New IELTS practice tests from Cambridge

Cambridge University Press has recently launched the latest book in their collection of past IELTS papers, Cambridge 11.

This new book comes in two separate versions, one only with Academic tests while the other with only General Training tests to give the candidates more practice papers.

Hope you will find them useful.

If you need more information about the IELTS test or how to handle specific questions, you can purchase one of my eBooks, The IELTS for Beginners or The IELTS for Beginners Second Edition. You can find them on Scribd, Smashwords, the Apple store and other distributors. Alternatively, you can read my other blog posts.

Best of luck

upcoming book

Thanks to the wonderful cover designer Rita and the formatting team at EBook Launch my next ebook ‘The IELTS for Beginners Second Edition’ will be available for sale as of 20 October. If you have to take the test or know anyone who does, the book can already be pre-ordered from Smashwords, iBooks and other retailers. And since you have an exam on your mind you may like to revise some more, so check out my one of my other ebooks, ‘Which Article?’, to help you brush up on your knowledge of articles in English.

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New book!

Dear readers,

I would like to let you know that a second edition of ‘The IELTS for Beginners’ will be available at Smashwords and other ebook retailers from 20 October 2015. This new edition provides a detailed breakdown of the types of questions found in the listening and reading sections and techniques on how to identify the answers. There are also more details about the writing questions and guidance on how to write as per the test requirements.

As the book is aimed at test takers who are not very familiar with this exam and those who need to take the test again, the book is written in plain language to make it easy to follow.

To those of you who have purchased my previous books I would like to say ‘thank you’ and I hope that you will find this one equally useful.

Good luck in your upcoming exam.

Instructions in the IELTS test

How many of us usually read instructions carefully? Honestly, I think it’s safer to say that we skim them at best. But if you have to take this test it’s a good idea to get used to reading instructions from beginning to end and then re-reading them just to make sure you haven’t missed anything.

It may appear useless, but the information changes from one test to another. Sometimes in the Reading and Listening sections the answers are limited to two words while other times to three. In the Writing part, candidates may find that the greeting for the letter has already been provided or that the essay question is asking only for a discussion of advantages but not of disadvantages of a specific topic.

A cautious reading of the instructions will ensure that you provide the correct answers and get the scores you need.

Until next time,

Good luck

Avoiding mistakes in Writing

Here are some things to be aware of during the Writing section of the IELTS exam.

Some may seem very easy, childish even, but remember that when writing under pressure it is very easy to think of the rules of the native language and forget those of English or even write without any rules in mind.

·         Ensure that your handwriting is legible.

·       Ensure that the first letter of the first word in every sentence is a capital letter.

·       Make sure that you know which types of words in English need to be written with initial capital in all situations and write them correctly (for instance: days of the week, names of languages, etc.)

·      You can start writing from the left hand side of the page (block style) or you can begin the first sentence of every paragraph with an indent (a small blank space at the beginning of the line).

·     Try to avoid using question marks (?). Use indirect questions instead.

                 e.g.: What is the time?
                         I would like to know what the time is.

·     Try to avoid using exclamation marks (!), even if you are writing a letter of complaint. You are not writing an email or a blog post. Try to be polite.

• Make sure that other punctuation marks are placed right after words.
e.g.: … people.   NOT  … people  .

       … people,   NOT  … people  ,

• If you reach the end of the line it is also important to keep punctuation together.
e.g.:                                                                                               … people’s

NOT                                          …people

‘s

• If you are at the end of the line and realise that you cannot write an entire word in the space left, do not break it into syllables. Erase it and write the whole word on the next line instead to avoid mistakes.
e.g.:                                                                                                                                    … impo-    rtant                

                                                                          is incorrect

Until next time,

God luck

Good news!

If you're worried about making grammar mistakes in the IELTS test here's something new to help you.
Cambridge University Press has recently launched a new grammar app based on Raymond Murphy's book "English Grammar in Use". The app is now available for Apple devices. The version for Android products will be available soon.


Happy exercising!

How to improve the Writing score

I am often asked about ways to increase the IELTS scores, especially for the writing section. Most students I talk to often get a 'something point five' score, either a 5.5 or 6.5, but what they really need is a full 6 or 7. So they wonder what is wrong with their writing, what is causing them to lose that precious half a band?

I usually find that problem to be grammar. Here are some things to bear in mind when you are writing, in no particular order:

v  Nouns: Are they in singular or plural? This helps you determine if you need a singular or a plural verb. In English the subject – verb agreement is important.

v  Articles: Do you need one or not before the noun? Most times in English we do need to use articles. Make sure that before the test day you are familiar with the rules for using articles and more importantly with the exceptions to the rules.

v  Adjectives: What is their correct order before a noun? Find out the rules and apply them when you are practising. To avoid mistakes try not to use too many adjectives before a noun.

If you feel that there are other grammar related issues you’re struggling with, please write a comment and I will try to help.

If you need a quick review of the usage of articles in English, see my eBook, ‘Which Article?’, available at eBooks distributors such as Smashwords, Apple, Scribd, txtr, Flipkart, Oyster and many more.

 

Until next time,

Good luck