IELTS Expert: May 2020

Friday, May 22, 2020

The Top 8 English Pronunciation Problems for Asian Speakers

There are some sounds in English that are more difficult for Asian Speakers to pronounce properly. Here are some typical pronunciation errors Asian Speakers tend to make.

1. Confusing consonants ‘l’ & ‘r’

Sometimes native Asian speakers say ‘r’ instead of ‘l’.

Check: do you say ‘comprete’ instead of ‘complete’?
Listen to the correct pronunciation here.

2. Pronouncing consonants ‘f’ and ‘v’ incorrectly

Sometimes Asian speakers say ‘p’ instead of ‘f’, such as ‘preper’ instead of ‘prefer’.
Listen to the correct pronunciation here.

Another common issue is using ‘b’ instead of ‘v’, for instance saying ‘bideo’ instead of ‘video’.
Listen to the correct pronunciation here.

3. Pronouncing the consonant ‘th’ incorrectly

Sometimes speakers of Asians might say ‘sink’ instead of ‘think’, or ‘sick’ instead of ‘thick’. That changes the meaning of the word entirely and the listener would struggle to understand them.

Listen to the correct pronunciation here.

4. Vowel /oʊ/ like in ‘note’

If you pronounce ‘note’ more like ‘not’, that’s incorrect – it needs to be pronounced like ‘nowt’.
Listen to the correct pronunciation here.

The word ‘most’ has the same sound /oʊ/.
Listen to the correct pronunciation here.

5. Vowel ‘er’ /ɜː/ like in ‘hurt’

If your ‘hurt’ sounds more like ‘heart’, and ‘firm’ more like ‘farm’, that is incorrect.
Listen here to both incorrect and correct pronunciation, and fix your own, if you need to (scroll down to the blue box to listen).

6. Vowel /æ/ like in ‘hat’

If you say ‘hat’ but it sounds like ‘hut’, or ‘back’ sounds like ‘buck’, that is another problem.
Go here to listen to the correct and incorrect pronunciation, and you will see the difference (scroll down to the blue box to listen).

7. Word stress

Each multi-syllable word in English has one stressed syllable. In the word ‘rePORT’ the stress is on ‘PORT’, so you should say it in higher pitch and put more emphasis on it. When you don’t, it makes your word stress and rhythm flatter than a native speaker’s.

8. Weak vowels

Asian speakers pronounce every vowel in English the same way – but some vowels should be pronounced differently. A good example of a weak vowel is ‘o’ in ‘today’ – it should be pronounced more like ‘uh’ rather than ‘o’. Listen to the correct pronunciation here.

Thanks.

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Tuesday, May 19, 2020

Know About IELTS Speaking

IELTS Speaking

IELTS Speaking is the last part of the IELTS examination. The test involves having a conversation of around 15 minutes with the examiner.

Part 1is a conversation that will be based on a common theme like your childhood, school, family, friends, and so on. You must talk confidently and frame your sentences the right way while speaking.

In Part 2, the examiner will give you a cue card or a task card-based on which you’ll be asked to talk about. You will be given 1 minute to prepare for the answer.

In Part 3, the examiner will ask you in-depth questions related to the topics are given in part 2 of the IELTS examination. The speaking test will be the same for the Academic and General training section.

Test Format for IELTS Speaking

This test duration will be around 12-14 minutes and the entire test will be recorded.

Speaking Test Part 1 – Introduction and Interview:

This test lasts for 4-5 minutes and it'll start with you having to introduce yourself

after which the examiner will introduce himself/herself to you, so you both know

each other’s identity. The examiner will then question you on some familiar basic

topics like school, family, friends, pet, favorite place, and so on.

This is to check your ability to communicate the ideas and information on

everyday topics.

Speaking Test Part 2 – Long Turn

In this part, the examiner will give you a cue card in which a topic will be mentioned.

You’ll then be given 1 minute to practice for the answer and also be provided with

a pencil and paper to note down the important points. After the 1 minute of preparation time,

you’ll be expected to speak for 2-3 minutes on the topic after which the examiner will ask

questions based on the topic.

This part tests your ability to speak about a given topic by using proper language and putting

forward the ideas coherently.

Speaking Test Part 3 – Discussion

In the last part, you’ll have to discuss with the examiner, the issues related to the topic

given in Part 2 of the IELTS Speaking test in a more general and appropriate way

as well as going in-depth on the topic. This part takes 4-5 minutes to complete.

This is to assess your ability to justify opinions and to analyze and discuss the issues.

Thank you.

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3 IELTS Tricks

3 IELTS Tricks to Instantly Improve Your Listening, Reading and Overall Exam Performance

Hi, guys today I'm writing about some special tips.

If you need some help with IELTS Listening, Reading or you’re looking for a way to improve your IELTS score, this post is for you.

Quite often on IELTS-Expert, this advice from successful test-takers, and many of them mention podcasts as a useful tool to improve their Listening skills.

So here is an opportunity for you to work on Listening and learn new IELTS tricks at the same time.

Your homework for today is to listen to this IELTS podcast episode.

Here recorded it with Lindsay McMahon from IELTS Energy – she and Jessica Beck are hosting this very popular IELTS podcast, and it’s available on iTunes (Episode 73) and on their blog as well.

You can listen on your smartphone, tablet or computer, it only takes about 15 minutes, and you will learn

1. How to use the IELTS structure to your advantage
2. How to do things in the right order to save time
3. How to turn your weaknesses into your strengths (this is especially important for people doing self-study)

Happy listening!

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Monday, May 18, 2020

IELTS Reading 9 free resources

The IELTS Reading test: 9 Free resources to help you get a better score

What do you do to get a higher score in the IELTS Reading Test? Increase your speed by reading more texts, that’s right. But not just any texts – there is a certain kind of reading passages you will find in the IELTS test more often.

Many of you were asking me: “What should I read?” and here’s the answer: reading passages in the past IELTS tests came from the following sources:

1. The Economist – a weekly newspaper focusing on international politics and business news and opinions.

2. The Economist Technology quarterly

3. New Scientist – a weekly science and technology news magazine, considered by some to be the world’s best, with the diverse subject matter.

4. American Scientist – an illustrated bimonthly magazine of science and technology.

5. The Geographical Journal – publishers of original research and scholarship in physical and human geography.

6. Interscience – online editions of scientific, technical, medical and professional journals

IELTS Reading Solution

7. Australian geographic – an entertaining and fact-filled reference for anyone who loves and is fascinated by Australia and all things Australian.

8. The British museum – online publications.
9. Illustrated London News – a pictorial example of a historic social record of British and world events up to the present day.
In all of these websites, there are articles you can read online (no need to subscribe, they are free). This way you will get familiar with the style and level of articles you are likely to see in a real IELTS exam. Practice in reading using these resources and you will kill two birds with one stone, improve your reading speed, and expand your vocabulary. Those of you taking the IELTS test to study in England will find this page interesting.
And now it’s your turn – do you know of other free sources of IELTS-like reading passages? Please, share!

Sunday, May 17, 2020

6 Easy Ways to Improve Your IELTS Listening Score

Achieving a fundamental improvement in Listening takes time, work, and patience, there’s no doubt about that. But I find that people often overlook some quick steps they can take to significantly raise their IELTS score. And for some test-takers, that increase in score is all they need! So, by all means, work on your Listening skills, but do these steps first and see your score go up:

1. Watch your spelling!

Even if you heard the correct answer but misspelled it, you won’t get a mark for that answer. The easiest marks you can ever get in Listening is by watching your spelling. A ‘Commonly misspelled words’ list can help you learn the words you are most likely to misspell.

2. Learn to write while listening

Writing while listening is a skill that needs developing. If you have trouble with it, writing your answers at the same time as listening to the recording will feel a lot harder. Find out early whether or not you can write while listening, and develop/improve that ability by listening to any kind of lecture or talk, and making notes at the same time.

3. Read questions and try to predict answers

When you are given time at the beginning of every Listening section, go over the questions in that section, but don’t just read them – try to predict what kind of answer they require. It makes a big difference to your listening when you know you are listening for a date, or time, or a dish on the menu and so on.

4. Develop unbreakable concentration

From the moment the Listening recording starts playing, don’t let your mind wander. A single thought that takes you away from the recording can cost you an answer. All your attention should be on the recording, and you need to actively shut down any other thoughts. This takes practice, but you can easily do that at home – just put on a Listening test recording and practice ignoring any distractions for the next 25-30 minutes. You’d be surprised how good you can become at blocking things out!

5. Avoid getting stuck on a missed answer

If you followed suggestion #3 and predicted what kind of answer you’re listening for, you can recognize when the topic of conversation switches to another subject and realize you missed that answer. At that point in time, you need to move on, read the next question, predict the answer type, and start listening for it, to avoid a chain reaction causing you to lose multiple answers. Your worst-case scenario here can be losing all the answers from the first one you missed and to the end of that section. But your best case scenario can be losing just ONE answer, quickly recovering and saving the situation.

6. Get familiar with accents commonly used in IELTS

IELTS Listening test recordings feature different accents: they use British, Canadian, American, Australian, New Zealand speakers, etc. You can’t afford to be in a situation where you are hearing one of these accents for the first time in your life during an actual IELTS exam, because the pronunciation of some words really differs from one accent to the other.

Types Of IELTS

As you know, there are 2 types of IELTS Tests: Academic and General Training.

The Academic IELTS is usually taken by future students and General Training - by immigrants. Listening and Speaking sections are the same for both Academic and General, while the Reading and Writing sections are different.

This is why there are 2 study books:

'IELTS Cambridge Test Book' is for the Academic IELTS, and

'Idea for IELTS Easy topic E-Book' is for the General Training IELTS.

If you are preparing to take the Academic IELTS, download this book
Click Here

IELTS ?

What is The IELTS exam?

IELTS stands for International English Language Testing System. It is an exam intended for non-native English speakers. Its purpose is to find out what your level of English is (your result is a band score from 0 to 9). Usually, you need to take the IELTS test if you are applying for a job or to study in a college or university in an English-speaking country or if you are migrating to such a country. There are 2 modules of the IELTS test – Academic and General. The Academic Module is for future students and the General Module is for immigrants.

The IELTS Routine

The IELTS test consists of four parts in the following order

Listening test

Reading test

Writing test

Speaking test

The Listening test takes about 40 minutes – 30 minutes to listen to a tape and to answer questions on what you hear, and 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the Answer Sheet.

The Reading test takes 1 hour and your task is to read passages of text and answer questions according to what you have read. There are also other types of assignments that I will cover later on in other posts on this Blog.

The Writing test also takes 1 hour and is divided into 2 sub-parts: you are given 20 minutes to write a letter/report and 40 minutes to write an essay.

The Speaking test takes up to 15 minutes and consists of 3 parts: a Personal Interview, a Cue Card talk, and a Discussion.

All the parts continue one after another, and only before the Speaking test, you get a break. Sometimes the Speaking test is even held on a different day.

The IELTS test formalities

When it becomes clear to you that you need to take the IELTS test, you’ll have to go through some formalities – which are:

1. Call your local IELTS test center and find out the dates when you can take an IELTS exam and how much it costs. Note: the dates could be different for the Academic and General IELTS exams.

2. Download and print the application form, fill your details, enclose your photos, a copy of identification, and, of course, the money and send it to your local IELTS center.

3. Make sure they received it and allocated a seat for you on the date you have chosen.

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Welcome to IELTS Expert

About IELTS Expert

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First off, welcome to IELTS Expert. No matter what country you are from, no matter what language you speak, here is an undeniable fact – IELTS Expert will help you prepare for the IELTS exam, support you and guide you in a way no other Blog will.

This is a place where you can find all the help you need to prepare for the IELTS test by yourself. Self-preparation doesn’t mean you have to do it alone – through this website you have access to the best-working techniques and knowledge, and to a live, friendly, around the clock, 7 days a week support.

Originally created by Shah Waliullah in 2020, in time IELTS Expert became a large resource, filled with information about the recent IELTS exams, tips, and advice provided by multiple contributors from all over the world, and numerous links to other helpful IELTS resources.

From Shah Waliullah

Dear IELTS test taker,

I am glad that you made it here. This will help you prepare for the IELTS test by yourself. Yes, you can actually do it, and I am living proof of that.

This blog is something I desperately needed while studying for my IELTS exam. I hope that it will make your life a lot easier by supplying you with tips, links, and advice, all put together in one place. You will learn here about the problems I had, preparing for the IELTS exam, and perhaps that will keep you from repeating my mistakes.

English is not my first language. When I started to search for information online, it took me a very long time until I managed to find, compare, and test on myself different techniques and tips. I made every mistake I could make because I just couldn’t find any friendly help on my level.

To tell you the truth, many other IELTS blog looked a bit scary and full of words I only partially understood. The problem with all the books and courses I tried was, that they were written by native English speakers – that’s why they have no idea what difficulties have a person who wasn’t born into English. This was the reason why I started this blog.

In fact, I re-live them through every student who turns to me, seeking help, and I use the knowledge I gathered and techniques I developed to prepare those students for the IELTS exam.

I invite you to come and study with us. The whole idea of IELTS Expert is to remind you that you’re not alone, to share knowledge and experience, and to help one another improve our English.

Feel free to leave comments on articles, ask questions– this is what IELTS Expert is here for!

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