McGraw-Hill Education

IELTS

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McGraw-Hill Education

Monica Sorrenson

Second Edition

New York I Chicago I San Francisco I Athens I London I Madrid Mexico City I Milan I New Delhi I Singapore I Sydney I Toronto

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Monica Sorrenson has been an IELTS examiner in nine countries and a teacher in fifteen. She

has qualifications from Australia and the United Kingdom.

Copyright © 2017, 2012 by McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. Printed in the

United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or

stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 LHS 21 20 19 18 17 16

ISBN 978-1-259-85956-4 (book and CD set)

MHID 1-259-85956-8

ISBN 978-l-259-85958-8 (book for set)

MHID 1-259-85958-4

e-ISBN 978-1-259-85957-1 e-MHID l-259-85957-6

IELTS is a trademark of IELTS Partners, defined as the British Council, IELTS Australia Pty

Ltd (solely owned by IDP Education Pty Ltd), and the University of Cambridge: Cambridge

English: Language Assessment. These organizations were not involved in the production of,

and do not endorse, this product.

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CONTENTS PART I Getting Started

Chapter 1 Introducing IELTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 What is the I ELTS exam? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 What a re the fou r parts of the test? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . ... 3 How is I ELTS marked? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 How shou ld I prepare for I ELTS? . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... 9 Character istics of d ifferent bands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 10

PART II Building IELTS Skills Chapter 2 IELTS Listening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 I ntroduct ion to the L isten i ng test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 How is the Listen ing test marked? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 How to fi l l out the L isten ing and Read i ng answer sheets . . . . .. . . . ...... 17 L isten ing strategies .... . .... . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . .. . . 20 Always l i sten for evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....... 23 Strategies for each question type ( i ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . ... . . . .... 25 Strategies for each question type ( i i ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .... 30 The a l phabet and numbers i n the L isten i ng , Speaking, and Writ ing tests . .. 32 L isten ing Taster Test ... . . . ..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . .. 41

Chapter 3 IELTS Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 What happens i n the Read ing test? .. . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . ... . . .. . .. 55 How is the Read i ng test marked? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... . ... 58 Academic Read i ng Taster Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . ... . .. 59 Read ing strategies . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . ...... . .... 68 Extra practice fi l l i ng in a flowchart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. . . ... 7 4 Extra practice labe l l i ng a d iagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Spec ia l i nformation about the Genera l Tra i n i ng Read i ng test . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 GT Read ing Taster Test . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... . . . . 82

Chapter 4 IELTS Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 What ha ppens in the Academic Writ ing test? . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .. . 90 What happens in the GT Writi ng test? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 92 How is the Writi ng test marked? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Model answers to Academic Writi ng Task 1 questions . . . . . . . . . .... . . . 95 A s i ngle tab le i n Task 1 . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . ...... 100 Assessing cand idates for Academic Writi ng Task 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... 101 Assessing cand idates for GT Writi ng Task 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . 108 Assessi ng cand idates for Academic and GT Writ ing Task 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 U nderstand ing Task Fu lfi l ment i n Writ ing Task 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . .. . . . 1 14 Tone i n Academic Writi ng Task 2 and GT Writ ing Task 1 . . . . .. . . . ... . . 116 The i ntroduct ion i n Writ ing Task 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . 123 Writing the essay . .. . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 125 Topic and supporting sentences i n Writ ing Task 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . ... 127 The concl us ion i n Writ ing Task 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . .. . . . . . .. 129 U nderstand ing Coherence and Cohes ion i n Writi ng . . . . . . . . . . . ...... . 129 Paragra ph organ isation i n Writi ng Task 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .. . . . . . . . 134

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vi Contents

L inkers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Punctuation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Handwrit ing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 U nderstand ing Vocabu lary for Writ ing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 Describ i ng gra phs and charts in Academic Writing Task 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Us ing a pproximate language in Task 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150 Nom ina l i sation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 U nderstand ing Grammar for Writi ng . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Grammar and Vocabu lary Test 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Grammar and Vocabu lary Test 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Grammar and Vocabu lary Test 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 GT Task 1 forma l letters - a request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 GT Task 1 forma l letters - a compla i nt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 GT Task 1 formal letters - an offer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 GT Task 1 semi-forma l letters - a view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Academic Writ ing Taster Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 GT Writi ng Taster Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 Writi ng- Putt ing it a l l together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Chapter 5 IELTS Speaking ......................... 173 What happens i n the Speak ing test? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 How is the Speak ing test marked? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 4 Speak ing Taster ( Buzzer) Test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Fluency and Coherence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Spoken vocabu lary and grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 Pronunciation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 13 Speaki ng- Putti ng it a l l together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

Chapter 6 IELTS Spelling .......................... 229 Writi ng Task 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 Writ ing Task 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 Spe l l i ng and Pronunc iat ion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 Spe l l i ng and rememberi ng what you see . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Chapter 7 IELTS Vocabulary and Grammar ............ 248 I ntroduction to Vocabu lary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248 Word fam i l ies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253 Reference and substitut ion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 Vocabu lary i n Speaking Part 1 - Persona l i nformation and m i n i topics . . . . 264 Phrasal verbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269 Th i rty-three id ioms which are safe to use i n the Spea k ing test . . . . . . . . . . 280 M u lti-cho ice test for vocabu la ry, grammar, and spe l l i ng 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281 Mu lti-cho ice test for vocabu la ry, grammar, and spe l l i ng 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284 Sentence types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

PART Ill IELTS Practice Tests Academic Practice Test 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 Academic Practice Test 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303 Academic Practice Test 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319 Academic Practice Test 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336 General Training Practice Test 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353 General Training Practice Test 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364 Answers to Parts I and II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377 Answers to Part Ill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403

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Contents vi i

Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... 443 I ELTS Logs : Read ing , Speak ing, Vocabu lary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443 Checkl i sts for practice and rea l tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 7

Answer sheet .................................... 456

ON CD-ROM: Audio Recordings 1-75

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PART I Getting Started

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cHAPTER 1 Introducing IELTS

What is the IELTS exam?

The I nternationa l Engl ish Language Testing System ( I ELTS) is the world 's l a rgest exa m , and as its name suggests , it is used to test Engl ish language for col lege and u n ivers ity entrance, as we l l as for imm igrat ion or registration with professiona l bod ies .

There a re two k inds of I ELTS tests : the Academic test for fu rther study and the Genera l Tra i n ing (GT) test for imm igratio n .

There i s no pass or fa i l with I ELTS. I nstead , there are bands that show a person 's leve l . These bands range from 0-9. A Zero is a cand idate who d idn 't come for the test ; a n d a N i ne is a native speaker - someone whose Engl ish i s perfect . A Five is a person who makes a l ot of m istakes but can genera l ly be u nderstood . A Six i s sti l l an i ntermed iate speaker, whereas a Seven i s sta rti ng to get good. An E ight has perhaps on ly five or s ix errors in h is or her 650 words of writ ing, and in the Speak ing test, makes on ly very occas iona l errors. A Six i s not that hard to score , but a Seven takes years of i ntens ive study and usua l ly res idence in an Engl ish­speak ing country.

The bands a re used by d ifferent i nstitut ions or authorit ies. If you want to attend un ivers ity in many Engl ish-speak ing countries , you need at least I ELTS 5 . 5 - the more famous the un iversity, or the cou rse , the h igher the score you need. If you want permanent residence i n Canada , you need a Seven . I f you 're a nu rse a n d you want t o conti nue n u rs ing i n Austra l i a , then you a l so need a Seven overa l l , i nc lud ing a Seven i n Speaking.

I ELTS has fu l l and ha lf bands , mea n i ng that a person who gets 6.5 i s better than a Six , but not yet a Seven . One th i ng to note about these scores i s that it 's rather easy to go from a Fou r to a 4 .5 , or even a Five to a 5 . 5 , but to progress beyond Six takes much longer. There a re a l so cand idates who never reach S ix. You can 't just take the test, take it aga i n , and aga i n a n d aga i n , a n d hope on the fifth attem pt you ' l l b e handed a 6 . 5 . No. You 've got to fit the descri pt ion of 6 .5 in order to get it .

If you 'd l i ke to know which nationa l it ies or fi rst languages cu rrently ach ieve which scores, go to the I ELTS webs ite : www.ielts.org. There 's p lenty of i nteresting data there as we l l as free practice materia l s .

What are the four parts of the test?

I E LTS is made up of four sub-tests. Cand idates do a l l of them on one or two days. They are , i n the order that they take p lace : L isten ing , Read i ng , Writi ng, a n d Speak ing .

The four tests a re equa l ly we ighted , or if you th i nk of it another way: worth 25% each . A band i s given for each one , and there i s a l so an average or Overa l l Band . A cand idate receives a report with i n two weeks of taking the test with five scores on it l i ke th i s :

Listening Reading Writing Speaking

7 6 . 5 6 6 .5

Overall Band = 6.5

You can see that the cand idate above was best at L isten i ng and worst at Writi ng. Read i ng and Speaki ng were the same. The majority of cand idates receive a report l i ke th is. It 's very ra re for one ski l l to be much better than another.

But what was the L isten ing test? What d id the cand idate need to do for Writi ng? Read the tab le below about the I ELTS Academic test to understand exactly what happens .

GT i s the same as Academic for Li sten ing and Speaking, but a l ittle d ifferent for Read i ng and Writ ing.

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4 PART I Getting Started

ACADEMIC

Test How long What Is Its format? What question types are there? does the test take?

Listening 40 m i nutes Around 40 questions in fou r sect ions. Each The fo l l owing may be used :

A record i ng section has 10 questions.

M u lti-choice (choosing one answer lasts for 30 Each question i s worth one mark. from th ree poss ib i l it ies) m i nutes. There a re 10 Questions a re easy at the start and M u lt ip le match i ng (choos i ng more

extra m i n utes become more d iffi cu lt as the test than one answer from a l i st of u p

to transfer progresses. to seven poss ib i l it ies)

answers from On a test day, a l l cand idates l i sten to the Choosing a graph ic a quest ion same record ing and have the same booklet onto questions , but these record ings and Note I Table I Sentence I an answer quest ions d iffer from test to test. There Summary complet ion (fi l l i ng i n sheet after a re d ifferent vers ions of a l l I ELTS tests. gaps) the record i ng has fi n i shed. Labe l l i ng maps or p lans

Provid i ng one- to th ree-word answers

Reading 60 m i n utes Around 40 questions in th ree passages. The fo l l owing may be used :

Cand idates Passage 1: ( 13 or 14 questions) M u lti-choice (choosi ng one answer transfer the i r from four poss ib i l it ies) answers as Passage 2: ( 13 or 14 questions)

they read. Passage 3 : (13 quest ions) M u lt ip le match ing (choosi ng more

There i s no than one answer from a l i st of u p

extra t ime. Each question i s worth one mark. to seven poss ib i l it ies)

Quest ions a re easy at the start and become Choosing a graph ic

more d ifficu lt as the test progresses. Note I Table I Sentence I

Words to be read i n the passages: 2500- Summary complet ion (fi l l i ng i n

2750 . (With questions , there a re a round gaps)

3500 words.) Labe l l i ng maps or p lans

Provid i ng one- to th ree-word answers

Complet ing a summary by choos ing words that a re given i n a long l i st

I nd icating which paragraph conta i ns i nformation

Choos i ng True I Fa l se I Not G iven for facts

Choos ing Yes I No I Not G iven for views or op in ions

Choosing headi ngs

Labe l l i ng a d iagram or a flowchart

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C H A PTER 1 Introducing IELTS 5

Writing 60 m inutes Two short pieces of writ ing ca l led tasks . Task 1 : Describ ing a v isua l i nput that cou ld be one, two , or three

Task 1: A report or descri pt ion of a tab le , graphs , tables , or charts ; two chart , process , or other vi sua l i nput. p lans or maps; or a process .

Words to be written : at least 150 Task 2: Essays that d i scuss one

Task 2: An essay on a soc ia l or academic or both s ides of an issue, or offer

topic that is given . so lut ions to a problem are the most common .

Words to be written : at least 250

Task 1 is easier than Task 2 .

Task 2 i s worth twice as much a s Task 1 .

On a test day, every cand idate gets the same two tasks, but these d iffer from test to test .

Speaking 11-14 There are th ree parts . Questions i n Parts 1 and 2 are m inutes persona l ; in Part 3 , they are more

Part 1: (4-5 m inutes) genera l or abstract .

The cand idate is asked one set of questions Any topic of genera l interest may on persona l i nformation , and two sets of be d iscussed. questions on s imple top ics .

Cand idates need to : agree or Part 2: (3-4 m inutes) d i sagree ; assess; compare ;

The cand idate is given a random specific describe; expl a i n ; express

top ic , has one m inute to th i nk , then two poss ib i l ity and probab i l ity ; justify

m inutes to ta l k about it. There may be one an op in ion ; na rrate ; specu late ;

or two short questions a t the end . suggest; and summarise .

Part 3: (4-5 m inutes) Add itiona l ski l l s inc l ude: the ab i l ity to self-correct ; to c i rcumlocute ; to

The cand idate is asked more genera l pa raphrase; and to ask for questions connected to the topic of Part 2 . c la rification .

A s i ngle band i s given a t the end of th is.

I n Part 1 , cand idates may be asked the same questions , but in Parts 2 and 3, each cand idate gets d ifferent questions . These wi l l be s im i l a r from test to test.

Part 1 i s easy; Part 2 , more d ifficu lt ; and Part 3 i s rather cha l l engi ng.

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GENERAL TRAINING

Test How long What Is Its format? What question types are

does It take? there?

Reading 60 m i n utes Around 40 questions in th ree sections . The See Academic Read ing above . fi rst two sections are d ivided i nto two parts , so

Candidates there are five d ifferent texts to read in tota l . transfer the i r answers wh i le Each question is worth one mark . they read .

Questions are easy at the sta rt a n d become There is no extra ti me. more d ifficu lt as the test progresses .

Words to be read i n the passages: 2000-2300 . (With questions , there are around 3000 words . )

Note : There are fewer words i n the GT than the Academic test, but candidates need to get more correct answers to be awarded the same band . See page 7.

Writing 60 m inutes Two short p ieces of writi ng ca l led tasks. Task 1 : Letters of: request,

Task 1: A forma l or sem i-formal letter. advice , offer, comp la int , congratu lation , or op in ion are

Words to be written : at least 150 the most common .

Task 2: An essay on a soc ia l topic that is given . Task 2 : Essays that d iscuss one or both sides of an i ssue ,

Words to be written : at least 250 or offer sol utions to a problem are the most common .

How is IELTS marked?

On the day of the test , the Speaking is ma rked by the exam iner who i nterviewed the candidate . Task 1 writ ing is marked by one exam iner ; Task 2 , by another. L isten ing and Read i ng are calcu­lated by a c lerk who is not a Spea k ing or Writ ing exam iner. Therefore four d ifferent people eva luate one cand idate 's performance . Among other th i ngs , th is reduces corru ption as the exami ners and c lerica l markers seldom know each other.

As we have just lea rnt, I E LTS uses bands. Do you remember th is cand idate?

Listening Reading Writing Speaking

7 6 . 5 6 6 . 5

Overall Band = 6.5

Another cand idate m ight get :

Listening Reading Writing Speaking

5 .5 5 5 5

Overall Band = 5

The majority of ca nd idates have most ski l l s i n the same band . If a cand idate has one test that is two bands d ifferent from another, h is or her paper is ma rked aga i n , and the h igher of the two ma rks becomes the new score .

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C H A PTER 1 Introducing IELTS 7

For examp le : a cand idate gets :

Listening Reading Writing Speaking

6 6 4 6

Overall Band = 5.5

If h i s or her Writi ng i s marked aga in and i s sti l l a Four or becomes a 4 . 5 , then the Overa l l Band rema ins a 5 . 5 . I f a Four goes up to a Five , then the new Overa l l Band is a S ix . A l l th i s happens before the fi na l report i s sent out.

Listening and Reading

These two tests are made up of 40 questions each that are either right or wrong. There are no half marks. The mark ing of these is fa i r ly easy, but they are marked twice for accuracy.

There are mu lt ip le vers ions of the L isten ing and Read i ng tests . Each vers ion differs s l ightly in its degree of d ifficu lty. They are a l l pre-tested. As you a l ready know, Academic and GT Read ing tests a re a l so different. Here 's a guide to the scores needed for some bands for L isten ing and Read ing . S i nce there are so many vers ions of these tests , th is tab le is approximate .

Band Listening 140 Academic Reading 140 GT Reading I 40

4 9 8 15

4 .5 12 12 19

5 16 15 23

5 . 5 19 19 27

6 23 23 30

6 . 5 27 27 32

7 30 30 34

7 . 5 33 33 36

8 35 35 37

Writing and Speaking

As you can imagi ne , Writi ng and Speak ing are harder to mark than L isten ing and Read ing s i nce each cand idate wi l l give d ifferent answers . Cand idates wi l l , however, have common featu res , which determ ine the i r leve l .

For Writi ng a n d Speaking, these common features are described by spec ia l criteria a t each band . ( Look up 'criteri a ' in your d ict ionary now. )

Th is book , the second edit ion of McGraw-Hill Education 's fELTS, i s based on criterion mark ing , so it 's i m porta nt to understa nd how it works . A great many cand idates prepa re for I E LTS without havi ng any idea what they're bei ng j udged o n , and so ca n 't i m prove the i r performance effective ly. Here , the criteria wi l l be descri bed and ana lysed. For examp le , Pronu nciat ion i s a Spea ki ng criterion , but it's l i ke ly you 've got on ly a vague idea what pronu nciat ion mea n s . Once you 've understood what many th i ngs rea l ly make up pronu nc iation , then you can sta rt learn i ng how to pronou nce Engl ish we l l .

Remember th is?

Listening Reading Writing Speaking

7 6 . 5 6 6 . 5

Overall Band = 6.5

There 's noth i ng about criteria on th is report - noth i ng to te l l you how the exam iners reached the i r concl us ions . A cand idate knows on ly in a genera l sense that h i s L isten ing is stronger than everyth ing e lse . He probably has no idea why h is Writi ng got a S ix .

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8 PA RT I Getting Started

So what are the Writing and Speaking criteria?

Writ ing and Speaking criter ia are s im i l a r : both inc l ude a judgment on a cand idate 's vocabu lary and grammar. I n Writi ng, cand idates must a l so describe, ana lyse, and a rgue we l l . I n Speaking, pronunciat ion p lays a major ro le . To ach ieve a h igh band i n I ELTS , it 's i mportant to u nderstand exactly what mark ing criter ia a re.

Writing criteria

There are four criter ia for Writ ing. They're the same for Task 1 and Task 2. In br ief, the criter ia are :

1 Task Fu lfi l ment (Also ca l led Task Ach ievement or Task Response: Answeri ng the question fu l ly)

2 Coherence and Cohesion (Words , sentences , paragraphs jo i ned smooth ly ; a l ogica l order throughout)

3 Lexica l Resource (Vocabu la ry)

4 Grammatica l Range and Accuracy (Grammar)

Each criter ion carr ies the same we ight. Th is is s ign ificant because, when asked , most cand idates be l i eve grammar is the most im portant th ing i n writi ng.

Wh i le each criter ion is worth the same, a la rge amount of research has shown that one criter ion - Lexica l Resource , ca l l ed Vocabu lary i n the book - is most d ifficu lt . This is because Engl ish vocabu lary is vast. The most common prob lem I E LTS cand idates have i s that the i r vocabu lary i s l i m ited. I t i s bori ng, repetitive , ch i ld ish , or i naccurate . Perhaps the tone o f the i r l anguage i s a lso inappropriate . Usua l ly th is is because they do not read much i n Engl i sh . Read i ng exposes you to vocabu lary most qu ickly. Probably, lea rners need to do three times the amount of work on vocabu lary that they do on any of the other criter ia to i mprove . Th is book reflects th is necess ity with a la rge number of activities on Vocabu la ry.

As previously mentioned , cand idates don 't have a breakdown of criter ia on thei r report form. But let 's look at a typica l score sheet an exam iner has . Th is is for Writ ing for Task 1 :

Task Fulfilment Coherence & Cohesion Vocabulary Grammar

6 6 5 6

The cand idate gets 5.5 for th is task. ( By the way: there are no ha lf bands with i n criteria . )

Here i s a Writ ing score sheet for Task 2:

Task Fulfilment Coherence & Cohesion Vocabulary Grammar

7 6 5 7

The cand idate gets Six for th is task . Task 2 i s worth twice as much as Task 1. The cand idate above ends up with a Six as a

Writi ng band . Basica l ly, Vocabu la ry was th is cand idate 's weak po i nt , and if i t had been a S ix , he or she

wou ld have ended up with 6 .5 for Writi ng. Now perhaps it's a sma l l d i fference between S ix and 6 .5, but let's say you want to do an MA in Canada. The un ivers ity you 've a pp l ied for asks for 6.5 for I ELTS Writi ng for d i rect adm iss ion . If you get a Six , then you need to do a ten-week Engl i sh-language course fi rst. That's another two months of your l ife you have to pay for and l ive through before starti ng your MA.

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C H A PT E R 1 Introducing IELTS 9

Speaking criteria

There are a l so four criter ia for Speaking. U n l i ke Writ ing, where the tasks are rated separate ly, there is on ly one score given for the cand idate 's whole Speak ing test.

In brief, the criter ia are :

1 Fl uency and Coherence (The ab i l ity to keep spea ki ng; accurate use of l i n kers ; sound logic)

2 Lexical Resou rce (Vocabu lary)

3 Grammatica l Ra nge and Accuracy (Grammar)

4 Pronunciat ion

You can see that there 's no Task Fu lfi l ment criterion . Th is means the exam iner doesn 't judge the content of the cand idate 's answers - the candidate can say pretty much anyth i ng he or she l i kes . If you want to say your mother's an astronaut on the I nternationa l Space Station and your father's B i l l Gates' best mate , that's fi ne , as long as your Engl ish is correct.

L ike Writ ing, each criter ion is worth 25%. Genera l ly, cand idates sti l l fi nd Vocabu la ry problematic . Fl uency i s a l so a cha l lenge

because it's poss ib le the cand idate has never spoken for so long i n Engl i sh . A lso , a l most no teachers or textbooks focus on Fl uency. ( I s it anywhere i n the Tab le of Contents of your best mate 's I E LTS book?) Depend ing on what your fi rst language i s , pronu nciat ion may be difficu lt . If you 're German , it 's not so hard ; if you 're V ietnamese , it 's he l l . Let's say you 're from Ho Ch i Minh City, and you want permanent residence i n Austra l i a . For res idence , you may need a Seven for Spea king. Fran kly, that's goi ng to be extremely tough because t ime and t ime aga i n even i f you 're rea l ly good , you ' l l get :

Fluency & Coherence Grammar Vocabulary Pronunciation

7 7 7 6

Overall Band = 6.5

Hopefu l ly th i s book wi l l give your pronu nciat ion a boost. If you 've read th is far, you 've rea l i sed that I E LTS is not just a matter of learn i ng the ques­

t ion types (any o ld book dea ls with those) , but more im portantly understand ing the mark ing criter ia for Writi ng and Spea k ing . If you look at the Tab le of Contents of th is book, you ' l l see how each criter ion is pu l led apart and practi sed here . Then we put them a l l together for the practice tests .

How should I prepare for IELTS?

The s imp lest answer to th is question i s : put in the effort. If th is means setting your a la rm for 5 AM , and studyi ng for an hour each day before you go to work, that's what you have to do .

Here are s ix days i n a week . Write i n t ime you can spend each day on I E LTS prep . Be rea l­istic , but a l so don 't be lazy.

Day

AM

Activity

PM

Activity

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10 PA RT I Getting Started

For most ca nd idates , read ing needs to be a pr iority. Not on ly is read ing tested in I ELTS , but as mentioned previous ly, vocabu la ry is lea rnt most effective ly th rough read ing . Twenty mi nutes ' reading i n Engl ish every day wi l l d ramatica l ly improve you r I ELTS score . I t doesn 't matter what k inds of th i ngs you read : footba l l , I nd ian cookery, the l ives of i nsects , as long as you 're prac­t is ing . Use a d ict ionary on ly once or twice a day. J ust absorb and enjoy. (Use the Readi ng Log on page 444 . )

It's a good idea to ta ke I ELTS as soon as you can . Th is lets you see what your level i s . You may be p leasantly su rpri sed and d iscover you on l y need to work on one ski l l for your ' rea l ' test , but it's more l i kely you ' l l b e shocked , a n d pa n ic .

You may a lso need to buy some more books , perha ps for grammar or vocabu la ry. There are p lenty to choose from.

Some I ELTS cand idates l i ke to fi nd a buddy, a friend who is a lso ta k ing the test , to work with . It 's fun to compete , testi ng each other on new vocabu la ry, for i nstance ; or do ing the prac­tice tests together under exam condit ions . Learn i ng needs feedback, which means you don 't learn unt i l someone te l l s you what your mistakes are , so if you r buddy can a l so do th is - in the n icest way poss ib le - then that's exce l l ent.

Of cou rse I ELTS is a major exam, but there is l ife after I E LTS whether you get the band you need or not. You won 't stop learn i ng English just beca use you get a Six. It 's l i ke ly you r new job , or the cou rse you 're do ing i n another cou ntry, wi l l prove more cha l lenging than th is one exam.

Characteristics of d ifferent bands

There a re ten I ELTS bands. The creators o f the I E LTS exam describe them i n th is way:

9 Expert user Has fu l ly operationa l command of the language : appropriate , accu rate and fl uent with comp lete understand ing .

8 Very good user Has fu l ly operationa l command of the language with on ly occas iona l unsystematic i naccuracies and ina ppropr iacies . M isunderstand ings may occur in unfami l i a r situations . Hand les complex deta i led a rgumentat ion we l l .

7 Good user Has operat iona l comma nd of the la nguage , though with [e!ljlf§@i•ilijil i naccuracies and misu ndersta ndings in some s ituations . Genera l ly handles complex language we l l and understa nds deta1led reasonm

6 Competent user Has enera l ly effective command of the la nguage despite &11

5 Modest user

4 Limited user

inaccu racies , inappropnac1es and misu ndersta ndings. Can use fairly complex la nguage , pa rticu lar ly in familia r Situations .

pa rt1a l comma nd Has of the language , cop ing with overa l l mean i ng i n most s ituations , though i s . Shou ld be l ikely to make ma ny m istakes ab le to hand le basic commu n1cat1on 1n own fie ld

Basic competence is l imited to fami l i a r s ituations . Has frequent prob lems in understand ing and expression . I s not ab le to use complex la nguage .

3 Extremely limited Conveys and understa nds on ly genera l mean i ng in very fami l i a r user s ituations . Frequent breakdowns in commu nication occur.

2 Intermittent user No rea l commu n ication is poss ib le except for the most basic i nformation us ing iso lated words or short formu lae i n fami l i a r s ituations and to meet immediate needs . Has great difficu lty understand ing spoken and written Engl i sh .

1 Non user Essenti a l ly has no abil ity to use the la nguage beyond poss ib ly a few iso lated words .

0 Did not attempt No assessab le i nformation provided . the test

Copyright © Cambridge ESOL. Reprinted by permission of Cambridge ESOL.

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C H A P T E R 1 Introducing IELTS 11

What does al l this mean?

Choose words from the box to fill in the numbered gaps below. There is an example.

accent answers assuming oo operat iona l

go i ng residency

Mandar in

C learly, a N i ne makes (eg) no mistakes at a l l . An Eight has ' occas iona l ' mistakes , mea n i ng

four of five wrong (1) ____ i n a L isten i ng or Read i ng test (35-36/40) and five or s ix

mista kes i n a Writi ng or Speaking test. Cons ider ing an Eight writes a round 650 words and

says about 1350, that's 1988/2000 correct words . Wh i l e an adu lt Eight may have an

(2) _____ from h i s or her fi rst language , there wi l l be no noticeab le errors i n pronunc ia-

tio n . Bea ring th is i n mind , not a lot of cand idates a re (3) _____ to be E ights .

The vast majority of people who lea rn Engl ish can never expect to reach Eight. Fu rther­

more , a Seven i s not easy to ach ieve either - it has to be earned with years of study, practice ,

and perhaps l iv ing i n an Engl ish-speak ing environment. A Six can 't j ust keep taki ng the I E LTS

exam week after week (4) _____ he or she wi l l automatica l ly be given a Seven .

For many cand idates , the d ifference between a S i x and a Seven is important, and th is

book a ims to defi ne it , as we l l as to deve lop some h igher- leve l ski l l s . Having '(5) ____ _

command ' , wh ich a Seven has , means a person can eas i ly work i n Engl ish i n an Engl ish­

speak ing country. For that reason , Austra l i a , Brita i n , Canada , and New Zea land requ i re Sevens

for (6) ___ _

The good news i s that many people reach Five or 5.5 after a coup le of years' study.

Engl ish i s not hard to learn i n comparison to Arab ic , (7) _____ , or Russ ian .

If you've already taken the I ELTS exam and not got the score you wanted . . .

Here are ten questions to ask yourself:

• Which ski l l was my weakest?

• Do I accept that th is is not a matter of luck but an i nd ication of my leve l?

• Which qua l ified person can I ask about why th is is my weakest ski l l ?

• C a n I serious ly devote time t o improvi ng t h i s ski l l ?

• C a n I fi nd an I ELTS buddy?

• Can I take an Engl ish cou rse or private lessons?

• Do I accept that improvi ng a l l my ski l l s i s not a matter of do ing ever more practice tests (espe­c ia l ly many on l i ne ones that resemble actua l exams on ly in appearance)?

• Do I accept that I need to understand ski l l s more deeply and practise more mean ingfu l ly? (See the Appendices at the back of this book. )

• C a n I work on my vocabu la ry, grammar, a n d pronunciat ion cons istently?

• If I don 't get the score I need with i n one yea r, what i s P lan B?

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