please continue:

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Please make a cheat sheet from the following transcript:

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you can use your time however you want to in the reading [Music] test welcome to episode six of I prepair by IDP your trusted guide for test day success I’m your host Rocko negro and today I’m thrilled to welcome back Andy Watts those of you who joined us for episode 5 where we spoke about iots listening remember that Andy is the English language content manager for E2 test prep and she’s been working in English language education for 24 years on our iots by IDP app you can find an iot guided short course developed by E2 to help you prepare for the test today we’ll be talking about the different type of questions you’ll find in the I reading test and how to prepare for Success on test day and then at the end of the episode Andy will be answering your questions on I’s reading Andy welcome it’s great to have you back again it’s great to be back so I would like to begin with a myth about the iots reading test okay there’s a belief out there that the reading test is actually more difficult now than it was in the past is is there any truth to that absolutely none no I think it’s really important to remember that the experts from Cambridge have been writing iot tests since the 1980s wow so I think you can really trust that they know what they’re doing and they know how to make sure the tests are consistent and they’re very standardized aren’t they absolutely yeah so um every test that they write they’ll be checking that test carefully against previous versions of the test to make sure that the levels are comparable across all of the tests thank you let’s also talk about the question types in the ielt reading test sure well firstly how long is the is the reading test so 60 minutes for the reading and there are three sections in the test and there are 40 questions to answer overall and are some questions worth more than the others no every question is worth one Mark right and what about if someone gets an answer wrong is there any P penalty at all no so in IELTS you don’t lose any marks for wrong answers you just only get one mark for each correct answer right so what if someone doesn’t know an answer should they leave it blank no no I would always recommend guessing the answer because you never know it might be correct and then you get an extra Mark and if it’s wrong doesn’t matter you don’t lose anything what about the articles are there how many articles are there in an ISS reading test oh so that depends on whether you’re taking the academic or the general training version T so in the academic test for each section there’s one longer article in the general training test it’s a little bit different so um section one and section two will have um a number of texts and in fact in section one which is always um uh like everyday text that you might read you might even get a series of shorter texts okay what kind of texts in one of the general training well for example um you might have a series of short texts which are advertisements or um descriptions of products or services or something like that basically an everyday thing yeah the types of text that you interact with in your own language on a daily basis and what about the second section so that’s always to do with the world of work so it might be procedures in a workplace or policies in a workplace or um ways of carrying out a particular work task or something like that right so that’s uh in terms of preparing for that part what can test takers do I think it’s really important to just be reading widely um in those areas so um for section one read those incidental texts that you come across um every day like for example if you’re booking a hotel read those little descriptions of the hotels on the on the website um if you’re um traveling somewhere or using public transport read the information that you see at the station or or on the website just reading those the types of texts that you engage with on a daily basis and then for section two I actually think blogs can be quite useful for section two that’s a good idea yeah because lots of companies these days have their own blogs where they publish short little articles that are related to the type of business that they do and so those can be really useful for preparing the vocabulary and the language that you’re going to meet in section two so test take a can pick up lots of work-related vocabulary exactly yeah yeah what about the question types in the iots reading test what can people expect yeah so there are 11 different types of questions in iot Reading 11 11 sounds like a lot um but luckily many of them are kind of similar types of questions so um it’s helpful to kind of think of them in categories I think okay so one type of question is the completion type question so you might have a set of notes or a table or a diagram or a flowchart even separate sentences okay or a summary right and you have to use words from the text to fill gaps in the summary or the notes or the table right so not words from their own choice no always words from the reading text so that’s one type of question there are also matching questions so for example you might have to match a list of headings to the paragraph or section of the text that they relate to so which heading is the right heading for this paragraph in the text so those headings are listed in order are they no because that would make the the question very easy to answer no so they’re always out of order and you have to find the right one for this particular paragraph you might also have to match um information taken from from the the text to the paragraph or section of the text that it comes from uh you might have to match features of the text so information in the text to a list of particular features for example um it might be statements that have been made in the text by experts and you have to match the statement to the expert who said that particular statement uh Andy are there any other type of matching questions yes one more type uh so matching sentence endings so the question is the first half of a sentence and you need to match it to the correct second half of the sentence can that be done grammatically uh you can use grammar to help you but usually you’re looking for the logic and the sense of the statement um often all of the second half of the statements will start with the same part of speech so the grammar’s not going to be your best clue there really need to look at the sense of the whole statement are there any other question types you can tell us about yes so another type is true false not given and yes no not given so what’s the difference between those two they are very similar and you would use similar strategies to answer them but true false not given you’re identifying specific information from the text so it’s more about facts and details okay yes no not given you’re identifying The Writer’s claims or views in the text Andy does the I reading test include multiple choice questions yes it does yes and um one thing to watch out for is sometimes you’ll have um four options and you need to choose one of those options as the correct answer and some of sometimes you’ll have a longer list of options and you’ll need to choose more than one option but the instructions will always tell you which one so potentially two or three options in a case like that that’s right yes and with the answers that are incorrect are they also mentioned in the text they can be yes yep um so that is something that you need to watch out for with multiple choice it’s really about um making sure that you are choosing the answer that really closely matches the information from the text so Andy are there any other other question types perhaps we should know about yeah there’s one more question type it’s the short answer question type so you will get a question that will start with a word like a what or who or when something like that okay it will ask you about specific details from the text and you’ll need to find a word or words from the text to answer that question so not in your own words no no always using words from the Tex and how long can that type of answer be well the instructions will tell you how many words you can write but usually it’s one two maybe three words next I’d like to get some of your thoughts about how to answer some of the questions in the iots reading test what are some general strategies you could tell us about first of all sure um I think the first thing that you always need to remember to do when you’re answering the questions is to read the instructions carefully that’s very important and I think it’s something that’s it’s actually easy to kind of skip over particularly if you’ve done a lot of preparation because you think to yourself oh I know to answer these questions but just always take that minute less than a minute to read the instructions because they’re going to give you really important information about your task for example if it’s a multiple choice question as we talked about you might have to choose one correct answer or you might have to choose more than one correct answer so you need to read the instructions to know how many answers to choose and sometimes the instructions can say you can use the same letter again that’s right so in those matching type questions for example if you’re um matching information where you’ve got a statement that um talks about information from the text and you have to match it to the paragraph that gives that information maybe more than one of those statements matches to the same paragraph in the text so the instructions will tell you if you can actually use those letters from the from the text more than once what else can you suggest for test takers so I I think it’s really important kind of not to panic on test day and jump in and start answering the questions straight away I think before you start looking for the answer to the first question there are a few things that you need to do to really prepare yourself okay like what so the first thing is skim read through the text and the questions by skim reading through the text notice the heading if there are any subheadings um pay attention to the main idea you’re just trying to get a general understanding of the main ideas here um it’s going to give you a good idea of how the text is organized and that’s going to help you when you’re answering the questions because you’ll know oh this is asking me about the date that this happened I know that’s in this paragraph in the text you don’t have to read through the whole thing so how long should they spend on that not very long I would say couple of minutes at the most um you’re also going to read through the question quickly and the reason for doing this is firstly because the questions usually follow the order of the text so it’s going to give you again a good idea of the structure of the text and how it’s organized but also you want to pay attention to the key words in the questions right so that’s going to tell you what you need to look out for in the text when you come to answer the questions and should a test taker expect to see the same word from the question as in the text unfortunately not that would make a little bit too easy um so no you’ll you’ll need to be looking for words or phrases in the text that have the same meaning as the questions but it will be using synonyms so words that um have the same meaning as words in the text Andy is it a good idea to highlight any words in the article or in the questions I think so yes I mean I do think that um candidates need to figure out what works for them but I do think it’s a good idea to either underline in the paper based test or highlight in the computer based test um the key words that you need to pay attention to in 60 minutes it’s actually not a lot of time um how would you suggest people use their time effectively in the test yeah so I think that’s a really important point because you do have to be aware of your time management in the test as we talked about earlier there are three sections so in 60 minutes that’s roughly 20 minutes per section you don’t want to be in a situation where you’ve spent so long on sections one and two that you only have a few minutes to answer the questions in section three and if one question is particularly hard to answer how much time should someone spend on that question yeah it’s a good question overall you shouldn’t be spending more than about 90 seconds per question but obviously some questions will be easier some questions will be harder but if you suddenly realize that you’ve spent three or four minutes on a question question it’s time to skip that question leave it you maybe come back to it later and move on to the next question but at least write some some answer down yeah or make a note of an idea that you might have so that you can come back to it later um or yes guess your answer and then you can check it again at the end if you want so there’s no problem coming back later no absolutely not you can you can use your time however you want to in the reading test unlike the listening test where the um on the computer dat based version or on the paper based version you will get moved through the test um by the recording yeah that doesn’t happen in reading so the 60 Minutes is yours to use it as you want to which is why paying attention to that time management is really critical now Andy one particular question type we hear a lot about is the true false not given or the yes no not given question type can you uh give us any suggestions about how to approach them yes yeah um yes candidates often do say they find these quite difficult so yeah let’s talk about these so firstly true false not given and yes no not given they’re very very similar so I think we can just treat them as as the same for this because you’ll use the same strategies sure for both of them so what does it mean okay firstly so true that means that the statement says the same thing as the information in the text but it’s going to use different words of to say um false means that the statement contradicts what’s said in the text like it’s opposite yes it reports the information from the text incorrectly it misrepresents that information and not given means that there isn’t actually enough information about this particular aspect in the text to decide whether it’s true or false does that mean like the whole statement is not mentioned right so I think this is really something that we need to clear up because I think this is one reason why people people find this question type difficult because they misunderstand what not given actually means so people think that um they won’t find any information in the text about the idea that’s in the statement if the answer is not given that’s not actually true um so let’s let’s use an example to help explain what I mean so let’s say for example that you have a reading text about the Titanic the famous cre ship the Titanic and um the question is about the cost of building the ship and the statement says that at the time the Titanic was the most expensive ship ever built okay so you are going to read something about the cost of building the ship right in the reading text but I think people think that if the answer is not given there won’t be anything about the cost in the text so then they read the text they find information about the cost and then they’re confused they think oh well it can’t be not given because it’s the same so it must be either true or false right so it can mention perhaps the cost it can mention that it was expensive but it may not mention it was the most expensive exactly it’s not going to give you the specific information from the question in the text and I think that the other thing that happens is that um people confuse not given with false yes they do which I think is understand understandable because you know you you there is some similarities there but again false means that the question contradicts the information in the text not given means that the information in the text there isn’t enough of it to say whether the question is true or false is it okay for a test taker to perhaps use their own knowledge and experience to answer these questions maybe someone might be a Titanic expert perhaps yeah that’s a really good point um no is the short answer because you need to base your answers on what is said in the text so you have you have to prove that it’s true or false yes or no exactly exactly yeah does the text say it it’s true does the text say something different it’s false does the text not give enough information it’s not given so Andy when someone is preparing for the test can you give us any advice on how to practice those question types yeah absolutely so I think when you’re practicing it’s a really good idea to work really really slowly through the questions and really analyze the questions and think about how they relate to the text so don’t worry about timing to begin with not when you’re practicing no absolutely um so I I think you should look at the question and let’s go back to the example that we had so um at the time it was the the Titanic was the most expensive ship ever built think about okay if that’s a true statement what would I expect to find in the text to support that so you might for example see something like um the text might compare the cost of the Titanic to other ships at the same time and show that it was more expensive it might paraphrase that information so it might say that um the cost of the Titanic was higher than any other ship at the time something like that then think about um the if the statement’s false if that statement’s false what would you expect to find in the text so it might say for example that another ship was more expensive than the Titanic or it might say that the Titanic was cheaper than other ships at the time so be good to kind of predict what type of information you would expect to see yes exactly exactly and then if it’s if the information is not given what information in that um statement would be missing from the text so it would be obviously the fact that it was the the most expensive so the text might give you the cost of the Titanic it might say how much it cost but it doesn’t mention anything about whether that was more expensive or less expensive than any other ships so if you do that for each question you’re really starting to think in the way that an IELTS expert thinks when they write the questions and you’re going to find it much easier to notice how that information is given in the text and then relate it back to the question could people design their own questions absolutely why not yeah get a text write some true false not given questions give it to your friend who’s also practicing for IELTS ask them if they can get the right answer figure out um why they might be right or why they might be wrong Andy we’ve got some questions that test takers have sent sent in to us I’d like your feedback on them sure the first question with with the iots reading test is should I read the whole article first or just skim through it great yeah good question um I think skimming is the best way to go because you don’t really have time in the iots test to do an indepth detailed reading of all of the test it’s just 60 minutes isn’t it that’s right that’s right so yeah definitely skim through look for the kind of General ideas the main points in the text you will do some detailed reading when you’re answering the questions but you should never really need to do a detailed reading of the whole text one question we’ve received is about matching headings so some people struggle with that one what’s your advice on that question type yeah that’s a good question um I think with matching headings it’s another one if you’re struggling with it it’s a really good idea to work through it slowly when you’re practicing and I would recommend starting with uh the the paragraphs um and read the first paragraph and think to yourself what’s the main idea of that paragraph and actually write down the heading that you would give that paragraph if you had to write a one summary sentence of that paragraph encapsulating the main idea what would you write so what would they do with that sentence so once you you’ve done that for all of the paragraphs I would then go to the list of headings and try and match that sentence with one of the sentences one of one of the headings in the list some people think that the main idea is always the first sentence is that true unfortunately not although it’s a good place to start yes so it’s it’s often a good idea to read the first and the last sentence of the paragraph because often in English that’s where Writers Do put their main ideas I think the key thing as well is that in the list of headings there’s always going to be at least one more heading than you will use for the paragraphs so they’re like a couple of distractors they’re going to add in that’s right and so you need to be careful to make sure that you don’t choose the one that doesn’t actually match any of the paragraphs so like the not-given option would that uh that distractor in the headings be mentioned at all possibly yes yes um so one thing that might happen is that the heading might match a specific detail in a part of the paragraph but it’s not the main idea of the whole paragraph so it’s not a good heading for the paragraph because remember headings tell you about the main idea or the main topic of the paragraph so that’s one thing to watch out for another common thing that happens is that the heading might use a word or a phrase from the paragraph but again it’s not encapsulating the main idea of that paragraph so you don’t recommend just match one key word from the statement and one one key word from the paragraph no um another question we’ve received uh Andy is about people who are unable to improve on their reading they maybe get a particular score maybe like six or 6.5 but they can’t get that extra band or half a band what should they do so I think it’s really important to try and work out what your strengths and what your weaknesses are in IELTS reading because you obviously need to work on improving those areas that you’re a little bit weaker in so perhaps it’s your vocabulary knowledge perhaps you’re having trouble recognizing how the information in the questions is paraphrased in the text so you might need to do some work on expanding your vocabulary it might be a problem that you have with one particular question type so it’s a good idea to do some um practice activities and practice tests where you get your answers and you can see is there a particular section or or question type that you’re not getting the answers right in and then work on improving your strategies for that particular question type it might be a time management problem right so yeah you you need to um practice reading um large amounts of information within that shorter time frame do more practice tests so that you really get used to being strict with yourself and moving through the test quickly so we hear about speaking fluency so Andy does fluency also apply to reading yeah absolutely there’s definitely such a thing as reading fluency and I think the key to improving here is to be practicing the different types of reading skills that you need in the I test so we’ve talked about skim reading which is where you read through a text quickly not paying attention to every single word um but just getting the main ideas and the and the the the gist of of what’s being um talked about that’s one very important skill another one is scanning oh so for example in some of the questions you might get the name of a person or a place or a building uh you might get a date um and you can use that to help you find the appropriate place in the text so you’ve got a date 1904 you can look through the text really quickly scan through the text and find 1904 that can help with time management absolutely absolutely and then there are times when you will need to um read something in detail so that you get a really clear understanding of exactly what that part of the text uh is talking about if someone doesn’t understand a word what can they do so there are lots of different strategies you can use in that case the first thing to work out is do I need to know the meaning of that word is it important to understanding this whole this whole sentence if it’s not don’t worry about it just keep going but if you think yes I actually do need to know what this word means then you can use Clues from the text that’s around that word to help you work out what the word might mean you can look at what part of speech it is so is it a noun is it an adjective is it a verb um you can look at the general sense of the of the um sentence whether it has a positive or negative meaning path yes absolutely yeah so um there are strategies that you can use and I would definitely recommend practicing those before you get into the test so that you’re really confident with using those strategies in the test um one other question we’ve received is about locating information in paragraphs so which paragraph contains this piece of information um do you have any advice about how to handle those type of questions yeah so I think in that type of question it’s a really good example of when you’re going to be using all of those reading skills that we’ve just talked about because for example um you might have a keyword in the question that you can scan for in the different paragraphs you also need to be able to recognize the paraphrase so um the particular idea in the sentence how might that be paraphrased how might it be written using different words it won’t be won’t be so obvious will it no absolutely so you you’ll need to know a range of synonyms and different phrases that you can use to uh to express that same idea in the question I think the other thing is again to avoid the distractors so when you have a list of um information from the text um you need to match it to the paragraph you might find that for a particular statement they talk about the general topic of that statement in more than one paragraph so you need to be able to work out okay they talk about that in paragraph a and they talk about it in paragraph D yes but which one is saying exactly the same thing as the statement in the text so for example um you might have a statement about um it might say which paragraph gives examples of figures related to something there might be lots of figures in the text there might be figures in three or four different paragraphs but which of those figures specifically relate to the thing in the question Andy that brings us to the end end of our time today but before you go could you please please tell us your top three tips for the iots reading test absolutely uh so number one make sure you know what strategies to use to answer all of the different question types number two don’t start answering the questions before you’ve skim read the text and the questions and number three practice your time management so you know how to answer all of the questions within 60 Minutes excellent Andy thank you so much for your time today you’re welcome don’t forget to look at the show notes where you can find links to free iots preparation materials and resources about today’s topic if you enjoyed this episode please share it with others who will find it useful in the next episode ielt expert Don Oliver will be returning to talk about IELTS writing thanks for listening to iots prepare by IDP your trusted guide for test day success see you next time [Music]

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### IELTS General Training Cheat Sheet: Episode 6 - Reading Test Strategies

Overview:
This cheat sheet summarizes key insights from episode six of “IELTS Prepared” by IDP, featuring Rocco Negro and Andy Watts. It covers the structure of the IELTS Reading Test, different question types, and practical preparation tips to help you succeed.

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#### IELTS Reading Test Structure

1. Duration:
- The reading test lasts 60 minutes.

2. Sections and Articles:
- Academic: Three sections, each with one longer article.
- General Training: Section 1 has multiple short texts (e.g., advertisements), Section 2 covers work-related texts (e.g., procedures, policies), and Section 3 contains a longer article.

3. Scoring:
- 40 questions in total, each worth one mark. No penalty for wrong answers.

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#### Question Types

1. Completion:
- Fill gaps in notes, tables, diagrams, flowcharts, or summaries using words from the text.

2. Matching:
- Match headings to paragraphs or sections.
- Match information, features, or sentence endings to specific parts of the text.

3. True/False/Not Given & Yes/No/Not Given:
- Identify if statements are true, false, or not given based on the text.
- Determine if statements reflect the writer’s views (yes/no/not given).

4. Multiple Choice:
- Choose one or more correct answers from a list of options.

5. Short Answer:
- Answer questions using words from the text, typically one to three words.

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#### Preparation Strategies

1. Before the Test:
- Read Instructions Carefully: Ensure you understand how many words are allowed and specific details needed.
- Skim Read: Quickly read the text to understand headings, subheadings, and main ideas.

2. During the Test:
- Keywords: Identify and highlight key words in the questions.
- Synonyms: Look for words/phrases with the same meaning in the text as in the questions.
- Logical Guess: If unsure of an answer, make an educated guess instead of leaving it blank.

3. Time Management:
- Divide Time Equally: Roughly spend 20 minutes per section.
- Skip and Return: If stuck on a question for over 90 seconds, skip and return later.
- Flexibility: Use the time effectively; there’s no fixed order for answering questions.

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#### Strategies for True/False/Not Given & Yes/No/Not Given Questions

1. Definitions:
- True: Statement matches information in the text (paraphrased).
- False: Statement contradicts information in the text.
- Not Given: Not enough information to say if the statement is true or false.

2. Preparation:
- Predict what the text might say to indicate whether the statement is true, false, or not given.
- Avoid using prior knowledge; rely strictly on the text.

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#### Practice Tips

1. Skimming and Scanning:
- Skim for main ideas; scan for details like names, dates, and specific terms.

2. Practice Different Question Types:
- Familiarize yourself with all 11 types of questions to build confidence.

3. Build Vocabulary:
- Enhance understanding and recognition of synonyms and paraphrases.

4. Reading Fluency:
- Practice reading diverse text types quickly and accurately to improve reading fluency.

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#### Test Day Tips

1. Strategy Application:
- Use appropriate strategies for each question type based on your preparation.

2. Efficient Use of Time:
- Allocate time wisely across all sections, and avoid spending too long on any one question.

3. Answer Every Question:
- Attempt every question; there’s no penalty for guessing.

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Andy’s Top 3 Tips:

1. Know Your Strategies:
- Familiarize yourself with strategies for answering all the different question types.

2. Skim First:
- Don’t start answering questions until you’ve skim-read the text and questions to understand main ideas.

3. Practice Time Management:
- Ensure you can answer all questions within the 60-minute timeframe.

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Next Episode Preview:
- Discussion with Don Oliver about IELTS writing.

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For additional information and free preparation resources, check the show notes or visit the IDP website. Good luck with your test preparation!
Please make a cheat sheet from the following transcript:

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good writing is a mixture of short sentences and long [Music] sentences welcome to episode 7 of IELTS prepare by IDP your trusted guide for test success I’m your host Rocco negro and today I’m pleased to welcome back Don Oliver if you’re joining us for the first time you can find an earlier conversation with Don on episode three how to prepare for IELTS Don has more than 30 years experience in ults test development and preparation in Australia and various countries including southeast Asia and the Middle East in today’s episode Don and I will be chatting about the different question types in the writing section of the OTS test and Don will be sharing his top preparation tips to help you get the band score you’re aiming for make sure you stay around for the end of the episode we’ll be answering some of your questions on iots Don welcome thanks Rocco I’d like to begin with a common myth that’s out there and that’s if I write more more words in the I writing test I get more marks is there any truth to that uh there is no truth to that the examiner will read all of the words but really we recommend that you write 150 words for task one 250 for task two and if you write very much more than those then really you’re penalizing yourself there’s a chance that you’ll make more mistakes with more words yes there’s a probability that you won’t actually answer the um task as directly as you could there’s a consequences of that too is absolutely that will be penalized and you don’t leave yourself any time to check your work that’s also important too I guess absolutely that’s something that you really should practice uh proofing your own work so that you can bring that skill into the test Don I’d like to move on to the question types in the I writing test first of all how long is the writing section of the test the writing is 1 hour and there are two tasks so the first task we recommend that you spend 20 minutes on that and the second task 40 minutes why double the time well the second task is worth twice the marks and you have to write more words so in total you writing about 400 words maybe a little bit more and uh you need that amount of time to right well what do you specifically need to do in each of those tasks well task one in academic uh writing is always a description you’re describing a graph describing a process or a chart and task two is always you responding to a statement giving your opinion about the statement so task one’s always something visual yeah in academic task one but in general training task one of course it’s always a letter uh is it a formal or informal or both it could be either um you’re told who you’re writing to so if you’re writing to someone you don’t know that’s a formal letter Dear Sir or Madam if you’re writing to someone you do know then that is an informal letter and that’s clearly stated in the question it is you’re told how to begin and uh you should always be careful that you maintain an appropriate time own because of a formal letter will not be the sort of letter you write to a friend and a formal letter is not what you would write to a friend so don in a nutshell what are the main differences between academic and general training in the iots writing test well the main difference Roco is in task one academic task one is always a descriptive essay you’re describing some data and that data may be uh presented to you in a pie chart or a line graph or it may be a process a a flow chart that describes how something is done in general training task one that will always be a letter maybe a formal letter to someone you don’t know to a manager or someone like that or an informal letter to a friend and in the general training task one you’re always told who you’re writing to and why you’re writing and there are certain bullet points that you have to cover in task two for academic and general training these are quite similar you’re asked to give your opinion first of all a statement and then you’re asked to respond to that statement and that response could be simply do you agree or disagree that’s a fairly simple task or it could be a much more complex task which which is something like what are the reasons for this and what are the solutions for example so good variety of question types yeah there’s a variety but the this the important thing is to very carefully read what your what the task is and what you’re being asked to do and can you give me an overview of H how the iot’s writing is marked well the writing is marked by two separate examiners who don’t know each other necessarily who don’t know what the score for the task one or the task two is so they never look at each other’s ratings they don’t and they don’t know who you are either for for them you’re a number they don’t know why you’re doing the test for example or where you come from so that is uh one way of making the assessment as objective as possible and of course the examiners don’t give you one mark for task one they give you four marks and they give you four marks for task two based on the assessment criteria that sounds like a a fair way to rate the papers it’s as Fair as we can make it I’d like to move on and talk a bit about strategies for the iot writing test yeah Don in task one some people say it’s quite challenging to analyze data and then write something about it just in 20 minutes do you have any advice well my first bit of advice would be that you should take every opportunity well before the test to look at graphs to look at charts to look at flow diagrams wherever you find them and you’ll find them in newspapers you’ll find them online and to have a look and see if you can practice working out what the main Trends are in this sort of information and there will always be uh common Trends but there’ll always be a trend that that is contrary like an exception or something yeah an exception so look for the exception and try in your own mind to think well how can I sum that up because that is an overview and in the assessment of task one academic you’re asked to produce an overview so practice that do you think having a look at many different types of graphs can be useful absolutely and uh there are many ways to do that uh online you can find um graphs data presented in a graphic form in in in many websites uh so look look for those and you’ll probably find a commentary attached to to those someone who has actually described what is in those graphs so look at that language that they use as well that’s good advice um with coherence and cohesion that’s one of the assessment criteria yeah can you give test takers some advice on that well coherence and cohesion they’re big words Rocco but they’re very simple ideas coherence really means is what your writing logical and this is partly to do with paragraphing have you begun your essay with an introduction have you proceeded on to the next paragraph which deals with one topic and th those paragraphs should link together naturally right that’s right at the at the end of one paragraph you’re sort of preparing the reader for the next paragraph and then does it conclude satisfactorily well that’s coherence cohesion is a little bit more detailed because it’s it happens within the sentence and it’s a matter of using connecting words for example well the sorts of words that we use to connect ideas might be adverbs or conjunctions they might be words like as a matter of fact or clearly or on the other hand or uh in contrast those sorts of words and the examiner looking for those words because the when the examiner sees these words he or she will be able to say yeah cohesion is well managed and that is one of the assessment criteria how can a test taker make sure that they’ve answered all parts of the question fully and properly well one of the secrets I think to writing a good essay is preparation and I would always say that when you read the task understand the task and spend a couple of minutes roughly deciding how your going to write a brief like a brief plan exactly an essay plan now this is something you really should practice doing well before you walk into the test room right and if you do that then you should be able to do it fairly efficiently and quickly when you’ve got your plan in front of you you’ll be able to see I think fairly quickly well have I covered all the main points have I missed anything and that will help your coherence as well is this logically sequenced maybe it would stop people from losing focus and Direction absolutely and uh if you do lose focus that will be penalized okay that’s under the which criteria is that under well it’s under two criteria really the first one is Task achievement have you answered the question fully and also in coherence and cohesion has your is your essay logical or not Don just asking you a little bit more about how the test is marked with the lexical resource criteria is there anything that test taker should particularly take notice of well lexical resource is 25% of the mark as you know it’s uh an important assessment Criterion not just in writing but also in speaking of course lexical resource is something that some people believe they have to exhibit uh some very long words that’s not always necessarily true they have to use English words naturally right and appropriately in the right context in the right context and that you if you look at the assessment criteria you’ll see the word collocation and this comes at band seven and above and the word collocation simply means that you’re putting words together in a natural way for example the simplest example would be we often say very good we don’t often say very excellent no so they don’t ccate when we learn a new word in any language it’s always wise to learn them in context and to learn them as part of a phrase so if you do that then you’ll be able to use your language as naturally as you possibly can and you’ll be rewarded for that because that is where you start to get your band seven eight and n and some and some collocations have prepositions that belong to them Al right yeah and um I used an example of with get and get on get into get around for example all of those prepositions or adverbial Parts they change the meaning of get and so this is something you should really be conscious of and always figure out when can I use those and in what context with regards to spelling that of course that’s important but should people use British spelling or American spelling spelling is a very interesting question because as an Australian we use some American spelling and we use some British spelling they’re all okay okay remember it’s the international English language testing system I can spell color with a U or without a u absolutely Rocco and I won’t I won’t object if you do that with regards to the grammatical range and accuracy criteria um what’s some advice for test takers there what should they be thinking about well you said that there are two elements grammatical range and accuracy I think accuracy is something that people understand in other words can you use tenses in English for example can you use articles a and the can you use the right preposition Etc that’s something that uh is fairly straightforward but range is an extra dimension and that means you should be able to use longer sentences as well as shorter sentences now that doesn’t mean that you all of your sentences should be long because good writing is a mixture of short sentences and long sentences but what you need to do is use some complex longer sentences accurately okay so how can they make a complex sentence well a complex sentence to put put it very simply is a sentence that has more than one verb in it it might have two verbs or three verbs even and usually that those two parts are connected by a subordinating what we call a subordinating conjunction it could be a word like because for example it could be a relative pronoun like that or which or who they are examples of complex sentences and when you’re doing your reading in English find these longer sentences analyze them think how can I use a sentence like that so they don’t have to always have a lot of Clauses within a sentence like five or six or something like that one problem for some people learning a language is that they want to show uh how complex they can be but if the sentence is too long they can lose control of it like a wild horse right stick with something that you are comfortable doing and practice practice using relative clauses for example practice using IF Clauses there are many different types of if Clauses that also adds to the variety as well absolutely so if you’re confident about one or two complex structures use them but you don’t have to overdo it what about Punctuation is that something that’s considered in the grammatical range and accuracy absolutely Punctuation is a is part of the assessment of grammar and not everybody is good at punctuation speakers are not necessarily very good at punctuation as a rule of thumb a comma is when you’re just sort of taking a breath a short breath a full stop is when you really want to have a a bit of a rest you’ve finished that thing and you want to start another thing paragraphing is also a type of punctuation because you finished discussing this particular aspect and you want to go on to another aspect so all of those things are important elements uh in the assessment of writing with regards to academic task one when using numbers and data I think in some languages they might have different punctuation to separate thousands for example should they worry about that um it’s not a problem um we accept different conventions uh for uh expressing numbers and really as I said before it is an international test and an examiner will understand uh if a comma is used instead of a DOT Don with the coherence and cohesion criteria in task two there is a mention of about having a core idea within the paragraph what does that mean well paragraphing has to be logical and if you’re mixing up a whole bunch of different ideas in the one paragraph it doesn’t help the reader paragraphing is all about helping the reader understand what you were expressing so you should stick to a core Topic in one paragraph and when you want to go on to the next core topic that’s when you you start a new paragraph so don’t make a list of ideas in a in a body paragraph uh well you can you can express a list of ideas in a in a paragraph but when you start extending your uh your development of those ideas that will be when you start a new paragraph Don I’ve got a few questions that have been given to us by some test takers so I’d like to spend a bit of time on that yeah the first question is about task two in the iots writing test some people struggle with generating ideas what can they do to generate enough ideas to answer the question fully that’s a good question Rocco uh I El’s task two is always dealing with something which is of general interest to an educated person the sorts of things that you would talk about in a coffee shop or talk to your friends about for example it might be about the climate it might be about the environment or education it might be about the development of cities it could be anything it could be anything the sorts of things that uh people talk about if there is a problem uh you know how do we fix this problem how can we improve something and so one thing you should really do in your first language is be interested in those sorts of things and get ideas as well and then practice actually using English to discuss those ideas as well even perhaps discussing or writing about them absolutely and all and reading of course reading is is very important I think for learning a language and uh when you read widely on different topics you’re improving the amount of ideas that you have but you’re also improving the language that you have to actually express your own opinion Don we have another question about phrasal verbs some people wonder whether it’s a good advice to use phrasal verbs in the writing test well you you can’t not use them you must use them because English is full of phrasal what is a phras verb well a phrasal verb is could be a very simple combination of words that will change the meaning now one very good example is the word get probably the simplest word in English but if I add a different uh preposition to it then I suddenly get a different meaning so for example if I said well the government should get on with doing something about something on with about well I’m I’m talking about they should make some policy about something and and using a different preposition can change the meaning completely absolutely and these are all through English and the more you read going back to reading again the more you’re able to actually understand how these phrases are used and if you use them you will get a good Mark for lexical resource which is one of the one of the main criteria in assessing writing which is worth about 25% 25% of the mark yeah another question we have is with regards to the academic test in task one uh one of the requirements is to write an overview so some test takers are wondering where should they place the overview yeah well first of all what is an overview an overview is one or two sentences that really summ up for the reader what you have expressed in your essay and uh it’s an important part of the assessment in task one academic because if you don’t produce an overview you will be penalized and the penalty is quite severe where should it go well I think it naturally goes at the end but the examiner just wants to see it and it doesn’t matter where it is right could be in the introduction perhaps it could be in the first paragraph it could be in the middle of the essay it doesn’t matter as long as it’s there right and does it have to be long or short what do you recommend as I said one or two sentences is sufficient it should sum up the main Trends the main ideas it’s really a sort of like an executive summary if your boss only wants to read a couple of sentences and get the whole gist of your report that’s what they’ll read and Don there is some confusion with the overview some people might have it in the first paragraph but they also include a conclusion is that a good thing to do uh it doesn’t matter an overview could be in two parts um and a bit of repetition doesn’t hurt as long as you have time to do it so I it’s not something I would worry about Don with the general training task one uh one of the things that it’s me mentioned in the task achievement criteria is tone can you give us um an explanation about that yeah if you look at the assessment criteria you’ll see in the first assessment Criterion task achievement The Examiner wants to see that the writer has maintained an appropriate tone now what does that mean well if you’re writing to a stranger maybe um the manager of a business or uh the mayor of of of your City or someone like that that will be a formal tone and there are ways that we express formality that tone in English we don’t say how are you going or you’ve got to do this too casual that’s right we say uh uh we would like you to do this or is it possible for you to do this Etc it’s difficult to actually to make a hard and fast rule about what is is a formal tone and what is an informal tone but you can see lots of examples of it when you read you’ll see that mostly uh the sorts of opinion pieces you read in a newspaper will be fairly formal the sorts of letters uh that you might read in the letters to the editor uh will be rather formal that is different to the informal tone you would strike with your friend now in that sort of a letter you will be saying things like how are you you know um I haven’t seen you for a long time you know what are you up to so using really formal language to a friend would be inappropriate using formal language to a friend is inappropriate using informal language to a stranger is inappropriate basically Don another listener question in opinion essays like to what extent do you agree or disagree um should the test taker mention both sides of the argument that’s a very good question Rocco because if we look at the at the actual task uh you’re not asked to really mention uh both sides of the argument people say such and such to what extent do you agree or disagree you could write a perfectly acceptable essay by simply saying I agree for these reasons or I disagree for for other reasons but as a policy I would recommend that you did mention the contrary argument a bit uh you don’t have to spend a lot of time on it but uh if you want to get a band eight or nine then the examiner has to say well could anything be added to make this essay better and they will probably say well it would be better if if there was some discussion of a different opinion as well even just sentence or two that would be sufficient I think another question that we’ve been asked on is in the task two of the iot writing test is it okay to use the word I first person in your in your essay absolutely yes uh in fact when we uh give the uh task to the test taker we say use uh evidence from your own experience and and if you’re using evidence from your own experience well of course you’re going to use the word I I believe this happened to me it’s not an academic essay in in the way that you would write an essay for a lecturer at University in that context it’s probably best to say away from I or I think but an i El’s essay academic or general training task to use the word I express your own opinion because that is actually one of the assessment criteria The Examiner wants to see your position um and use evidence from your own experience so please use the word I don that brings us towards the end of our discussion today but before you go could you please give our audience perhaps the top three tips to take away with them today well I think really the writing is quite challenging for everybody and the reason it’s challenging is there are many opportunities to make mistakes Rocco your spelling may be wrong your punctuation grammar I guess your grammar you may not answer the question fully or directly in in fact if you’re doing the pencil and paper I Els test your handwriting may let you down all of these are problems with writing so I would practice uh writing a few essays make sure that you can show your essay to some body who whose English is pretty good and who can give you valuable feedback always read the question very carefully because this is the first hurdle absolutely you have to jump if you if you fall at that H hurdle then the rest is is history right they are my main um suggestions Don thank you so much for your time thank you Rocco don’t forget to check out the show notes where you can find links L to free IELTS preparation materials and resources about today’s topic if you enjoyed this episode and think it would help others with their ielt Journey share it with your friends in the next episode I’ll be talking to IZ expert relle Vander murver about IELTS speaking thanks for listening to IELTS prepare by IDP your trusted guide for test day success see you next time

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### IELTS General Training Cheat Sheet: Episode 7 - Writing Test Strategies

Overview:
This cheat sheet summarizes key insights from episode seven of “IELTS Prepared” by IDP, featuring Rocco Negro and Don Oliver. It covers the structure of the IELTS Writing Test, different question types, and practical strategies for achieving the best possible score.

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#### IELTS Writing Test Structure

1. Duration:
- The writing test lasts 1 hour.

2. Tasks:
- Task 1: 20 minutes (150 words)
- Academic: Describe a graph, chart, process, or diagram.
- General Training: Write a letter (formal or informal).
- Task 2: 40 minutes (250 words)
- Respond to a statement with an opinion, discussing solutions, reasons, or both.

3. Scoring:
- Each task is marked by two independent examiners.
- Four assessment criteria: Task Achievement, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy.

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#### Task Descriptions

1. Academic Writing:
- Task 1: Describe visual information (graphs, charts, diagrams).
- Task 2: Respond to a statement, often requiring opinion, reasons, and solutions.

2. General Training Writing:
- Task 1: Write a letter addressing specific bullet points (formal or informal based on the audience).
- Task 2: Similar to Academic Task 2, but may involve more everyday topics.

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#### Key Strategies

1. Word Count and Time Management:
- Aim for 150 words in Task 1 and 250 words in Task 2.
- Don’t write significantly more to avoid errors and maintain clarity.
- Allocate time appropriately: 20 minutes for Task 1 and 40 minutes for Task 2.

2. Task Achievement:
- Ensure all parts of the task are covered.
- Carefully read and understand the question.
- Create a brief plan before you start writing.

3. Coherence and Cohesion:
- Coherence: Logical organization; clear introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion.
- Cohesion: Use connectors and linking words (e.g., furthermore, however, because).
- Focus on main ideas in each paragraph.

4. **Lexical Resource""