IELTS-Blog

You guys often ask me this question in the emails: “How do I get ideas for IELTS essay, when I don’t understand the topic?”. And you’re right, it is extremely hard to write about something you don’t understand.

So here’s what you can do to solve this problem:

Read as much IELTS essay topics, as possible. You can find essay topics in every post in Recent exams category. Why do it? Simply because sometimes the topics repeat in future exams

Important! Don’t try to memorize essays. IELTS examiners are trained to look for memorized essays and they will disqualify your work on the spot.

I’ve been receiving many emails with questions about the test dates and it became clear to me that many people are confused about it. Here is what’s going on with IELTS dates:

Every month there are 2 dates for General Training test and 4 dates for Academic test. The exams are held on Thursdays and Saturdays only and the dates are already set for the rest of 2008 and 2009.

Now, you should also know that test centre in your country may “skip” some of those dates and not hold the exam – it depends on how many students signed up and it’s up to the IELTS centre to decide will they do it or not.

Here are the official IELTS test dates for the rest of year 2008:

October 2008:
General Training test: 11th, 25th
Academic test: 4th, 11th, 23rd, 25th

November 2008:
General Training test: 8th, 20th
Academic test: 8th, 15th, 20th, 29th

December 2008:
General Training test: 6th, 13th
Academic test: 4th, 6th, 13th, 20th