Don’t say…… (part one)

IELTS Speaking

It often surprises people to learn that native speakers don’t necessarily perform particularly well in the IELTS speaking exam. They won’t make many, if any, mistakes but they fail to use a wide vocabulary resource or a wide range of complex structures. They will...

Spelling matters!

IELTS Writing

It’s really important not to make spelling mistakes in the IELTS writing paper. Remember that a band 8 candidate should only produce very rare errors in spelling. English spelling is notoriously difficult and even native speakers often make mistakes. Here are some of...

American and British English in IELTS

IELTS Writing

In the IELTS writing exam it is perfectly acceptable to use American spelling. However you must be consistent throughout. In other words don’t mix American and British spelling. It’s very easy to do this so during your writing practice decide which form you are going...

Just a minute

IELTS Speaking

I am often asked how best to use the minute you are given to consider your response to part two of the speaking task. I will consider a number of tactics in later posts but for now I would suggest that you should read the question carefully. This might seem like...