If you're preparing ideas for a question or topic area for part 2 of the speaking test, I recommend starting with one or two key words or ideas. In my video lessons I call these key ideas "themes".

When you have a theme, you can then search for good vocabulary related to that theme. Here are two resources that will help you:

1. A thesaurus will give you synonyms and similar words. I use the thesaurus on my computer, but you'll easily find one online if your computer doesn't have a built-in dictionary.
2. The Oxford Collocation Dictionary will show you words that are often used together with your chosen word; so you'll be be able to use your words correctly in longer phrases.

Let's use the 'proud' topic in this lesson as an example.

First, I'll choose two "theme" words: proud and achievement.

From my thesaurus, here are some other words to describe being 'proud':

- pleased
- glad
- delighted
- overjoyed
- thrilled

And from the collocation dictionary, some phrases with the word 'achievement':

- a great / major / outstanding / remarkable / tremendous achievement
- my proudest achievement
- a feeling of achievement
- a sense of achievement

This is just the beginning of my 'theme preparation', but I'm already starting to gather some nice vocabulary for my description. In next Friday's lesson, I'll show you how I include these ideas in a full answer.

I received a message from a student who said that she had been surprised to see a diagram question in writing task 1. She had done lots of preparation for graphs and charts, but was unprepared for diagram questions.

So, make sure you have prepared for all of the following question types:

1. Line graph
2. Bar chart
3. Pie chart
4. Table
5. Comparison diagram (a diagram or map that compares things)
6. Process diagram (a diagram or map that shows steps in a process)

If you look through the lessons on this blog, you'll find advice and examples for all six question types. I've also covered each one in detail on my video course.

I have just published a video about informal letters at the bottom of this website. If you've been waiting for this lesson, I'm really sorry about the delay. Thanks for your patience!

Read the full essay that my students and I wrote for the 'festivals' question below. Can you highlight the features that help this essay to get a band 9?

Most people have forgotten the meaning behind traditional or religious festivals; during festival periods, people nowadays only want to enjoy themselves. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?

Some people argue that we no longer remember the original meaning of festivals, and that most of us treat them as opportunities to have fun. While I agree that enjoyment seems to be the priority during festival times, I do not agree that people have forgotten what these festivals mean.

On the one hand, religious and traditional festivals have certainly become times for celebration. In the UK, Christmas is a good example of a festival period when people are most concerned with shopping, giving and receiving presents, decorating their homes and enjoying traditional meals with their families. Most people look forward to Christmas as a holiday period, rather than a time to practise religion. Similar behaviour can be seen during non-religious festivals, such as Bonfire Night. People associate this occasion with making fires, watching firework displays, and perhaps going to large events in local parks; in other words, enjoyment is people’s primary goal.

However, I disagree with the idea that the underlying meaning of such festivals has been forgotten. In UK primary schools, children learn in detail about the religious reasons for celebrating Christmas, Easter and a variety of festivals in other religions. For example, in late December, children sing Christmas songs which have a religious content, and they may even perform nativity plays telling the story of Jesus’ birth. Families also play a role in passing knowledge of religious festivals’ deeper significance on to the next generation. The same is true for festivals that have a historical background, such as Bonfire Night or Halloween, in the sense that people generally learn the stories behind these occasions at an early age.

In conclusion, although people mainly want to enjoy themselves during festivals, I believe that they are still aware of the reasons for these celebrations.

(296 words, band 9)

I haven't used a video from the website  for a while, so here's an interesting one that I watched recently.

It's a good idea to note down any good vocabulary that you hear when watching online videos. For example, here are a few phrases from the video above:

- high-rise buildings
- urban life
- major cities
- achieve quality of life
- we came up with (= we invented / proposed)
- is under construction (= is being constructed)
- the public realm (= public areas / spaces)
- we are yet to understand (= we don’t understand yet)

Psychology, children's development, family and education are common topics in the IELTS reading test. A good place to read articles about these topics is the "Psychology Today" website.

For example, click here to read a recent article about the benefits of exercise for children. It's good reading practice, and you'll find some great vocabulary that you could use in the writing and speaking tests.

Later today I'll publish a video lesson about writing informal letters. Here's the question that you'll see me answer in the lesson.

Update: I'm really sorry that I still haven't published this video lesson. I should have time to finally finish it on Wednesday 7th December.

IELTS candidates often use good collocations or phrases, but they get them slightly wrong. This is what happened in the sentences in yesterday's lesson:

1) Use "be + achievement". You can't use "win + achievement"
Example: It was a great achievement. Don't say: I won a great achievement.

2) "my hard work (had) paid off"
Example: I was proud that all of my hard work had paid off.
The mistake in yesterday's lesson was to make this passive (had been paid off).

3) "I'll never forget" and "I never forget" have different meanings
- I'll never forget the day when I passed the exam. (a memorable event)
- I never forget my mother's birthday. (you remember every year)

4) "lose interest in something". Never write the plural "interests"
Example: I lost interest in the course.

5) With the word "difficulty / difficulties" you can use these verbs:
have, face, experience, encounter, run into, get into
You can't say "difficulties concurred".

6) "due to" is followed by a noun, not a subject + verb
Example: due to the fact that I had never...
Don't say: due to I had never...

PS. One of my colleagues has a Facebook page dedicated to 'correct the mistakes' exercises. You can find it here.

Here are some sentences that people wrote in the 'comments' area below last week's speaking lesson. Can you improve them by correcting mistakes or making other changes?

1. That day is very special to me as I had won a great achievement.
2. I was proud that my hard work had been paid off well.
3. When I know that I got pass with distinction I never forget that day.
4. I had a short attention spand and lost interests in things quite easily.
5. I made the dream come true after concurred several difficulties.
6. I looked for an English teacher who would help me to correct my autobiography due to I never write it in English before.

Here are some good words and phrases that I used in last week's answer:

• The line graph compares..... in terms of.....
• waste output / waste produced / amount of waste / waste material / waste production
• there were significant changes in
• company A produced....., while companies B and C produced..... and..... respectively
• the respective amounts of waste from companies A and B
• around / approximately / roughly
• saw + noun + noun: saw an increase in waste production
• saw + noun + verb: saw waste output fall
• past perfect after "by": By 2015..... had risen / had dropped
• cut waste production
• reduced its waste production
• over the following 5 years
• over the same 10-year period

My students and I decided to write a balanced answer to the question below.

Most people have forgotten the meaning behind traditional or religious festivals; during festival periods, people nowadays only want to enjoy themselves. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?

Here's our balanced answer essay 'skeleton':

Introduction
Some people argue that we no longer remember the original meaning of festivals, and that most of us treat them as opportunities to have fun. While I agree that enjoyment seems to be the priority during festival times, I do not agree that people have forgotten what these festivals mean.

Paragraph 2 topic sentence
On the one hand, religious and traditional festivals have certainly become times for celebration.

Paragraph 3 topic sentence
However, I disagree with the idea that the meaning behind such festivals has been forgotten.

Conclusion
In conclusion, although people mainly want to enjoy themselves during festivals, I believe that they are still aware of the reasons for these celebrations.

One reason why multiple choice questions are difficult is that you probably won't hear the exact words that are given in the answer choices. Instead, you'll hear similar words that have the same meaning (synonyms or paraphrasing).

For example, here are the 'keywords' for the multiple choice questions in section 3 of test 3 in Cambridge IELTS book 10:

Try the following exercise from Cambridge IELTS book 10 (test 2, passage 2). My students found the two questions quite difficult.

Part of the passage about 'gifted children':

A very close positive relationship was found when children’s IQ scores were compared with their home educational provision (Freeman, 2010). The higher the children’s IQ scores, especially over IQ 130, the better the quality of their educational backup, measured in terms of reported verbal interactions with parents, number of books and activities in their home etc.

To be at their most effective in their self-regulation, all children can be helped to identify their own ways of learning - metacognition - which will include strategies of planning, monitoring, evaluation, and choice of what to learn. Emotional awareness is also part of metacognition, so children should be helped to be aware of their feelings around the area to be learned, feelings of curiosity or confidence, for example.

Fill the gaps below with no more than TWO words from the passage.

1. One study found a strong connection between children’s IQ and the availability of ………. and ………. at home.
2. Metacognition involves children understanding their own learning strategies, as well as developing ………. .

I've just published my second video lesson for General Writing task 1. You can find it at the bottom of this website.

In the lesson, I write a formal letter at band 9 level, and I talk about the use of "less common" vocabulary, as well as the use of some typical phrases to begin and end formal letters. I'm afraid this lesson isn't a free one.

Tomorrow I'll share a video lesson about formal letters for General Writing Task 1. If you're doing the General test, think about the question below.

Would you write a formal or informal letter to the following people?

1. a hotel manager
2. your boss
3. the local council
4. your child's teacher
5. a friend
6. a work colleague
7. a neighbour

Here's another interesting part 2 task:

Describe something you did that made you feel proud of yourself.
You should say

- what you did
- when you did it
- why you felt proud of what you had done
- and explain how you felt when this happened.

Easy topics to choose could be: an academic achievement, a new job or achievement at work, doing well in a competition, an achievement related to a hobby, an act of kindness etc.

Before practising a full answer, you could prepare some good vocabulary on the theme of 'achievement' or 'feeling proud'. Try searching for other words and phrases related to these two ideas.

The graph below shows the amounts of waste produced by three companies over a period of 15 years.

The line graph compares three companies in terms of their waste output between the years 2000 and 2015.

It is clear that there were significant changes in the amounts of waste produced by all three companies shown on the graph. While companies A and B saw waste output fall over the 15-year period, the amount of waste produced by company C increased considerably.

In 2000, company A produced 12 tonnes of waste, while companies B and C produced around 8 tonnes and 4 tonnes of waste material respectively. Over the following 5 years, the waste output of companies B and C rose by around 2 tonnes, but the figure for company A fell by approximately 1 tonne.

From 2005 to 2015, company A cut waste production by roughly 3 tonnes, and company B reduced its waste by around 7 tonnes. By contrast, company C saw an increase in waste production of approximately 4 tonnes over the same 10-year period. By 2015, company C’s waste output had risen to 10 tonnes, while the respective amounts of waste from companies A and B had dropped to 8 tonnes and only 3 tonnes.

(192 words, band 9)

The best way to answer the question below depends on your own personal experience of traditional and religious festivals in your country.

Most people have forgotten the meaning behind traditional or religious festivals; during festival periods, people nowadays only want to enjoy themselves. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this opinion?

Last week I recommended that we should start by thinking of some examples before we decide how to answer this question. I'm English, so the easiest examples for me are: Christmas and Easter (religious festivals), Halloween and Bonfire Night (traditional festivals). Now let's look at two possible ways that I could answer.

Completely agree

1. Introduction: completely agree
2. Paragraph about religious festivals
3. Paragraph about traditional festivals
4. Conclusion

Partly agree

1. Introduction: partly agree - people mainly want to enjoy themselves, but we do still remember the meaning behind festivals
2. Paragraph about people enjoying festivals
3. Paragraph about remembering the meaning
4. Conclusion

Both approaches are equally good, but which one would you find easiest?

Here's the full transcript of the recording in last week's lesson:

For centuries people have been able to improve their lifespans through dietary changes, public health policies and other factors. However, a recent study from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine has found that the limits of human longevity may have already been reached. In fact, researchers believe the maximum lifespan likely peaked decades ago, around 1995.

According to a news release issued by the school, the team used two different data sets, the ‘Human Mortality Database’ and the ‘International Database on Longevity’, as the basis for the study. Based on their calculations, they concluded that humans can typically live a maximum of 115 years, but the absolute upper limit is likely 125 years.

And while they acknowledge that medical breakthroughs could increase the average life expectancy, researchers believe the maximum will likely remain unchanged. As such, they suggest that efforts should focus on improving the health and quality of life, instead of trying to live longer.

Here's a keyword table with vocabulary from the last two reading exercises on this blog. I always recommend keeping a list of keywords, even the easy ones.

This week I received an email from a student who passed the IELTS test with high scores. I'd like to share a simple piece of advice from that person.

Here's what she said:
When I took my exam, I always asked myself, “What would Simon do?”

I think this sums up the whole aim of my blog. If I can help people to "think like me" in the IELTS test, then I'm happy with the job I'm doing!