Updated Oct. 19, 2010
Notes for the Part 1 Page
This page is divided into two sections:
2) Some General Notes that Always Apply to Part 1
****************************************************************************************************
Oct. 19, 2010
Previously I had several topics that I thought would possibly appear in Part 1 but today I deleted them because they haven't appeared between Sept. 4 and Oct 15. We now have the unusual situation of no "Home" (accommodation) topic in Part 1 at the moment.
Sept. 26, 2010
So far this September, we see that all the topics that are labeled with C, have been reported in almost every test. What about Topic 2 Your Home, Topic 13 Flowers, Topic 14 Time, Topic 17 Neighbours, Topic 18 Magazines and Newspapers and Topic 25 Computers? Well, these topics were first introduced into the test in September 2009 so it is quite possible that they will not appear again between now and December. But sometimes a few topics (with the same questions) do seem to be used for more than 12 months. Also, we see that Topic 16 Films and Topic 15 Weather and Seasons were new in September 2009 but are still being used, along with some of the same questions from September 2009, especially for Films.
For the moment, I am leaving the unreported topics on the Part 1 page of topics for two reasons: i) In the past year or more, I have noticed that there has sometimes been a delay in the introduction of some Part 1 topics, possibly a delay as long as 5 or 6 tests, and ii) It's very unusual not to have Topic 2, Your Home in the test. Therefore, I would not be surprised to see the topic of Home start to be used in October and, along with that, possibly a few other topics.
On the other hand, we see an unusually large number of new Part 1 topics introduced into the test in this testing period, starting in September 2010, i.e., ten new topics (not counting the Music topic). This might indicate that the Part 1 only consists of the 27 topics marked with C because, since May 2007, the average number of Part 1 topics has been about 27. (You can see this on this page: http://ielts-yasi.englishlab.net/PAST_PART_ONE_TOPIC_INDEX.htm. Sometimes I had more than 30 topics listed but that was because it was not clear how many topics there were. The most important thing was to list the questions themselves, even if they are sometimes listed under the wrong, but similar topic.)
Overall, if you are going to do the test in October, I suggest that you concentrate on the topics marked with C but still have a look at the other, unreported topics. And, until the end of October, I suggest you treat the Home topic as if it were a confirmed topic in the test now.
****************************************************************************************************
2) Some General Notes that Always Apply to Part 1
You should not assume that you know what the question is just because the question is similar to a question on the current Part 1 page. This is because some of the questions on that page might be inaccurate. So, listen carefully to the exact words of the question that the examiner asks.
If there is a Part 1 topic that is also a Part 3 topic, I suggest you look at both sets of questions at the same time. This will help your understanding, give you more ideas and allow you to read any extra notes that I have written. (For example, the topic of 'Advertising'.)
Many questions are not reported at all or are inaccurately reported so you should also read the questions for that same topic on this page: ALL PART 1 QUESTIONS because previously used Part 1 questions are frequently used. That page shows all the questions and topics that have been (reported as) used in Part 1 since January 2006, except for the current Part 1 questions.
The list of current Part 1 topics and questions will not be complete until after we have had many tests. We might even still be discovering new Part 1 topics and questions towards the end of the current four-month period. This means that you should return to this page whenever the page has been updated, (probably a few days after each test).
For almost every question in Part 1, you should add extra information after you have answered the basic question. You should consider these questions as basically "invitations to give information", and invitations to show vocabulary, with the beginning of your answer directly answering the basic question.
(Possibly you don't need to give any extra information after answering this question: Do you work or are you a student? For that particular question, if you do give extra information, it might be best to make it rather short and general, although a lot of extra information might also be suitable in rare cases.)
For example: Do you think the internet is a good thing? Don't just say, "Yes, I do." and then stop. You should answer by first saying, "Yes, I do." and then follow that with some examples of what you think are the good points about the internet.
You could answer that particular question with an answer such as, "Yes, I think it's mostly a good thing but I also think there are a few negative sides to it." And then explain what you mean by giving examples or by speaking more specifically.
Although some Part 1 questions have (Why?/Why not?) written after the questions, you should consider that every question requires you to answer 'why' or 'why not', or some similar extra piece of information when the words, 'why' or 'why not' are not applicable to that question. If you do not say "Why" or "Why not", the examiner must ask you "Why?" or "Why not?" and it will not give a good impression if the examiner has to do that several times.
**********************************************************************************************