by Dave | Jan 30, 2018 | How To
I recently wrote a post about how to analyse tables and it was so popular that I decided to do the same for pie charts, which lots of student also find very difficult to analyse.
So, again I will show you how to make simple notes, that will make analysing pie charts easier, helping you to recognise (see) and remember all of the important trends.
Dave
Why Pie Charts are Difficult
It’s no surprise that students struggle with pie charts. After all, it is much easier to see the overall trend in a line chart or a bar graph than in a pie chart.
In a pie chart you are looking at two or three specific time points so you have to look carefully to identify (find) the trends.
And the chart in the real exam is ALWAYS in black and white, which makes it more difficult to see the trends and make comparisons quickly.
First you need to know what you are looking at. For the chart below, taken from a previous IELTS exam (Cambridge 8), you are looking at the same kind of data (total school spending), divided into five fields in three different years.
Make Notes about Figures
In the charts below you can see I’ve followed the charts for each of the five fields from 1981 via
(through) 1991 to 2001, and drawn an arrow to show the overall trends and calculated the overall changes.
For example, Insurance went from 2% to 3% to 8% so that is a clear upward trend, so I made a note on the final pie chart of x4 (four times), and I drew a straight upward arrow to show a clear large increase.
In contrast, Teachers’ salaries initially went up from 40% to 50% before falling to 45%, so it was an overall increase of 5% (or about 10% of the original 40%).
So I made a note on the final pie chart of +10% and I drew a fluctuating arrow but with a clear increase overall.
Make Notes about Positions
Next, in the chart below you can see I noted all the positions in the first and last years so I can clearly see any changes overall.
For example, in 1999 Other workers’ salaries was the 2nd largest area of school spending, whereas in 2001 it had dropped to the 3rd largest area.
So I wrote 2 and 3 next to that part of the pie chart for 2001, and I drew with an arrow to show the direction of the change.
Select, Group and Compare
Now you can see the trends easily, all you need to do is recognise any general patterns and identify which are the most important trends.
For example, it is now clear that three areas experienced an upward trend, whereas two areas had a downward trend.
It is also clear that according to the three charts, Teachers’ salaries remained the largest area of spending throughout the twenty year period.
In contrast, the percentage of money spent on Furniture and equipment became the second largest area of spending, overtaking Other workers’ salaries.
For a band 7+ you should be making comparisons where possible.
So you could note that by the end of the period twice as much is spent on Teachers’ Salaries compared to Furniture and equipment.
Furthermore you could note that by 2001 three times as much is spent on Teachers’ Salaries compared to Other workers’ salaries.
Now it’s your turn! Put your answers in the comments.
Look again at the charts. What other trends can you see?
Write some example sentences like mine.
by Dave | Jan 29, 2018 | How To
Which kind of Task 1 Writing questions are the most difficult? In my experience as an IELTS Teacher and Examiner, most students say it’s tables!
In this article I show you how to make simple notes on the table, so that it will be easier to recognise (see) and remember all of the important trends.
Dave
Tables are Challenging
It’s no surprise that students struggle with tables. After all, it is much easier to see the overall trends in a line chart or a bar graph.
But in a table you are just looking at the naked data. Just look at the example below taken from a previous IELTS writing exam (taken from Cambridge 10).
There are a lot of figures to process and it’s practically (nearly) impossible to see the trends quickly and then remember them as you are writing your report.
So what you need to do is make notes on the table about all the important changes. For the table above you need to note changes in sales and also changes in position.
Let’s look at changes in sales first.
Make Notes about Figures
In the table below you can see I’ve roughly calculated the changes in sales of coffee and bananas for each country between 1999 and 2004, and I’ve made notes at the side of the most recent figures.
For example, in the UK the amount of coffee sold increased by more than 10 times so I’ve made a note of that as x10+, and I drew an arrow to show a large increase.
Similarly, for Sweden it increased by a very small amount (compared to other countries) so I only drew an arrow to show a very slight increase and no figure.
Make Notes about Positions
Next, in the table below you can see I noted all the positions for both time periods so I can clearly see any changes.
For example, in 1999 the UK sold the 3rd largest amount of coffee, whereas in 2004 it sold the most amount of coffee.
So I wrote 3 and 1 in the columns for 1999 and 2004 respectively, and I drew with an arrow to show the direction of the change.
By the way, it is now easy to spot (see) that the order of the country names for both Coffee and Bananas matches their positions in 2004.
Group, Select and Compare Trends
Now you can see the trends easily, what you need to do next is recognise any general patterns and identify (decide) which are the most important trends.
For example, it is now clear that sales of coffee in all five countries experienced (had) an upward trend, whereas for Bananas two of the the three countries saw a downward trend.
Similarly, it is clear that the leading seller of coffee changed from Switzerland to the UK, going from 3rd to 1st and increasing by over 10 times.
In contrast Switzerland remained the top seller of Bananas and increased their share by 3 times.
For a band 7+ you should notice important comparisons if possible.
So you could note that the UK ended up selling four times as much coffee as Switzerland in 2004.
You could also note that Switzerland ended up selling nearly five times as many Bananas as the UK in 2004.
Now it’s your turn! Put your answers in the comments.
Look again at the table. What other trends can you see?
Write some example sentences like mine.
by Dave | Jan 28, 2018 | Sample Answers
This is an IELTS Sample Answer for Task 2 Writing from the test on January 20th, 2018 in the Asia region (different regions have different tests to prevent cheating).
It was a little bit tricky because of one strange part of the question but overall not the most difficult Task 2 Writing I’ve seen.
Read this sample answer and analysis and complete the vocabulary exercises below it in quizlet.
Check out the links to articles and videos to become more familiar with the topic. It’s really important to have some experience with a wide range of topics for all parts of the test.
If you want to read another sample answer you can check out this one on climate change.
For sample speaking questions and tips from the test check out our YouTube Channel.
Dave
Task 2 IELTS Sample Question
Recent research has shown that business meetings and training are increasingly taking place online.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of this?
Sample Answer
Many businesses today choose to hold meetings and do training online, rather than in person. While this has certain drawbacks related to interpersonal relationships, I still feel this is a positive trend because of its positive impact on employees with families. In this essay, I will discuss both sides in detail.
Conducting the majority of business meetings online has a potentially negative effect on the social dynamics of a company. The preference for online communication sacrifices essential elements of human interaction in the name of a more efficient, utilitarian process. When people sit in a room together, for training or a meeting, they are more likely to form strong interpersonal bonds. They will be able to see each other’s body language better and there is a good chance they may socialise in person afterwards. For example, employees might go for drinks or even just have a private chat about the meeting or training while still at work. This is much less likely to happen when people are working from home or a remote location and using online tools like Skype to communicate.
Companies that choose to do more training and have more meetings online are making life more convenient for their employees with families. At some point in their lives, most people must face the challenge of working and having a family. If both the mother and father work, then one of them might have to give up their job to stay home or they will have to hire an expensive caretaker to look after their child during the day. If more meetings and training took place online, this could free up time for people in certain jobs, such as IT workers, to work entirely from home and look after their children during the day. They will still have to make time for the training and meetings but at least they won’t waste valuable time commuting to the office.
The move towards increased online training and meetings may sacrifice some of the social aspects of work but this is more than made up for by the convenience it allows working families. In many families today, both the mother and father have to work to make ends meet and we should support any efforts to relieve their financial and physical burdens.
Analysis
Introduction: 1. Many businesses today choose to hold meetings and do training online, rather than in person. 2. While this has certain drawbacks related to interpersonal relationships, I still feel this is a positive trend because of its positive impact on employees with families. 3. In this essay, I will discuss both sides in detail.
1. The trickiest part of this question is the mention of ‘business meetings and training.’ You have to make your answer general enough to include both of those slightly different situations but also specific enough to have well-supported and relevant main ideas. I have done this by mentioning training and meetings a few times throughout the answer.
2. The first sentence simply restates the topic. Don’t waste much time on this sentence – write it simply and quickly.
3. The second sentence clearly states my opinion, which is necessary to get at least a Band 6 for Task Achievement.
4. The third sentence simply states that I will talk about both sides. This sentence is not very important – write it quickly so you can focus on the main body paragraphs.
Body Paragraph 1: 1. Conducting the majority of business meetings online has a potentially negative effect on the social dynamics of a company. 2. The preference for online communication sacrifices essential elements of human interaction in the name of a more efficient, utilitarian process. 3. When people sit in a room together, for training or a meeting, they are more likely to form strong interpersonal bonds. 4. They will be able to see each other’s body language better and there is a good chance they may socialise in person afterwards. 5. For example, employees might go for drinks or even just have a private chat about the meeting or training while still at work. 6. This is much less likely to happen when people are working from home or a remote location and using online tools like Skype to communicate.
1. The first sentence is a topic sentence that includes my main idea for the whole paragraph (online meetings and training has negative effect on how well people get along). It is key to include both training and meetings, but not talk specifically about one or the other, just to be safe.
2. The second sentence extends my main idea by pointing out that even though companies may become more efficient, they will be less ‘human.’
3. The third sentence further supports my main idea by claiming that people meeting physically form stronger bonds.
4. The fourth sentence supports this idea by saying that body language and socialising are important parts of interpersonal relationships.
5. The fifth sentence gives the example of colleagues going out for a drink or chatting after a meeting.
6. The sixth and final sentence claims that online communication will (likely) prevent this from happening.
Body Paragraph 2: 1. Companies that choose to do more training and have more meetings online are making life more convenient for their employees with families. 2. At some point in their lives, most people must face the challenge of working and having a family. 3. If both the mother and father work, then one of them might have to give up their job to stay home or they will have to hire an expensive caretaker to look after their child during the day. 4. If more meetings and training took place online, this could free up time for people in certain jobs, such as IT workers, to work entirely from home and look after their children during the day. 5. They will still have to make time for the training and meetings but at least they won’t waste valuable time commuting to the office.
1. The first sentence is a topic sentence that includes my main idea for the whole paragraph (online training and meetings are more convenient for employees with families).
2. The second sentence further supports my main idea by pointing out that most people have to juggle family and work life.
3. The third sentence further supports my main idea by giving the example of working parents who might have to give up their job or hire a caretaker.
4. The fourth sentence develops this example by saying that online meetings might free up certain occupations to work entirely from home.
5. The fifth and final sentence extends this by including the detail that even though they will still have to do the online meetings and training they will save time on commuting.
Conclusion: 1. The move towards increased online training and meetings may sacrifice some of the social aspects of work but this is more than made up for by the convenience it allows working families. 2. In many families today, both the mother and father have to work to make ends meet and we should support any efforts to relieve their financial and physical burdens.
1. The first sentence restates the main ideas from the sample answer as well as my overall opinion. Make sure you have an overall opinion.
2. The second sentence adds an extra detail (stating how important it is to support working parents) that is needed to get above a Band 7 for Task Achievement according to some, but not all, examiners.
Vocabulary Practice
Quizlet is one of the best websites on the internet that you are not using (unless if you are using it – then good!)
Don’t believe me? Click on the link below and use it to easily learn some high-level vocabulary from the sample answer above:
Practice the vocabulary from this IELTS Sample Answer here!
Business / Working from Home Articles
Business / Working from Home Videos
Example Notes
Here are some notes I made on the vocabulary from the IELTS sample answer (from our Instagram page)!
Our IELTS Sample Answer notes!
Now it’s Your Turn! Comment below on our IELTS Sample Answer:
Is it a good idea for businesses to do training online? To hold meetings online? How much time do you waste in meetings every week?
by Dave | Jan 18, 2018 | IELTS Listening
The Test Format
It takes the makers of IELTS (Cambridge) an average of 2 years to make every test. Each question has to go through dozens of people before it is finally approved – let’s study the test with the same attention to detail! If you want to learn more about IELTS from former examiners you can check out our YouTube Channel or our Facebook Group.
IELTS Listening is a 30 minute test of your English listening ability and there are 4 parts.
There are 40 total questions and each part has 10 questions.
You will conduct the test in a room full of other candidates and will be provided with your own personal pair of headphones (that you can’t keep!).
You cannot leave the room to go to the toilet during the test because it would disturb other test takers.
Write your answers on the test itself. At the end of the 30 minute test, you will have 10 minutes to transfer your answers from the test paper to the answer sheet.
Dave
IELTS Listening Part 1
In part 1, you will hear an informal conversation typically asking for information or making a purchase.
Some examples of conversations that you might hear in part 1 listening include:
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Someone asking about a job vacancy over the telephone (at a restaurant, office, The White House, etc.)
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Someone book a service (a hall for a party, a hotel room, a bus ticket, a plane ticket, a holiday trip, etc.)
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Someone asking for information about a service or place (a guided tour, an amusement park, a school, etc.)
This is the easiest part of the listening exam because it is only testing one thing: your ability to write what you hear.
You just have to be able to write down names, numbers, spellings, and simple vocabulary.
Here is what part 1 typically looks like (it is almost always a gap-fill):
Pay close attention to the instructions because it will tell you how many words/numbers you can write for this question: ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER.
This will not always be the same so make sure you carefully read and circle the instructions.
To do better on these types of questions you can check out the 6 basic tips here.
IELTS Listening Part 2
In part 2, you will hear one person typically talking about a public event or attraction.
Some examples of conversations that you might hear in part 2 listening include:
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Someone giving information about an event (a museum opening, a concert, a fundraising event, etc.)
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Someone explaining something (how to get around campus for new students, the details of a guided tour, a project they are involved in, etc.)
In this section the exam begins to become more difficult.
The vocabulary is a little more difficult and there will be more distractors and paraphrases/synonyms.
Here are 2 examples of a listening part 2:
The synonyms and distractors make part 2 really challenging. All the keywords might be paraphrased. The listening might mention options A, B, and C but only 1 of them is coffect.
For example, take a look at this question:
Here are some paraphrases from the tapescript:
‘Most rapidly growing’ changes to ‘has seen the largest increase in population’
‘Group of residents’ changes to ‘demographic’
‘Sheepmarket area’ changes to ‘Sheepmarket and its surrounding community’
‘Young professional people’ changes to ‘young professionals’
‘Students from the university’ changes to ‘young people who are still studying’
‘Employees in the local market’ changes to ‘the local workforce’
The listening will also probably mention all 3 options: A, B, and C.
Maybe the speaker talks about how there are tons of new young professionals first, then about how that has helped the local workforce expand then back to mention how many young professional people there are now before finally saying that this is overshadowed by the number of new university students. Good luck with that!
They could talk about the options in any order so be really careful before circling your final answer!
IELTS Listening Part 3
In part 3, you will hear a discussion usually involving 2 people, but which could be as many as 4 people.
Some examples of conversations that you might hear in part 3 listening include:
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A discussion of an academic project or research (a teacher discussing the results of a project with a student, a teacher giving a student advice or an overview of a subject area, two students planning to do a project together, etc.)
The difficulty usually also increases in this section because there will be even more distractors, paraphrases and because the vocabulary is more academic and challenging.
Here are 3 examples of listening part 3:
Just like in part 2, a lot of the keywords will be paraphrased or changed.
There will also be distractors – answers that are mentioned and could be correct, but are not.
The main difference between part 2 and 3 is that in part 3 the vocabulary will be more academic and you might have a harder time understanding everything you hear.
IELTS Listening Part 4
In part 4, you will hear part of a lecture on an academic subject.
Some examples of the subjects talked about in the lectures include:
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Astronomy, history, political science, biology, marine biology, geology, neuroscience, psychology, art history, literature, physiology, etc.
You can see from the list above that many of the topics are related to science.
A lot of my students think this is the most difficult listening passage.
The biggest challenge in part 4 is the difficult vocabulary related to an academic field. It is a professor’s lecture – even native English speakers have to listen very carefully to understand it well!
For example, in this question:
Here is some difficult vocabulary that you might hear related to noise in cities: urban noise pollution, rising decibel levels, neurological effects of noise, personal sensitivity levels to noise, increasingly pertinent problem, abnormal sleep patterns, more acute stress levels, subjective perception of a sound, research methodology, and much more!
If you are interested in reading a lot of academic vocabulary related to noise you can check out this article.
The Question Types
There are 10 different questions types on the listening test.
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Multiple Choice
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Matching
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Labeling a Plan/Map/Diagram
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Completing a Form
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Completing a Table
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Completing Notes
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Completing a Sentence
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Completing a Summary
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Completing a Flowchart
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Short Answer Questions
In order to do well on the test, you should be familiar with all the types of question so that you feel comfortable during the test. This is one reason to do lots of practice tests.
To do really well on the test, you need to put in a lot of work practicing specific types of questions repeatedly in order to improve your listening skills.
How to Score the IELTS Listening Test
The listening test has 40 questions and each one counts for 1 point. You can get half-bands, for example a 6.5 or 8.5.
Here is a chart provided by the official IELTS page on how the scores are marked:
https://www.ielts.org/ielts-for-organisations/ielts-scoring-in-detail
However, the scores vary slightly based on the difficulty of the test that week.
In general those numbers give you a rough idea of what your score will be.
Do a few practice tests and if the results are similar you should expect to get a similar score on your actual test.
If you are not close to the score you want, don’t waste your money – spend some more time improving your listening first!
How to Improve your Listening Skills
There is a difference between testing and improving your IELTS listening skills.
To test your IELTS listening, do a practice test and add up your points. Use the chart above to figure out what your score is. Now you know how much you have to improve.
Best of luck!
by Dave | Jan 12, 2018 | Model Answers
In IELTS Speaking Part 1 there are a wide range of topics: habits, family, work, transport, food, superheroes, and so on.
Check out some of my speaking sample answers for free on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@howtodoielts
One of the most common topics is school. The most common type of school discussed on IELTS is high school (or secondary school).
Let’s take a look at some sample questions and answers and do some analysis so that you can improve your speaking score to at least a Band 7!
The IELTS Speaking Examiner
You won’t be able to see it but the examiner will have 4 questions related to high school on the paper in front of him.
The examiner will not explain a question and he will only repeat it once before moving on to the next question.
However, if you ask the examiner to explain a word or phrase – for example you ask: ‘What does high school mean?’ – then the examiner will explain it and you will not lose any points for asking the question.
Sample Questions
Here’s an example of the 4 questions that the examiner may ask you:
Do you stay in contact with friends from high school?
What did you not enjoy about high school? (Why not?)
What was your favourite subject in high school? (Why?)
Do you think people generally enjoy their time in high school? (Why/why not?)
Sample Answers
Here are some sample answers:
Examiner: “Do you stay in contact with friends from High School?”
Sample Answer: “I used to keep in touch with a lot of old friends but lately I’m too busy at work. I’ll send a message on Facebook every once in a while but that’s about it. But my best friend is actually from high school and I see him quite a bit. We talk online and meet up to play videogames together way more than we probably should.”
Examiner: “What did you not enjoy about high school?”
Sample Answer: “Well, to be honest, high school was a really terrible time for me. People made fun of me and I really struggled in class. So, everything basically!”
Examiner: “What was your favourite subject in high school? (Why?)”
Sample Answer: “When I was in high school I remember really enjoying gym. Yeah, I think I enjoyed gym class more than anything else. I’ve never been that studious and it was my only chance during the day to do something I was really good at. I was really fit and sporty at the time.”
Examiner: “Do you think people generally enjoy their time in high school? (Why/why not?)”
Sample Answer: “Where I’m from, in Nepal, I think most people have a pretty good time. There is a lot of bullying, like I talked about before. But in general, the teachers are good, the facilities are modern and clean – they’ve got a lot going for them. Things aren’t as good once you get to Uni but in high school I think most people have a decent experience.”
Here are some more questions about high school – post your answers in the comments below!
