Monthly Archives: November 2010

The first part of the IELTS speaking exam only takes between 4 and 5 minutes. That’s not a lot of time – unless you have nothing to say. Read this post to find out how to give yourself time to think of what to say. One thing that you can do before the exam is […]

One common complaint that IELTS candidates make is that in the writing task they often don’t really know anything about the subject they are asked to write about. Very often the question asked, especially in Writing Task Two, seems to be asking for specialist knowledge that some IELTS candidates feel that they don’t have. The […]

I was talking to a group of IELTS teachers about my post Thinking on your feet and they asked whether I had made it clear that some words and phrases should not be overused. I don’t think I made this clear. Sometimes it is possible to just answer a question. When someone asks you your […]

When you are having a conversation, you don’t always know the answers to questions and sometimes, you might not know what to say next. In lots of conversations, you will have to pause for a moment to collect your thoughts and plan your next words. This is perfectly normal and natural in your own language […]