This is something I have tried before, but it didn’t really work out. But I would like to give it another go. The central idea is that the very best speaking practice is when you get to hear yourself. Often what we say and what we think we say are two quite different things. So this means recording yourself. What would be even better, however, is if you got the… Continue reading
This is an excellent place to start if you need to want to find out your approximate level. It is a site run by one of the major publishing houses and has excellent quality materials. You need to go through a registration process, but at the end of it you get a
This is just to let you know that I have collected the links to some of my interactive IELTS exercises onto one page. For me, the internet and computer work particularly well for this type of exercise. I also like them because they are fun and fun does tend to be good for learning.
I aim to add one or two exercises each week… Continue reading
Youtube is a fantastic IELTS resource and there is a lot of extremely good material out there. Perhaps there is too much, so here are two places to start:
voxguru: for me the king. The videos are low tech and unexciting, but the advice is as good as you will find anywhere.
EnglishRyan: also very sound advice here on the process of writing. This… Continue reading
IELTS can be a serious business and this video is obviously very silly. I expect you can spot the mistakes, the real question is how do you avoid making them? A good place would be to ignore anyone who trains you to learn answers to questions. Just relax and listen to the question you do get asked.
I have posted a response to this video here. If… Continue reading
I’ve just found a really great IELTS blog I want to share with you. It looks really terrific – which is certainly not true of everything IELTS on the net. It is
What you will find there is a real blog with daily IELTS lessons – it is as if you are there in the classroom. Not just does Simon write well, his advice is… Continue reading
Here is is another highly recommended IELTS resource website with free and high quality listening and reading practice tests. Sadly, not everything you find on the internet is great. This is. The site is produced by Oxford University Press, one of the major publishers of English language books. It is:
Masterclass – a complete reading and listening test
One reason why I recommend this site to you is… Continue reading
Part 1 of the listening is supposed to be the easy part. You need to get as many of these right as possible as the questions get harder as you go along. In practice, however, many candidates lose marks here when they should not. This post looks at one way to avoid this. You will find one of my videos explaining how to deal with a very common problem and… Continue reading
Is your IELTS target band 7? Or do you want to improve your IELTS listening from band 6 to band 7? Or from band 5 to 6? Here’s some really practical advice – think spelling. Spelling matters not just in the writing paper but in listening and reading too, where if you misspell a word, you get no mark. Indeed, it’s really quite common for candidates to miss as many… Continue reading
I have just come across a great reading resource for IELTS candidates – especially if you are a General Training candidate or are an Academic IELTS candidate at level 4-5. The site is
Do not be put off by the fact that the readings are not as per the IELTS exam. If you work through this site you are sure to improve the key… Continue reading
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