Contents

Introduction

IELTS Band Scores1. IELTS Band Scores

Overall Band Score

Listening and Reading

Writing and Speaking

Speaking

The Listening Test Module2. The Listening Test Module

How to answer the questions

Candidates answers:

How to Listen for the answers

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Advice on Taking the Listening Test

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

What to do next?

Calculating your Listening Practice Scores

Question types

Short answer questions

Gap-fills

Multiple choice questions

Listening Module Practice Questions

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Answer Sheet

Answers to the Listening Module Practice

Answers to the Listening module Practice

Listening test practice tape-script

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

The Reading Test Module3. The Reading Test Module

Academic Reading

Task types

Different types of questions require different types of reading

Academic and General Training Reading Tips

Academic Reading Practice Test with Answers

True/ False/ Not Given

Answers 1-9

Answers 10-16

Answers 17-21

Answers 22-25

Answers 26-30

Reading Answer Sheet

Reading Answer Sheet part 2

General Training Reading Practice Test with Answers

Passage 1

Answers 1-15

Passage 2

Answers 16- 21

Passage

How to Improve Your Reading Skills

Substitute words

Ellipsis

The Writing Test Module4. The Writing Test Module

The Academic Writing Module

Task types

Academic Writing Task 1 Practice

Model Answer to Task 1

Examples of Academic Writing Task 1: Answers with Scores

Advice and Information on Task 2

Model answer to task 2

Examples of Academic Writing Task 2 Answers with Scores

General Training – Writing

Assessment and Task Types-Task 1

Model Answer to Task 1

Example of General Writing Task 1 Answer with Score

General Writing Task 2

Practice

Model Answer to Task 2

Example of General Training Writing Task 2 Answers with Scores

IELTS Writing Band Descriptors-Task 1 and Task 2

The Speaking Test Module5. The Speaking Test Module

Descriptions of the Different Band Scores

How to improve your speaking band score

Advice on Improving Your Speaking Skills

Useful Pronunciation web-sites

Speaking Band Descriptors

Appendixes6. Appendixes

Appendix 1 - Academic Word List

Appendix 2 - Grammar

Appendix 3 - Writing

Appendix 4 - Vocabulary

Appendix 5 - Facts About Universities and IELTS

Appendix 6 - Listening Web-sites

Appendix 7 - Tips on Taking the IELTS Test

Appendix 8 - Can You Follow Instructions?

Appendix 9 - Glossary

Introduction

The idea for this book came from the desire to help candidates improvetheir IELTS band score, because in so many cases, their score maydetermine their future. It is also written from the point of view of theexaminer; at the time of writing, I have had seven years experience ofbeing an IELTS examiner. I have seen books on IELTS that give much goodadvice but I have also seen comments about what to do and not to do,that in my experience, are not entirely accurate.

How to Improve Your IELTS Score, implies that you have already taken thetest at least once, and want to increase the Band Score you wereawarded, but it can also be helpful, I hope, for someone who has not yetdone this and is anticipating taking it for the first time. There are fourmodules that are taken: Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking- thefirst two are known as receptive skills- you listen or read, and have toanswer questions on these; the answers are either right or wrong. Thelatter two are productive skills, you create or produce something yourself,according to the questions or instructions. There are therefore no right orwrong answers, and your speaking and writing is assessed by anexaminer. In the first two, I have offered advice on what to do while youare taking the test, as well as general advice on improving your English inthat skill. With Speaking and Writing, I have approached it by givingdetailed information on what examiners look for in order to award acertain band in each criterion, and what would be necessary in order toimprove on your Band Score.

No matter how determined and motivated you are, you have also to berealistic about your goals and the time involved to achieve them. Variousstudies have been carried out regarding the time it takes for candidatesto raise their Band scores but the results depend on the level of Englishthe candidate has to start with, the amount of time available to study,how one studies and of course, the individual. (See Appendix 5)

John Benford,

July 2012.

IELTSBandScores

1.IELTSBandScores

1.IELTSBandScores

There are no pass or fail results in IELTS. Candidates receive scores on aBand Scale from 1 to 9. A profile score is reported for each skill. The fourindividual scores are averaged and rounded to produce an Overall BandScore. Overall Band Scores and scores for each sub-test (Listening,Reading, Writing and speaking) are reported in whole bands or halfbands.

OverallBandScoreCandidates receive a Test Report Form setting out their Overall BandScore and their scores on each of the four sub-tests: Listening, Reading,Writing and Speaking. Each of the sub-test scores is equally weighted. TheOverall Band Score is calculated by taking the average of the total of thefour individual sub-test scores.Overall Band Scores are reported to the nearest whole or half band. Forthe avoidance of doubt, the following rounding convention applies; if theaverage across the four skills ends in .25, it is rounded up to the next halfband, and if it ends in .75, it is rounded up to the next whole band.Thus, a candidate achieving 6.5 for Listening, 6.5 for Reading, 5.0 forWriting and 7.0 for Speaking would be awarded an Overall Band Score of6.5 (25 ÷ 4 = 6.25 = Band 6.5).Likewise, a candidate achieving 4.0 for Listening, 3.5 for Reading, 4.0 forWriting and 4.0 for Speaking would be awarded an Overall Band Score of4.0 (15.5 ÷ 4 = 3.875 = Band 4.0).On the other hand, a candidate achieving 6.5 for Listening, 6.5 forReading, 5.5 for Writing and 6.0 for Speaking would be awarded band 6(24.5 ÷ 4 = 6.125 = Band 6).

ListeningandReadingIELTS Listening and Reading papers contain 40 items and each correctitem is awarded one mark; the maximum raw score a candidate canachieve on a paper is 40. Band scores ranging from Band 1 to Band 9 areawarded to candidates on the basis of their raw scores.Although all IELTS test materials are pretested and trialed before beingreleased as live tests, there are inevitably minor differences in thedifficulty level across tests. In order to equate different test versions, theband score boundaries are set so that all candidates’ results relate to thesame scale of achievement. This means, for example, that the Band 6boundary may be set at a slightly different raw score across versions (see“Listening and Reading Band Score versus its Raw Score”).The Academic and General Training papers are graded to the same scale.The distinction between the two modules is one of genre or discoursetype. Academic papers may contain source texts featuring more difficultvocabulary or greater complexity of style. It is usual that, to secure agiven band score, a greater number of questions must be answeredcorrectly on a General Training Reading paper.

Listening

Band score Raw score outof 405 166 237 308 35

Academic Reading

Band score Raw score outof 405 156 237 308 35

General TrainingReading

Band score Raw score outof 404 155 236 307 34

Listening and Reading Band Score versus its Raw Score:

Note: The table above indicates the mean raw scores achieved bycandidates at various levels in each of the Listening, Academic Reading

and General Training Reading tests during 2006 and they provide anindication of the number of marks required to achieve a particular

band score.

WritingandSpeakingWhen marking the Writing and Speaking sub-tests, examiners usedetailed performance descriptors which describe written and spokenperformances at each of the 9 IELTS bands.

WritingExaminers award a band score for each of four criterion areas: TaskAchievement (for Task 1), Task Response (for Task 2), Coherence andCohesion, Lexical Resource and Grammatical Range and Accuracy. Thefour criteria are equally weighted.

SpeakingExaminers award a band score for each of four criterion areas: Fluencyand Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy andPronunciation (see Glossary). The four criteria are equally weighted.Versions of the band descriptors for Writing and Speaking have beendeveloped to help stakeholders better understand the level ofperformance required to attain a particular band score in each of thecriterion areas. IELTS examiners undergo intensive face to face trainingand regular standardisation to ensure that they can apply the descriptorsin a valid and reliable manner.

TheListeningTestModule

2.

The Listening Test Module

2.TheListeningTestModule

Howtoanswerthequestions

In the Listening question booklet the written instructions are always givenin italics and the important part of the instructions are also in BOLDITALIC CAPITALS. In the Listening test there are different types ofquestions and the instructions will depend on which type is asked; it isbetter, therefore, to familiarise yourself with these so that when you takethe test, they will not appear unusual to you. Here are some examples ofdifferent types of instructions and questions: look at the answers thecandidate gave in the question booklet then check to see if the answershave been transferred correctly.

.

Candidatesanswers:Question 1. The correct answer was circled but when transferred to theanswer sheet it was written in full instead of just the letter. This is notwrong but takes longer.

Question 2. The same as above.

Question 12. Correct.

Question 13. Identification was written as I.D. which is acceptableabbreviation.

Question 14. Although the information is correct, the candidate haswritten 4 words on the answer sheet. This would be marked as wrongbecause the instructions stated NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS.

Questions 21 Correct.

Question 22. No answer has been given. Even if you do not know theanswer have a guess, never leave an answer unanswered.

Question 23. Correct.

Question 31. This has been written as a word and not a numeral butboth are acceptable. It is also possible that a combination of both can beused, for example 4 million, or a car or student registration number e.g.RST 4356C.

Question 32. This is spelt incorrectly and would probably be marked aswrong.

Question 33. This answer is wrong. It was taken from the wrong row.Be careful to select the correct row in tables.

Now look at page to see how to transfer your answers

HowtoListenfortheanswersWhile you listen, write all the answers onto the question booklet. At theend of the test transfer the answers to the answer sheet, making sure youare on the correct side, i.e. not the Reading answer side. You will have 10minutes to do this which should be more than enough time. Aftercompleting this, check that you have transferred your answers correctlyand that the spelling and grammar is correct.

Make sure that you read the instructions carefully then read the questionand answer choices. In the introduction, you are told that theconversation is between two teachers who are planning a school - outing,so you could expect to hear about making future plans, suggestions,giving advice and also about different types of activities. Look at thewords in the questions and think about different words, synonyms, orphrases that might be used instead.

In order to help you decide what information is given in the recording andwhich question it relates to, it would help to underline the importantwords in the questions.

Section11. How many people are going on the outing ?

Now, in the text John says there are 20 names on the list but Jane saysonly 19 are going, but there are 2 teachers as well so John says there are“21 in all”. Therefore the answer is 21- notice it is “people” and not juststudents.

2. What is the name of the camp?

In questions that ask the name of something or someone, you can expectit to be spelt out and as in this case, one of the people in the conversationmight ask how it is spelt.

3. Telephone number.

No question word is given here as it is understood that it means “ What isthe telephone number ?” . Numbers should be easy marks to score but beaware that 0 might be said as “zero “, “nought “or just “O “.

4. Dates from …………….. to ……………….

Again, dates should be fairly easy marks to pick up but make sure that youknow the months of the year by heart and how to spell them. You shouldalso know the difference between cardinal numbers ( 1,2,3, etc) andordinal numbers ( 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc). You can either give the answer as in thiscase, 2nd June, 2 June or second of June.

5 and 6 These are two items in a list that students need to take on theouting, so underline the items preceding the answers in order to beprepared for when you hear these words.

They can take their mobile phone so they can keep in touch………………………

“They” refers to the students. Listen for the phrase mobile phone andkeep in touch because this will tell you who they would want to talk to.Even if you missed this information, then a guess would probably give youthe correct answer, their parents or families.

7. How many times will they have a Barbecue?

It mentions that there is a Barbecue each week and since they will be

there for two weeks, the answer is two. As with number answers, this canbe written as a word or a numeral.

8. There will be ………. people sleeping in a room.

Another gap fill requiring a number. Even if you didn’t know what adormitory or a cabin is, the mention of beds should indicate the answer.

9. What time do they go to sleep?

The text says “ lights out” will be at 9.30. You might not have heard thisexpression before but it is self-explanatory and is followed by a time.Times should be written with either a.m. or p.m. unless a 24 hour systemis used. You will now be given half a minute to check your answers toSection 1. Do this quickly making sure that they are easy to read when it istime to transfer your answers at the end of the test. If you have missedany answers then this is the time when an educated guess is necessary;don’t try to leave it until later as the memory of what was said will be lessfresh in your mind. If you have done all this and still have some time thenstart looking at the instructions and questions in the next section. Do thisafter every section.

Section2The introduction informs you that you will hear a welcoming speech givento new students at a university in which only one person speaks. Try tothink of what would be included in such a talk, for example, places to goand types of people it would be necessary to meet.

You will not hear an example but there may be a shaded box with awritten example.

This is usually in two parts.

The first five questions are in the form of a table. Familiarise yourself withthe words given in the table to be prepared for the answers that follow.

However, synonyms, or different phrases are sometimes used so try to beaware of this and do not rely entirely on the words given. An example ofthis can be seen in question 12, where the text talks about “ problems ofa private nature “, but the table uses the word “ personal”.

Note also that in the list of who to contact, it can be a department andnot somebody’s name, as in question 14.

In questions 16 to 20, make sure that you use no more than three words.

14. This is a telephone number; remember that 0 can be said aseither “O“ or “zero”.

15. Another question requiring a time. Use a.m. or p.m. with eitherwords or numerals.

18 – 20. Three gap fills. Do not expect to always hear the exact wordsthat are written in the questions. For example, question 18 says the Clinic“stocks” common types of medicine but the text says they “keep” them.Similarly, in question 20 you need to “get” a prescription but the text saysyou have to “produce “one.

Go through the same procedure now as after Section 1.

Section3This is usually a conversation between two or more people, in two partsand often related to student life.

The questions 21 – 23 are multiple choice and the answers must not bemore than three words.

The introduction tells you that it’s a conversation between a tutor andone of his students about her essay. Look at the possible answers becausethese will probably be mentioned.

21. The tutor said that the opening sentence is fine but the thesisstatement doesn’t reflect the ideas in the topic sentences. Thisshould give you the answer but he clarifies this by saying she shouldchange the topic sentences.

22. The tutor thought that she didn’t need to do more work on……….

Notice here that the sentence is in the negative. Jo said she thought herproblem was in the main body but the tutor does not agree, in fact boththe main body and her vocabulary were good. He continues to say thatshe needs to do more work on sentence structures. Punctuation was notmentioned.

21. She states that she never thought that spelling was all thatimportant, so the answer is ( c )

In questions 24-26, there is a choice of three answers: not to change,rewrite or take out completely. A written example is given todemonstrate: he says she needs to correct her spelling, so the answer isB, to rewrite.

22. It is clearly stated that she should take out the informationtaken from Wikipedia

23. Although the tutor says some dot.com sites are acceptable, thisone is not.

24. Because of this, some of the essay needs to be rewritten.

In the second part ( 27 – 30 ), the tutor gives more general advice and thequestions are gap-fills.

25. We are looking here for words relating to her sources, whichimmediately precede the words “your sources”.

26. An example of the title of a book and its author is given, andthen another book title is needed.

27. A date is required here, if you write, “end of next week “, it willbe wrong and also have too many words.

28. There is no reason to write I.T office in full.

Go through the same procedure as before.

Section4This is a monologue about a common topic requiring no specialistknowledge. This is often divided into different parts with different typesof questions. Here there are two tables to complete followed by multiplechoice questions.

Questions 31 – 34 are in a table with three columns: Method, pros andcons; even if you do not know what pros and cons are, it should beobvious from the examples that they mean advantages anddisadvantages.

In these types of questions, you can expect to hear language ofcomparison, for example adjectives like: cheaper, more expensive, worse.These are usually to be found within sentences but comparisons can alsobe made between sentences with words like, nevertheless or however.

Questions 35 – 37 are also in table form but are not comparisons. Onecolumn refers to the place on the bike while the other is what it is usedfor.

38. You have been told to listen for synonyms and this is a case in point.The text speaks of “nearly the same as “, which corresponds to “similarto“ in the question.

39. Theft or stealing is the next topic and mentions that the bikes can bestolen because they can be lifted by two people; this is because they donot weigh much, answer c.

40. The last question is a bit more difficult as the expression “exposed tothe elements “might be new to you but means that you are not protectedfrom the weather. But not knowing this should not prevent you fromgetting the right answer; if it is hot then being on a bike gives a pleasantbreeze, so it is not answer b. Answer c might be possible but the lastsentence talks about water-proof clothing, therefore refers to rain, soanswer a is the correct one.

AdviceonTakingtheListeningTestThe Listening Module is the first test that is taken but before the testbegins, the invigilator will show you how to complete the answer sheetforms with your personal information. You will then be given the answersheet: put your name and candidate number at the top and read theinstructions carefully on the front cover and listen to the instructions thatare told you. There will then be a sound check of the CD so if you have aproblem with your headphones, raise your hand and the invigilator willhelp you.

The test consists of 4 recorded sections, with 10 questions in eachsection. You will have about 30 seconds to read the questions of eachsection before listening to that section. You will hear the recording onlyonce. The test takes about 30 minutes, after which you have 10 minutesto transfer your answers from the question booklet to the answer sheet.

Be careful NOT to open your question booklet until you are told to do sobecause if you do, and you are seen doing this, you will be reported and itcould mean that you will not receive a test report form.

You must write your answers on the question booklet while you arelistening to the recording, so do not try to save time by writing on theanswer sheet as you listen. The 10 minutes you have after Section 4 hasfinished, is more than enough time to transfer your answers. After thetest has finished, keep your headphones on as you will receive timechecks, 2 minutes and 1 minute before the end.

When you are given time to read the questions, look at what type ofanswers you have to give, e.g. name, time, date, price etc. or if the wordform is a noun, adjective, verb or a combination of these. Quicklyunderline the key words in the question, i.e. verbs and nouns and try tothink of synonyms that might be used in the dialogue.

Adhere strictly to the instructions, so if for example, you have to write NOMORE THAN THREE WORDS, then do NOT write four or more. If you do,you will lose marks.

Spelling is important and incorrect spelling may cost you marks, so becareful. You will also be told that you will not lose marks for wronganswers; what this means is that you can only add to your score, incorrect

answers are not deducted from your score. In other words, NEVER leave aquestion unanswered. If you do not know or are unsure of the answer,then have an intelligent guess. Look at the other questions becausesometimes they may give you a clue to the answer.

If you have transferred your answers to the answer sheet, then use whattime is left by checking that you have put the answers in the correctboxes and also your spelling. Both American and British spelling isaccepted but this should be consistent.

The 4 sections become progressively more difficult, Section 1 being theeasiest and Section 4 the hardest.

Section1This is usually a conversation between two people, in a social situation,where one is asking for and the other giving personal information;included here would be personal data such as name, address, age, datesetc. It is usually divided into two parts and although the recording is onlyplayed once, at the beginning, an example of how to answer is given, soexceptionally, this is said twice. After the example, you will hear thecorrect answer. You will then have about 20-30 seconds to look at thequestions in Section 1. While there might be some leeway on slightspelling errors, anything that is spelt out, must be totally correct. Do notbe too quick to write down the answer as often the speaker correctshim/herself, so the corrected information given is the correct one. Anexample of this can be seen in the Listening Test practice, question 1.

Section2Although the second part is also set in a social context, it is usually onlyone person giving a talk or a description of something that is of generalinterest. In the time given to look at the questions, try to guess what thetopic will be about, from the vocabulary used. This is a useful pre-listeningstrategy, as it gets the mind thinking about the topic, with associatedvocabulary and word collocations. Underline the key words in thequestions and think of alternative ways of expressing them; this includesdifferent forms of the word. For example, if the word in the question is anoun, the form of that word in the recording might be a verb. An exampleof a synonym, or words that have similar meanings, can be seen isquestion 12, where the type of problem is noted as “personal” but thetext talks of “problems of a private nature”.

Section3This is typically a situation between 2, 3 or even 4 people, related toacademic, training or student issues. When speaking, in order to help thelistener understand better, stress, rhythm and intonation are used. Stress,is when a word is pronounced a bit stronger than the others, to show thatit is important. Rhythm involves putting groups of words into “chunks”,and is known as “chunking”.( This is a part of speaking that candidatesshould practise); it also uses pauses, often just before or just after theanswer to a question is given. If something is repeated, then this is a goodsign that it could be the answer to a question. Intonation is when thepitch, or level of the voice goes up or down. For example, speakersnormally raise the level of intonation if more information is to be addedand allow their voice to fall when they come to the end. Rising intonationcan also indicate surprise or to ask a question, while falling intonation isused to confirm what is thought to be true. Before a section begins,you’re given some time to read the questions and this should be done tocheck that you are sure you understand what the question is asking you:check the question word, who, what where, when etc., the tense, past,present or future, nouns and verbs should be underlined. In question 22,it asks what the student “didn’t need to do more work on” and this washer vocabulary.

Section4The final part of the Listening test is always a lecture or talk of some kindand the speaker will start by introducing and summarising the talk. Aframework is often used to show the direction of the talk and to do this,“signpost words” are used. These words are to make the listener awarethat more information is coming and what kind of information it is. At thebeginning, the stages of the talk might be given, using sequencers like:firstly, then, next, lastly. They could also be used to compare things thatare similar, e.g. in the same way, similarly, also, as well as, or contrastthem, if they are different, e.g. while, on the other hand, in contrast, but,however. Giving examples of what has been said is preceded by wordslike: for instance, such as, like and for example. Showing cause and effectmight use words like: as a result, as a consequence, this leads to, thiscauses, etc.

Whattodonext?1. After this last section, you will be given some time to check your

answers- this time should be used for exactly that, even if you are ina hurry to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. You will thenbe told that you have 10 minutes to transfer your answers, and thereis more than enough time to do this. Keep your headphones on astime-checks are given at two minutes and one minute before theend.

2. Be careful to make sure that you put your answers on the Listeningside of the answer sheet.

3. Make sure the question number correspond to the answer sheetnumber.

4. Also check that your answers are grammatically correct, i.e. the righttense, the subject agrees with the verb, and if the answer is a noun,if it is singular or plural.

5. Make sure that both words and numbers are easy to read, and yourspelling is correct.

6. Check for careless mistakes, such as an “s” on plural countablenouns, or 3rd person singular, Present Simple tense, or a.m./ p.m. fortime.

7. After 10 minutes, your answer sheets will be collected and theinstructions for the Reading test will be given.

General advice for the IELTS Listening Test

· Take time to read the instructions carefully.

· Look at the heading or topic and try to predict the type ofvocabulary and collocations that may be used.

· Practise listening to a range of accents.

· Underline or circle the keywords in the questions and try tothink of any synonyms for these.

· When you hear these keywords, expect the answer to follow.Note that sometimes, the answer precedes the keywords.

· Only give one answer (unless told otherwise)-more than one