Showing posts with label IELTS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IELTS. Show all posts
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Difference between words of Europe and America in form of past tense and past participle
There are lot of alternative forms of the past tense and past participle of the many verb. Learnt is more common in British English, and learned in American English. There are a number of verbs of this type (burn, dream, kneel, lean, leap, spell, spill, spoil etc.). They are all irregular verbs, and this is a part of their irregularity.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Tips for IELTS Listening on True/False Question
For example:
Statement:There are six children in John’s family.
Tapescript: John’s got four kids, hasn’t he ?...Or is it five ?...no, no, I forgot Sara is the youngest yes, five and Sara.
So, if you answer the question too quickly, you will get the answer wrong. Also, you don’t hear the exact number ‘six’.The above example is of a question that is ‘True’. Look at the same question, but where the answer is ‘False’:
Statement:There are six children in John’s family.
Tapescript: John’s got six kids, hasn’t he?...Yes, six ?...no, no, I forgot – it’s Tony.
Who’s got six – John’s got three.
Here, you hear the same number as in the statement three times before you hear the correct one. So, again, answering too quickly will mean it is wrong. Have a look at these other ‘traps’ that you can get in True/False questions.
i) Changing the modifier only
Statement: All students have to register before 08 August.
Tapescript: Most students have to register before 08 August.
Answer: False
ii) Changing the answer twice.
Statement: Peter decides to go to the cinema.
Tapescript:
PETER: Let’s go to the cinema, there’s a new film on.
JANE: I’d like to go to the theatre instead to see the play.
PETER: OK, that’s fine, we’ll go to the theatre.
JANE: Great, thanks, oh no – maybe the cinema would be better.
PETER: OK – the cinema it is then
JANE: Are you sure?
PETER: Yes, sure. No, the theatre – definitely!
Answer: False
iii) Using words that mean the same (synonyms)
Statement:All students have to register before 08 August.
Tapescript: All students have to enroll before 08 August.
Answer: True
iv) Using opposites (antonyms)
Statement:Robert is very upset.
Tapescript: I’m worried about Robert, he isn’t happy at all these days.
Answer: True
v) Changing the wording
Statement: You have to pay on or before 08 August.
Tapescript: You can’t make payment after the 7th of August.
Answer: False
Statement:There are six children in John’s family.
Tapescript: John’s got four kids, hasn’t he ?...Or is it five ?...no, no, I forgot Sara is the youngest yes, five and Sara.
So, if you answer the question too quickly, you will get the answer wrong. Also, you don’t hear the exact number ‘six’.The above example is of a question that is ‘True’. Look at the same question, but where the answer is ‘False’:
Statement:There are six children in John’s family.
Tapescript: John’s got six kids, hasn’t he?...Yes, six ?...no, no, I forgot – it’s Tony.
Who’s got six – John’s got three.
Here, you hear the same number as in the statement three times before you hear the correct one. So, again, answering too quickly will mean it is wrong. Have a look at these other ‘traps’ that you can get in True/False questions.
i) Changing the modifier only
Statement: All students have to register before 08 August.
Tapescript: Most students have to register before 08 August.
Answer: False
ii) Changing the answer twice.
Statement: Peter decides to go to the cinema.
Tapescript:
PETER: Let’s go to the cinema, there’s a new film on.
JANE: I’d like to go to the theatre instead to see the play.
PETER: OK, that’s fine, we’ll go to the theatre.
JANE: Great, thanks, oh no – maybe the cinema would be better.
PETER: OK – the cinema it is then
JANE: Are you sure?
PETER: Yes, sure. No, the theatre – definitely!
Answer: False
iii) Using words that mean the same (synonyms)
Statement:All students have to register before 08 August.
Tapescript: All students have to enroll before 08 August.
Answer: True
iv) Using opposites (antonyms)
Statement:Robert is very upset.
Tapescript: I’m worried about Robert, he isn’t happy at all these days.
Answer: True
v) Changing the wording
Statement: You have to pay on or before 08 August.
Tapescript: You can’t make payment after the 7th of August.
Answer: False
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Understanding what you need to write about in IELTS
Task 2s are split into two parts…
1) The statement
and
2) The question
Together they make up the task.
Example:
What you need to do is to read the statement carefully and underline what you think are the keywords. Keywords in task 2 statements are usually nouns, verbs, modifiers (eg: more / less/ a few / some) and negatives (e.g.: not / don’t).
Tip: You should underline around 30% to 40% of the statement. It is very easy to underline about 80% at first because you’re not sure exactly what to do and all the words appear to be very important. Don’t worry too much if you’re underlining over 50% at first because as you practice further, the number of words you underline will decrease as you become more confident.
1) The statement
and
2) The question
Together they make up the task.
Example:
| Statement: | More and more students are taking a year off after finishing school to travel or work before they go to university. However, some people don’t agree with this. |
| Question: | What are the advantages and disadvantages of this? |
What you need to do is to read the statement carefully and underline what you think are the keywords. Keywords in task 2 statements are usually nouns, verbs, modifiers (eg: more / less/ a few / some) and negatives (e.g.: not / don’t).
| Statement: | More and more students are taking a year off after finishing school to travel or work before they go to university. However, some people don’t agree with this. |
| Question: | What are the advantages and disadvantages of this? |
Tip: You should underline around 30% to 40% of the statement. It is very easy to underline about 80% at first because you’re not sure exactly what to do and all the words appear to be very important. Don’t worry too much if you’re underlining over 50% at first because as you practice further, the number of words you underline will decrease as you become more confident.
How to describe Pie Chart
i)Do I have to include all of the information in a pie chart?
No, you don't. Pie charts often have categories such as 'miscellaneous' and 'others'; you don't have to include these areas in your answers because it's not really clear what they refer to and they are normally included just to make up 100%.
ii) If there's only 1 pie chart?
It's probably best to look for 2 or 3 groups within the chart, for example: small / medium / large. Take a look at the chart below:
In this chart you can put BMW and Benz into the 'small' group, Toyota and Honda into the 'medium' group and Nissan and Mitsubishi into the 'large' group.
iii) If there are 2 pie charts?
If there are 2 charts that are related, then you should compare them. Look at the example below:
Here, you can compare between car makes that increased (BMW and Honda), the ones that decreased (Mitsubishi and Nissan) and those that remained stable (Benz and Toyota).
If you get 2 pie charts that are not related, deal with them separately in 2 paragraphs - don't try to compare or you could get into a mess.
Problems: Some people only repeat the percentage for each category and so don't show a variety of vocabulary.
You could write: "The great majority of sales were of Moschino bags at 82%, whereas Gucci sales accounted for only 18%."
You could write: "The majority of dishes sold were Kow Pad Moo at around one-third of all sales. Kow Pad Goong and Kow Pad Gai accounted for just over and just under one-quarter of sales respectively. Finally, only a few dishes of Kow Pad American were sold."
Useful language:
a few a small/large proportion of
a fair amount of
the (vast/great) majority of
one quarter
(around/about) one-third
(just under/over) a half three-quarters
No, you don't. Pie charts often have categories such as 'miscellaneous' and 'others'; you don't have to include these areas in your answers because it's not really clear what they refer to and they are normally included just to make up 100%.
ii) If there's only 1 pie chart?
It's probably best to look for 2 or 3 groups within the chart, for example: small / medium / large. Take a look at the chart below:
In this chart you can put BMW and Benz into the 'small' group, Toyota and Honda into the 'medium' group and Nissan and Mitsubishi into the 'large' group.
iii) If there are 2 pie charts?
If there are 2 charts that are related, then you should compare them. Look at the example below:
Here, you can compare between car makes that increased (BMW and Honda), the ones that decreased (Mitsubishi and Nissan) and those that remained stable (Benz and Toyota).
If you get 2 pie charts that are not related, deal with them separately in 2 paragraphs - don't try to compare or you could get into a mess.
Problems: Some people only repeat the percentage for each category and so don't show a variety of vocabulary.
You could write: "The great majority of sales were of Moschino bags at 82%, whereas Gucci sales accounted for only 18%."
You could write: "The majority of dishes sold were Kow Pad Moo at around one-third of all sales. Kow Pad Goong and Kow Pad Gai accounted for just over and just under one-quarter of sales respectively. Finally, only a few dishes of Kow Pad American were sold."
Useful language:
a few a small/large proportion of
a fair amount of
the (vast/great) majority of
one quarter
(around/about) one-third
(just under/over) a half three-quarters
Linking Words for essay writing
Tips:
*Don't over-use linking phrases. Use them sensibly where they are needed.
*Don't try to be clever by using more unusual words and phrases, you'll probably misuse them and get a lower score.
*Don't use the same phrases again and again. Don't try to learn long lists of phrases because you only need a few for your answer in the test. The examiner is looking for a variety of phrases, so just make sure you keep it simple and use a few common ones that are used with simple structures.
EXAMPLE:
Paragraph 1
There are many causes of air pollution. There is the use of private cars. This can cause many breathing problems because of fumes. Other forms of transport cause air pollution, these are buses, boats and motorcycles. Factories produce gasses that go into the air causing pollution. These things make people's health suffer.
Paragraph 2
One the one hand, there are many causes of air pollution. Firstly, there is the use of private cars. This can cause many breathing problems because of fumes. Furthermore, other forms of transport cause air pollution, for example buses, boats and motorcycles. In addition, Factories produce gasses that go into the air causing pollution. All in all/In summary, these things make people's health suffer.
*Don't over-use linking phrases. Use them sensibly where they are needed.
*Don't try to be clever by using more unusual words and phrases, you'll probably misuse them and get a lower score.
*Don't use the same phrases again and again. Don't try to learn long lists of phrases because you only need a few for your answer in the test. The examiner is looking for a variety of phrases, so just make sure you keep it simple and use a few common ones that are used with simple structures.
EXAMPLE:
Paragraph 1
There are many causes of air pollution. There is the use of private cars. This can cause many breathing problems because of fumes. Other forms of transport cause air pollution, these are buses, boats and motorcycles. Factories produce gasses that go into the air causing pollution. These things make people's health suffer.
Paragraph 2
One the one hand, there are many causes of air pollution. Firstly, there is the use of private cars. This can cause many breathing problems because of fumes. Furthermore, other forms of transport cause air pollution, for example buses, boats and motorcycles. In addition, Factories produce gasses that go into the air causing pollution. All in all/In summary, these things make people's health suffer.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
IELTS Writing Tips
1. 'Stretching' your sentences makes them harder to read, less easy to grasp your point, and can also have a bad impact on your grammar. If you don't really know how to use the words you are using, the quality of your sentences will decl5. 'Stretching' your sentences makes them harder to read, less easy to grasp your point, and can also have a bad impact on your grammar. If you don't really know how to use the words you are using, the quality of your sentences will decline, as will your score. ine, as will your score.
2. Try to join sentence using words like 'although'. Long sentences (correctly written with correct grammar) have a tendency to flow better and engage the reader.
3.However, don't show off. See the IELTS Test as a test of what you can do, not a test of what you know. Some students see the writing test as a opportunity to show an assessor that they know long and complicated words, without fully understanding their meaning, and know complicated grammar structures, without really understanding how the grammar works. Do this and your score WILL go down. Do you best, but never try to go beyond what you can do - it just won't work!
4.In Task 1 your job is to put numerical information or some form of illustration into written form. The first paragraph should say what the information is. After that, think of the task in this way: write in a way that someone who can't see the table, graph, illustration, etc. would be able to draw the important points of what you are looking at.
5.In Task 2, you are often asked to give an opinion, or solve a problem in some way. Your opinion with 'support' (evidence your opinion is valid) is useless. Always give as many examples as you can that support your view.
6.Before you start writing, plan what you are going to write (but only for a maximum of 4-5 minutes).
Always write these notes in an abbreviated form (short notes); don't waste time writing sentences. It will save your time.
7.Although you can use your own experience to answer a question, never do so to the extent that you change the question. For example, you might get a question:
"Traffic problems are the chief source of global pollution. Suggest a possible solution to this problem."
2. Try to join sentence using words like 'although'. Long sentences (correctly written with correct grammar) have a tendency to flow better and engage the reader.
3.However, don't show off. See the IELTS Test as a test of what you can do, not a test of what you know. Some students see the writing test as a opportunity to show an assessor that they know long and complicated words, without fully understanding their meaning, and know complicated grammar structures, without really understanding how the grammar works. Do this and your score WILL go down. Do you best, but never try to go beyond what you can do - it just won't work!
4.In Task 1 your job is to put numerical information or some form of illustration into written form. The first paragraph should say what the information is. After that, think of the task in this way: write in a way that someone who can't see the table, graph, illustration, etc. would be able to draw the important points of what you are looking at.
5.In Task 2, you are often asked to give an opinion, or solve a problem in some way. Your opinion with 'support' (evidence your opinion is valid) is useless. Always give as many examples as you can that support your view.
6.Before you start writing, plan what you are going to write (but only for a maximum of 4-5 minutes).
Always write these notes in an abbreviated form (short notes); don't waste time writing sentences. It will save your time.
7.Although you can use your own experience to answer a question, never do so to the extent that you change the question. For example, you might get a question:
"Traffic problems are the chief source of global pollution. Suggest a possible solution to this problem."
Thursday, July 17, 2008
IELTS essay writting: Part 1
If you decided on an opinion essay, give it a proper structure.
1) Introduction is a must. You don’t believe you could get a good grade without introduction, do you?
2) 3 paragraphs are also necessary – three is a magical number. It can do wonders to your overall band score.
3) Conclusion. You do not want to infuse your examiner with a feeling of incompleteness.
First of all, you should not wander off trying to find ideas in the darkest parts of your mind.We will get some obvious hints right from the assignment.
About three paragraph if the product is about a product:
Introduction – topic and opinion in short(Simply speaking, let’s rewrite the assignment).
Paragraph 1 - staff working conditions are important
Paragraph 2 - employers should research and improve the working conditions
Paragraph 3 - concentrating more on their product is bad
Conclusion – short summary of paragraphs
Now we have to rephrase our ideas. And this is the hardest part to me as we have to use our vocabulary. so nothing we can do but remember some basic expressions. If you get stuck, just write down whatever comes to your mind looking at the key words of the assignment.
Example:
research: analyze, explore, inquire, investigate, look into, study
marketing: advertising, promoting, pushing products
working condition: situation, state, work load
stress at work: pressure, nervous tension, difficulty, hardness, strain
ignore: disregard, do not take into account, close the eyes to
employers: managers, bosses
staff work: force, personnel, employees
concentrate on the product: consider closely, direct attention, fix attention, focus, give attention
do a lot of damage to overall productivity
friendly environment
To make a paragraph we have to follow some rules like,
The first rule - KEEP IT AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE
Be practical – simple ideas come easy and take less effort to develop.
Don’t be tempted to amaze your examiner with profound knowledge of slang, idioms and pedantic words.
The second rule – DEVELOP YOUR PARAGRAPHS
A good paragraph must have
1) Topic sentence (statement)
2) Arguments – 3 arguments advisable, each followed by
3) Supporting details
4) Transition words and markers
I could arrange it in order of development steps.
THE WORST :
I am ugly (only statement, undeveloped - no arguments, no supporting details).
SLIGHTLY BETTER :
I am ugly. I am old, bald and untidy (statement, 3 arguments, no supporting details)
MUCH BETTER :
Statement - I am ugly.
Argument1 - I am old.
Supporting detail 1 - I was born before the World War II.
Argument 2 - I am bald.
Supporting detail 2 - You could see your reflection in the top of my head.
Argument 3 - I am untidy.
Supporting detail 3 - I have dirty marks all over my clothes.
Summary
(The gaps are here to be filled in with additional words that make your writing smooth or cohesive.)
… I am ugly. … I am old. I was born before the World War Two. … I am bald. You could see your reflection in the top of my head. … I am untidy. I have dirty marks all over my clothes.
THE BEST :
(transition words and markers added)
In my opinion, I am ugly. First of all, I am old. I was born before the World War II. Secondly, I am bald. You could see your reflection in the top of my head. Finally, I am untidy. I have dirty marks all over my clothes.
Timing issues and MY ESSAY:
Time you will spend on each paragraph depends on your ability to produce consistent chunks of text approximately 50 – 70 words in length. The words left to build up a 250 word essay might be divided between the introduction and conclusion. In my case it takes about 7-8 minutes per paragraph.
1) Introduction is a must. You don’t believe you could get a good grade without introduction, do you?
2) 3 paragraphs are also necessary – three is a magical number. It can do wonders to your overall band score.
3) Conclusion. You do not want to infuse your examiner with a feeling of incompleteness.
First of all, you should not wander off trying to find ideas in the darkest parts of your mind.We will get some obvious hints right from the assignment.
About three paragraph if the product is about a product:
Introduction – topic and opinion in short(Simply speaking, let’s rewrite the assignment).
Paragraph 1 - staff working conditions are important
Paragraph 2 - employers should research and improve the working conditions
Paragraph 3 - concentrating more on their product is bad
Conclusion – short summary of paragraphs
Now we have to rephrase our ideas. And this is the hardest part to me as we have to use our vocabulary. so nothing we can do but remember some basic expressions. If you get stuck, just write down whatever comes to your mind looking at the key words of the assignment.
Example:
research: analyze, explore, inquire, investigate, look into, study
marketing: advertising, promoting, pushing products
working condition: situation, state, work load
stress at work: pressure, nervous tension, difficulty, hardness, strain
ignore: disregard, do not take into account, close the eyes to
employers: managers, bosses
staff work: force, personnel, employees
concentrate on the product: consider closely, direct attention, fix attention, focus, give attention
do a lot of damage to overall productivity
friendly environment
To make a paragraph we have to follow some rules like,
The first rule - KEEP IT AS SIMPLE AS POSSIBLE
Be practical – simple ideas come easy and take less effort to develop.
Don’t be tempted to amaze your examiner with profound knowledge of slang, idioms and pedantic words.
The second rule – DEVELOP YOUR PARAGRAPHS
A good paragraph must have
1) Topic sentence (statement)
2) Arguments – 3 arguments advisable, each followed by
3) Supporting details
4) Transition words and markers
I could arrange it in order of development steps.
THE WORST :
I am ugly (only statement, undeveloped - no arguments, no supporting details).
SLIGHTLY BETTER :
I am ugly. I am old, bald and untidy (statement, 3 arguments, no supporting details)
MUCH BETTER :
Statement - I am ugly.
Argument1 - I am old.
Supporting detail 1 - I was born before the World War II.
Argument 2 - I am bald.
Supporting detail 2 - You could see your reflection in the top of my head.
Argument 3 - I am untidy.
Supporting detail 3 - I have dirty marks all over my clothes.
Summary
(The gaps are here to be filled in with additional words that make your writing smooth or cohesive.)
… I am ugly. … I am old. I was born before the World War Two. … I am bald. You could see your reflection in the top of my head. … I am untidy. I have dirty marks all over my clothes.
THE BEST :
(transition words and markers added)
In my opinion, I am ugly. First of all, I am old. I was born before the World War II. Secondly, I am bald. You could see your reflection in the top of my head. Finally, I am untidy. I have dirty marks all over my clothes.
Timing issues and MY ESSAY:
Time you will spend on each paragraph depends on your ability to produce consistent chunks of text approximately 50 – 70 words in length. The words left to build up a 250 word essay might be divided between the introduction and conclusion. In my case it takes about 7-8 minutes per paragraph.
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