IELTS Listening: spelling and capitals

People often ask me about spelling and capital letters. Here's my advice:

1. Correct spelling is very important. I know students who have lost up to 10 points in their IELTS listening tests because of spelling mistakes.
2. Capital letters, on the other hand, are not important. You can write all of your answers in capitals or in lower case - it won't affect your score.
3. Plurals are very important. e.g. If the question asks you to fill the gap "There are many ______", the answer could be "reasons" but not "reason".

Note: I don't recommend learning spelling rules. It's better to keep a list of your mistakes, and learn correct spellings by heart.

Comments

[Rashida Perveen]

Hello Simon!
Hope you will be fine.I have finished my exam on October 13.Overall my exam was good.I did well in reading,writing and speaking.But i was confused only in section 4 in listening module,only for 3-4 lines.I was not sure about the answers.But overall i conducted well.I require Band 7 in each module.
I remember,the first passage was about happiness in reading module.while writing task 2 was about teamwork.whether we can get more skills in teamwork or while doing work alone.Do you agree or disagree?In speaking module,cue card was about any product that i have purchased recently but i was not satisfied with it and the related questions were about online shopping.I hope that i will get my required score.

[life is hard]

Hi Simon,

I was going through your writing task-2 lessons and what I found that you have different ideas in following lessons for 'Do advantages outweigh disadvantages' question.

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2011/10/ielts-writing-task-2-when-to-give-your-opinion.html#comments

http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2012/05/ielts-writing-task-2-both-sides-or-one-side.html#comments

From What I think its better to discuss both sides with opinion for either side.

Please advise appropriately.

Posted by: ld | Sunday, October 14, 2012 at 19:30

Hi SImon,
I think in every single field people have their own view to deal with problem.

IN this way IELTS examiners have different vision about how essay should be written,and that an have an impact on shoulds score.
ITs unfair for the student that he scored 6 or 6.5 because he has discussed only advantages or disadvantages.I mean from above post on a given day Simon might have written one side and another day both sides.That doesnt make Simon's english ability good or poor.He is master of english language.
There isnt any particular official book mentioning what to do about specific type of question.
IELTS team should stopped playing with students life for their own profit.

[Simon]

Good luck Rashida!

...

Hi 'life is hard',

It's true that I deal with questions in different ways, and that other teachers and books will give you even more possible ways of answering! However, I don't think you should worry about this. Examiners are not trained to favour a particular approach - they are trained to give students credit according to how well they express their ideas according to the task. In my experience examiners try to be fair, and they give credit where it is due. My advice to students is this: find an approach that you are happy with, then focus all of your energy on improving your language knowledge/repertoire.

Don't give up! You will pass in the end.

[Rashida Perveen]

Thankyou Simon.
I have learned a lot from this website.Thankyou again for helping those students who are trying of their best to find the way to success.

[mandeep kaur]

dear sir simon..hello...hope u'll be fine...sir i just want to know about listening module that is it okay if we write ALL WORDS in CAPITAL LETTERS.....for e.g.
There are many_____.

answer-REASONS

please give me appropriate suggestion...m going to appear for ielts test on 27th oct.

[Sara]

Hi Simon
I have heard that words like 'a' and 'the' are not counted if the question mentions use two words/numbers it true?
Need help please...

Thanks

[Divya]

Hi Simon
I came across your site just 2 days ago and I'm finding it very useful for answering my doubts. It is helping me alot as I did not go for any coaching.I have my exam on the 27th October.. I require band 7 in reading and writing and band 8 in listening and speaking.( academic)
I have a question about the commas and semi- colons. How many marks will I lose if I miss some.. Please do answer me as I keep missing them while writing.
Thank you

[Venkat]

@mandeep kaur,

Please read the post carefully. 2nd point says that.

2.Capital letters, on the other hand, are not important. You can write all of your answers in capitals or in lower case - it won't affect your score.

IT IS PERFECTLY OK WRITING ALL YOUR ANSWERS IN CAPITALS LETTERS.

Hope this helps.

Thanks.

[Simon]

No problem Rashida.

...

Hi Sara,

That's wrong I'm afraid. 'The' and 'a' are always counted as words.

...

Hi Divya,

I wouldn't try using semi-colons if I were you. They are not used very often by native speakers. Don't worry too much about commas - they are often optional, and they won't really affect your score.

[Grygoriy]

Hello Simon,

I have question regarding answers in Listening.
The question is "Type of exam". What it is the suitable answer - "open book" or "open book exam". The requirement to use no more than 3 words is completed.

Thanks!

[HP]

@ Grygoriy
I believe both should work fine in this case.

Hope this help,

Thank you.
HP

[bahruz]

Hi, Simon.
I appreciate your help.
I am sometimes having problem with correctly writing time in IELTS listening.
For example, in my latest practice I put "11.00 AM" but the answer on Cambridge book was "11 AM".
Do you thing this kind of mistakes can affect my result?
Thank you very much beforehand.

[Tommy]

Hi Simon,

I don't think you can write all answers in lower case. E.g. a person's name or a country's name, you need captial the first letter, right?
And also, if i bracket the articles ('the','a','an') it will not be counted, am i right? E.g the answer should no more than one word. and the answers -- "(the) Alps", and "Apls" should all acceptable, right? as we need the article "the" before "Alps".

thanks

[Thao]

Hi Simon,

Please help me with this.

In marking Reading, how to deal with the following mistakes:
- Candidates are asked to write True/False/Not given but they write T/F/NG
- Candidates are asked to write A/B/C/D but they write the full content of A/B/C/D

Thank you.

[Ibrahim]

pls
if i write one word that has wrong letter

for example : (Path) as a street name instead of (Bath)