a perfect match for her app, so now you can practise the essential words that you need to learn for IELTS in a fun and motivating way.

In the interview, we talked about:

the problems students have when they try to learn intermediate vocabulary (and how Vocab Victor solves this problem) how vocabulary is more important than grammar when you're trying to increase your band score the best ways to learn vocabulary and retain new words the benefits of learning from carefully-chosen word lists the importance of reviewing words in different contexts (Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking which are included in every day of my 28-Day IELTS Vocabulary Booster Course and Challenge).

On top of that, this episode is GREAT listening practice! (Nice to have an American accent for a change!).

Find out more about Vocab Victor and how it works with my IELTS word lists on Dr Heidi's page:

https://vocabvictor.com/news/

Get the Vocab Victor app in the app store:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vocabsystems.vocabvictor&hl=en_GB

Get more information about my 28-Day Intensive Vocabulary Course here:

https://members.ieltsetc.com/mayday/

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Part 4 IELTS Listening on the topic of Civilisation (again! See my YouTube video about this). Vocab Victor is the app where you can develop your IELTS vocab with my 28 days of Vocab wordlists.

YouTube video about Civilisation:

https://youtu.be/FzJCdaWMB7o

NEW!Vocab Victor App with all my IELTS Vocabulary wordlists from the 28-Day Vocabulary Course and Challenge!

www.vocabvictor.com

Join the course:

www.members.ieltsetc.com/mayday/

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Multiple Choice and Matching in a Part 3 (student and tutor).

Watch my YouTube video about how to recognise signals in Part 3 Listening:

https://youtu.be/x6TE-ZND6xA

The Reading I mentioned is called Henry Perkins - the man who invented synthetic dyes, and I did a podcast about it with all the questions on Instagram. https://anchor.fm/ieltsetc/episodes/IELTS-Reading-last-one--The-man-who-invented-purple-e17bnl/a-a2p95f

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GT Reading is not always as easy as it looks in Part 1. Yes, the texts are shorter but you have to do 2 of them in 20 mins and you need a good level of Vocab to get the answers quickly and not fall for the tricks! Here we look at Matching Info and TFNG.

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