IELTS Encyclopedia
You’re wondering what IELTS is all about and that curiosity has led you to surf through the web in search of clarity. Well, take a moment to breathe, for you have landed on the right page. You Encyclopedia to IELTS where you can learn about anything and everything IELTS is right here!
First, let’s get to know what IELTS is.
IELTS stands for International English Language Testing System and it is one of the most popular English language proficiency exams conducted across the globe. Students who aspire to pursue their education abroad or people who plan to migrate globally are mandatorily required to take up the IELTS.
People with different needs will have to take up either the IELTS Academic Test or the IELTS General Test. A score band of 0-9 is used to measure you proficiency skills in the English language where a band score 8 or 8.5 is usually the perfect dream score for most candidates who take up the test.
The IELTS test is broadly categorized into four sections to really put the students to test for better analysis of one’s language skills.
The four sections that make up the test are,
• Listening
• Speaking
• Reading
• Writing
With a notion of giving you an insight into the test, I’m going to take you through the sections one by one with a few sample questions that will help you get a clear picture.
LISTENING
As the name suggests, you will be provided with audio recordings and after listening to them, you will have a series of questions to answer based on what you heard in the recordings. For example, the recordings can be a conversation between two professionals or it can be informative.
You can search online for sample recordings and practice till you get the hang of it.
READING
The reading sections comprises of passages of increasing lengths followed by a series of questions you’ll need to answer based on what you interpret from the passages. The best way to answer the reading questions is to read the full passage, understand the main ideas, the implied meanings and the author’s tone. This will help you answers the questions in a manner.
Take a look below to get an idea of what a reading passage usually looks like,
SAMPLE
All these activities may have damaging environmental impacts. For example, land clearing for agriculture is the largest single cause of deforestation; chemical fertilisers and pesticides may contaminate water supplies; more intensive farming and the abandonment of fallow periods tend to exacerbate soil erosion; and the spread of monoculture and use of highyielding varieties of crops have been accompanied by the disappearance of old varieties of food plants which might have provided some insurance against pests or diseases in future. Soil erosion threatens the productivity of land in both rich and poor countries. The United States, where the most careful measurements have been done, discovered in 1982 that about one-fifth of its farmland was losing topsoil at a rate likely to diminish the soil’s productivity. The country subsequently embarked upon a program to convert 11 per cent of its cropped land to meadow or forest.
Topsoil in India and China is vanishing much faster than in America. Government policies have frequently compounded the environmental damage that farming can cause. In the rich countries, subsidies for growing crops and price supports for farm output drive up the price of land. The annual value of these subsidies is immense: about $250 billion, or more than all World Bank lending in the 1980s. To increase the output of crops per acre, a farmer’s easiest option is to use more of the most readily available inputs: fertilisers and pesticides. Fertiliser use doubled in Denmark in the period 1960-1985 and increased in The Netherlands by 150 per cent. The quantity of pesticides applied has risen too: by 69 per cent in 1975-1984 in Denmark, for example, with a rise of 115 per cent in the frequency of application in the three years from 1981. In the late 1980s and early 1990s some efforts were made to reduce farm subsidies.
The most dramatic example was that of New Zealand, which scrapped most farm support in 1984. A study of the environmental effects, conducted in 1993, found that the end of fertiliser subsidies had been followed by a fall in fertiliser use (a fall compounded by the decline in world commodity prices, which cut farm incomes). The removal of subsidies also stopped land-clearing and over-stocking, which in the past had been the principal causes of erosion. Farms began to diversify. The one kind of subsidy whose removal appeared to have been bad for the environment was the subsidy to manage soil erosion.
SPEAKING
The Speaking section takes place for about 10 – 15 minutes where a trained examiner will assess your speaking skills.
In the first few minutes, the examiner will ask general questions, mostly conversation starters.
For eg,
1. Good Morning, Could I have your name?
2. Where are you from?
3. What do you do?
Here a few common topics from which you can expect questions from,
• Education
• Work
• Friends (Which do you think is more important, Friends or Family? Why?)
• Hobbies
• Weather
• Travelling (How often do you travel?)
• Music
• Books
WRITING
The time duration for completing the writing tasks is 60 minutes and you will be given two tasks of 150 words and 250 words respectively. The writing tasks vary slightly depending upon the type of IELTS you take up, Academic or General.
Here are some sample tasks to get you worked up.
Academic Writing Task 1
The charts summarise the weight measurements of people living in Charlestown in 1955 and 2015.
Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.
General Writing Task 1
You live in a room in college which you share with another student. However, there are many problems with this arrangement and you find it very difficult to work. Write a letter to the accommodation officer at the college.
In the letter,
- describe the situation
- explain your problems and why it is difficult to work
- say what kind of accommodation you would prefer
Writing Task 2
Film stars and music celebrities may earn a great deal of money and live in luxurious surroundings, but many of them lead unhappy lives. Do you agree?
To what extent is the price they pay for being famous?
Practice these sample questions and more and get that perfect IELTS score everyone is talking about!