IELTS Proficiency

2022-05-25 10:45:31 As an English teacher, the first place I normally look for IELTS material is in traditional textbooks. However, there is a wealth of information on blogs about the IELTS exam and I would say a few of the blogs are much better than most textbooks.

Students are also starting to shun traditional books in favour of online resources. All of the sites on this list have been recommended by students and it holds true that students who put in the extra work at home seem to do better than those that rely solely on lessons.

Blogs also offer students a great way of engaging with each other and the teachers actually writing the posts. Students can comment on posts with their own ideas and answers in a way that was never before possible.

IELTS Simon

This would appear to be the student’s favourite. It’s packed full of hints and tips. Simon posts very regularly and all his posts are short and easy to understand. He also provides lots of practice activities for people preparing at home.

Simon was formally an IELTS examiner, so all of his advice can be trusted and students love to get the ‘inside’ information.

IELTS Buddy

This is where you should go if you want sample answers. There is a myriad of different sample answers for all areas of the exam, especially writing. Students can use this resource by trying the questions themselves and then compare their answers.

DC IELTS

This is the most in-depth website on IELTS. Each post feels like a lesson and a student could easily prepare for the test with this site alone.

His posts on grammar, functional language and vocabulary are particularly good. There is also a teachers’ resource page.

IELTS Liz

If you like videos, check out this site. Liz has loads of great videos that tackle the most common IELTS problems and questions. They are simple to follow and Liz presents them in a really friendly way.

IELTS Advantage

I am being a bit biased here but I think this site deserves an honourable mention. We are working hard to make this a great site for IELTS students and if you have any recommendations or feedback we would love to hear from you.

Source: ieltsadvantage.com

@ieltsulugbeks Open / Comment

2022-05-25 09:42:00 Piece of advice to all prospective IELTS takers:

Don't get your hopes up too high. If your exam score doesn't live up to your expectations, you will get very disappointed, so much so that it will take you days to recover from your 'failure'. Take it from me.

It's best to keep your expectations relatively low, even if you think that you aced the test. This way, even if you fail, you won't feel sad. Remember: expectation is your worst enemy - and not just with IELTS.

@ieltsulugbeks Open / Comment

2022-05-21 03:33:03 Watch this video on how to deal with IELTS Reading 'Gap-fill' questions.



Open / Comment

2022-05-19 04:07:23 Why is my channel more focused on General English than on IELTS?

Even the channel description makes it explicit: I don't like teaching IELTS in an ordinary way, that is, I don't normally use IELTS materials and whatnot in my classes. Rather, I am a great believer in acing the test through a ton of exposure to the language. This is one of the main reasons why I rarely write about IELTS.

Besides this, who am I to give my two cents on IELTS when there are dozens of IELTS experts, such as Diyorbek's IELTS, Bekzod Mirahmedov, who are more experienced and qualified than me as far as this standardized test goes. I've been acquainted with IELTS for only a couple of years as a student - not a teacher. But these Instructors have been inside this for the better part of the last decade.

Also, I strongly disapprove of overwhelming students with different new information. Thus, I always urge my students not to get carried away by the deluge of IELTS materials they might have under their belt. Attempting to juggle a number of approaches, you stand to waste your time on the unnecessary and end up giving up anyway. Remember, less is more! Your best bet is to find a reliable approach and stick to it. By posting fewer IELTS-related posts, I will at least prevent my subscribers from the dilemma of following this or that.

@ieltsulugbeks Open / Comment

2022-05-18 15:26:22 Notice the usage of 'this' in the phrase 'this interesting incident'?

You'd think this is a simple 'this' but you would be wrong. It is a really nice chunk of language in that only native speakers use it this way - which is used as a substitute for 'a/the' informally. This is what you can refer to as 'less common words' because not everybody is able to use it this way. But many candidates seem to have a wrong idea of what less common words are; they think that using idioms of sorts helps them score high when in reality mostly such subtleties mark the difference between band 5-6, and a 7+.

@ieltsulugbeks Open / Comment

2022-05-18 15:17:53 Useful expressions from my speech:

- right in the middle of the city
- came out weird
- tranquility
- I guess it's only me
- There was this interesting incident
- Nod off a little
- stuck outside for hours on end
- second to none

@ieltsulugbeks Open / Comment

2022-05-18 15:14:46 Describe a quiet place you've been to

#Part2 #Speaking #unprepared

Score: Band 7.5

@ieltsulugbeks Open / Comment

2022-05-18 11:36:20 #Shorts #PhraseOfTheDay

'AHEAD OF ITS TIME'

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vgcdIw3wgqg Open / Comment

2022-05-17 06:24:30 You can view the recorded version of yesterday's voice chat here



@ieltsulugbeks Open / Comment

2022-05-16 19:08:13 Thanks everyone for joining us, and thank you Marifat Jamal for taking my up on my offer to do this voice chat. That means a lot as we got to learn quite a lot.

Don't forget to join her channel @marifatjamal Open / Comment