IELTS Listening

Test format: There are 4 sections in IELTS Listening – two conversations (Section 1,3) and two monologues(Section 2,4). Section 1 and Section 2 are based on the Social context whereas Part 3, 4 are based on the Academic Context. Both the contexts include the native speakers using different accents including British, Australian, New Zealand, and North American. This skill follows YOLO rule, ‘You Only Listen Once’.

Duration: Audio 30 minutes

                Answer transferring time- 10 minutes.

No. of questions: 40

Question Type: Objective

There are various questions to check your ability to comprehend the main idea of the speaker, which include:

 

  • Multiple choice

  • Matching

  • Plan/map/diagram labeling

  • Form/note/table/flow chart/summary completion

  • Sentence completion

  1. Multiple choice questions: The candidate will be presented with multiple choices to select one or multiple correct answers.

  2. Matching - Your task is to link a list of items mentioned in the listening audio with different options provided on the question paper.

  3. Plan/Map/Diagram Labeling – In this question type, Plan of a building, equipment illustration, Map of a specific site will be given for labeling.

  4. Completing forms, notes, tables, flow charts, and summary completion – The examinee is required to fill forms, tables, notes, flow chart and the gaps in summary in accordance to the recording.

Sentence Completion- Candidates need to complete the sentences or phrases as per the details provided in the audio.

IELTS READING

Types of IELTS

The main types of IELTS are:

IELTS Academic: This test is primarily for individuals who plan to study in an English-speaking country. It assesses a wide range of language skills, including Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking, with an emphasis on academic language and tasks.

IELTS General Training: This test is typically taken by individuals who are planning to migrate to an English-speaking country for work or immigration purposes, or for those who wish to undertake non-academic training programs. It also assesses Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking skills, but with a focus on everyday language and tasks.

IELTS READING SYLLABUS

ACADEMIC

  1. PATTERN – 3 Passages with different topics of student general interest. The texts will come from a variety of sources (e.g. books, journals, newspapers)
  2. NUMBER OF QUESTIONS :-- 40 QUESTIONS
  3. TIME DURATION :- 60 MINUTES

GENERAL

  1. PATTERN: -- It consists five or six texts of varying length with tasks.

Section 1: contains two or three short texts or several shorter texts on everyday topics.

Section 2: contains two short, work-related, factual texts.

Section 3: contains one longer text on a topic of general interest.

The texts will come from a variety of sources (e.g. advertisements, company handbooks, official documents, books, newspapers).

  1. NUMBER OF QUESTIONS—40 QUESTIONS
  2. TIME DURATION—60 MINUTES

TYPES OF QUESTIONS:-

  1. Diagram Label Questions
  2. YES/NO/NOT GIVEN
  3. TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN
  4. Matching Headings & Features
  5. Multiple Choice Questions
  6. Sentence Completion
  7. Summary Completion
  8. Table Completion
  9. LIST OF HEADINGS

10.FILL IN THE BLANKS WITH ONE WORD OR OPTION

SCORE CALCULATION

IELTS Reading scores are calculated by giving one mark to each correct answer. Based on the number of correct answers IELTS Reading band scores are given.  There is no negative marking for not attempting questions or giving a wrong answer on IELTS exam. 

HOW TO ATTEMPT

  1. Skim the passage to get an overview of the main ideas and structure.
  2. Read the questions carefully to identify keywords and understand what information you're looking for.
  3. Underline or highlight key information in the passage to aid in locating answers.
  4. Manage your time effectively by allocating approximately 20 minutes per passage.
  5. Use synonyms and paraphrasing to match the information in the passage to the questions.

Check your answers carefully before submitting the test

IELTS SPEAKING SYLLABUS

IELTS

The duration of the speaking is 11-14 minutes. You get bands out of 9 and the assessment will be done by an examiner. There are four parameters based on which you get your bands in speaking and those are (1) fluency and coherence (2) grammatical range and accuracy (3) lexical resource and (4) pronunciation. The speaking test can happen within one week before or after your other 3 modules.

  1. FLUENCY AND COHERENCE: (a) fluency: the ability to speak naturally and easily without hesitation, fillers, and long pauses. In other words, is your  ability to speak smoothly and without hesitation, while still expressing ideas logically.

(b) COHERENCE: how well your ideas flow together in a logical, organized and connected manner.

2) GRAMMATICAL RANGE AND ACCURACY: Using the correct tenses is especially important when talking about past, present and future. Use proper connectors to connect two sentences or clauses.

3)LEXICAL RESOURCES: Use relevant vocabulary based on your topics. avoid repeating the words as it shows you don’t know synonyms. you need to impress the examiners with your choice of words and make your answers outstanding.

4)PRONUNCIATION: Have a proper dialect. It is a way of saying words so that the examiner can understand them. pronounce the words properly. If you have difficulty saying certain words then think of relevant synonyms for that.

NOW LET’S TALK ABOUT THE STRUCTURE OF THE QUESTIONS.

THERE ARE THREE PARTS IN SPEAKING.

PART1:

The questions are going to be very generalized. you need to keep your answers short and accurately. By this I do not mean give one word answers. Never do that when answering the questions. Form a proper sentence.

PART 2: LONG TURN

The examiner will provide you with a topic with 3-4 pointers based on which you have to speak. You will be given 1 minute to plot your story by writing down the keywords based on the pointers which will help you make a proper story. As soon as the allotted 1 minute is over you will be given another 2 minutes to start narrating. Make sure you include all the pointers given to you. You are welcome to add your own element.

PART 3: FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS OR DISCUSSION

The examiner will question certain follow ups mainly connected to cue-card. Basically he will be asking for your opinions. make sure when you answer those it is in an elaborate way. you have to give your views and if required you can include one example which will help to illustrate your stand more beautifully.

Important Points

  1. Don’t memorize your answers, especially the introduction. The examiner will spot this and will give you fewer marks for answers that look prepared.
  2. Give a little bit more detail. Suppose the examiner asks you about your hobbies. Don’t just say, ‘I like badminton.’ Give more detail.

Why do you like badminton?

Whom do you play with?

How does it make you feel?

They want to assess how well you communicate. So, talk as much as you can but the more you talk to native English speakers the better you get at it.

  1. The one minute preparation time you get is crucial. So, note down bullet points related to that topic. These bullet points will give a nice structure to your talk and will also act as a guide in case you go blank while speaking.
  2. Even if you have a thick accent it doesn’t necessarily work against your favor as long as you maintain a rhythm and your pronunciation is correct for the examiner to understand you.
  3. Vocabulary is one of the parameters the examiner is testing you on. So find the synonyms of the words you use often. For example, suppose you use the word ‘Awesome’ a lot. So learn as many of its synonyms, like Breath-taking, impressive, astonishing because the more words you use, the better your band score will be.

IELTS WRITING

  1. What’s in the IELTS Academic Writing test?
  2. There are two Writing tasks and BOTH must be completed.
  3. In Task 1, you have to describe some visual information in your own words (a line graph, table, bar chart,pie chart or diagram).
  4. In Task 2, you are given a point of view, argument or problem which you need to discuss.
  5. There are four assessment criteria (things which the examiner thinks about when deciding what score to give you):
  • Task achievement/response
  • Coherence and cohesion
  • Lexical resource
  • Grammatical range and accuracy.

Time allowed:

60 minutes

Number of tasks:

2

In Academic Writing Task 1, you may be asked to describe:

  • Bar chart(Chart that compares and contrasts data.Data is divided into columns.)
  • Line graph(A graph that shows the trend over the period of time.)
  • Table(A table containing data that can be complex with many categories.)
  • Pie chart(This shows proportion of a whole divided into different categories.)
  • Diagram (It could be a process of how something works or how it is made.)

A minimum of 150 words is required.

In Academic Writing Task 2

       You are given a topic to write about. Your answer should discuss the most relevant issues.

       You must read the task carefully so that you can write a full answer that is relevant. For  example,if the topic is a                       particular aspect of the wider topic of computers, you should focus on this aspect only in your answer.

You must write a minimum of 250 words.

          General Training Writing – Task 1

In General Training Writing Task 1, you are given a situation and you need to write a response of at least 150 words in the form of a letter.

  • FORMAL
  • SEMI-FORMAL
  • INFORMAL

You should spend no more than 20 minutes on this task. You need to write at least 150 words.

WRITING TASK 2

  • SAME AS ACADEMICS WRITING TASK 2.