Daily lessons with Simon,
ex-IELTS examiner
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Back to work, and your aims for 2024
Have you thought about some aims and plans for 2024? Are you feeling positive about what the new year will bring?
Back next Wednesday
I’m taking a few days off to spend Christmas with my family. I’ll be back to normal on the 27th.
IELTS Reading: Microplastics (T, F, NG)
Try today’s ‘true, false, not given’ exercise.
Writing Task 2: Structure is not the secret!
IELTS students often get this wrong…
IELTS Advice: Misinformation!
This lesson contains probably the most common piece of misinformation about the IELTS test.
Writing Task 1: ‘Airport diagrams’ details 2
Can you write the second ‘details’ paragraph for the ‘airport diagrams’ task?
General Writing Task 1: ‘Hotel booking’ part 3
Let’s finish the ‘hotel booking’ task. Can you write a short paragraph asking for advice about tourist activities?
IELTS Speaking: If you use an idiom
I tell students to avoid idioms, colloquial expressions, proverbs and other sayings in the IELTS speaking test. Why?
IELTS Listening: ‘Public bicycles’ multiple choice
Listen to a description of the public bicycle scheme in London, and choose the best answer to the multiple choice questions.
IELTS Reading: ‘Environment’ gap-fill
Fill the gaps in a passage about the environment using the words provided.
IELTS Writing Task 2: Focus on ‘real content’
Whenever people ask me for one good tip for writing task 2, I tell them to focus on ‘real content’ rather than grammar, linking or structure.
Stick with the methods and you will pass!
Today’s lesson contains some advice from a subscriber who recently passed the IELTS test with a 7.5.
Writing Task 1: ‘Airport diagrams’ details
Let’s write the first ‘details’ paragraph for the ‘airport diagrams’ task.
General Writing Task 1: ‘Hotel booking’ part 2
Can you write two error-free sentences to ask about facilities at a hotel?
IELTS Speaking Part 3: Money
Here are some part 3 questions and band 9 sample answers on the topic of ‘money’.
IELTS Listening: Use the transcripts
Do you ever check the listening transcripts after doing practice tests in the Cambridge IELTS books?
IELTS Reading: Choose the title 10
Try today’s practice exercise. Read the passage and choose the best title.
IELTS Writing Task 2: ‘New products’ essay
Read my band 9 essay about the advertising of new products, and see if you can list the ‘less common’ vocabulary that it contains.
Improving your vocabulary and grammar
A subscriber asked me a huge question this week: How can I improve my English vocabulary and grammar?
Writing Task 1: ‘Airport diagrams’ overview
Let’s write our overview paragraph for the ‘airport diagrams’ task.
General Writing Task 1: ‘Hotel booking’ part 1
Can you write two sentences to complete the first paragraph in this formal email to a hotel booking department?
IELTS Speaking Part 2: Describe a maths lesson
Describe something important that you learned in a maths lesson at school. Read my sample answer and useful vocabulary list.
IELTS Listening: ‘Fertility rates’ multiple choice
Listen to a presentation about fertility rates in China, South Korea and France, then complete today’s multiple choice exercise.
IELTS Reading: ‘Corpus’ multiple choice
Try today’s multiple choice exercise.
Writing Task 2: ‘New products’ paragraph
Read my band 9 paragraph and complete the quick vocabulary exercise below it.
IELTS Grammar: ‘Although’ and ‘but’
Remember not to use ‘although’ and ‘but’ together. Open the lesson to see some examples.
Writing Task 1: ‘Airport diagrams’ introduction
Let’s write an introduction for the ‘airport diagrams’ task.
General Writing Task 1: ‘Hotel booking’ task
Can you write a ‘purpose sentence’ for the formal letter task in this lesson?
IELTS Speaking Part 1: Art (negative answers)
In this lesson I demonstrate that it’s fine to give negative answers in part 1 of the speaking test.
IELTS Listening: The ‘once only’ problem
The most difficult thing about the IELTS listening test, in my opinion, is the fact that you only hear the recording once.