Can I use both American and English pronunciation during the IELTS speaking test?
We asked one of the IELTS speaking examiners that works with us. Yes, of course. English is English. As you may know, there are two ways of saying potato and tomato; the UK way /təˈmɑː·təʊ/ and the US way /təˈmeɪ·t̬oʊ/ (and probably more!). Now, in the exam, if the examiner asks you “Do you eat a lot of fruit and vegetables?” You can answer “Yes, /təˈmɑː·təʊz/ (UK pronunciation) are my favourite (UK spelling!) food. I eat them every day. I couldn’t live without /təˈmeɪ·t̬oʊs/...
What lowers your IELTS speaking mark?
Basically, the speaking test builds up to Part 3. Parts 1 and 2 are relatively easy as you can just talk about yourself. This is much easier to do in a foreign language. However, in Part 3, this is where the examiner doesn’t have to follow a rigid script and can push you to see what you can do in English. This is where you find out whether the candidate is Band 7+ as they are able to support what...
What do IELTS examiners write in the speaking exam?
If you do the IELTS speaking test, you will notice that the examiner will write down some numbers while they talk to you. But what are they writing? Firstly, it is important to not get distracted by this as they have absolutely nothing to do with you. They are not your scores!! IELTS is very strictly timed and examiners get in trouble if their timing is not correct. If a candidate has more time to talk in any part of the...
What is fluency in IELTS speaking and why is it important?
One of the IELTS speaking examiners has shared this with us. Their article is about to be shared in a newspaper in Japan. Here is part of it. In the speaking exam, Fluency and Coherence is one of the criteria and a lot of candidates struggle with the fluency part. Students that get Band 6 can speak at length so, for example, in Part 2, they speak for the whole 2 minutes. However, what they will tend to do is one...
What materials should I use to study for IELTS?
There are some books that IELTS examiners recommend for IELTS students. However, there is also a lot of rubbish out there. Avoid the 1 or 2 dollar kindle books; they are useless and will not help you. In fact, they will probably just give you bad advice. We asked the examiners that work with us what IELTS books they would recommend and this is the list they came up with. https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/upmyielts Here you can find all the books you will need to practice...
What is stopping me getting Band 7+ in IELTS writing or speaking? Part 1
We asked one the IELTS examiners that work with us what they saw as the biggest factor that stopped many candidates getting higher scores in IELTS speaking and writing. She said, overwhelmingly, that accuracy was the biggest problem for a lot of people. Here are her comments. Articles, articles articles (a, an, the). They are really difficult for a lot of English learners, especially those that don't have them in their language but they are really important in IELTS writing. If a...
The 3 main reasons that people struggle with IELTS writing and speaking
Many people come to us at upmyielts.com asking why they can't get a higher score in IELTS writing/speaking. These are both production skills and there are many reasons as everyone's case is slightly different. We asked one of the IELTS examiners that works for us what they thought and this is what they had to say. People think that they better than they are at English. I see a lot of students who have studied English for years and years...
I got 6.5 in IELTS writing and speaking. What should I do?
This is a common question that we often get asked. They get very high scores in listening and reading but lower scores in writing and speaking. This is because you can't self-study for these. So, let's look at what you should and shouldn't do. Well, now you know what you need to work on. Firstly though, you need to know why you got those marks. To find this out, do a full writing test with us; both parts 1 and 2. Our IELTS examiners...