Daily lessons with Simon,
ex-IELTS examiner
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IELTS Advice: ‘moreover’ doesn’t get you a 7
When I was working as an examiner, I noticed that many students overused ‘moreover’, ‘furthermore’ and ‘in addition’.
Academic Writing Task 1: Using the passive
IELTS students often use the passive wrongly in academic writing task 1. Would you make the same mistake?
Writing Task 1: Invitation letter part 1
You’ve decided to celebrate a special occasion, and you want to invite an old friend that you haven’t seen for a long time.
IELTS Speaking Part 2: Filling the 2 minutes
Many candidates struggle to speak for 2 minutes because they answer the first two or three points on the task card too quickly.
IELTS Listening: Another spelling tip
Here’s a good way to use the practice tests in the official Cambridge IELTS books to improve your spelling.
IELTS Reading: How questions are made
The people who write the questions for IELTS reading tests do something like this…
How to ‘concede + answer’ correctly
This lesson will test your understanding of the “concede + answer” structure!
IELTS Writing: Concede + answer
“Concede + answer” is both a sentence structure and a way to structure a complete essay. You should definitely learn this structure.
Writing Task 1: ‘Living alone’ charts
Here’s another model answer for you to study. This time the task contains a bar chart and a pie chart.
General Writing Task 1: Invitation letter task
Let’s start work on a new informal letter task. It’s a letter to an old friend, inviting him or her to celebrate a special occasion with you.
Speaking Part 2: Describe an indoor game
The model answer in this answer contains some excellent words and phrases. Can you list them?
IELTS Listening: Microplastics
Listen to the recording about the problems caused by microplastics, and fill the gaps in the summary below it.
IELTS Reading: Etymology
Try today’s multiple choice exercise. From this lesson you’ll also learn the meaning of the word ‘etymology’.
Writing Task 2: How to write an introduction
Are you writing long, complicated introductions, or have you learnt my more effective method?
IELTS Advice: Vocabulary is the key
In my opinion, vocabulary is the key to language learning, and to a high IELTS score.
Writing Task 1: Land degradation answer
Here’s my full answer for the ‘land degradation’ pie chart and table task.
General Writing Task 1: Two-sentence paragraphs
In your task 1 letter, remember that you only need to write two sentences for each bullet point on the task card.
Speaking Part 3: ‘Advice’ topic
What are the characteristics of a good adviser? Today’s lesson contains my sample answer to this question and two others.
IELTS Listening: Spending tips
Listen to some advice about how to reduce your spending, then try today’s multiple choice exercise.
IELTS Reading: Choose the title 7
Try today’s practice exercise. Read the passage and choose the best title.
Agree or disagree essay: Words vs pictures
Here’s my full essay for the ‘words vs pictures’ topic. Can you list the ‘less common’ vocabulary that it contains?
IELTS Grammar: Can or could?
Let’s use a quick exercise to look at the difference between ‘can’ and ‘could’.
Writing Task 1: Land degradation table
Can you write the final sentence of this model answer?
General Writing Task 1: Job advice letter
Here’s my band 9 answer for the ‘job advice’ letter task. You’ll also see a list of the good vocabulary that I used.
Speaking Part 1: Learning languages
Here are my model answers for the ‘learning languages’ topic in part 1 of the speaking test.
IELTS Listening: Spelling advice
Many people lose easy marks in the IELTS listening test because they make spelling mistakes.
IELTS Reading: John Dewey
Read the passage about a famous American, and complete the ‘true, false, not given’ exercise below it.
IELTS Writing Task 2: Two examples
In this lesson we’re writing a paragraph that contains two ideas and two supporting examples.
IELTS Advice: ‘Heavy’ words vs good phrases
Here’s a useful question from a student: What is more important for IELTS, “heavy words” or good phrases?
Writing Task 1: Land degradation pie chart
Read my short description of the ‘land degradation’ pie chart, and fill the gaps with the most appropriate words.