IELTS preparation blog

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Latest posts

IELTS vocabulary related to the topic of education

Hi

I’ve said before that as part of your IELTS preparation it’s important to improve your vocabulary related to common IELTS topics, and so today I’d like to highlight some vocabulary related to the topic of education.

As you may have seen in my post ‘Discuss both views…‘, you could be given an IELTS Writing Task 2 essay related to this topic, and it will help you get a higher IELTS band score if you use a range of vocabulary in your writing.

All of the words and examples below are from the example IELTS Writing Task 2 essay at the link above.

Vocabulary for IELTS - Education

In each case, check you understand what the word means or click on the word below for a dictionary definition, and then look at how the word is used in the example sentence.

Verbs:

  • teach (e.g. ‘…it is the responsibility of parents to teach their children how to become good members of society’)
  • learn (e.g. ‘Children can learn how adults often contribute to their local communities…’)
  • educate (e.g. ‘…both parents and schools have a role to play in educating children in this regard’)
  • consolidate (e.g. ‘Having these lessons as part of a school curriculum can help consolidate the learning that happens at home…’)

Read the full post »

Dicuss both views…

Hi

As you may have read in my post ‘What’s the first thing the examiner will look at in IELTS Writing Task 2‘, it’s important to answer all parts of the essay writing task in your IELTS test.

Here’s an example of how you can answer all parts of IELTS Writing Task 2 when you are asked to discuss two different views on a particular topic. (The IELTS Writing Task 2 is from the book Cambridge IELTS 8).

Some people think that parents should teach children how to be good members of society. Others, however, believe that school is the place to learn this.

Discuss both of these views and give your own opinion. Read the full post »

Matching headings to paragraphs

Hi

As you probably know, one type of IELTS Reading question is where you have to match headings to paragraphs or sections of a text.

You may not know that a common mistake in this type of question is to choose answers by matching words in the headings with words in the paragraphs without thinking about the main idea of each paragraph.

To show you what I mean, here’s an example from a text about seaweeds in the Academic Reading test from the Official IELTS Practice Materials (Volume 2).

Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.

List of headings

i) The appearance and location of different seaweeds
ii) The nutritional value of seaweeds
iii) How seaweeds reproduce and grow
iv) How to make agar from seaweeds
v) The under-use of native seaweeds
vi) Seaweed species at risk of extinction
vii) Recipes for how to cook seaweeds
viii) The range of seaweed products
ix) Why seaweeds don’t sink or dry out

Read the full post »

How to answer difficult questions in the IELTS Speaking test

Hi

Do you think you could answer the following IELTS speaking question within a few seconds of an IELTS examiner asking you?

  • What do you think motivates governments to give aid to other countries?

If you think you would need some time to think about your answer before starting to speak, then check out the video below for some ideas of how to deal with difficult questions in the IELTS Speaking test.

(If you can’t view the video above, try viewing it on our YouTube channel or our YouKu channel). Read the full post »