Daily lessons with Simon,
ex-IELTS examiner
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IELTS Reading: Stress
Try today’s IELTS Reading exercise: Choose the best heading for each paragraph in a passage about stress.
Model essay: Hot and cold climates
Here’s my band 9 answer for the ‘hot and cold climates’ task, plus my essay plan and a list of useful vocabulary.
IELTS Advice: How to write faster
A student asked me about how to write task 2 essays faster. Here’s my advice.
Writing Task 1: Using the phrase ‘in terms of’
In this lesson we’ll practise using the phrase “in terms of”.
Writing Task 1: Accommodation problem outline
The study task in this lesson asks you to write two sentences describing an accommodation situation.
Speaking Part 2: A time when you were busy
This lesson contains an IELTS Speaking Part 2 task and my sample answer: Describe a time when you were really busy.
IELTS Listening: Interview tips
Try today’s quick gap-fill exercise about tips for job interviews.
IELTS Reading: The Beaufort scale
Read the passage about something called the ‘Beaufort scale’ and complete the ‘true, false, not given’ exercise.
Writing Task 2: Finish my essay
Can you write one short, error-free sentence to finish my essay about hot and cold climates?
IELTS Advice: Less testing, more preparing
Remember: To train for a marathon, you don’t run a full marathon every day!
Writing Task 1: Dangerous waste pie charts
Read my model answer for a task that shows us three pie charts. Should we compare the charts or describe them separately?
Writing Task 1: Formal letter mistakes
Here are some phrases that members wrote below last Friday’s lesson. Can you correct the mistake(s) in each one?
Speaking Advice: Make it personal
In the speaking test, and especially in part 3, it really helps if you give personal examples.
IELTS Listening: Film course
Try this multiple choice listening exercise about advice for students who are applying to a film-making course.
IELTS Reading: Collocation
If you want to become a better user of English, it’s important to understand what ‘collocations’ are.
Writing Task 2: Correct the mistakes
Here are some sentences that members wrote below last Monday’s lesson. Can you find and correct the mistakes?
IELTS Advice: Which writing task first?
Here’s a question that students often ask: In the writing test, is it better to start with task 1 or task 2?
Writing Task 1: Real report writing
In this lesson we analyse two examples of ‘real’ reports from non-IELTS sources. Let’s see if we can learn anything from them.
Writing Task 1: College accommodation problem
Let’s start work on a new formal letter task. It’s a letter of complaint about a college accommodation problem.
Speaking Part 1: Telephone topic
Here are some part 1 questions with my sample answers on the topic of using the telephone.
IELTS Listening: Underline the keywords
Before the recording starts, use the breaks to read through the questions and underline the key words that you’ll need to listen for.
IELTS Reading: False or not given?
Students are often confused by the difference between ‘false’ and ‘not given’. Here’s my basic advice.
Writing Task 2: Positives of cold climates
Can you write two error-free sentences about the benefits of living in a cold climate?
IELTS Grammar: Wide range or error free?
If you want a high writing score, is it more important to use a wide range of structures or to write error-free sentences?
Writing Task 1: Using words from the chart
Be very careful when using the words that you see on the graph or chart. You may need to change them when writing full sentences.
General Writing Task 1: Storytelling analysis
In this lesson we analyse an informal letter from the perspective of storytelling.
IELTS Speaking Part 3: Friends
Here are some part 3 questions with my model answers. To answer each question, I used my ‘longer answers’ technique.
IELTS Listening: Lifespan
Listen to the recording about the human lifespan, and fill the gaps in the summary sentences below it.
IELTS Reading: Difficult vocabulary
Try this quick exercise that focuses on difficult vocabulary in an IELTS reading test.
Writing Task 2: Paragraph cohesion
A paragraph can be said to have good cohesion if the sentences within it are somehow linked and work together to form a unit.