IELTS Aid (Practice Essays)

Most people take the IELTS test either because they want to migrate to another country or maybe because they plan to study in a university abroad. My case was different. I have been working in an International Language School in Tarlac for 6 years now. Our company, to keep up with the growing competition, decided to start a new course. As with other language institutions, our school has been offering a range of English classes like Business English, Conversation English and of course, Academic English (TOEIC). Fortunately for me, I was a member of a team that handles or specializes in TOEIC tests. I was once a teacher of TOEIC Speaking, Reading and Listening to both Japanese and Korean  nationals. I say this in the past tense because a long time ago, TOEIC was the only Academic test that these nationalities deem important. Right now, more and more people are becoming interested in working abroad and maybe living outside their home country. Since our company was new to this kind ...

Enriching your academic vocabulary is essential in the IELTS test. Vocabulary is one of the cores of IELTS. It is important in all four macro skills and without a wide knowledge of it, getting the band score that you want or need may seem to be a very far-fetched idea (maybe next to impossible!) As a result, various vocabulary books are published. These books claim to list almost all words that are used in the IELTS test. It may be so, but what is the best way to study and learn vocabulary? Is it memorization? Should you memorize each and every word you read in your book of choice? Should you make your own list of synonyms? Use them in your sentences? Well, of course, all of these ways are helpful and probably effective. However, I am a firm believer in the idea that vocabulary is best learned incidentally. No memorization required. Memorize is just temporary but when you learn a word incidentally, it sticks to your brain for a longer time. Still, the easiest way to learn is to read,...

What is an idiomatic expression? Well, these are words/phrases that we use that mean differently from what they seem.  Still confused? Allow me to use an example. Imagine that you just finished a test and a friend then asks you how the exam went. Of course, your response would depend on how easy you thought the test was. If you think the test was "easy", you can say, "It was a piece of cake!"  "a piece of cake" is an example of an idiomatic expression. This means that something was too easy for you. However, some people might take the phrase literally: they might imagine a slice of cake. In the IELTS Speaking test, it is highly recommended that you use these kinds of expressions in your responses. When you look at the public band descriptor for speaking, the use of idioms and less common idiom falls to band score 7 (Lexical resource). The use of idioms is quite difficult though. To begin with, you have to have a lot of confidence in your Engl...