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IELTS exam in Philippines was just like the exam in Malaysia, so says J., and here are the Speaking question she had (thank you J!)

Speaking test

Interview

- What is your full name?
- How shall I call you?
- Where do you live and where is it located?
- How is the transportation in your place? Is it accessible?
- Do you think you would live there longer?
- How often do you spend time with your friends in your free time?
- Do you prefer to hang out with your friends at home or going out?
- What do you usually do when you’re together?
- What do people in your country mostly talk about when they are together?

Cue card

Talk about a conversation you had in the phone that was important to you, you should say:
- Who you talked to,
- What you talked about,
- Why it was important.

Discussion

- Which do you prefer, a face to face or a phone conversation?
- What would be the barriers in a phone conversation?
- Could there be problems in a face to face conversation?
- Do you think people who don’t know each other could have a functional talk? Give examples.
- Would they also talk about personal details?

Oh no, today is the day Simone goes sentimental. But how can I help it? Every day I am wrapped up in the routine tasks, writing posts in IELTS-Blog, searching for more resources to offer you, looking for new partners to offer much needed IELTS preparation services, liaising with the evaluation team, chasing my tail like a dog on the beach. But the last day of the year is always different. On this day I take a break to look back and see what I have done and to make plans for the future.

Did 2009 treat you nicely? I sure can’t complain. Here are some of our accomplishments in 2009:

- “Ace the IELTS” book was published on Amazon following a huge demand for a printed version, in addition to the digital version.

- “Ace the IELTS” was also added to Google Books, and now you don’t need to download it – you can read it online in your favorite browser.

- A free online IELTS preparation course was made available.

- Benchmark institute and IELTS-Blog have joined forces to offer you 2 more services, writing and speaking evaluation – all very popular.

- The range of free IELTS practice exercises has expanded.

IELTS-Blog has gained many new readers in 2009. Frankly, I find it hard to believe – we had about 1.5 million visitors over the year and they downloaded over 6 million pages! I won’t even try to count how many emails I answered in 2009, that number will be too scary

Jokes aside, I really can’t put into words how much I value your support. I owe this success to my readers – the best readers in the world, my new friends and old pals, my gratitude to you is endless. Every one of your emails touches my life and gives me one more opportunity to help, to fix, to give advice, to make someone’s life a little bit easier – the greatest gift a person could ask for.

Thank you all for that, and I hope that 2010 will be wildly successful and enormously prosperous for you.

Happy New Year 2010 from Simone Braverman and the IELTS-Blog team!