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November 2008

The IELTS Reading test: 9 free resources to help you get a better score

What do you do to get a higher score in the IELTS Reading test? Increase your speed by reading more texts, that’s right. But not just any texts – there is a certain kind of reading passages you will find in the IELTS test more often.

Many of you were asking me: “What should I read?” and here’s the answer: reading passages in the past IELTS tests came from the following sources:

1. The Economist – a weekly newspaper focusing on international politics and business news and opinions.

2. The Economist Technology quarterly

3. New Scientist – a weekly science and technology news magazine, considered by some to be the world’s best, with diverse subject matter.

4. American Scientist – an illustrated bimonthly magazine of science and technology.

5. The Geographical Journal – publishers of original research and scholarship in physical and human geography.

6. Interscience – online editions of scientific, technical, medical and professional journals

7. Australian geographic – an entertaining and fact-filled reference for anyone who loves and is fascinated by Australia and all things Australian.

8. The British museum – online publications.

9. Illustrated London News – a pictorial example of a historic social record of British and world events up to the present day.

In all of these websites there are articles you can read online (no need to subscribe, they are free) . This way you will get familiar with the style and level of articles you are likely to see in a real IELTS exam. Practice in reading using these resources and you will kill two birds with one stone, improve your reading speed and expand your vocabulary. Those of you taking the IELTS test to study in England will find this page interesting.

And now it’s your turn – do you know of other free sources of IELTS-like reading passages? Please, share!

IELTS Essay, topic: Traffic accidents

The best way to reduce the number of traffic accidents is to raise the age limit for younger drivers and to lower the age limit for aged drivers. Do you agree ?

Traffic accidents are on the rise these days. Most of the accidents injuries or death. Research have found that most of the accidents are caused by inexperienced drivers, for example young drivers.

Young drivers tend to be more daring and are unable to avoid a crush when they face one. They tend to be more daring after drinking alcohol at night and this causes them to lose control of the car. Drunk driving will not only risk a person’s own life but may also cause an life to be lost.

The government should encourage the driving to conduct driving lessons for drivers for a longer period. This will give them a clear picture about how accidents happen and teach them about the safety of others on the road. Drivers that have been in an accident after drunk driving should be from driving for at least two years and be given driving lessons again.

However, for the aged drivers, the government should not only the age limit but also check the capability of the aged drivers for instance eyesight, hearing and other related health conditions to ensure safe driving. It does not mean that an aged person not fit to drive and has a problem with the heart but a young or a middle aged person could also have heart failure these days.

To conclude, I feel that to raise the of young drivers not the best solution but to about the problems they may encounter on the road and to ban them from driving if they have caused an accident due to carelessness. As for the drivers, as long as they are capable on the road before a certain age and there are no health issues there shouldn’t be a problem.

This essay is too long; you have written 305 words instead of the advised 250-265. In the first paragraph you should have presented the topic of argument an two opinions. The main issue here is multiple spelling and grammatical errors, see comments underlined in blue for more details. The task is covered, the paragraphs are coherent and logically connected by linking words. Overall, this looks like a Band 6.5 essay.

Click here to see more IELTS essays of band 6

have caused
,even worse,
innocent
schools
young
banned
lower
is
poorly structured and therefore confusing sentence
age limit (two words)
is
to educate them
aged