Daily lessons with Simon,
ex-IELTS examiner
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IELTS Writing Task 2: A ‘balanced opinion’ essay
What is the difference between a ‘balanced opinion’ essay and a ‘discussion’ essay? If you’re not sure, this lesson should help.
IELTS Vocabulary: Understanding ‘collocation’
If you don’t know what ‘collocation’ means, or if you don’t fully understand this idea, read this lesson.
Writing Task 1: Three basic skills
If you’re preparing for IELTS writing task 1 (academic), here are three basic skills that you need to work on.
General Writing Task 1: ‘Arranging a trip’ part 1
Can you finish the first paragraph in this letter task?
IELTS Speaking: Two types of hesitation
Do you understand the difference between ‘language-related’ and ‘content-related’ hesitation?
IELTS Listening: ‘Mechanical clock’ gap-fill
Fill the gaps in the transcript of a presentation about the impact of the mechanical clock during the Industrial Revolution.
IELTS Reading: Fossil (T, F, NG)
Try today’s ‘true, false, not given’ exercise.
Writing Task 2: Can you see the problem?
Many students make the mistake of writing their ‘agree or disagree’ essays in this way. Can you see what’s wrong?
Study Advice: A little every day!
Stop worrying about study timetables or how many hours of IELTS practice you think you need to do. Instead, do this…
Writing Task 1: Describing overall trends
When the chart shows a lot of data, many IELTS students struggle to see the main overall trends.
General Writing Task 1: ‘Arranging a trip’ task
You received an email from a friend suggesting that you go on a day trip together next Saturday.
IELTS Speaking Advice: Slow down!
In my experience, many IELTS candidates speak too quickly and this causes several problems.
IELTS Listening: Compound words
Listen to 10 compound words, and see if you can spell them correctly.
Reading Advice: The time problem
Not having enough time is the biggest problem for most people taking the IELTS reading test.
IELTS Writing Task 2: Improving a student’s coherence
Compare the two paragraphs. What simple changes did I make to improve coherence?
IELTS Grammar: I was hoping that…
Why do we use the past tense in the phrase “I was hoping that you could help me”?
Writing Task 1: Easy but accurate
Using difficult words or grammar can lead to mistakes. It is often better to choose “easy but accurate” language instead.
General Writing Task 1: ‘Returning a product’ answer
Here’s my band 9 answer for the ‘returning a product’ letter task.
IELTS Speaking Part 1: ‘Travel habits’ topic
In this lesson you’ll see how I deal with a question that I had already answered.
IELTS Listening: Numbers and letters
Today’s exercise gives you some practice listening to numbers and letters.
Reading Advice: The secret to improvement
The real secret to improving your reading is not a special trick, method or exam technique. It’s simpler than that.
IELTS Writing Task 2: A ‘strongly disagree’ essay
Here’s a good example of a “completely disagree” essay at band 9 level.
Advice: More ideas for the side you agree with?
In “discussion + opinion” essays, should we include more ideas for the side of the discussion that we agree with?
Writing Task 1: ‘Physical activity’ bar chart
Read my model description of a bar chart that compares levels of physical activity among Australian men and women.
General Writing Task 1: ‘Returning a product’ part 3
Can you finish this letter task?
IELTS Speaking Part 3: Use more adjectives
Adjectives make your answers more dynamic, compelling and relatable.
IELTS Listening: Spelling test 6
Here’s another spelling test. See if you can write all 20 words without making a mistake.
Reading Advice: A different way to practise
Here’s an interesting way to use reading tests from the Cambridge IELTS books.
IELTS Writing Task 2: Idea development problems
Many IELTS candidates write paragraphs that are too general or superficial, and the main idea doesn’t seem to go anywhere.
Advice about language learning
Are some people naturally better at learning languages?