IELTS listening 10 tips

You sometimes see it said that all you have do with the listening paper in IELTS is to practice: that there
arent any particular skills to learn. I disagree profoundly. There are not just definite skills to learn,
there are also I would suggest very definite ways in which to practice. Here are a few of my suggestions.
1. Read before you listen predict the answer
One difficulty in the exam is that you are not just listening, but reading the question and writing the
answer all at the same time. One simple tip is to read the questions before you listen so that you know
what you are listening for. It is a difficult skill to master, but it can sometimes help to try and predict the
type of answer you are looking for: is it a name for instance or a number?
2. Read as you listen focus on the whole question
A huge proportion of mistakes are made not because you havent listened well, but because you you do
not focus on the question. As you are listening focus on the precise wording of the question. See
this video tutorial for more on this.
3. Look at 2 questions at once
One difficulty is that the answers to 2 questions often come quickly one after the other. Can you get
both answers? Maybe, maybe not: but the only way you can is if you are ready for the next question.
Id add that its no problem getting one question wrong, the real problem is if you lose track of where
you are in the listening and you are still listening for question 13 when the cassette has moved onto
question 15.
4. Dont leave the writing to the end
Sometimes candidates leave the writing part to the end, thinking that they will remember what they
heard. In my experience, this almost never works: theres a lot of information, youre under stress and,
most importantly, after each listening you should be moving onto the next set of questions to read
them.
5. Practice your shorthand
You do not have to write everything that you down: you have 10 minutes at the end to copy your
answers onto the answer sheet. So what you need to do is to learn how to write down enough for you
to recognise as you are listening so that you can write it out in full later. The one exception to this is in
part 1 with numbers and names where you have to write everything out in full as you are listening that
is the challenge.
6. Numbers and names check your spelling
In part 1, you are almost invariably required to spell names and/or write down numbers. This looks easy,
but in my experience can often go wrong and the problem is that if you get any spelling wrong, you lose

the mark Of course you know the alphabet, but some letters can cause problems even for advanced
learners, in particular:
J&G
Y
A&E&I
My tip is to make an association that you can remember: these are mine, but I suggest you make your
own:
J is for Jesus, but G is for God
How do you spell why? W-H-Y
A is for apple
E is for elephant
I is for I
7. Dont write the answer too quickly
Sometimes you hear what you think is the answer, but the speaker goes on to correct themselves or
give slightly different information:
So Ill see you on Wednesday afternoon
Sorry, Im busy then. How about Thursday evening?
Fine, Thursday at 7 0clock
8. Dont leave any blank answers
There are 2 reasons for this. Firstly, your guess may well be correct, particularly if it is a multiple choice
style question. Secondly, there is a danger if you leave a blank that you write the answers in the wrong
boxes on the answer sheet and that can be a disaster.
9. Listen for repeated information
This doesnt always work, but sometimes the words that are the answer are repeated: if you need to
make a guess choose the words you hear repeated, they could well the be answer.
10. Look for clues in the question
A frequent question type is completing a table; in this type of question you will often find clues to the
answer by looking at the other information in the table. In particular, look at the headings of the rows

and columns: if, for example, the heading says equipment and some of the completed boxes say
paperclips and cardboard you have a good clue as to what you should be listening for.

Read more: IELTS listening 10 tips | Dominic Cole's IELTS and Beyond http://www.dcielts.com/ieltslistening/10-tips-for-listening/#ixzz2Jxmu4ZkI
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives

IELTS Reading 10 top tips

For many academic IELTS candidates reading is the hardest paper and the one which requires most
training. Here I suggest some different ways to make that training as efficient as possible. These pieces
of advice are fairly general and are designed to help you think about the best way to train yourself in
IELTS reading and how to avoid some common mistakes.
1. Beat the fear read as much as possible
My first suggestion is to read as much as possible. By this I dont mean do endless IELTS practice tests, I
mean do as much general reading as possible. I suggest you focus on reading short articles on topics that
interest you or on topics that are common in IELTS newspapers and magazines are a great resource
here.
One reason why this is such a good idea is that many candidates freeze in the reading believing it is too
hard and so fail to get their band score. If, however, you read enough native English before the exam,
you will become more and more confident in looking at texts where you dont understand every word.
Confidence is a very important concept in IELTS.
If you look at Daily Exercises, you will find lots of possible exercises for you. The idea is to find something
that interests you and read. Thats all.
2. Improve key skills skimming and scanning and reading in detail
A major problem in the exam is the length of the texts and you will not have time to read them all
carefully. You need to train your speed reading skills so that you can read as efficiently as possible. 2
skills here are skimming which is reading quickly for general meaning and scanning which is looking for
specific information.
You may sometimes see advice saying that you dont need to read in detail. Incorrect. Bad advice. You
shouldnt read the whole text in detail but you will need to parts of the text in detail if you want to get
the right answer. Put simply, skimming and scanning are useful skills to help show you where the answer
might be: reading in detail tells you what the answer is.
You might want to look at this post on improving your reading speed.
3. Time management experiment to see what works
Because the texts are so long you need to have a definite strategy for how you manage your time in the
exam to make sure you finish on time. This means deciding:

how long you look at the text before answering questions

how long you spend on each question

how long you spend on each group of questions

how long you spend on each text

do you leave time at the end to go back at look at unanswered questions?

There is a lot to consider here. You will find books and websites that insist you do it their way. They may
claim to have a magic formula and that you must do this or you must do that. Ignore them. Their advice
may be good for some people but not for you.
The key point here is that different learners have different styles and different needs. Much the best
advice here is to experiment and try different approaches and see what works best for you.
See this earlier post on time management.
4. Focus on the question avoid careless errors
The texts in IELTS are typically quite hard, so candidates spend as much time as possible reading the
texts. Mistake. Why? Well, a huge amount of mistakes are made by not focussing enough on the exact
question. It can be easy if you are in a hurry to miss a word such as always or often: the problem is
those sorts of words can change the meaning of questions.
There is an easy solution to this problem: it is to go back and look at the question before you write in the
answer. Make sure that the question says what you think it says. You will normally save yourself 2/3
marks this way.
5. Learn the exam know the different types of questions
There are 8/9 different types of reading question that examiners may use. Before the exam, you should
make yourself familiar with each type of question as they are slightly different. What I suggest is that
you look at my series of tutorials on the different types of reading questions as a first step to see what
the question types are. The next stage is to experiment and see what techniques you are going to use
for each type of question.
This may mean that you approach different types of questions differently.
6. Train yourself, dont test yourself
One common mistake candidates make is to practise exam questions too much. Exam practice is
important to learn the timing (3 above) and learn the question types (5 above), but that does not mean
that every time you practise reading you need to do it in exam conditions. My suggestion is that you do
some open book tests where you can see the answers as you do the questions. This way you will learn
how examiners set questions and how to find the answers. If you just test yourself, this may not happen.
How often and when you do this training will depend on your preparation programme.
7. Learn how to underline

This is a very specific piece of advice. You may believe it is wrong to write in books and generally Id
agree with you, but IELTS is different. A very strong suggestion is that you should underline words in the
text in the exam. There are at least two reasons for this:
1. if you underline key words in the text, it can help you organise the text and this will save you
time in the exam
2. if you find an answer, it is sensible to underline the part of the passage that relates to the
question as a check (see 4 above) and to write the number of the question next to it in case you
find a better answer later
How you do this will depend on you and your style. Some people underline different types of words in
different ways.Id only add that less is more: if you underline too much, it can become confusing.
8. Beware word matching be careful with key words
One very common mistake is to match a word in the question with a word in the text and to think you
have found your answer. It is almost never that simple and I am tempted to say that if the words do
match, then that is not your answer. What you are normally looking for are either synonyms (words with
a similar meaning) or paraphrases (short bits of text that say the same as the question.
One reason candidates make this mistake is that teachers (myself included) tend to say look for key
words in the question. This is helpful advice to show you where the answer might be and which
paragraph it might be in. After that you need to go back and read the whole question carefully to see
what the answer is.
9. The questions follow the text normally
This is a very practical piece of advice and could save you a lot of wasted time. Typically, the questions
will come in the order of the text: so the answer to question 3 will come after the answer to question 2.
This can be very helpful in the exam if you are a quick worker who goes through the questions once for
the easy ones and then a second time for the harder ones. If you have answer 4 underlined (see 7
above) and answer 6 underlined then you know where answer 5 must come.
One word of warning. In certain types of question (eg paragraph matching) the order of the questions
are jumbled.
10. The questions or the text which do you read first
There is no one right answer here.
Text books tend to advise you to read the text quickly first so that you know how the text is organised.
This helps as you will save time later by knowing which paragraph will contain the answer. This can be a
good approach, particularly for high level candidates provided you dont spend too much reading and
you have notes/underlinings afterwards.

Many teachers say that you should read the questions first and not read the whole passage. There is
logic here too. Normally, you do not have to understand the meaning of the whole passage to answer
the questions, so why waste time reading it? This approach can work, especially for lower level
candidates who might not understand too much of the passage anyway.
However, thee is always a third way. Life is not black and white. It is quite possible to decide to use
different strategies for certain question types. In paragraph matching you are going to have to read the
whole passage, so you might decide to read first then. In the short answer questions, you might decide
you look at the questions first. As ever, you decide.
The only bad piece of advice is the one that tells you you must do it their way. Ignore them. The only
right way isa the way that works.
11. Fill out the answer sheet
Okay, this is an eleventh tip. Practise filling out the answer sheet before you get to the exam. Too many
avoidable mistakes are made this way. Id go further: whenever you practise IELTS reading, use an
answer sheet. This is what I do with my classes. Two points:
1. when you go through the answers in your practice book, make sure that you have written the
answer exactly as it is in the book anything else will lose you the point
2. you need to fill out your answers in the 60 minutes. They dont give you any more time.

Read more: IELTS Reading 10 top tips | Dominic Cole's IELTS and Beyond http://www.dcielts.com/ieltsreading/10-top-tips/#ixzz2JxnOOlEg
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives

IELTS writing 10 tips

Here are 10 of my top tips for IELTS writing. They focus on the writing process in the exam. Much the
most important tip is number 1.
1. Read the question answer the question
Rule number 1 is to answer the question: read the question carefully and underline all the information
you need to include. This works differently in the essay and the report.
In the essay, often you will find background information and the question itself. Make sure you answer
the question
(eg Do you agree?) and do not write generally about the topic. If you copy another essay you have
written on the same topic, you will lose a lot of marks.
In task 1, all the information you need to include is in the chart/graph: make sure you identify the key
points before you start writing.
2. Dont start writing too soon think and plan!
It is important to finish both pieces of writing, but the way to do this is not necessarily starting to write
immediately. If you do that, you may get half way through the writing and realise you cannot finish it.
Only start writing when you know how you are going to finish.
In the essay this can mean up to 10 minutes and in the task 1 report it can mean up to 5 minutes. The
more you think, the better and more quickly you will write. 2/3 minutes is almost certainly not enough.
For more detail on this, try looking at Planning an IELTS essay the 10 minute solution.
3. Write enough words
250 means AT LEAST 250 and 150 means AT LEAST 150. See my post on how many words for more detail
on this.
4. Dont write too many words
The more words you write, you more mistakes you are likely to make. The more words you write, the
less efficient you become and the quality will fall. The ideal is to aim for between 260 280 words in the
essay and 160-180 words in the report.
5. Dont copy whole sections of the question
If you copy whole sections of the question, the examiner will not include those words in your word
count: 260 words can become 230 words if you are not careful.
6. Time is your enemy have a plan and a watch

Timing can be a problem. It is important to keep moving and stick to your timing. Dont be tempted to
spend more than 40 minutes on your essay you need 20 minutes to answer task 1 properly.
7. Task 1 and task 2 which do you answer first?
The essay is worth twice the marks of the report. One idea is to do task 2 (the essay) before task 1(the
report), just to ensure you finish the essay. You do need to spend at least 20 minutes on part 1 though.
Do not try to answer it in 15 minutes.
8. Check your writing
It is important to check your writing for grammatical errors. You need to have a checklist before you
enter the exam of what mistakes you typically make. For a little more detail on this, try checking this
post about how to check your writing
9. Think about range of vocabulary
You should also check your writing for unnecessary word repetition you are graded on the variety of
your language. You should note that this does not mean you need to use long, complex words, rather it
means you should use precise words.
10. Think about the examiner use paragraphs well
The examiner will not spend very long grading your paper. You need to create an immediate good
impression and the best way to do this in my experience is to present a well-structured piece of writing
with clearly laid out paragraphs. This way the examiner is going to be on your side. If, however, it looks
disorganised, the examiner is not going to be impressed.

Read more: IELTS writing 10 tips | Dominic Cole's IELTS and Beyond http://www.dcielts.com/ieltswriting/10-tips-essays/#ixzz2JxnoxR3f
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives

IELTS speaking 10 top tips

What is the best advice for the IELTS speaking exam?
There are many possible tips. The first and most important is to take it seriously and prepare properly
for it. Its noticeable how IELTS forums are full of questions about the writing paper but contain very
little about the speaking. That represents a problem. In my experience candidates fail as often on the
speaking paper as the writing paper.
To redress matters this post gives you 10 of my top tips for the speaking paper. These are all general
tips. In later posts I will be expanding on these and giving more particular advice for each part of the
paper. Please note that easily the most important tip is number 1.
1. In the exam listen to and answer the question
The best advice for IELTS speaking is very simply to listen to the question and answer it. The reason for
this is for this is the one time you are face to face with the examiner and nerves are a sigificant problem.
If you are trying to remember complex advice, you are likely to become more nervous and not perform
to your best. Keep it simple.
One example here is in part 1. If you here a question in the past tense:
Eg What sports did you play as a child?
A good answer will use the past tense the examiner will be listening for this.
2. Before the exam practice
Following on from the previous advice, you need to practice before the exam to make sure that the
appropriate skills are automatic. This will only happen if you practice sufficiently. However, you also
need to practise the right skills each part of the speaking paper tests a different skill.
3. Immediately before the exam speak English
The problem for many people is not speaking English, rather it is moving from their own language into
English. The advice here is plain: make certain that you are already speaking English before you go into
the exam.
4. Key advice extend your answer appropriately
If there is one key piece of advice, it is to extend your answer appropriately. For example, this is
inappropriate:
Question: How many languages do you speak?
Answer: Two. Chinese and English.
Better would be:

Answer: I speak two languages. My first language is Chinese and I speak English too. Ive been learning
English since I was 10. I started learning it when I was in primary school.
Be aware, however, that very long answers are not always a good idea. It is possible that you will go off
topic and lose coherence.
5. Make eye contact
A large part of communication is non-verbal. You are marked by the examiner in the room and you
should do everything you can to show that person that you are a good communicator. If you do not
make eye contact with the examiner, s/he is probably going to be less impressed with your
performance.
6. Do not learn answers
One temptation is to learn answers before the exam. Do not. The examiner will notice and your score
will be badly affected.
7. If you dont understand the question ask
This is a speaking test and not a listening test. If you dont understand the question, ask the examiner to
repeat or explain it you should not be penalised for this. If you try to answer a question you do not
understand, you will almost certainly become incoherent.
8. Give yourself time to think repeat/reformulate the question
In parts 1 and 3 you are not given any thinking time: you are supposed to start speaking immediately.
This does not mean, however, that you need to start answering the question straight away. What you
can do is start by repeating/reformulating or commenting on the question:
What did I enjoy doing as a child? Let me see
Thats not something Ive thought about before. Its an interesting question.
This has several benefits. It is good communication. It allows you a little time to think. It should also
make you answer the question and not the general topic.
9. Correct yourself if you can do it immediately
If you make a mistake and you can correct it immediately, do so. This will show the examiner that you
have control over the language. If, however, you are unsure how to correct yourself, move on: the
examiner may not have noticed the mistake in the first place and if you try unsuccessfully to correct it, a
small mistake may become a much bigger one.
10. Do not relax too much its not a conversation

This is an exam and you need to show the best side of your spoken English. If you relax too much and
become too conversational, your English may suffer. You need to recognise that this is not a true
dialogue between two people: it is more of an interview with one person speaking and the other
listening.
In a conversation the speaking conventions are quite different: you expect the other person to share
50% of the talk time and to react to your comments, typically one person will not speak for any length of
time.

Read more: IELTS speaking 10 top tips | Dominic Cole's IELTS and Beyond http://www.dcielts.com/ieltsspeaking/tips-for-speaking-exam/#ixzz2JxoBIgmA
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives