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August 2009

IELTS Writing – homework

Academic IELTS candidates

You probably noticed how in the recent exams there were many bar graphs, and I thought that you guys could use some exercise. I’ve created this little chart below to be similar to the ones that appeared in real exams, and here is your homework for the day:

You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.

The chart below shows estimated percentage of car trips made, presented by trip purpose and gender of drivers in 2005.

Write a report for a university lecturer describing the information below.

You should write at least 150 words.

IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 sample

And if you want someone to check your work – use our writing assessment service. Our teachers will be happy to grade your work, give you an approximate Band score and suggest how you could make your report better.

General Training Candidates

Your homework for today is to write a letter as follows, in about 20 minutes:

At a work-related seminar that you’re attending, you’ve received an assignment due on a certain date. You have missed that deadline. Write a letter to your lecturer and mention

– the name of your seminar and subject of your assignement
– the reason you could not finish submit it on time
– ask for time extension and say when you will submit your work.

And if you guys want feedback from our teachers, read here how to submit your work for assessment.

Still here? You’ve got work to do 🙂

IELTS in Pune, India – August 2009 (General Training)

IELTS in India (and Pakistan) was described by S, who remembered a lot of questions and topics. He also had one request – that we wish him Band 7, which he needs for immigration to Australia. So on behalf of every subscriber of IELTS-Blog, I hope that S gets the Band score he needs or better!

Here is what S thinks about his exam:

“It was reasonably tough and better attempted with the help of your book ACE THE IELTS and the tips I got from you. Although I need 7 in all the modules, it can be said that I did my best and good result might be on its way.”

And now the the exam questions:

Listening test

Section 1: A telephone conversation between a shop owner of old furniture and appliances, and a prospective customer.

Questions: Filling in the gaps.

Section 2: A map of an Institution.

Questions: To identify the relevant areas like store room, canteen, etc.

Section 3: A conversation between a student and a class teacher about the assignment and what to refer to in order to complete the assignment.

Questions: Apply A – to attend the class, B – refer to past resources, C – Library resources to the various activities like choosing correct material, writing thesis, etc.

Section 4: A very easy section where we were asked to respond to information about a women setup of employment in an Indian company called Namrata Women’s Organisation.

Question Types: Filling in the gaps, Multiple choice, Complete the sentence.

Reading test

Passage 1: About various club activities and different small set-ups offering different activities, like place for Film preview, Professional conferences, party events, so on. It was very confusing and took me more time than expected.

Questions: Information matching (identify the various group names and match them to the events).

Passage 2: We had various restaurants and hotels offering varied services and foods, and the questions were accordingly.

Questions: Information matching (match various Letters for the Hotels/Restaurants to the descriptive questions).

Passage 3: Information related to some institutions and their rules, everything was very simple to answer and less time consuming.

Questions: No more than 3 words or numbers, or to answer in just one word, so we needed to be cautious about it as it was really unusual.

Passage 4: a very interesting passage on Albatrosses (one of the mammals), its nature, population, size of the wings, life-span, breeding, incubation process, their social life – like monogamous outlook, their young ones.

Questions: True/False/Not Given and sentence completions.

Writing test

Writing Task 1 (letter)
As an evening class student, your teacher gave you an essay assignment for the weekend. You could not complete the essay on time. Write a letter with inclusion of following:

– the subject of your essay
– the reason you could not finish it due to.
– how and when you will finish it.

Writing Task 2 (essay)

Nowadays, people working in different jobs have different amount of Holidays. Should different types of jobs have different amount of holidays, according to the type of the job? Give reasons for your answer and include relevant examples from your experience.

Speaking test

Interview
– What is your full name?
– Tell me where you are from.
– Do you work or study?
– Is your work very strenuous?
– Is your work experience of any use to you in future?
– About bicycles – are they liked by adults and children, safe, exist today more or less?

Cue Card
Tell us about one of your best friends, you should say
– Who is he/she? Name?
– Where did you meet him/her?
– What did you do together?
– Do you think your friendship is long lasting?

Discussion
– Is improvement in Communication technology assisting friendship?
– People meeting via other media like chat, email, etc justifies friendship in real?
– Friendship in relatives more real than non-relatives?
– Is international co-operation necessary nowadays?