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Recent IELTS exams

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

IELTS Speaking questions from Moscow, Russia – October 2009

This is the version of Speaking questions O. from Moscow was asked in her IELTS exam:

Speaking test

Interview
– What’s your name?
– What do you do? Do you study or work?
– Did you have any training done for your job?
– Do you watch a lot of television?
– What kind of shows do you usually watch on TV?
– Do you watch the shows from other countries?
– Were you taught drawing when you were a child?
– Do you think it’s necessary to teach children drawing?
– Why do you think people buy paintings?
– Would you consider buying a painting yourself?

Cue card
Talk about an electronic device that you would like to buy in the future, you should say
– What it would be,
– How you know about it,
– How much it would cost.

Discussion
– A conversation about modern technology:
– Do we still need teachers in the classroom now that we have computers?
– How are the computers used on modern education?
– Why more and more young people choose to study computer technologies at universities and colleges?
– How did the technologies change the society in the past few decades?
O. says: The last question I didn’t get at first, but the assessor helped me a little bit. He rephrased the question so that I understood that he wanted me to speak about the new developments in communications – cell phones, instant messaging, etc.

IELTS in Moscow, Russia – October 2009 (General Training)

IELTS exams in Moscow (Russia), Istanbul (Turkey) and Dubai (UAE) were almost identical, apart from the questions in the Speaking test. As you know the questions in the Speaking test are different for every student, whereas the rest of the exam is normally the same for countries in the same time zone (or no more than 3 hours apart). The questions from the Speaking test will follow tomorrow.

Thanks to O. we know this much about the recent IELTS test:

Listening test

Section 1: A phone conversation about choosing a subscription plan with a phone company.
Questions: Filling in the gaps, multiple choice questions.

Section 2: A lecture on garbage recycling plant.
Questions: Filling in the gaps, multiple choice questions.

Section 3: An orientation session for a food cooking course student.
Questions: Filling in the gaps, multiple choice questions.

Section 4: A lecture on study of chimpanzee behavior.
Questions: Filling in the gaps, multiple choice questions.

Reading test

Passage 1: An article on the Roaring Camp national park in California.
Questions: 5 True/False/Not Given questions.

Passage 2: An advertisement for public speaking coaching.
Questions: Filling in the gaps.

Passage 3: Descriptions of 7 different art galleries.
Questions: matching statements to advertisements, True/False/Not Given questions.

Passage 4: An advertisement about distant learning courses.
Questions: Filling in the gaps, 5 True/False/Not Given questions.

Passage 5: An article on the finding of the remains of the prehistoric man in the Alps.
Questions: Matching statements to paragraphs, 5 True/False/Not Given questions.

Writing test

Writing task 1 (a letter)
You have invited your English-speaking friend to a family wedding and reserved a room at the hotel for him/her as you agreed before. You won’t be able to meet him/her at the airport. Write a letter to your friend, describing:
– the reason why you can’t meet him/her,
– how he/she can get to the hotel from the airport,
– the hotel where you made the reservation.

Writing task 1 (an essay)
In many countries private companies make their employees wear uniform to work. What about your country? Do you think wearing uniform to work is necessary?