1. Recent figures show an increase in violent crime among youngsters
under the age of eighteen. Some psychologists
claim that the basic
reason for this is that children these days are not getting the social
and emotional input they need from parents and teachers. To what
extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?
2. Education is sometimes considered to be something for youths only.
Some people, however, consider education to be a lifelong task.
What is your opinion? Give reasons
and support your ideas with
specific examples.
3. In some countries, young people have little leisure time and are under
a lot of pressure to work hard in their studies. What do you think are
the causes of this? What solutions can you suggest?
8
HOW TO ACHIEVE A BETTER IELTS
OVERALL BAND SCORE
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Often I call the following points “secrets,” because very few people
know about them, or if they know, they don’t pay sufficient attention
to them. As will be seen, most of the
points are nothing more than
simple common sense and should be seen as hints on how a candidate
can achieve the maximum band score with the skills and knowledge
that he or she has procured during his or her preparations.
1.2 Some of these points can be found on the official IELTS websites,
but some points will not be discussed by any IELTS official and/or
examiner as they are considered to be “inside information.”
1.3 The owners of IELTS are very proud of their high standards and
reputation. This is the only way to ensure a high level of credibility in
the academic world.
1.4 There are many myths on the internet about the IELTS exam. These
myths usually originate from people
who are not native English
speakers. Some of these myths are pure nonsense. For example:
a. The test is easier in some locations. This is not true. The tests
and scoring are exactly the same all over the world.
b. The examiner who does the Speaking test is the same person
who will check my Writing test, so I cannot repeat something
in Writing and Speaking. This is possible but highly unlikely.
c. The Speaking test is recorded because the examiner who is
doing the Speaking test is not
the one who will give me my
score. This is false. The test is recorded in case you dispute
the score that you received. In that case, the recording will be
played back to one or more alternative examiners, and then a
decision will be made by them together.
d. Speaking and Writing topics can be predicted. This is false.
Lazy students like to believe this. Unlike some other testing
systems, there are no shortcuts when doing the IELTS exam.