Daily lessons with Simon,
ex-IELTS examiner
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Speaking Part 2: Describe a future plan
This lesson contains an IELTS Speaking Part 2 task and my sample answer: Describe a future plan which is not related to work or study.
IELTS Listening: Arctic ice
Listen to the recording about the problem of melting Arctic ice, and fill the gaps in the summary below it.
IELTS Reading: The Paper Clip
Read the passage about the history of the paper clip and complete the ‘true, false, not given’ exercise.
Video Lesson: Conclusion errors
Here’s a video lesson in which I correct some useful mistakes in students’ conclusion sentences.
IELTS Grammar: ‘lead to’
Can you use ‘lead to’ correctly in a sentence? Test yourself with the quick exercise in this lesson.
IELTS Advice: Why do my scores fluctuate?
Students often wonder why their scores fluctuate, especially in the writing and speaking tests.
Writing Task 1: Education bar chart task
Let’s start work on a new bar chart task. Follow my advice to write the introduction.
Speaking Part 1: Sports (negative answers)
How would you answer four questions about ‘sport’ if you weren’t interested in sport? Read this lesson to see how I did it.
IELTS Listening: Anthropology and archaeology
Do you know the difference between these two fields of study? Listen to the recording and fill the gaps in the summary below it.
IELTS Reading: 7 basic tips
Here are my most basic and important tips for the reading test.
International tourism essay ‘skeleton’
I use the term ‘essay skeleton’ to refer to the main structural parts of an essay, or the ‘bones’ that hold the essay together. Let’s look at an example.
Back on Monday 9th January
I’m going to be away from home visiting family for the rest of this week, so I won’t be able to update the site until next Monday.
Ebook: 365 IELTS Exercises
Happy New Year! In this lesson, members can download my new ebook ‘365 IELTS Exercises’.
Writing Task 1: The most common mistake
The most common mistake in IELTS writing task 1 is not a grammar mistake. Let’s see if you can identify it.
General Writing Task 1: Formal or informal?
Try this quick exercise: Which phrases are formal, and which are informal?
Speaking Part 2: Favourite season
This lesson contains an IELTS Speaking Part 2 task and my sample answer: Describe your favourite season in your country.
IELTS Listening: Bank account
Listen to the recording about bank accounts, and fill the gaps in the summary below it.
IELTS Reading: Choose the title 5
Try today’s practice exercise. Read the passage and choose the best title.
Writing Task 2: Easy introduction
In this lesson I’m going to try to write the easiest introduction that I can.
New Ebook: 365 IELTS Exercises
Just a quick message today, to tell you that I will be publishing a new ebook on the 1st of January 2023.
Writing Task 1: Changes to a school
Read my model description of two diagrams that show a school site before and after some proposed changes.
General Writing Task 1: Accommodation problem letter
Here’s my band 9 answer for the ‘accommodation problem’ letter task. You’ll also see a list of the wide range of vocabulary that I used.
Speaking Part 1: Shopping
Here are some part 1 questions with my sample answers on the topic of shopping.
IELTS Listening: Translation tools
Listen to the recording about translation technology, and fill the gaps in the summary below it.
IELTS Reading: Universities
Try this quick gap-fill exercise.
Writing Task 2: International tourism topic
Let’s start work on a new essay topic: Do the disadvantages of international tourism outweigh the advantages?
IELTS Grammar: passives, conditionals, subjunctives?
It seems that teachers in some countries are telling their students to fill their answers with “difficult grammar devices”.
Writing Task 1: Using ‘with’ and ‘at’
In this lesson we practise using the words ‘with’ and ‘at’ to add figures to our sentences.
Writing Task 1: Accommodation request sentences
The study task in this lesson asks you to write two sentences requesting a change of student accommodation.
Speaking Part 3: Transport
Look carefully at the verbs in this lesson. Each question requires you to answer using a different tense.