Daily lessons with Simon,
ex-IELTS examiner
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General Writing Task 1: ‘Work experience’ part 2
Can you finish the second paragraph in this letter task?
IELTS Speaking: Pauses and hesitations
A student asked me for advice about avoiding pauses and hesitations in the speaking test.
Listening Advice: Work on your mistakes
Are you working on your mistakes and learning from them?
IELTS Reading: ‘Deep work’ multiple choice
Try today’s multiple choice exercise.
IELTS Writing Task 2: ‘Science’ paragraph 2
Here’s another band 9 paragraph with some key vocabulary missing. Can you fill the gaps?
IELTS Advice: Remove redundant words
If a word or phrase can be removed without any real effect on meaning, it’s (probably) redundant.
Academic Writing Task 1: Did you notice the 80%?
In my experience, not many people are able to write a good overview paragraph under exam conditions.
General Writing Task 1: ‘Work experience’ part 1
Can you finish the first paragraph in this letter task?
IELTS Speaking Part 1: Short and simple
In part 1 of the speaking test, you don’t have time to give long answers.
IELTS Listening: Karl Popper (multiple choice)
Listen to a short presentation about the philosopher Karl Popper, and complete the multiple choice exercise.
IELTS Reading: True/false or yes/no
Is there a difference between “true, false, not given” questions and “yes, no, not given” questions?
IELTS Writing Task 2: ‘Science’ paragraph
Read my paragraph and see if you can guess which words I used in the gaps.
Study Advice: Objectives, plans and schedules?
Think carefully before you set goals for the new year!
Academic Writing Task 1: Checklist
Here’s my preparation checklist for writing task 1. Can you put a tick next to each point on the list?
General Writing Task 1: ‘Work experience’ task
See if you can write a ‘purpose sentence’ for this formal letter task.
IELTS Speaking Part 1: ‘Science’ topic
Here are some more part 1 questions and model answers. How would you answer question 4?
Happy 2025!
I haven’t made any new year’s resolutions, but…
IELTS Reading: ‘Major Oak’ gap-fill
Fill the gaps using words from the box.
IELTS Writing Task 2: ‘Philosophical’ essay skeleton
Let’s see if we can write a full ‘philosophical’ essay. We’ll start with what I call the essay skeleton.
One week off for Christmas!
I’m taking a short break for Christmas, and I’ll be back on Monday 30th December.
Writing Advice: Balanced opinion vs Discussion + opinion
A subscriber asked me to explain the difference between a balanced opinion essay and a discussion + opinion essay.
Writing Task 1: Diagram description phrases
Let’s review some of the useful phrases from the ‘library changes’ answer that I shared last week.
General Writing Task 1: Repetition = improvement
Why do we always use the same method or approach when writing GT task 1 answers?
IELTS Speaking Part 2: ‘Tourist attraction’ answer
Here’s my full band 9 answer for the ‘tourist attraction’ task.
IELTS Listening: Spelling test 12
Here’s another spelling test, with 10 words that people find tricky.
IELTS Reading: The Suzuki method (multiple choice)
Try today’s multiple choice exercise.
IELTS Writing Task 2: Normal vs philosophical approach
In this lesson we compare two introductions that show my normal method versus a slightly more philosophical approach.
IELTS Advice: Thinking ‘philosophically’
Here’s an interesting approach to essay writing that I haven’t mentioned before.
Writing Task 1: ‘Library changes’ answer
Read my band 9 model answer. What can you learn from it?
General Writing Task 1: Method review
Let’s review my method and advice for the letter writing task.