) Updated Dec 1, 2016
General IELTS Links
The links on this page will take you to websites dealing specifically with the IELTS test. You will also find some useful information on improving your English on some of these sites. On some sites, you can study English (not always for free).
Other Pages with Internet Links on this website.
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'Chinatown John' http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/2042034922 This is written by a native English-speaking IELTS teacher in Hangzhou
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This is the official homepage of the IELTS organization. Most of this website is written at an English level that is too advanced for most IELTS candidates but there is also a lot of good practice material for students.
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In English: http://www.britishcouncil.org/china.htm
In Chinese: http://www.britishcouncil.org/zh/china.htm
British Council IELTS page, in Chinese: http://www.britishcouncil.org/zh/china-exams-ielts.htm?mtrklink=china-homepage-sevenofferlinkielts
The Speaking Test and the Writing Test Grading Criteria
Information about the IELTS test scoring system (in Chinese): http://www.britishcouncil.org/zh/china-exams-ielts-introduce-score.htm
Download (pdf) page showing the level, in general, of each Band score (in English): http://www.britishcouncil.org/zh/china-exams-ielts-bandscale-eng.pdf
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http://www.cambridgeesol.org/teach/ielts/speaking/index.htm
Good information and some practice exercises.
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4. Some Chinese IELTS Speaking Blogs
These are written by Chinese IELTS teachers. Some of these are not up-to-date. Make sure you look at the dates. Remember, topics and questions change over time.
王陆 http://blog.sina.com.cn/ieltswang
http://blog.sina.com.cn/rockielts
Jeff http://blog.sina.com.cn/jeff1003
陆文佳 http://blog.sina.com.cn/woshiluwenjia
Yolinda Lau http://shootinglau.blog.sohu.com/
http://blog.sina.com.cn/ieltsguru
http://club.51ielts.com/space.php?uid=635632&op=uchblog
http://meihanielts.blog.163.com/
http://www.tudou.com/home/diary_v6829968.html
http://blog.sina.com.cn/yeyibin2008
http://blog.sina.com.cn/xdlieltstoefl
http://www.51ielts.com.au/jeffrey/ This is written, in English, by a Chinese IELTS teacher who is teaching in Australia. There are some useful downloads here.
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http://page.renren.com/600009371?checked=true 雅思哥 (Yasi Ge)
http://chengdu.newchannel.org/
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6. An IELTS Website Written by a Dutch woman
This is quite a good blog written by a Dutch woman who took the IELTS test years ago, became fascinated by it and decided she could make money by writing a book. One of the strengths of this website is that she is not a native English speaker, so she understands the problems of IELTS students. In addition, you'll find several model essays and practice materials here. (Many people from Holland are quite good at English, e.g., Band 8 level and above. The Dutch language is, in some ways, the closest European language to English.)
This is the page on her website with recent information about the IELTS test in different parts of the world: http://www.ielts-blog.com/category/recent-ielts-exams/
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http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/IELTS/
Quite a good website from Hong Kong with some practice materials and vocabulary on topics that would suit all Chinese students. However, I think it was written by a non-native English speaker.
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8. Hong Kong City University English Language Centre
Homepage: http://www.cityu.edu.hk/elc/
IELTS page: http://www.cityu.edu.hk/elc/study_preparation.html
Watch or download introduction lectures about all four of the IELTS tests (from the Self Access Centre): http://www.cityu.edu.hk/elc/elc/facilities/sac_ielts.html
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9. www.ipass.uk.net (Click to go to the website)
This seems to be a very professional website with quite a lot of useful free stuff. It's a pay site but you can also become a member for free, which allows you to read the free content. To get more personal help, you'll have become a paid member.
Note: It seems that your free password is only good for 24 hours. But that's no problem; if you click, "Forgot your password?'' you can update to a new password each time you go to the website. Included in the free content are three very good videos of Speaking tests.
After you log in with your free password, just click on "Speaking" and you'll see some videos to watch and some podcasts that you can listen to.
These videos now only show Part 1 if you are not a paid member of this website. But the podcasts allow you to hear complete tests.
Previously, the website showed Zara doing a complete Speaking test and I have given a Band score for her, who I call "the Portuguese girl". (See the following item.)
Zara's IELTS test is not really a complete test because only two topics were used in Part 1 and Part 3 was shortened to 2.5 minutes. But besides that, it is a very typical test.
After (not before) you have seen the video, make a guess at her score and then go HERE to see what score I give her, and why.
A video of Zara, the Portuguese girl, doing Part 1 is on the ipass website. Note that this is not a full 4 to 5 minute Part 1 or Part 3. Her full test is available as an MP3 here.
As well as being on the ipass site, a video of her Part 1 is also on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56WFNiQBOb8.
A video of her Part 1 is also here: http://relax.ru/video/view/?id=v8156522382 (possibly a slow download) and here: http://www.zedge.net/videos/188146/ielts-speaking-part2-video/ (a faster download).
I also notice that the Chinese version of Youtube, Youku, has two videos of this girl doing the mock test at - http://list.youku.com/albumlist/show?id=2488882&ascending=1&page=1
The Other Videos & Podcasts on the ipass Website
If you only use the free membership, you can only view the Part 1 for two other candidates. These are Pedro (from Spain) and Helia (from Portugal, originally from Iran).
These videos are also on Youtube and at relax.ru.
Pedro is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7rnqFotWsk&feature=related
Helia is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEUE-DtfjY0&feature=related
Based only on these Part 1 videos, I estimate that Pedro would get 5.0 and Helia 7.0. (It is possible that Pedro speaks better in Parts 2 & 3 and in that case he might get a 5.5 or a 6.0. Many people do speak better in Part 2 and especially in Part 3 than in Part 1, even though these parts are supposed to be more difficult!)
The new webpage for these podcasts is http://www.ipassielts.com/ielts_training/podcasts/speaking/
The following scores are what the ipass website predicts these people will get in the real IELTS Speaking test.
Ana (from France): 6.5
Maria (from Spain): 6.0
Yuko (from Japan): 7.0
Bo (from China): 5.5
Oscar (from Spain): 6.0
(Later, I will do a more complete analysis of Bo's test. She made many of the frequent Chinese errors!)
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10. Other Speaking Test Videos and Audio Recordings
In addition to the videos and audio recordings mentioned above (for ipass), there are the following:
10.1 Passport to English videos on Youtube
All the "Passport to English" speaking test
videos are shown on this page,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjgQN1bmd7I&list=PL5146091B6D89800B,
starting with the Part 1 of the mock test of Lester, from Hong Kong. (My
apologies to anyone who cannot get Youtube.)
These videos are very good, although they just show samples of IELTS test questions and answers, not full sections of a mock test.
Don't worry if you're not as good as Lester – Hong Kong people often have had good exposure to English. Besides, my guess is that Lester attended high school in Australia. (I thought foreigners who graduated from high school in Australia didn't need to do the IELTS test.) He's probably Band 7.0 or even 7.5.
The young woman from India is also very good, at Band 7.5 or 8.0.
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10.2 http://faculty.uaeu.ac.ae/paul.kelly/projs/ielts/IELTSHome.html
This website is from the United Arab Emirates University.
You will see several good examples of Part 2 and one example of a 'full' Speaking test. Later, when I have time, I'll comment on the performances of all these candidates and give them a score.
When you watch these videos, read the comments that are written on that page.
In the Part 2 examples, the two women look like
northern Europeans who speak English at the Band 9 level, although the blonde
woman is better than the woman with the light brown hair. (Actually, I think
they are native English-speaking women from England, in fact, English teachers!
And don't worry if you can't understand much of what the blonde woman says – I
can't understand much of what she says, either.) The man seems to be
German speaker, from Germany, Austria or Switzerland and seems to be about Band
7.0 or 7.5 in these Part 2 videos but he might do better in Parts 1 & 3 and
end up being a Band 8.0. (Actually, I think he is an English teacher from
England or Ireland who is pretending to be a German!
)
There is a 'complete test' of a man named Mahommed. It's not a 'real' test because the examiner doesn't say exactly the same words as real examiners say and the whole test was only 9 minutes long. On the screen you can see a 'score meter', representing how an examiner's idea of the candidate's score is changing. This candidate is quite good – I would give him a Band 7.0 for Speaking.
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(This is my copy of the video. The quality is not as good as the original video. The previous link to this video on the internet no longer has the video, but Chinese students will probably be able to find it on Youku.)
This is a full Speaking test, just like the real test. The girl is from China. My assessment = Band 6.0
|
Pronunciation |
7 |
She is a strong 7, even close to 8. |
|
Vocabulary |
6 |
She is a 6 but not a strong 6. For example, she didn't fully know the meaning of "disapprove" in Part 3. One of her errors is to treat "leisure" as a verb. |
|
Grammar |
5 |
She speaks far too much "Chinglish", but she is usually understandable. |
|
Fluency and Coherence |
6 |
Although she is a good 7 for fluency, her coherence is only a 6 and not really a strong 6 because there were a few times when her answers were a bit incoherent (for someone like that examiner who is not familiar with Chinese people.) However, she is not bad at developing her answers, i.e., giving a suitable amount of extra information. The score here is the lower of the two scores. |
Overall Score = 24/4 = 6.0
My guess is that this girl lives in "home stay" with a family and does quite a lot of chatting with her host family, which has resulted in her good fluency and pronunciation. However, her host family do not correct her grammar.
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10.4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7rnqFotWsk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEUE-DtfjY0&feature=related
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10.5
This video just shows you the beginning of a Part 2, before the candidate even starts speaking.
This video shows you the beginning of, and the first two questions of a Part 3.
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10.6
Here is an MP3 recording of a Chinese student doing a mock speaking test, along with my comments and my assessment of his speaking. He is about Band 5.5 level, mostly because of his fluency and pronunciation.
10.7
Some excellent IELTS Speaking test videos can be seen here, http://page.renren.com/600009371/note/899512132. I think these videos, and the scoring notes, were produced by the Cambridge/IELTS people, the same people who produce the real test.
10.8 There is an interesting video on the IELTS Organization Youtube channel. It shows a Japanese woman doing the IELTS speaking test and the caption is, "IELTS SPEAKING BAND 6".
The video is at https://youtu.be/BbPTB6ydvcY?list=PLBY32QAIAVFqDOlgscwtD7DVwjhoo4-hF
My copy of the video (downloadable) is here.
My assessment, as a former examiner -
Pronun = 7 (or 6) , Gram = 6 (or 7),Vocab = 6 (a high 6), F&C= 8 (or 9) Total score = 6.75 = 6.5. A score of 6.0 would be a bit to low for her, in my opinion. She's a good communicator. She's closer to 7.0 than to 6.0.
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http://www.dcielts.com/ielts-directory/ielts-preparation-websites/
From this site, you will be able to find other useful websites to help you prepare for all the four IELTS tests. As well as that, he has lots of exercises, advice, downloads and other useful stuff.
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This website is quite good. Simon, based in England, is a former IELTS examiner. He has a few model answers, and some other useful stuff.
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13. Peter Winterbottom's IELTS Web Site
This site has some excellent advice and exercises that will help you in all four of the IELTS tests, especially IELTS writing.
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http://www.kiransielts.blogspot.com
That website includes information about some of the reported questions in the test, both the speaking and writing tests. As well as that, there are several model essays there.
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Ryan, an experienced IELTS teacher, is a Canadian guy living in Shanghai. There's quite a lot of good information on his two websites, especially concerning IELTS Writing.
http://www.ieltsielts.com/ (In China, you will first need to put that url into www.vtunnel.com or a similar proxy web server.)
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