IELTS

IELTSInformation,TipsandStrategies

Contents
GeneralIELTSInformation p3

TESTSTRUCTURE p4

IELTSListeningTestInformation p6

IELTSReadingTestInformation p9

IELTSWritingTestInformation p11

IELTSWritingTask1Information p12

IELTSWritingTask2Information p13

IELTSSpeakingInformation p15

*LookforStrategyTipstomaximiseyoursuccessonyourtest!

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GeneralIELTSInformation
WhatistheIELTS?

TheInternationalEnglish LanguageTestingSystem(IELTS)istheworldsmostpopular
high stakes Englishlanguage test. It isused totestfor study, workand migration,with
morethan2.5millionteststakeneveryyear.

TheIELTSassessesallofyourEnglishskillsreading,writing,listeningandspeaking.
It is designed to reflect real life use of English at study, at work andat play. For your
speakingyouareassessedbyhavingareallifeconversationwiththeexaminer.

HowmanyskillsaretestedintheIELTS?

IELTStestsforfourskills:Listening,Reading,WritingandSpeaking.

Areallskillstestedonthesameday?

IELTS Listening, IELTS Reading and IELTS Writing are tested on thesameday. You
cantakeyourspeakingtestonanotherdayeitherbeforeorafter.

CanIuseapeninmyIELTStest?

Yes, you can use a pen. We recommendusing a penfor theIELTS writing tasks. For
listeningandreading,youmustuseapencil.Pleasebringarubber/eraserwithyou.

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TESTSTRUCTURE
Listening

30minutes

Thelistening section of theIELTShasfourpartsortasks. Foreachofthepartsyouwill

listen toavoicerecordingandwriteyouranswerstoaseriesofquestions.You willhave
to demonstrate your ability to understand the main ideas and detailed factual
information, your ability to understand the opinions and attitudes of speakers, your
ability to understand the general purpose of the person speaking and your ability to
follow the development of ideas. Pleasenotethatdifferent nativespeaker accents are
usedandthateachsectionisheardonlyonce.

Reading

60minutes

TheReading sectionconsistsof three longtexts and 40 questions. The textsaretaken

from books, journals,magazines andnewspapers. Differentquestion typesareusedto
testarangeof reading skills.Thequestions willexamineyourabilitytoreadforthe gist,
for main ideas and for detail, as well as skimming, following logical argument,
recognisingopinions,attitudesandpurpose.

Writing

60minutes

TheWritingsectionofIELTShastwotasks. Inthefirsttaskyouwillbepresentedwitha
graph, table, chart or diagram and asked to describe, summarise or explain the
information inyourown words. It will be helpful tobeabletodescribeandexplaindata,
describe thestagesof a process,howsomethingworksordescribe anobjectorevent.
For your secondtask, youwillbeaskedtowriteanessayinresponsetoapointofview,
argumentorproblemthat isgiven to you.Remember: all your answers mustbewritten
inaformalstyle.

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Speaking

11to14minutes

TheSpeaking component assesses your use of spoken English,andtakesbetween11

and 14 minutes to complete. Your test is recorded. It has three short parts: Part 1
general questions about yourself and familiar topics, such as home, family, work,
studiesand interests. Part2requiresyoutotakeacardwhichhasatopic.Youarethen
given one minute to prepare a response and then given two minutes to speak.
Afterwards, the examiner will ask youoneortwoquestions.Part 3is furtherquestions
about the same topic. The purpose of this part is to allow you to talk about more
abstractideas.Thispartlasts45minutes.

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 IELTSListeningTest
Information
Can you tell me more about the IELTS Listening
test?

There are four IELTS Listening test sections. The first

two are social situations while the final two are
academicsituations.Thetestincreasesindifficulty.

AretheIELTSListeningtestsdifferentforGeneralandAcademic?

No,theIELTSListeningtestsarethesameforbothGeneralandAcademicIELTS.

CanyoutellmemoreabouttheListeningtest?

There are a total of 40 questions. There are 10 questions per section. The IELTS
Listening testgoesfor 40 minutes. Each of thefour sectionsis about78 minuteslong,
so 30 minutes in total. Then you have ten minutes to transfer your answers to the
answersheet.

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HowcanIknowmyIELTSbandscoreforListening?

23/40=IELTS6

30/40=IELTS7

35/40=IELTS8

Dotheanswerscomeinorder?

Sometimes they do, sometimesthey dont. Bereadyandpracticeallquestion typeson

E2Language.com.

Arecapitallettersimportant?

Yes, capital lettersare very important. Youmust use a capital letter foraname, place,
monthetc.

Isspellingimportant?

Yes,itis!Ifyoumisspellaworditwillbemarkedwrong.

ShouldIuseapenorapencil?

For the IELTS Listening and IELTS Reading you must useapencil.Bring an eraser if
you make a mistake. For the IELTS Writing you can choose to use either a pen or a
pencilitsuptoyou.

WhataccentswillbeintheIELTSListeningtest?

You will hear a range of accents from the UK, Australia and even North America.
Mostly,theaccentswillbeBritishandAustralian.

DoIneedtoworryaboutgrammarformyanswers?

Yes, you do. Make sure,for example, that youusearticles (a/ an/ the)and He is
not He are and many other points of grammar. Grammar is essential toeffective
Englishandyouareexpectedtoknowanduseitcorrectly.

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IELTSReadingTest
Information
Can you provide me with more informationabout the
IELTSReadingtest?

The IELTS Reading test goes for one hour. There is NO

TIME GIVEN to transfer your answers to the answer
sheet.TheIELTSReadingtestcomesdirectlyaftertheIELTSListeningtest.

HowmanyIELTSReadingpassagesarethere?

TherearethreeIELTSReadingpassages.

AretheIELTSAcademicandIELTSGeneralReadingpassagesthesame?

No,theyarenot thesame.TheIELTSGeneralandIELTSAcademicReadingpassages
aredifferent.

WhatkindofIELTSReadingpassagesarethereintheAcademictest?

Each passage is long and they often contain complex grammar, vocabulary and
sometimes diagrams.The passagesaretaken from magazines,journalsandbooksand
areauthentic.

Howmanyquestionsarethere?

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Intotal,thereare40IELTSReadingquestions.

DoIneedtotransfermyanswerstotheanswersheet?

No, there is no opportunity to transfer your answers. You must write your answers
directlyontotheanswersheetduringthe1hour.

CanIwriteontheIELTSReadingquestionpaper?

Yes, you can write on the IELTS Reading question paper. You can make notes or
underlineimportantwordsorsections.Onlyyouranswersheetwillbemarked.

Arecapitallettersandspellingimportant?

Yes, of course! You must use capital letters for names and places etc. andyou must
spellwordscorrectly.

Doalltheanswerscomeinorder?

No,onlysomeofthequestiontypeshaveanswersthatcomeinorder.

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IELTSWritingTest
Information
Can you givememore information about the IELTS
Writingtasks?

There are two IELTS Writing test task types. The first
part for Academic IELTS is a graph descriptionand the
secondpartisanessay.

HowlongistheIELTSWritingsection?

You should spend 20 minutes on Task type 1 (the graph description) andyou should
spend40minutesonTasktype2(theessay).

CanItakenotesonthequestionpaper?

Yes!Makenotes,brainstorm,andprepareyouransweronthequestionpaper.

WhichIELTSWritingtaskshouldIdofirst?

Itsuptoyou.

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ShouldIleavealineinbetweenmyparagraphs?

You should leave a line between paragraphs so that your writing is easier for the
examinertoread.

IELTSWritingTask1Information
Howmanygraphtypesarethere?

The main graph types are: diagrams, maps,building plans,barcharts,linegraphs, pie

chartsandtables.Itisalsopossibletogetmorethanonetypeofgraph.

HowmuchisIELTSWritingtask1worth?

Itis worthone thirdofyourscore.Hence,youshouldspend20outofthe60minuteson

it,oronethirdofyourtime.

HowshouldIwritetheintroductiontoIELTSWritingTask1?

Theintroduction isformulaicand can be memorised.Paraphrase theinformationinthe

graph. It isusuallyshort nomorethantwosentences.Forexample,Thegraphshows

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the number ofpeoplestudyingatuniversity,TAFEandhighschoolinAustraliabetween
2000and2015.Unitsaremeasuredintensofthousands.

ShouldIputonlytwokeyfeaturesinmyoverview?

Usually,yes,butsometimesyoumustreportonmorethan twokeyfeatures.Thereisno
fixedrule.

DoIneedtoalwayscompareandcontrastthegraph?

No, you dont. It depends on the instructions given to you. You will either have to
describethedataorcompareandcontrastthedatagiven.

ShouldIwriteaconclusionforIELTSWritingTask1?

No, dont write a conclusion. Remember,youarejustdescribingthedata. You are not

addinganyopinionsofyourown.

Isspellingimportant?

Ofcourseitis!

IELTSWritingTask2Information
WhatisIELTSWritingTask2?

You must write an essay of more than 250 words onatopic giventoyouon theday.
Youshouldspend40minuteswritingyouressay.

CanIspendmorethan40minutesonmyessay?

Yes, youcanbutonly if you havethetime.TheIELTSWritingtestis1hourtotal,which

includes IELTS Writing task 1.You should spend20minuteson Writing Task1. If you
spend less time on IELTS Writing Task 1 then you can spend the remaining time on
Task2.

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WhatkindofessaysarethereinIELTSWritingtask2?

There are various types of essays. There are opinion essays, discussion essays,
advantage/disadvantageessays,solutionessaysanddirectquestionessays.

HowisIELTSWritingtask2scored?

There are four criteria against which youwill bemarked:Task response (howwell you
answerthequestion), coherenceand cohesion(structureofessay/paragraphs),lexical
resource(vocabulary)andgrammar(howaccurateyourgrammaris).

DoIneedtogivemyopinionintheessay?

Onlygive your opinion if youareaskedforit.Forexample,thequestionmaysay:Give

youropinion.

WhathappensifIwritelessthan250words?

Ifyouwrite250wordsorlessthenyouwillbepenalisedandlosepoints.

DoIneedanintroductionandaconclusion?

Yes,youmusthaveanintroductionandaconclusion.

Arespellingandpunctuationimportant?

Yes,absolutely!

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 IELTSSpeaking
Information
Can you give me more information about the
IELTSSpeakingtest?

TherearethreepartsoftheIELTSSpeakingtest.

WhatarethedifferentPartsoftheIELTSSpeakingtest?

Part 1 islikeaninterview.Theexaminerwillaskyoushortquestionsaboutyourlifeand
your countryetc. InPart 2theexaminerwillgiveyouatopic.Youthenhave1minuteto
prepare a 12 minute monologue (you need to speakfor12minutesbyyourself)about
thetopic.InPart3theexaminerwillaskyouquestionsaboutthetopicgiveninPart2.

HowlongdoestheIELTSSpeakingtesttake?

It takes about 14 minutes. Part 1 is 45 minutes. Part 2 is 34 minutes. Part 3 is 45

minutes.

HowistheIELTSSpeakingtestmarked?

Itismarkedonfluency,grammar,vocabularyandpronunciation.Eachisworth25%.

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WhydoIneedtoexpandmyanswers?

You need to demonstrate your language skills to get a higher score. You cant just
answerwith yesorno or simpleshort answers. Youneedtoshowtheexaminerthat
you have excellent grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation and that youcananswer
his/herquestionswithgoodanswers.

DoIneedtotalkfor2minutesinPart2?

InPart2youneedtospeakforbetween1and2minutes.

WhathappensifIspeakformorethan2minutes?

Theexaminerwillstopyoufromspeakingformorethan2minutes.

CanIchoosemytopic?

No,theexaminerwillchoosethetopicforyou.

CanIasktheexaminertochangethetopic?

No,youcannotchangeyourtopic.

DoIneedtofollowthepromptsonthequestioncard?

No,youdonothavetofollowthepromptsbutitisagoodidea.

ShouldIgiveexamplesinmyanswers?

Yes,bygivingexampleyouwillgivelongerandmoredetailedanswers.

WhatshouldIdoifIdonthaveanyanswersinPart3?

If you get a topic that you do not know much about, for example, global warming it
doesntmatter aslong as youspeak around thetopic.You maysay, forinstance,Im
not very familiar with the science of global warming. I have read some articles in

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newspapers and magazines. Clearly it is a problem that besieges the entire world
etc.

Whatdoesitmeaniftheyexaminerinterruptsme?

Dont worry if theexaminer interrupts you.Itmostlikelymeansthatyouhavegoneover

time, which is fine. It may also be that you have strayed off topic, which is not too
worrisome, or that you have said enough and the examiner is satisfied with your
answer.

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