IELTS Writing: 9 tips for a Band 9 essay

Here's the latest round-up of all my IELTS Daily Tips blog that you can find on my website. In this blog we go through and revise: Have or get something done How to pronounce 'ative' How to pronounce 'able' Thinking critically Research vs researchers Economic vs economical deteriorate vs get worse instill vs install funnest vs the most fun Get all the tips on my website homepage ("What's New") https://ieltsetc.com

5 Marras 202128min

I'm trying out a new way of sharing my tips and advice for IELTS. If you go to the 'What's new' tab on my website, you'll find a daily tip: https://app.getbeamer.com/ieltswithfiona/en You can leave a comment there and ask questions if you need help or if you have any requests. In this podcast I cover the last 7 days of tips: Should I appeal my IELTS score? https://app.getbeamer.com/ieltswithfiona/en/daily-tip-should-i-appeal-my-ielts-score Third Conditional and 'be able to' https://app.getbeamer.com/ieltswithfiona/en/daily-tip-can-vs-be-able-to 'Just shy of' Academic Task 1 https://app.getbeamer.com/ieltswithfiona/en/daily-tip-just-shy-of An elderly person you admire https://app.getbeamer.com/ieltswithfiona/en/daily-tip-no-crying- Bring back the big cats https://app.getbeamer.com/ieltswithfiona/en/daily-tip-maymight-have-been Polite requests https://app.getbeamer.com/ieltswithfiona/en/daily-tip-asking-for-help-polite-requests Phrasal verbs with 'with' (accompany = go with) https://app.getbeamer.com/ieltswithfiona/en/daily-tip-accompany

17 Loka 202128min

Have you ever been ripped off, conned, scammed, tricked, duped or just misled when buying an online IELTS course? In this blog and podcast, I've outlined the 10 'red flags' that you need to know about before you decide which course provider to go with. Here are are some common tactics that you may not even notice, and they range from being simply 'misleading' to illegal. For more information and examples that I've collected over 5 years, head to my blog, where you might like to leave a comment. https://ieltsetc.com/2021/09/read-this-before-you-buy-an-online-ielts-course/ The 10 sales tactics that might trick you into panic-buying an online course. 1. "The course is full" (but suddenly a place became available - buy it quickly before it goes!) 2. "Only 2 spots left!" (in an email to thousands of people, 2 weeks before the course starts) 3. "Totaly value $1999 - buy today for $9.99" (Meaning: it is only worth $9.99) 4. "Normal price $99 - today only $79" (Permanent discount - illegal in some countries) 5. "The world's most successful course" (Says who?) 6. "Lifetime access" (so you can buy it and forget about it) 7. "Unlimited Speaking and Writing" (you mean 24/7? Just write and speak all day?) 8. Affiliate Marketing 9. Testimonials 10. Other red flags - bad spelling and grammar, plagiarism from other sites, stolen watermarked images, Click Funnels. If someone emails you to tell you that they could charge hundreds of dollars for their time, but they want to help you for free, there are red flags all over the place. Walk away. Find someone that you know, like and TRUST. Big tutoring companies can afford to lose you because there are plenty more people who will fall for false advertising. Maybe it's time to consider the smaller business who focus their time on developing quality courses rather than scamming their students. End of rant.

20 Syys 202148min

The Members Academy Reading Bootcamp started today (you can still join - it's just $28 and includes 28 days of both live and recorded lessons). This week's focus is on True False Not Given questions, so here's a taster of today's lesson. This is an Academic Passage 1 about a sculptor called Henry Moore. I try to get my students to make educated guesses about TFNG questions by the way they're written, and this text is a perfect example of how you can follow a hunch to get the right answer pretty quickly and save time. For example NOT GIVEN: turn the statement into a question. If you can’t answer it, it’s NOT GIVEN. NO: there is usually an opposite word (antonym) e.g. similar – different; first – last YES: the answer is usually a synonym or paraphrase e.g complied = did what his father wanted him to do There is a balance in the number of True, False, Not Given (fewer NG). Don’t OVER-THINK the answer. e.g. Q7 doesn’t exactly say ‘more popular’ but it means the same thing. I also teach my students to quickly divide the text according to the questions, so that they don't waste any time looking in the wrong place. This text is another perfect example of that. The Bootcamp will run until the end of September, so if you're struggling to get your Reading Score up, come and join us. https://members.ieltsetc.com/register/ielts-reading-skills-course/

6 Syys 202116min

This is an Academic Passage 3 Part 3 (Book 16), so it's tough. In this lesson we'll look at how the language that you learn for Task 2 will help you understand the Reading, and how Reading academic texts like this will help you improve your Writing. Some of the points I mention include: - Word formation https://ieltsetc.com/2020/06/word-formation/ - The 'marc' system for pie charts (Makes up, accounts for, represents, consists of) https://youtu.be/bsBKQPpVs5g - Willing to vs want https://ieltsetc.com/2021/02/willing/ - Hedging https://ieltsetc.com/2020/12/hedging-in-academic-writing/ - Biased, subjective (Task 2 problems) https://ieltsetc.com/2021/05/ielts-writing-feedback-40-words/ - How to talk about cause and effect https://ieltsetc.com/2018/07/free-public-transport/ - The Language of effect https://youtu.be/Eo8y8ygcgcI

22 Elo 202144min

Are you using the right idiom in the right place with the right person and the right pronunciation? To use an idiom correctly there are so many factors that you have to take into account, for example who uses this idiom (age, gender, profession, location)? when do they use this idiom? (context) why do they choose to use this idiom (humour, anger, sarcasm, style)? how often do people use this idiom (once in a blue moon?) In my latest blog, I talk about 3 key factors to help you use idioms correctly: 1. Accuracy 2. Appropriacy 3. Pronunciation Find out more on my blog. https://ieltsetc.com/2021/08/how-to-use-idioms-in-ielts/

13 Elo 202125min

This episode is a Part 4 Listening about an ancient philosophy called Stoicism (don't worry if you've never heard of it - the Listening will explain everything). It's a gapfill summary (one word only) and we also discuss: DESPITE (+ noun or + ing verb or + the fact that) US and UK spellings (do they matter in IELTS?) how my 2-minute Pronunciation feedback can fix a common problem related to your first language (in this case, Spanish). Review the grammar of 'despite' and 'in spite of' on my blog. https://ieltsetc.com/2020/12/despite/

19 Heinä 202122min

This passage 2 Academic IELTS Reading is a problem-solution structure. The problem: air-conditioning units generate 'spectacular and largely unnecessary energy use and carbon emissions'. The solution: use natural ventilation, as they did in 19th-century hospitals. This IELTS Reading is packed full of useful vocab like 'to squander energy' (= to waste) and 'it uses a FRACTION of the electricity/at a FRACTION of the energy cost' (=a small or tiny part, amount, or proportion of something). There were also some interesting uses of nouns as adjectives (wards in hospitals = hospital wards) - see my blog about this useful IELTS topic here: https://ieltsetc.com/2021/06/nouns-as-adjectives/ and adjectives as nouns ('the prosperous' = the people who are prosperous and 'the public'). Get all my reading tips and advice on my website: https://ieltsetc.com/ielts-reading/

4 Heinä 202126min