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Recent IELTS exams

Real students tell about their recent IELTS exams: IELTS questions, topics, tasks, answers.

IELTS in Tokyo, Japan – October 2009 (Academic)

IELTS test in Japan was shared by K., whose awesome memory made it possible for us to enjoy the following topics and questions:

Listening test

Section 1: Job interview for a part time job.
Section 2: Introduction for an internship, the general idea of the company and some weekdays schedule.
Section 3: Two students are talking about a lecture they attend, one is studying accounting and the other is Japanese.
Section 4: A presentation of “Digital Life”.

Reading test

Passage 1: An article titled “Tourism Industry”.
Questions: Headings matching and True/False/Not Given questions.

Passage 2: An article titled “The way of purifying water by reeds”.
Questions: True/False/Not Given, Diagram labeling and Filling in the gaps.
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Passage 3: An article titled “Ancient virus”.
Questions: Matching headings and multiple choice questions.

Writing test

Writing Task 1 (a report)
We had 2 tables that showed the number of students by each lecturer in Australian Universities from 1994 to 2007, and also the number of students by different type of lecture (Lecture-based and Laboratory-based) in 2003.

Writing Task 2 (an essay)
An increase in the production of consumer goods results in danger for the environment. Why is this the case? How we can avoid it?

Speaking test

Interview
I was asked questions about my workplace, a computer, my weekend activities.

Cue card
Describe a place where you would like to live abroad, you should say
– where it is,
– how you know about the place,
– and why you are interested in living there.

Discussion
– What are the difficulties of studying a foreign language?
– What are the problems of living abroad and how can one overcome them?

IELTS in the UK and Pakistan – October 2009 (Academic)

IELTS tests in the UK, Pakistan and Nepal were described by two people and the questions look very similar. Thanks to S.G. and S.H we have the following topics and questions:

Listening test

Section 1: A woman was asking for information at a travel agency, regarding her trip and accommodation that costs £110. The trip should be in April and that her special requirement was a non smoking room, because she suffers from asthma. She was not interested in visiting museums or the camel farm, but she would love to go on a rough safari ride.

Section 2: A piece about a theater built in 17th century, that has limited seating capacity and has themed restaurants. On the 15th of this month the theme is Italian and students get a 20% discount.

Section 3: A business report about strategies used in the placement of products in a supermarket, which items goes in the entrance and in the aisles and which items are placed at the eye level.

Section 4: A conversation between friends who are going to college about which course to take and tips about the professors.

Reading test

Passage 1: A researchers’ argument about the first human being, the Mungo Woman and the Mungo Man in Australia, the mass destruction of the lake and how different researchers used different ways and tools to determine their age and origins.

Passage 2: About a memory competition and the contestants. The researches intended to find out about the reasons for their brilliant memory and some history of it during the time of Aristotle.

Passage 3: About synthetic and non-synthetic materials and the development of the microfiber and it uses.

Writing test

Writing task 1 (a report)
We had a bar graph of workers’ starting salary (policemen, nurses, firefighters and an underground train driver) during 3 years, which came with another table showing their working hours per week.

Writing task 2 (an essay)
Some people think that it is the responsibility of the supermarkets to reduce the packaging of their products, but others think that it is consumers’ responsibility. To what extent do you agree or disagree? Give examples where possible.

Speaking test

Interview
– Name?
– Profession (student or working)?
– Duties at work?
– Are you happy with them? Why?
– Will you continue doing your job? Why?
– In the future what kind of job would you prefer?

Cue card
Talk about a historic place that you visited, you should say:
– What kind of place was it?
– Where was it?
– How did you feel about it?

Discussion
– When did you first used a computer? How did it affect you?
– How do you feel about computers? Do you think computers are a good or a bad thing?
– Do you think people should pay to visit museums or historic places?
– Can you comment on how to find out about history nowadays?