HK IELTS Tutor

You might know that "On the other hand" translates directly to 另一方面 (Cantonese: ling6 jat1 fong1 min6; Mandarin: Lìng yī fāngmiàn).

But be careful! The meaning is very different between English and Chinese.

Mistakes with this (or any other cohesive device or discourse marker), can limit your score in Fluency and cohesion to 6. So, they can limit your overall score to 6.5.

In Chinese, 另一方面 means "Additionally" or "Not only that, (but) ...".

In English, "On the other hand" means "Contrastingly" or "On the flip side".

See here for example sentences and for an explanation of the difference between "On the other hand" and "In contrast":
https://www.hkieltsteacher.com/common-mistake-on-the-other-hand/

Both are correct. But it depends on the sentence.

Use 'my friends and I' where you would use "I" by itself (i.e. as the subject):

- My friends and I went bungee jumping last weekend.

And, use 'me and my friends' where you would use "me" by itself (i.e. as the object):

- My little sister was upset that she wasn't allowed to go bungee jumping with me and my friends last weekend.

"Would like" is a polite way of saying "want" (either in a question or in a statement).

I've noticed that some Hong Kong Chinese people misunderstand the meaning of "would like".

They think "would like" means "used to like" because they know that "would" can mean the past tense of 'will'.

However, "would" means "used to" only when it is used with dynamic verbs: "would visit" or "would eat".

It does not mean "used to" with state verbs such as "like", "love", etc.

If you misunderstand the meaning, then you will incorrectly answer questions such as this:

- Talk about a country that you would like to visit

It means

- Talk about a country that you want to visit

It does not mean

- Talk about a country that you wanted to visit in the past but not anymore

I sometimes hear people say hobbit when they mean habit.

The mistake is more common with those who score below band 6.

Habits are behaviours or actions that you do automatically from doing them repeatedly.

- "I usually sleep late due to my bad habit of playing on my mobile phone until late at night."

- "I'm trying to quit smoking, but it's a hard habit to break."

- "On my way to the dentist's, I got off at the wrong station through force of habit. I normally get off at that station on my way to work every day."

Hobbits are a fictional race of human-like people in the story Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien.

⌈ Photo source: 2018_01_280003 - Bilbo in LOTR, uploaded by Gwydion M. Williams 45909111@N00/28334393649" rel="ugc" target="_blank">https://www.flickr.com/photos/45909111@N00/28334393649 ⌋

The reading test is mostly a vocabulary test. The test questions contain synonyms or paraphrases of the words and phrases from the reading passages.

If you don't understand the synonyms in the questions or the words in the passages, you simply can't get a high score. You're just guessing.

The fastest way to improve your score is to learn all the difficult words commonly found in the IELTS reading tests.

Luckily, there is an IELTS textbook designed to teach them to you:
Barron's 600 Essential Words for the IELTS.

Click the link for a list of the ten unit topics found in this book and a link to buy it from Amazon for as low as $4 USD (used). This is not my affiliate link. It's just the cheapest option I could find just now while looking on Amazon.
https://www.hkieltsteacher.com/how-to-quickly-lift-your-reading-score/

I often hear people in Hong Kong say 'borrow' when they mean 'lend' 🤔

In Chinese, you have a word ( 借 , pronounced ze3 in Cantonese ) that means both lend and borrow depending on the other other words in the sentence.

🚨Caution: This mistake confuses the listener, so it can limit your Lexical resource score to 5.

Click the link to see example sentences for each:
https://www.hkieltsteacher.com/common-mistake-borrow-vs-lend/

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Do you have a we**am, microphone and headphones?

Then, register for FREE to join my online class tomorrow (2:30pm - 4pm HKT) with up to 12 other people from around the world who are preparing for their IELTS test.

We will practice answering some questions in the speaking test and discuss what each of you might personally need to work on to improve your overall speaking scores.

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Click the link below to the course page and click the BUY button.

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The discount code is valid for 12 people (the maximum class capacity).

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Look forward to seeing you online!

Are you trying to score 7 in the speaking test?

Join my online class (maximum 12 students) next Sunday 13th September 14:30-16:00 HKT, where I will help you quickly boost your score in the speaking test through brief practice sessions, feedback and tips.

The target student is anyone between band 5 and 6.5 in speaking. Band 7's are welcome to join too.

Register on my website:
https://www.hkieltsteacher.com/product/video-meeting-sun-13th-sep-speaking-test/

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If you have any questions after visiting the course page, please email me at [email protected]

Stay safe and best of luck with your test preparation!

I recommend students avoid using signposting in essays (e.g. "This essay will discuss the reasons why...") as it wastes time and does not add any valuable content to your essay.

Click to see two instances of signposting in the one essay introduction: https://www.hkieltsteacher.com/ielts-writing-task-2-essay-tip-avoid-unnecessary-signposting/