Students' questions

1. Is it ok to write IELTS essays in capital letters?

Yes, it seems that the rules changed some time ago, and it's now fine to write your essays in capital letters.

2. Is writing task 2 the same for the general and academic tests?

Yes, the question types and topics are basically the same. That's why I only have one lesson category for task 2 here on my blog.

3. Do examiners care about small things like singular and plural forms?

Yes, examiners notice these things! In the writing test, one small mistake won't affect your score, but many small mistakes will. In the listening test, a singular / plural mistake could lose you a whole mark.

4. Is it better to write numbers as words or figures?

It's probably better to write the full word (e.g. 'nine') in writing task 2, but I would write the figure (e.g. '9') in all other parts of the test.

5. Is it ok if I speak with an American accent?

Yes, of course! Examiners care about pronunciation and clarity, but not accent.

Comments

[marsy]

Hi,can u pls give me some tips for Reading? I already answered 5exercises and yet i still have a score of 5.0-5.5. This is my first time to take the exam.i hope for your positive response.tnx&gosbless

[Alper]

Hi Simon,

First of all thank you so much for this amazing site.
I have a question about reading part. Let's assume that a question's answer is 'the celebrity culture' in the reading part. If I write 'celebrity culture' as an answer, will I lose points?

Thank you very much in advance

[Thao]

Hi Simon!
When I listen to Cambridge 6 tesr 2, part 1, I hear that the woman need to call " education department" for reservation. However, the answer is " educational department". I listen to this part many times, but I still hear " education department". So is it wrong if my answer is " education department"?

[Ash]

Hi Simon,
How can we write essays in all caps? Firstly, it slows down your writing speed. Also, what about the punctuation rules?

[Aska]

Hi Simon i hope you will answer my question and i will be really grateful. My question:
There are some words that are different in their written form for example CENTRE and CENTER or LICENSE and LICENCE.
in books i often see these words in two written forms. Can i lose mark in listening for these words?

[Tariq]

Hi Aska
You can write either British or American spelling for centre but for license is verb and licence is noun.pls wait for Simons confirmation.

[Aska]

Hi Tariq thanks for comment. But in Cambridge 7 page number 110 in the third paragraph the license is used as noun: license number

[Ana]

Hi Simon,thanks for answering questions.In speaking test when examiner asks :"Do you work or study?" Can I say: I don't do either of them at the moment" ?I mean is this sentence grammatically fine?

Many thanks

[WJ]

Ana, fine. You could also say ' I do neither of them at the moment' and then perhaps go on to elaborate a little (say more about why). Be prepared though! He/she may then switch to the 'where you live' question!

[IELTS Singapore]

Hi Simon,

I have the same question regarding the Academic vs. General Training. Here are four questions I hope you can help answer. I'm an IELTS teacher, by the way. So I'm asking for my IELTS teaching:

1) Is there any place to go if we want questions officially answered by IELTS?

2) Wouldn't the General Training Writing have a slightly different emphasis - just by looking at Cambridge IELTS and knowing that the GT is taken by people who are mostly wanting to migrate and not those who want to enter universities - I'd expect more general, and less academic, questions. Would you say that's true?

3) How about the Speaking component. Would you say that GT speaking would touch less on academic topics and more on general topics?

4) Do you think it's easier overall to score for say Speaking and Writing in GT than Academic? I'm talking here about Writing Task 2 and Academic since they are similar. Would you say a person who does both GT and Academic would score better at least for the GT Speaking and Writing 2 or do you think they are graded in exactly the same way? I'm asking this because I've read how people did so much better for the GT as compared to the Academic - when they took both papers. Of course there could be other reasons for this, like the other parts that differ. That's why I'm asking specifically about the Writing Task 2 and Speaking.

Thanks.