Students' questions

1. Are "the" and "a" counted as words?

Yes! They are counted as words in the writing, listening and reading tests.

2. How can I improve my listening and reading?

The simple answer is: do more listening and reading. There are no shortcuts I'm afraid; it takes time to develop a "good ear" for a language, and the reading exam is basically a test of your vocabulary knowledge. Your listening and reading will improve gradually with time, practice and exposure to the language.

3. If the question asks for "type of exam", would the answer be "open book" or "open book exam"?

You don't need the word "exam" in your answer because it is part of the question. However, I don't think "open book exam" would be marked wrong (if 3 words are allowed).

4. If the answer in a listening test is "wide variety", would "variety" be marked wrong?

Probably. I've seen many examples in the listening test where one word is not enough. For example, if the answer is "early morning", students who only write "morning" are marked wrong. If a second word changes the meaning a little (e.g. early morning, wide variety), you should write it.

Comments

[kawaljit kaur]

dear simon
u told in previous blog that for high band we need to improve vocabulary... plz tell me how i can improve my vocab.

[Rukhsar patel]

Hi simon
I just want to ask you if it has been given no more than two words and if I write "NEW CREATION" but answer behind book is given only creation would it be marked as wrong.This question is from listening of cambridge book 8 test 4 section 4 and one more if in speaking test if in second part the topic is about the person you admire the most and if we speak about my grandfather would it be ok.please try to answer my question I am really confused about my speaking part 1 and my reading and could you please suggest about speaking part 1 that we should eloborate our answers or we should give direct answers
thanking you

[Huong]

Thanks Simon

[Azadeh]

Hi Simon,

I have exam next week and I am a little bit confused regarding " in favour of" and " as a result of". Do they both have the same meaning? also , does "in terms of" have the same meaning?

Thank you so much

[Bobo]

Hi, Simon.

In the listening test, if I need to fill in the date of birth or arrival, for instance, 25 November, should I write 25th November or 25 November ? I am confused about the difference between those two.

Regards
Bobo

[Katy]

Hi Simon,

Thank you for your sharing. I will take tests in next month and my goal is 4 bands-7. My previous bands are L7.5 R7.5 W6.5 S6.5. Currently, I am stucking with writing and speaking due to my poor grammar.I have been studying English for more than 10 years and I am still dealing with grammar by instinct. Could you please tell me how to handle the grammar and how to avoid making grammatical mistakes in the test. Any comments from you will be appreciated. Thank you.

[HP]

@ Rukshar Patel,
Have you check transcript on the back of the book?
There is nothing mention about new creation, creation only.
@ Bobo,
we can write 25th November, 25 November or 25-November.

Hope this help,
Please input if I miss something.
Thank you,
HP

[HP]

Hello Simon,
I have just came home after finished my listening test, and my remaining test will be at 27th october.
I got 12 question in part 1
- 4 personal where you live, which part etc
- 4 Question on Art like painting, etc
- 4 question about Postcard.
This questions were with mixed tense.

I got 2 minute talk topic about Garden I like or visited
-where it is
-how it is
-what people usually do there
Why you like it.
Part 3
4-5 question regarding having garden, benefit of having garden for our children etc.

Now I found interesting that, in part 3 non of the question asked about future tense, which generally not happened.

And Simon, please if you can give your input:
My examiner was nice and cooperative but I found she had asked questions with interrupt me in part 3. She did it for all the questions of part 3, and I am sure I answered them accordingly. I just wonder what should be the reason?
Please note that I am the 4th person of the serial number they provided for exam, means I interviewed very first day for this week exam.

Just curios,
Thank you,
HP

[borno]

Hi HP,

Is that your Speaking or Listening?

Could you please tell us where you sitting your exam.

Thanks and regards

[HP]

oh my bad,
it is speaking.
And I am here at IDP center, ahmedabad, India
They usually finished speaking module before the other three module.

If you prepare fir speaking, don't look any where else, just stick to what SIMON suggested and do some planning before prepare, like I first read the whole site and comments, noted down some strategies what suggested here. The best thing is to note good vocabulary and short words and while you practice speaking, record your self and make a whole sentence. In this way it sound natural, more fluent and examiner will like it lot rather then canned speech.
- one more trick that I used, first in notebook I write all the question, from Cambridge and ielts.simon.com. Then I placed them according to the theme, group togather and prepare one answare that can be apply for the same group(Just some list and vocabulary).
Hope this help,
HP

[J]

Hi simon,
I took the exam earlier today.
For writing task 2,the question goes this way.
"Today,It is affordable and easy to visit other countries.
Is this a positive or a negative development?"
My approach:
1.General statement + opinion(I agree)
2.Discussion 1 (agree)
3.further discussion 1(agree)
4.Conclusion

Concerns:
Is this an opinion type of essay?
I did not considered this as a discussion + opinion type question
I mainly focused how travelling abroad easily can benefit someone,not why it is really benefitial as being affordable to travel but somehow I mentioned it.I divided my ideas in personal,economical and cultural perspectives.

Do you think I did it the right way?or I should have focused more on how the affordability of travelling abroad as a positive progress?like, spare money for other activities or it can encourage more tourists.If this is the case then isn't it a cause and effect essay in a way?

Kind regards,
J

[Simon]

FROM SIMON:

I'm afraid I no longer have time to answer everyone's questions individually. However, I do still read them all, and I try to answer some questions in a lesson once a week (usually Saturdays).

[vijesh]

Hi Simon,

I was just wondering if one letter and two letter words are counted in IELTS writing. My tutor advised me that they skip those words and count the rest of it. Is it true?

Can anyone help me with this

[Jo-an]

Hi Simon, in the listening. If I lack a word " a or an or by" will I get a wrong answer?

[Gultekin Muradova]

Hello Simon. I found this site very useful. Thank you.

I would like to ask: what about writing "mobile phone", when the right answer is shown as "mobile". Is the answer counted as wrong?