IELTS (International English Language Testing System)

International English language testing system (IELTS) is one of the world’s most recognized English Language proficiency test. It has four sections: Listening, Reading, Writing and speaking. Find below a detailed guide to IELTS which will help you improve your scores in each module as well as your overall band score.

IELTS Listening: Essential Skills and Strategies (30 Min.)

Listening is probably the easiest section of IELTS to make a rapid improvement in your IELTS score.

• Predicting:

Use the short time before the listening passage begins to scan the questions. What type of information does each one ask for? Pay special attention to questions that require numbers or difficult spellings such as names. Predicting – coming up with a possible answer – is not the same as guessing. When you predict, you consider the type of information that COULD complete the answer. This helps you to focus on all the important information contained in the question.

• Identifying keywords:

The questions will contain two types of word: those likely to be used by the speaker and those likely to be paraphrased. Improve your chances of following the listening passage by identifying the ‘anchor’ words (names and technical terms) and predicting possible paraphrases of the rest.

• Identifying paraphrase:

It’s highly unlikely that the speakers will repeat the language in the questions, except for the keywords mentioned above. You will need to both anticipate and recognise when the speaker uses a paraphrase – a phrase with same meaning as the question but using different words. English speakers paraphrase more often than speakers of most other languages. Practice this essential skill every opportunity you get.

• Targeted listening:

Targeted listening means focusing your attention on the ten items of information required to answer the ten questions in each section of the IELTS Listening test. It is perfectly possible to hear these ten items without understanding everything that is said. The opposite is open listening – listening for any information that helps you understand what’s going on. Open listening may be important when having a conversation with a friend, but use targeted listening for success in IELTS.

• Spelling:

Since majority of the questions in IELTS Listening are NOT multiple‐choice, you will need to write down the answers in words. And, if you don’t spell it right, you don’t get the point. No amount of good listening will be effective if you can’t spell. Certain words like names of people and addresses may have more than one accepted spelling, and these will be spelled out for you by the speaker.

• Grammar:

In sentence and summary completion tasks you will have to write an answer that is not only spelled correctly but that also fits grammatically. Knowing the rules is therefore a great advantage. You may not always hear the plural’s’ at the end of a word, for example, but, with a good knowledge of English grammar, you should be able to identify when a noun must take the plural form. Another common example is the ‘ed’ adjectival suffix. Recognising that an answer should be an adjective can help you to give the correct answer even when you don’t hear the ‘ed’. Not only in IELTS Listening but in all modules of IELTS, practical application of skills and techniques must be backed up by ongoing study of the rules of the language.

IELTS Listening: Introduction

The listening module of IELTS consists of four sections:

Section 1: General conversation:
Time: 5 mins approx. Questions: 10
Examples: An interview about student’s well being; A telephone conversation about buying travel tickets; A student asking about accommodation.

Section 2: General talk:
Time: 5 mins approx. Questions: 10
Examples: A radio programme about local history; A short talk about healthy eating; A presentation about student services.

Section 3: Academic conversation:
Time: 5 mins approx. Questions: 10
Examples: A discussion between a student and a tutor about an assignment; A seminar discussion about a research project; Two students discussing homework.

Section 4: Academic lecture:
Time: 5 mins approx. Questions: 10
Examples: A lecture on the history of photography; A lecture on volcanoes; A lecture on animal behavior. (You do NOT need any knowledge on these topics to answer the questions.)
*After listening you then have 10 minutes to transfer your 40 answers from the question paper to the answer sheet.

Five key skills for success in IELTS Listening:

1. Predict answers before you listen to identify the type of information required.
2. Identify parallel meaning between what the speaker says and what the question asks.
3. Be aware of any grammatical changes you may need to make to the speaker’s words to make them fit the question.
4. Practice using different skills simultaneously (e.g. reading, listening and writing). You will have to use all of these during the listening section of IELTS.
5. Improve your spelling

IELTS Reading: Introduction (Academic Module) (60 Min)

The Academic reading module of IELTS consists of three reading passages and 40 questions: You will have to read approximately 2,500 words in total.
The passages deal with a range of academic subjects: one may be about ancient history, another about astronomy, another about advertising techniques, and so on.

Each passage in IELTS reading is followed by 13 questions. You can read and answer questions at the same time. The questions could be multiple choice, matching, true/false/not given, sentence completion or summary completion tasks.

The reading module of IELTS lasts one hour. You should be able to skim‐read approximately headings 170 words per minute and spend no more than 15 minutes in total reading the three passages. That will leave you around one minute to attempt each question plus a little extra time for checking.

Five key skills for success in IELTS Reading:

1. Read quickly to identify the main idea of the passage and the main idea of each paragraph. Do not read all the supporting details. Ignore any unfamiliar words at this stage.
2. Identify parallel meaning between what the passage says and what the question asks.
3. Scan for words you know will be in the passage such as names of people, names of places, and dates.
4. Manage your time effectively. Some questions will be almost impossibly difficult so you should concentrate first on the questions that are easiest for you to answer.
5. Expand your vocabulary.

IELTS Reading: Essential Skills and Strategies

Do you get frustrated when you don’t understand an English word or can’t figure out the meaning of a sentence? Stop stressing! In fact, it’s possible to get a very high score in IELTS Reading without fully understanding a passage or many of the words within. Mastering a few basic skills and strategies, some of which you probably already use in your first language, is the key to success in IELTS Reading.

• Skimming:

Skilled readers quickly ‘get the gist’ (understand the main idea) of a passage by using speed‐reading, or skimming. They glance quickly at titles and headings to identify the general topic. They know where to look for the writer’s main idea: near the end of the introduction and the beginning of the conclusion. When reading body paragraphs, they stop as soon as they have understood the main idea and they don’t bother reading supporting sentences such as examples and quotations. If they see a word they don’t recognise, they never stop to consider what it means. Instead, their eyes are constantly moving across, or skimming the text. Practice skimming every time you encounter a new reading passage and, as a general rule, don’t spend more than 5 minutes skim‐reading a passage in IELTS, not even the longest of the three passages.

• Understanding how a text is organised:

Another skill that goes hand‐in‐hand with skimming is, understanding the organisation of a text. How many paragraphs comprise the introductory section? Where is the thesis statement located? What is the main function of each paragraph?

Which linking expressions indicate a change of topic or argument? Some readers mentally note these observations, some prefer to underline key topic words and signal phrases, while others annotate (write brief summarising words) in the margins. Understanding how a text is organised will help you locate information more quickly when it comes to answering the questions.

• Scanning:

When reading a question, the temptation is to start scanning the text for the answer immediately. However, effective scanning begins with careful study of the question. What information do you need to find? A person’s name? A year? A reason? An effect? Are there specific names or technical terms in the question that are certain to appear in the text? To locate specific facts such as dates and names, one high‐speed technique is to scan backwards through the text, which prevents you from re‐reading the sentences. To find ideas, you will need to become a master of paraphrase.

• Identifying paraphrase:

The majority of the 40 questions in IELTS Reading will involve some form of paraphrase of the original text: headings and summaries are typical examples. As a paraphrase expresses the same meaning using different words, it naturally helps to have a huge vocabulary. However, vocabulary size is not everything. Paraphrase recognition starts with knowing which words are most likely to be paraphrased: conceptual words like find/discover, avoid/prevent, and theory/explanation are typically paraphrased, while more technical terms such as infectious disease, volcanic eruption, or silicon chip are likely to re‐appear in the text. Concentrate your vocabulary learning on the former group, the core concept words, many of which appear in the Academic Word List.

• Guessing unknown words:

It’s guaranteed that there will be words you don’t know in the Reading module of IELTS. In fact, the test writers deliberately place difficult words in the passages to see if candidates can figure them out using contextual clues. These contextual clues can include a definition, a paraphrase elsewhere in the text, collocating words, or word parts, i.e. prefixes and suffixes. Skilled IELTS test‐takers have more than just a well‐stocked vocabulary; they also have the skills to cope with an unknown word and guess intelligently at its most likely meaning.

• Time management:

By answering 30 out of 40 questions correctly, you can achieve a score of 7.0 in the Academic Reading module of IELTS, which is considered good enough to enter most universities in the world. The lesson here is: Don’t spend too much time on the 10 most difficult questions. It’s more important that you allow yourself time to answer the 30 easiest questions and give the remaining 10 your best guess. As a general rule, if you’re still unsure of an answer after one minute, pencil in your best guess, move on to the next question, and come back to it later if there’s time.

IELTS Speaking: 10 Common Mistakes to Avoid (11-14 Min.)

1. Silence:

Different cultures have different attitudes to silence, but for English speakers the attitude is one of near‐zero tolerance. It’s fine to hesitate for a few seconds before speaking or between ideas, but silences of longer than five seconds will go down badly. Happily, there’s a solution to this problem and that’s to learn some filler expressions such as That’s a tough question and Let me see.

2. Memorised answers:

The examiner is very likely to notice if you try to recite an answer from memory, and there is a penalty for this. The telltale signs of a memorised answer include speaking in a ‘written’ style of English, unnatural intonation, and the candidate attempting to ‘rephrase’ the question to the one they want to answer. Any questions you try to memorise answers to are very unlikely to be asked, so it is much more effective to practice speaking about a wide range of topics before you take the test.

3. Overuse of transition signals:

It’s helpful to use a few signposting words like first, for example or on the other hand. But if you overload your speech with these, you could actually damage your score. Sounding natural, not like a signposting robot, should be your goal in IELTS Speaking. There are also many words characteristic of formal writing such as furthermore, moreover and in addition, that are hardly ever used in speech and could actually make you sound less natural if you say them.

4. Parrotting the question:

In the wild, a parrot is a bird that can mimic but not understand human speech. In IELTS, a parrot is a candidate who repeats the question back in statement form: Q: What’s your favourite sport to watch on TV? A: My favourite sport to watch on TV is football. As the scoring criteria of IELTS heavily reward those who can vary speech, paraphrasing the words or structure of the question is a fast‐track route to a higher score: I’m always watching football on TV.

5. Answering the wrong question:

You will lose marks for coherence if your answer completely fails to address the question. Ask yourself before you begin speaking if you are sure you have understood, and do not be afraid to ask the examiner for help. But be sure to avoid…

6. Saying ‘I don’t understand’:

There are much better ways to check for meaning, so learn them! You can use a straightforward request like Could you say that again, please? Or ask a checking question such as Do you mean…? that shows you have at least partly understood the question.

7. Saying too much or too little:

If you say too little, you miss the opportunity to show off your ability. If you say too much, you risk sounding less coherent and making more mistakes. As a general guide, answers of two to four sentences are fine in Part 1. There are clear instructions about the length of speaking time in Part 2. You should aim to say three to six sentences after each question in part3.

8. Poor pronunciation:

Great ideas are worthless if the listener can’t make out your words. There’s a good reason pronunciation accounts for 25% of the score in IELTS Speaking and that’s because it’s fundamental to spoken communication. Before taking IELTS, you should find an opportunity to practice with native or native‐level speakers and get an honest appraisal of your pronunciation. If they have trouble hearing your words, it’s very likely the examiner will too.

9. Flat intonation:

Even when you pronounce words clearly, flat intonation will make it difficult to follow what you say. We vary intonation, pitch, volume and speaking speed in order to maintain the listener’s interest and direct attention to our important ideas. Even IELTS examiners, who are trained to listen carefully to everything a candidate says, will find a flatly‐intoned response difficult to follow and your response may be marked down for both pronunciation and coherence as a result.

10. Asking for the examiner’s opinion:

You are there to answer the questions, not ask them. The examiner will politely redirect the question back your way if you try to stall for time by saying I don’t know, what do you think? If you really don’t have any ideas, just say I’m afraid I know nothing about this topic and wait for the next question.