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This post was contributed by Mr. Nipun Jain, the head of Benchmark – our evaluation team. On behalf of all the readers I would like to thank Mr. Jain and all the fine teachers of Benchmark.

Transitions

Transitional words and phrases are what gives your essays coherence, we need them to join sentences and thoughts together. Look at the lists below. These are transitional phrases that you can memorize and keep in your arsenal for the IELTS writing module.

AGREEMENT: also, plus, in addition, further, furthermore, moreover, additionally, to add to that, next, in accordance with, accordingly, in agreement, finally, for instance, for example, in exemplification, exemplifying that, in fact, factually speaking, in terms of, and so forth, looking at the nexus between, in coordination with, along those lines, collectively speaking, generally speaking, indeed, undoubtedly, obviously, to be sure.

CONTRAST: however, contrastingly, in contrast, on the contrary, on the other hand, To put it into perspective, from a different angle, nonetheless, nevertheless, but, yet, a catch to this is, sadly enough, as a hindrance, looking at the holdups, oddly enough, instead, in direct opposition, still, and rather.

RESULT: as a result, as a consequence, consequently, thus, therefore, hence, thereby, resulting in, ultimately, in the end, finally, in the overall analysis, in hindsight, in retrospect, retrospectively, vicariously, the long term effect, as a short term result, significantly, as a major effect, effectively, heretofore, hereafter, thereafter, in short, generally, over all, concluding.

Today I’d like to share some unusual kind of tips – short videos with some useful tips for IELTS preparation. These were made by British Council in Sri Lanka and can serve you as both tips and listening practice. I was amazed by the quality and just couldn’t keep them to myself. Enjoy!

IELTS Reading, tip #1

“Looking at the title, the picture and the questions for a passage will prepare you for what you’re going to read.”

IELTS Reading, tip #2

“Don’t waste too much time on one answer. If you find it difficult, continue to the next questions and come back if you have time.”

IELTS Listening, tip #1

“Check your spelling, as you will be penalized for mistakes.”

IELTS Listening, tip #2

“Underlining keywords in the questions will help you focus when you are listening.”

IELTS Writing, tips # 1

“Write the correct amount of words – not too few and not too many. Look at the number in task instructions and count the number of words you’ve written.”

IELTS Writing, tips # 2

“Timing is important – spend 20 minutes on task 1 and 40 minutes on task 2″.

IELTS Speaking, tip #1

“Talk to yourself on a variety of topics, record yourself and listen back to see if you sound interested. To sound interested, practice in stressing the keywords.”

IELTS Speaking, tip #2

“It’s OK to ask the examiner to repeat the question. You won’t lose marks for doing so”.

IELTS Speaking, tip #3

“Watch the tense in the examiner’s question – it will give you an idea what tense to use in your answer.”

Note: the people filmed here are most likely professional actors, but the tips come from real IELTS candidates who achieved high scores.