Students' questions

Here are some of the questions that people asked me this week.

1. For process diagrams, can we suggest ways of improving the process?

No, you should never include opinions or suggestions in your task 1 essay. Just describe what you see.

2. Can I use "illustrates", "indicates" or "mentions" instead of "shows"?

I tell my students to use "shows", "illustrates", "compares" or "gives information about". You don't need to learn any more ways. I wouldn't use "indicates" or "mentions" because they're not quite right for the context.

3. If the examiner asks me where I come from, should I say where I live now (e.g. in the UK) or should I talk about the country I was born in?

It doesn't matter. You can say either, or both!

4. In the speaking test, do examiners look at the notes we made for part 2?

No, your notes do not affect your score at all.

5. In the writing test, what is considered as 'memorised' language?

'Memorised language' usually refers to phrases or sentences that can be used for any topic e.g. "This is a controversial issue nowadays, but every coin has two sides." These phrases don't help you to get a good score; the key to a high score is what I call "real content". Click here to see what I mean by this.

6. Isn't the phrase "different countries" strange? All countries are different, so it seems absurd.

I see what you mean, but I can tell you that "different countries" is a normal and common phrase in English. Languages are not always perfectly logical.

Note:
Please remember that I can't answer every question that students send me. I'm sorry if I missed yours.

Comments

[Adel Ansari]

Hello Simon
Can you post more reading exercise such as YES, NO and NOT GIVEN? I'm really waiting for that.
Thank you

[Simon]

Hi Adel,

I've done lots of "true, false, not given" exercises here on the site. "yes, no, not given" is the same, so you can practise with my "true, false, not given" exercises.

[Tatiana]

Dear Simon,
today I've found an article stating that in the writing part candidates should use sentences like 'bla-bla which does smth' rather than 'smth does smth doing smth else'. Is following this rule of primary importance? Really hope that I was able to explain what I meant. Thanks in advance!

[Martin]

Here is an example of what to say for question #3:

"I'm from (home country) and I've been living in the UK for over 2 years."

[Gokce]

Hi Simon,
"25th December" is count as 3 words or two words? sorry if it is silly question but anyway
Thank you so much
Gokce

[Jimmy]

Dear Simon,

You are amazing!
I finally got Overall 7 on 3/10
R 7.5, L7, W7, S6.5

After using ur writing task1 tactic, I improved writing from 6 to 7 within 1 month!

Really thank for your help from this site.

[Simon]

Hi Tatiana,

You can forget about things like that. There isn't a certain way of writing sentences that gets you a higher score.

...

Thanks Martin!

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Hi Gocke,

It's 2 words, or a word and a number.

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Congratulations Jimmy! Great scores!

[Mehemmed]

Hi everyone!Who could say my approx band score for following essay,cause I'm self-studing candidate,I don't know my score.Please help me.

Some people think that universities should provide graduates with the knowledge and skills in the workplace .Others think that the true function of a university should be to give access to knowledge for its own sake, regardless of whether the course is useful to an employer.
What, in your opinion, should be the main function of a university?
Today everyone wants to get a good job, therefore they try to study at university. As we know university is the one of the main institution of the education sector. There is a debatable issue related with functions of universities. In other words, it is believed by some people that universities should teach the main knowledge and skills which will be necessary at work. However, others think that students should be willing to learn these abilities and the duty of universities is to give access for getting it.
I think universities must provide essential abilities which will help graduates at the workplace. I have reasons for it.
First of all, if a student is accepted by a university, it means he or she can learn profession good enough, this student has capacity for it and can be a skilful employee in the future. In this case teaching main knowledge and skills to the students is duty of the university. Otherwise, what this university work for? A student can learn theoretical knowledge by your own.
Second of all, it is clear that employers claim a practice from potential workers. Meanwhile, it is also apparent that new graduates do not have any practical skills. For that reason, universities also have to provide working skills which will be helpful when graduates search a job.
All in all, I would like to mention that the function of the universities is to prepare skilful and knowledgeable employee and I think universities have to do this as good as they can.