IELTS Articles | IELTS Learning Tips

What vocabulary do I need for IELTS Band 7 and 8?

I saw these sentences the other day from potential IELTS Band 7 students:It is disagreed that increasing the availability of public transport will reduce pollution significantly. Analysing both the views, the essay will delineate the reasons behind why governments ought to contribute more money to the problem of drug dealing. It is also predicted that […]

Getting personal support for your IELTS

I often speak about procrastination – putting things off. When preparing for IELTS and also doing IELTS exercises, it’s important to realise what is important and what is just a distraction, so that you can really focus on what will help you achieve your band in the exam. Making sure you know exactly what to do is […]

How to choose an Online IELTS Course?

They come in all kinds of shapes and sizes and generally you get what you pay for. Free courses – these will generally be more of a ‘taster’. Quite a few teachers offer free help (especially during any lockdown when they are not working) which is good of them but once they return to their jobs […]

How long are you prepared to wait to get your IELTS Band?

A teacher friend of mine told me about a student of his who had just passed her IELTS. She was very happy as you can imagine and can now process her papers to move to Canada. However, although she finally got her score (7), it took her 6 years to get it! Six whole years and […]

5 Reasons why you should get support from a teacher for your IELTS

1.Band 7 and 8 is not easy to achieve. Here are the statistics:Over 3.5 million people take IELTS in a yearThe average test score worldwide is Band 6 Most universities ask for 6.5 or 7Most professional bodies require Band 7.5Most immigration departments ask for 8Therefore a lot of people who want Band 7 and above […]

Brainstorming the Question in IELTS writing

A student asked about how to brainstorm for task 2. I thought I’d say a few words here about this and why you should do it. Brainstorming is just a way of generating ideas. It’s part of your planning. When you get the question the first thing you need to do is look at what you have […]

Thinking in English

At this point in your life you may be totally focused on just passing the IELTS that you will say, “Berni! How can I even think about thinking in English! It is too much!” But I wanted to tell you some of my experiences with learning a foreign language and give you something to aim for. […]

3 Elements of a Task 2 Paragraph

Here are the 3 elements we are discussing today 1. One or two appropriate ideas 2. Some evidence 3. A good example to illustrate Here is an example of a Task 2 question – it is Academic but the principle is exactly the same for General Training. A lot of money is spent nowadays searching for oil around the world. […]

Nurturing your English language and IELTS skills

I’ve just been planting bulbs in the garden with my husband. We do this every year in October and November. Last year we planted a lot, almost 2,000 – daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, iris – so many different varieties. We planned where they would go, we even tried to coordinate the colours, flowering time and their heights […]

Short and Sweet – take a little positive IELTS action each day

I’m talking a lot about practice and the best way to prepare at the moment and I have been speaking to a few IELTS students recently who tell me that they are finding it hard to get motivated. Some of these are students who were previously working maybe 4 or 5 hours on their IELTS […]