• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

IELTS with Fiona

IELTS Made Easier

Members Academy
Log in

  • Home
  • Resources
  • Lessons
  • My courses
  • FAQs
  • About me
  • What’s New

IELTS: the 10 most common questions I get asked

By ieltsetc on May 3, 2020 0

In this video lesson, I interview my boss, and IELTS guru/expert/god and ask him the 10 most commonly asked questions about the test.

Like me, he has taught IELTS for 20 years and has been a teacher, examiner and test day administrator.

As you can imagine, we agree about most things!

Watch the lesson here

IELTS FAQs with Max

Fiona

Okay, Max, I’ve had lots of questions people dying to ask you and some of them are really the most common questions that I get asked all the time. But let’s start First of all, in your experience, what do high scoring IELTS students do differently?

Max

Well, ultimately, they are people with very, very, very good English and clearly having some IELTS tuition and support can help people to improve their scores. But essentially, the key to doing well in IELTS is to be a good user of English. IELTS is a measurement of the quantity and the quality of your English.

Fiona

What is the biggest misunderstanding about IELTS?

Max 

I think the biggest misunderstanding about it is that people who have quite good English can magically somehow get very good English, and therefore get the score that they need in a very short period of time. And often that isn’t the case. 

Fiona

It takes time, doesn’t it? Hard work and time.

Max

Yes. It takes time because it takes time to learn a language. And the process of doing well in IELTS depends on learning English more and better.

Fiona

And when people say ‘I’ve got the exam coming up. I don’t really have time to prepare, what can I do?’, how do you answer those kinds of questions?

Max

You cannot prepare for a difficult exam like IELTS in a very short period of time. And in fact, you know, money is important to everybody. The IELTS exam is expensive, and it would be better to wait until you’re ready before you spend the money on the exam.

 Fiona

Is there any benefit in people just taking the exam over and over again?

Max

I know of somebody actually who did the exam 23 times. And eventually after spending £3000, he got what he needed, but maybe that person would have been advised to spend more time improving their English and less time worrying about the exam.

Fiona 

So they were studying in between – they weren’t just taking the exam and not doing any studying in between?

Max

I think that person and many other people that I’ve met, spend most of the time (in between exams) worrying about the exam, and asking people like you ‘How can I pass this exam? What can I do very quickly in the next two weeks?’, not focusing on what they should be focusing on, which is improving the quality of their English.

Obviously having some specialist advice to do with the skills of IELTS is extremely important and helpful But the main thing has to be the development of the language.

Fiona

There are a lot of very experienced as teachers and trainers at Colchester English Study Centre. And students tend to come for three months at a time, and they do five hours a day, five days a week plus homework. Is that about right?

Max

Yes, so they’re doing 25 hours of tuition a week plus homework. But on top of that, we make them do extra reading outside class and extra listening and they spend a lot of time talking to people as well.

Fiona 

I think when people say, ‘I do about an hour a day’, that’s fine, that’s great because people are busy with work or studying, but it’ll just take you longer. So even with five hours a day with people who really know what they’re doing, and they’re living in a homestay, I guess, every single opportunity, it still takes a lot of work and a lot of time.

Max

Yes, everybody’s context is different. If you have students who are studying and working in the UK, like doctors or nurses, they have a lot of exposure to English already. And maybe an hour in the evening could be sufficient for them.

But then it’s what are they doing the rest of the time when they’re not working? Are they listening to the way people talk in English? Are they trying to improve their language or is it just flowing past them?

Fiona 

I think a really important point is the thing about noticing language and asking questions about it. I see the people who make a lot of progress and they’re the ones constantly asking questions.

Max

Yes and constantly taking input from everywhere, constantly reading, constantly listening, constantly writing and speaking at every opportunity that they have.

Fiona 

Let’s get a bit more specific now. I think the most difficult part of the IELTS test is the writing. Would you agree with that?

Max

I think in general yes. That’s correct, but a lot of people find reading difficult as well.

Fiona 

Let’s talk about specific tips about improving your writing, specifically for IELTS because it is specialized. It isn’t just like writing emails. It’s an academic, analytical description of statistics in Task 1 and then an opinion essay, which arguably, nobody ever does anymore.

Max

Can I split my answer into two different parts? One part has to do with what you do in the Members Academy – it’s very important to have a good teacher who can help you to understand what you need to do with Task 1, how to approach a Task 2, of course. And that kind of support is very, very useful.

But I think it’s also important that people read a lot because when you read a lot, you constantly see how good academic English is put together. It improves your spelling, it improves your vocabulary, and you understand how to present an argument in English. So yes, I think you need to do both of those things.

You need to have some specialist support of the type that you provide your students with, but you also need to read a lot and probably practice writing as well in your spare time.

Fiona 

I totally agree with how much the importance of reading is underestimated. Because how often do we read the kind of academic articles that we get in the IELTS test? You have to really go out of your way to do that kind of reading and you have to do it intensively, while we’re doing all the other things. Again, it’s just a lot of time, isn’t it?

Max

It is a lot of time but as you say, it works and it’s necessary.

Fiona

So you brought me to my next question, which is ‘How can I improve my Reading speed for the IELTS Test?’

Max

You should consider the reading test as three tests not one test. You should consider it as three 20 minute tests, not as one 1-hour test, because one of the biggest problems people have is they get only about half of the way through the third passage and only answer 30 questions, not 40.

If you can train yourself to read the passage and answer the questions in 20 minutes, done, move on to the next one. Done. I think that that can help people to do the test more quickly.

In terms of reading more quickly, reading is processing information. And any kind of processing can be done faster, you can do it faster, you can train yourself to do it faster. And the way to train yourself to read faster is to read a lot more, to read anything, read newspapers, read novels and read academic texts.  Be a reader. Get into the habit of reading different types of materials a lot and you will be able to process information more quickly.

Fiona

Definitely. And I used to joke that Max could actually answer the IELTS reading questions without looking at the reading, because he was so used to the type of question that is asks.

Do you think, as well as doing all the reading, doing a lot of familiarizing yourself with the test will give you a bit of extra support?

Max

I think knowing the different types of question and practicing the different types of question and knowing that the different types of questions are there to test different reading skills. I think all of that is useful and important.

But at the end of the day, you need to be better at reading in order to do the reading test.

Fiona

Could you give us a quick example? What are the different types of questions and how do they test different types of reading skills?

Max

Okay, so for example, you have those matching heading questions where they give you a list of eight or nine things with Roman numbers and then you have to match them to the passages. Now, that type of question is there specifically to see if you have the skill of reading a paragraph quite quickly. And generalizing – What is this particular paragraph about? And then choosing the correct heading.

True, False, Not Given questions, on the other hand, test a completely different skill, which is to find exactly some piece of information in the text and decide what it means.

And other types of questions are testing other skills and awareness of that. And the ability to do that is useful. And it’s the kind of thing that I know you pass on to your students.

Fiona

Could you explain more about the different Reading text types?

Max

A lot of IELTS reading passages are either about problems, or they are pieces of research. Now, I don’t think we’ve got time to go through all of this now, because it’s the topic of a lesson properly. But in very general terms, if you’re reading about a problem you’ve got to be looking for the causes of the problem. You’ve got to be looking for effects of the problems, and you’ve got to be looking for solutions of the problems. And if you read the passage very quickly to identify those things, you find the basic meaning of the whole passage.

And guess what? Most of the questions will be about causes and effects and solutions and the same thing with research passages in research passages: there is a certain fixed structure of information which you can look for when you read the passage.

Fiona 

Another question I get asked a lot is, with so many materials available on the internet, how on earth do you know where to start? How do you know what IELTS materials to use and what to ignore?

Max

I think this is a very, very important question Fiona because it’s not that there’s so much stuff on the internet – the materials, the amount of materials is absolutely vast. But the quality is very, very variable. And I think that’s where somebody like you is very helpful and useful to students really, because you act as a filter, you can direct your students to the things which are high quality and which are going to help and support them and direct them away from the things which are not so useful, shall we say?

Fiona

How can we use advanced vocabulary accurately? Should we be learning lists? Is there a strategy for that?

Max

I think there are several strategies. I mean, one thing that students can usefully do is to use certain academic vocabulary when they’re writing about any topic, you know, so the vocabulary for solutions, for example, to ‘address’ a problem to ‘tackle’ a problem, to ‘take steps to solve’ a problem, this kind of learning this kind of academic vocabulary and learning it can be very, very useful.

Also, I think it helps students to use some good topic based vocabulary and to take some time to learn the vocabulary around the environment, for example, to choose a certain amount of words every week, maybe six or eight, to memorize them to use them in the speaking to try and include them in their Task 2.

So that I think there are sort of three different approaches that people can use to enrich their vocabulary. And this is my experience that both in speaking and writing, students can improve their vocabulary a lot very, very quickly. And they can improve them to the extent where they’ll get a higher score in the exam.

Fiona

That’s all about collocation as well, and collocation comes from noticing what words come together and learning words that come together.

Max

I think that’s a very important point Fiona. There are lots of students have what I call a ‘single item approach’ to vocabulary, so they will focus on one word. But that simply isn’t how people should learn English people should learn English from collocations phrases, because that’s how English is expressed by native speakers.

Fiona

How do I get ideas to express myself in writing? There are so many topics to consider for Task 2 –  how do I get those ideas, those arguments, those opinions?

Max

I think that actually isn’t so difficult. And I think most people actually have more ideas and more resources in their heads than they think they have. What they need is practice of getting those ideas out and expressing them. Where do ideas come from? People who understand what’s happening in the world, people who follow current events, people who read a lot, have a lot more ideas than people who don’t.

Fiona

It’s about reading the newspaper and knowing what’s controversial and the ideas in favor and against – that all comes from reading,

Max

Particularly with Task 2 in Writing. A lot of the Task 2s are about current global issues and people who are aware of what the issues are and have thought about them and read about them have a big, big advantage.

Fiona Wattam 

I think there’s a slight confusion in the actual question where it says asks you to use examples from your own experience. And then people tend to just then talk about more like, ‘Oh, this happened to my friend’, but actually what they want is you to think more about the big picture, isn’t it?

Max

I believe so. Yes. I would say it’s better to talk about global ideas.

Where to find Max

Max is Principal of Colchester English Study Centre.

The school is based in a beautiful building in the heart of an historic town, just 50 minutes from London.

It caters for a variety of students and specialises in IELTS preparation.

 

How long will it take to increase my score?

Read by blog: 12 factors that influence the length of time it takes to improve your IELTS Band Score.

How else can I study by myself?

Check out my links to more free resources that can help you study at home.

  • How to use formal language in IELTS Task 2
  • How long will it take to increase my IELTS score?
  • How to show concession in IELTS Writing Task 2
  • How to use conditionals in IELTS Writing
  • Grammar for IELTS: How to write complex sentences

Want to know what’s new?

If you want to hear all about my new lessons, podcasts, YouTube videos, challenges and courses, get your name on my email list (oh you’ll also get my free 28-Day Planner).

Sign up for the free 28-Day Planner.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Would you like to support my website?

In order to make sure you get a fantastic experience on my website I don’t use any advertising, and all the costs are paid for out of my own pocket.

If you’d like to help me keep these materials free for everyone, you are more than welcome to buy me a coffee! Many many thanks in advance.

Buy me a coffeeBuy me a coffee

RSS My latest podcasts

  • IELTS Reading/Writing: Driverless Cars 🚘 January 11, 2021
  • IELTS Reading: Motivational Factors and the hospitality industry 👩‍🍳🧑‍🍳 December 29, 2020
  • IELTS Writing: How to hedge in Task 2 🌳🌳 December 20, 2020

Categories

  • Academic Writing Task 1
  • Grammar
  • GT Writing Task 1
  • IELTS Advice
  • IELTS General Training
  • IELTS Listening
  • IELTS Reading
  • IELTS Speaking
  • IELTS Vocabulary
  • IELTS Writing Task 2

Tags

Academic Reading P1 Academic Reading P2 Academic Reading P3 Agriculture Animals Buildings choosing from list Civilisation Crime education Finance gap-fill listening gap fill reading Gap Fill with answers grammar GT letters GT Reading GT Task 1 Health History ielts tips informal writing Inventions labelling a diagram Matching Headings matching people Matching Statements multiple choice listening multiple choice reading Nature pronunciation Research Speaking Tables Technology TFNG The Arts The environment The Future Transport travel Water work writing task 2 YNNG

What my students are saying:

IELTS with Fiona reviews Charmian

Charmian

From 6.6 to 8!!! Can you believe it? Thanks for everything!

Members Academy student

IELTS with Fiona
5
2020-01-13T09:09:01+00:00

Members Academy student

IELTS with Fiona reviews Charmian
From 6.6 to 8!!! Can you believe it? Thanks for everything!
https://ieltsetc.com/testimonials/charmian/
IELTS with Fiona reviews Shreyas

Shreyas

I was overwhelmed to receive my IELTS results. I got overall of 7.5 in my IELTS exam. Thank you once...

Academy Member

IELTS with Fiona
5
2020-01-13T09:06:30+00:00

Academy Member

IELTS with Fiona reviews Shreyas
I was overwhelmed to receive my IELTS results. I got overall of 7.5 in my IELTS exam. Thank you once again for all resources.
https://ieltsetc.com/testimonials/shreyas/
IELTS with Fiona reviews Sancia

Sancia

I was stuck in writing with 6.5 and with just 2 weeks of preparation from your notes I scored 7.5....

General Training 28-Day Challenge student

IELTS with Fiona
5
2020-01-13T08:43:00+00:00

General Training 28-Day Challenge student

IELTS with Fiona reviews Sancia
I was stuck in writing with 6.5 and with just 2 weeks of preparation from your notes I scored 7.5. I don't have enough words to thank you.
https://ieltsetc.com/testimonials/sancia/

Ipek

I’ve got a very busy life and IELTS Academy was time-saving for me that it involves everything about IELTS in...

Academy Member

IELTS with Fiona
5
2019-12-03T18:16:09+00:00

Academy Member

I’ve got a very busy life and IELTS Academy was time-saving for me that it involves everything about IELTS in one place. Fiona is an excellent teacher with passion and kindness to all of her students. She helped me a lot with IELTS and I improved my scores significantly in a very short time. Some days I had no spare time for studying and I listened her podcasts when I was driving to work and it also helped me a lot! I strongly recommend this course to all IELTS candidates.
https://ieltsetc.com/testimonials/ipek/
IELTS with Fiona reviews Ipek

Lily S

The Academy gave me clear guidelines, study materials and methods to lead me into a high IELTS performance. As I...

Academy Member

IELTS with Fiona
5
2019-12-03T18:12:42+00:00

Academy Member

IELTS with Fiona reviews Ipek
The Academy gave me clear guidelines, study materials and methods to lead me into a high IELTS performance. As I have a super busy career and family life, my study time is very limited. When I first decided to take an IELTS test, I even didn't know where to start. After studying with Fiona for a while, in the first IELTS test, I got Band 8! Thank you so much for your hard work and your professionalism, Fiona!!!
https://ieltsetc.com/testimonials/lily-s/
5
IELTS with Fiona

Work out your current score

IELTS Band Score Calculator

Popular Posts

  • How to use formal language in IELTS Task 2
  • How long will it take to increase my IELTS score?
  • How to show concession in IELTS Writing Task 2
  • How to use conditionals in IELTS Writing
  • Grammar for IELTS: How to write complex sentences

Recent posts

  • How to write an email to someone you don’t know
  • How to use ‘rise’ and ‘raise’
  • How to use have/get something done
  • What is ‘hedging’ in academic writing?
  • Words ending in -able or -ible

Come and see what’s going on

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Products

  • IELTS Speaking Mock Test Speaking Mock Test $45.00
  • IELTS Writing Feedback IELTS Writing and Speaking Assessment $99.00
  • Get 8 IELTS Writing Feedback Videos $200.00
  • IELTS Speaking Course syllabus Speaking Course and Mock Test $99.00
  • IELTS WRITING FEEDBACK IELTS Writing Assessment and Feedback Task 1 and Task 2 $50.00

Looking for something specific?

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Vimeo
  • YouTube
  • About me
  • Contact me
  • IELTS Band Score Calculator
  • IELTS Test 28-Day planner
  • Resources
  • My IELTS 10-minute lessons

Copyright © 2021 — IELTS Exam Training Courses • Privacy Policy • Disclaimer • All rights reserved

This site uses cookies: Find out more.