Is IELTS deliberately keeping your IELTS results low?
One of the examiners that works for us recently had someone online talking about how IELTS keeps scores low so people have to do the exam again and again. They implied that examiners were all ‘in on it’, marking low so that they/we got paid more money. We thought we would just comment on it. So, where do we start? It’s true that many people end up having to do IELTS more than once. There are many reasons for this like; their English...
How much to write in IELTS Task 2?
An IELTS writing examiner explains why how much you write in IELTS is very important. So, last week, while examining, I had 2 candidates that had written over 500 words. One was obviously a native or near-native speaker who was a highly competent writer. Their Task 2 was like reading a newspaper article. It introduced the debate from the question, looked at different ideas in detail then pulled it all together to make a very interesting conclusion. Excellent writing and it...
The most effective methods for preparing for the IELTS Writing Task 1 and Task 2
We get a lot of questions in our private Facebook group. There are over 30,000 people in it and we answer questions every day. You can join and speak to IELTS examiners anytime; it's free. So, we got this question from one of the members in the group "What are some effective methods for preparing for the IELTS Writing Task 1 and Task 2?" and we left this to one of the IELTS writing examiners that works with us to explain the quickest...
Memorised answers in IELTS speaking
So, we got this question from a member of our private Facebook group (Feel free to join, it's free!) How do IELTS examiners know if I am giving a memorized answer in the Speaking test? The only candidates that use memorised phrases are low-level candidates. So, what generally happens is a lot of what they say is inaccurate, but then they will use a memorised phrase that is 100% accurate that uses language that is way above their level. For example, if a...
Using AI for IELTS
There are now lots of IELTS providers using AI to assess your IELTS writing and speaking. They are cheap, yes, but they are cheap for a very important reason. They aren’t very good. AI is not good enough yet. These IELTS providers are using AI to generate example answers and to check your writing/speaking. This is not helping you. Why? Well, let’s look at an example questions from the speaking exam. A Part 1...