My IELTS Classroom

17/07/2023

Hey! Nick and I are recording a Q&A podcast tonight, so if you have ANY questions about the exam that you would like two ex-examiners to answer for you, then just write them in the message box and we will add them to the list.

We record tonight!

22/06/2022

🎧 Lean how to ace IELTS multiple choice questions

In the IELTS listening exam, there are two types of multiple choice questions: those where you are given 3 possible answers and asked to choose ONE, and those where you are given 5 or 7 possible answers and are asked to choose TWO or THREE.

Today, we are going to look at the second type of question or, as I like to call them, IELTS listening multiple multiple choice questions.

Join Nick and I as we

✅ explain the basics of IELTS Listening Multiple Multiple Choice questions
✅ show you the two steps you need to take to find the answers
✅ discuss the difference between these questions in Part 2 and Part 3
✅ highlight how IELTS uses "opposites" in this part of the test to hide the answers

In the IELTS listening exam, there are two types of multiple choice questions: those where you are asked to choose ONE answer, and those where you are asked to choose TWO or THREE. Today, we are going to look at the second type of question or, as I like to call them, IELTS listening multiple multipl...

20/06/2022

🎥 How long should your answers be for IELTS Speaking Part One?

One of the most common questions students ask about the IELTS speaking test is how long their responses should be in Part 1.

The most common answer to this question is 2 sentences. But, is that really the best advice? If you are a student aiming for a 6.5 or higher, should you really use 2 sentences for every answer or is there a better approach to IELTS Speaking Part One?

Find out in today’s lesson! 🚀

One of the most common questions students ask about the IELTS speaking test is how long their responses should be in Part 1.The most common answer to this qu...

15/06/2022

🎧 The 5 WORST pieces of advice for the IELTS Speaking Exam

The role of any teacher is to help their students maximise the scores that they will get in an exam. However, over the years Nick and I have noticed that many teachers are giving their students advice for the IELTS speaking exam that could actually harm their scores not improve them.�� Obviously, this is not intentional, but it can be difficult as an examiner watching a student put into practice the skills that they have been given by a teacher, knowing that they could have reached a higher score if they had just responded naturally to the questions. ��So, in today's episode, join Nick and I to find out what the 5 worst pieces of advice for the IELTS speaking exam are, and how you can avoid them!

Over the years Nick and I have noticed that many teachers are giving their students advice for the IELTS speaking exam that could actually harm their scores not improve them. Join us today to find out what the 5 worst pieces of advice for the IELTS speaking exam are, and why you should ignore them!

10/06/2022

🎥 IMPORTANT NEWS - please read 👇💥

Do you want to know the exact scores you received for writing and speaking in your IELTS exam? I am not talking about the overall score, but the individual scores that you were awarded by the examiner for each of the 4 bands? Well, now you can!

One of the main frustrations for IELTS test-takers is that IELTS does not provide a breakdown of the scores for writing or speaking. In other words, you know that you got a 6.5 for writing, but you don’t know why. Was it a problem with lexis? Did you write off-topic? Or was it your Task One that let you down? Until now the answer has simply been, only the examiner knows. IELTS exam results were essentially a black box.

However, a few weeks adoI received an email from a student that may change this. She was able to capitalise on the new European laws for data protection (called GDPR) to find out exactly what scores she was awarded in the 5 exams that she took earlier this year.

Yes, she was able to find out her scores for Task Response, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and accuracy for Task One and Task Two, and her scores for Fluency, Lexis, Grammar and Pronunciation for listening.

How did she do this? Listen to watch the video to find out!

One of the main frustrations for IELTS test-takers is that IELTS does not provide a breakdown of the scores for writing or speaking. In other words, you know...

07/06/2022

🎧 How to get your lost IELTS confidence back!

At My IELTS Classroom, we take the emotional welfare of our students very seriously. In the past we have spoken to a trained psychologist about how test-takers can remain calm before and during their exam and have recorded a number of podcasts about motivation.

However, over the last few weeks, a number of students have contacted me to ask how they can regain the confidence they lost after taking the test and failing to reach their target scores.

This got me thinking - when is it rational to lose confidence after a failed test? I mean, is this something that affects every student who takes the test more than once? And what advice can I offer to students who have lost their IELTS confidence to get them back on track?
�That is what Nick and I discuss in today’s episode 💥

At My IELTS Classroom, we take the emotional welfare of our students very seriously. That's why today, we want to talk about suffering from lost IELTS confidence. We will discuss when a loss of confidence is logical and when it is not. Plus, we will discuss what you can do to regain your confidence....

31/05/2022

🎧 Let's do a full IELTS speaking test together!

Hey! Today Nick and I are continuing our “Let’s do” series by completing a full IELTS speaking test.

First, you will get a chance to answer the questions in a similar way to the real exam, and then you can listen on as Nick (our very own native speaker who is an ex-examiner) attempts the same test. That way you can listen to how the test is actually conducted and compare your answers to his. Plus, you will be getting the opportunity to hear what a Band 9.0 test sounds like!

https://myieltsclassroom.buzzsprout.com

20/05/2022

Want to practice IELTS listening? Why not complete a Cambridge test with us? 🎧

Morning everyone. In this week’s podcast, Nick and I tackled a listening test from Cambridge 15. If you would like to take the test with us, and listen to our feedback fro every question, you can join the class in the link below 👇

Have a lovely day ☺️

Hey everyone! In a recent podcast, Nick and I completed an Academic reading passage from Cambridge 16 Test 4. Today, we thought that we would do the listening from the same test. Click here to download the questions for the lesson Join us as we complete each section of the test. We will starting by....

12/05/2022

🎥 The biggest mistake students make in IELTS Academic Writing Task 1! 😵

Hey! Are you using the word "maximum" in your IELTS Academic Task 1 report? If you are, you need to watch this 2-minute IELTS lesson to understand why you should STOP doing so! 🛑

Even if you don't watch the lesson, just trust me when I say that you will never need to use "maximum" in your report as this word CANNOT be used to make comparisons. Instead, you should use a superlative like "highest". 👇👇👇

Hey! Are you using the word "maximum" in your IELTS Academic Task 1 report? If you are, you need to watch this 2-minute IELTS lesson to understand why you sh...

11/05/2022

Hey everyone! I am planning an Ask An Ex-Examiner episode on my YouTube channel in the coming weeks.

So, is there anything you would like to know about about the IELTS exam? I can answer questions about ANY part of the exam (writing, speaking, listening, and reading) or any concerns you have about the administrative or procedural side of the test.

Just write your question in the comments and I will answer it in my upcoming video 👇

10/05/2022

🎧 Would you like some motivation for your IELTS study? 🚀

Hey! We all know that it can be hard to find the motivation to start studying for IELTS, which is why Nick and I have recorded so many episodes in the past about finding motivation. First, we did our 30-day motivation challenge, then we spoke about how to avoid procrastination in by eating those frogs, and last year we discovered a new way of self-studying by using metacognition.
Today, we return with Motivation May – a month where we try to fill you with motivation for all things IELTS.

Today, we kick off by looking at different strategies that you can use to find motivation for your studies. We know that not everybody is the same, so you may find some of the them useful, and others unrealistic, but the hopefully all of our listeners will find ONE thing that they can use to dig deep and start studying harder this May!

Hey! We all know that it can be hard to find the motivation to start studying for IELTS, which is why Nick and I have recorded so many episodes in the past about finding motivation. First, we did our 30-day motivation challenge, then we spoke about how to avoid procrastination in by eating those fro...

04/05/2022

Hey everyone. Would you like to spend 30-minute perfecting your introductions to Agree / Disagree essays? Then join Nick and I in this free lesson as we explain

✅ explain the three core ingredients to a good introduction
✅ discuss how to paraphrase well (including when you CANNOT paraphrase)
✅ show you three useful structures for writing opening sentences
✅ explain what to do if you are given “some people” in the question

In fact, by the end of the lesson, you should be able to write introductions to this type of essay on auto-pilot, which will give you more time and brain space for the body of the essay!

Today Nick and I are going to break down one element of essay writing - how to write an introduction to an IELTS agree disagree essay. Join us to learn the three ingredients you need to write an introduction well, and how you can tackle questions that include "some people" or a background statement.