Updated June 30, 2015
IELTS Part 2 and Part 3 Topics and Questions
Page 118
586. A Meal
FQ = frequent question = a question that has frequently been reported = a question that is probably in the examiner's question book
* = my guess at a question
***********************************************************************
Eating Places
Where do you prefer to
eat, at home or in restaurants?
How often do they (the average person) eat in restaurants?
Is there much difference between cooking a meal for yourself or for your family and cooking a meal for a larger family gathering?
What are the pros and cons
of eating at home, compared to eating in restaurants?
(Same as above)
Do you think restaurant food is just as good as home-cooked food?
Do you think restaurant food is just as healthy and safe as home-cooked food?
(Possibly) Which do you think tastes better, restaurant food or home-cooked food? *
What do you think people
will be doing for their meals in the future?
(In the future), do you think that cooking at home will be replaced by eating out? See Note 4
Do you think machines might one day take the place of cooks (or chefs)?
The Food Industry
In your country, is the typical food that people eat today the same as the food that people used to eat in the past?
In your country, are there regional differences in what people eat (e.g., north and south differences)?
How do you think food production today is different to what it was several decades ago?
How do (or, how can) the seasons affect food production?
The Cultural Importance of Food
Does food play an important role in the culture of your country? *
What are the differences between everyday meals and
meals at special celebrations?
Do people in your country
spend a lot of money on food when they celebrate special occasions?
How is the food different
to everyday food at these special celebrations?
Why do people eat special food at these special celebrations?
Do you think they spend
too much money on that?
Do you think some food tends to be wasted when special celebrations are held?
Food Safety
What does the government in your country do to (try to) ensure food safety?
Borrowing
Do people in your country often borrow things?
In your country, what do people borrow?
Why do they borrow these things?
In your country, are there any particular people who borrow more than others?
Do neighbours often borrow from each other?
Do you often borrow things from your neighbours?
Do you think it's good to borrow something without asking?
Why do some people borrow things rather than buy them?
Are there any advantages from borrowing, rather than buying something?
Are there any downsides to borrowing something? *
Do you think it's good to borrow books from a library?
Do you think borrowing things is a good habit to have?
Is there any difference between borrowing a thing and borrowing a sum of money? *
Do you think it's good to borrow money?
(Similar to above)
Where (or, who) do people borrow money from?
Would you lend money to a friend?
Some people think borrowing money from or lending money to a friend might damage the friendship. Can you suggest why they think that?
Returning Borrowed Things
Do friends usually return the things they borrow from each other?
What would you do if a friend didn't return something they had borrowed from you? FQ
(Similar to above)
Do you think it's always easy to ask for something that you lent to be returned to you?
How do you think people feel when they have to ask a friend to return a borrowed item?
Do you think different cultures have different attitudes towards borrowing?
Sharing
Do you like sharing things with others?
Do you think people in the future will be sharing more than they do today, or less?
Note
The wording might not include, "to a friend or family member".
There is a possibility that the wording just says, "a handmade thing" without saying that you made it.
2
Note that the two words, "give" and "send" have different meanings.
Handmade Gifts
On what occasions do people in your country give gifts?
Do you think a homemade (or, handmade) gift is good to give to someone? ("homemade" = made by oneself = "handmade")
Do people in your country often give handmade items as
gifts?
What are some examples of handmade items that people
give as gifts?
What are the differences between a handmade gift and a
store-bought gift?
Do people like to receive hand-made gifts?
What types of people are most likely to be the receivers of these gifts?
Do you think people appreciate receiving handmade gifts or do they prefer more expensive, shop-bought gifts? FQ
Do you think females are more likely to place importance on giving gifts than males?
Who gives self-made (= handmade) gifts more often, girls or
boys?
(Similar to above) Who do you think is more likely to make a gift, a male
or a female?
Creativity / Design
Do you think it's necessary to teach creativity to children?
How would it benefit children to have these classes in school?
Do you think designers of products are mostly males or mostly females?
Manufacturing
What would you say are some of the main differences
between handmade products and machine-made products?
(Similar to above) Which do you think are better,
handmade products or factory-made products?
Generally, is a handmade product cheaper, or more expensive, than a similar machine-made product?
Notes
One can "emulate" (= copy) a person, but not really "emulate a habit" or "copy a habit". Instead, we say, "adopt a habit" or "develop a habit" (more often for bad habits).
Habits
What are some examples of good habits, and of bad habits that people have?
How do we develop our habits?
(Similar to above)
How do people (adults) judge what is a "bad" habit and what is a "good" habit?
What can be (or, are) the results of having bad habits?
Why do people sometimes change (or try to change) their habits?
Do you think adults (or possibly, old people) can easily change their habits (or, break bad habits)?
The Habits of Children (and Young People)
Do you think it's important for people to develop good habits when they are children?
(Similar to above) What are some examples of habits that people usually only develop when are become adults?
Some children change their habits. Can you suggest why that might happen?
Why do some children develop bad habits?
Do you think parents have a responsibility (duty, obligation) to encourage the development of good habits in their children?
How can parents cultivate good habits in their children?
Do you think there are good and bad habits of thinking? (= ways of thinking, attitudes) *
Behaviour
Possible this is sub-topic or possibly it was reported erroneously. "Behaviour" is not really the same as "habits". Both behaviour and habits are (mostly) learned but the meaning of the two is not exactly the same.
Why do many children behave badly?
How can parents encourage the development of good behaviour in their children?
Routines
Do you think it's good to do the same things every day?
What benefits do (some) people get from doing the same thing every day?
What do you think are the advantages, and possible disadvantages, of having routines (or, a daily routine)?
Do you think have a daily routine helps people who have a bad memory? ( = a poor ability to remember things)
See any similar questions in the following previous
topics - Topics
549,
492,
478,
355,
322,
Reading in Your Country
Do you like reading?
What types of books do you prefer to read?
What are some of the reasons why people read books?
What (types of) books (or
other reading matter) do they read?
Can you think of any examples of adults who need to (= must) read books?
Do teenagers and adults like to read the same kinds of things?
Do men and women (like to) read the same types of things?
Have there been any changes in people's reading
habits in your country in past few years (or, decades)?
Do you think people today read more, or read less
than they did say, 50 years ago?
(Similar to above) What do you think are the
benefits of reading?
Which do you think benefits people more, reading or
watching TV?
(Similar to above) How are watching TV
and reading books different activities?
Do you think that modern technology is having an effect
on people's reading habits?
Do you think e-books are having an effect on people's reading habits?
Which do you prefer, paper books or e-books?
Do you think e-books will replace paper books in the future?
Why do you think some people prefer to read e-books while others prefer to read paper books?
Children's Reading
What do children in your country read? FQx2
(A little different to above) What kinds of books do
children like to read?
What are some differences between what
children read and what adults read?
Do they only read entertainment materials or do they also read other things (or, for other purposes)?
Do you think they should read more educational materials?(= materials from which they increase their knowledge)
Who do you think has the greater influence on the
reading habits of children, their teachers or their parents?
How could children be encouraged to read more?
(Similar to above) How could children be
encouraged to get into the habit of reading?
Do you think schools should compel (or, force) children to read?
If a child did not like reading, what could his or her parents do?
Education / Learning
Do you think it's important for school children to use books at school?
Why not provide school children with electronic devices that contain their text book materials? *
What can people learn from reading books?
Do you think parents have an effect on the reading that their children do?
Who do you think has the
greater influence on a child's learning (or, education), the child's parents
or the child's teachers?
Notes
Listen carefully to what word the examiner uses, whether it is "handmade" or some word such as "self-made". People can buy some handmade products in certain types of shops, including souvenir shops, but even though these products were made by hand (handicrafts), they are not "self-made" or made by the gift-giver..
It is not clear whether the word, "learning" or "education" is used. I think the answer could be different, depending on which word is used.
The wording for that question is not clear but it seems to be hinting at the idea of many people using an app or the internet to order meals to be delivered to their homes. Or possibly robots cooking pre-packaged meals at home. Basically, it's a futuristic question, like science fiction, and it doesn't matter how "stupid" your ideas might sound - it's more important to correctly use the future tense, along with adverbs such as "maybe", "perhaps", "possibly", "probably" etc.
Whenever a question using the word, "replace" is used like that, it implies "completely replace" or, "100% replace". So the answer should not be a simple "Yes" or "No" – you should include how much you think something will be or might be replaced. A similar question is, "Do you think the internet will replace newspapers?"
When it comes to the question of reading (paper) books, the advent of television and of the internet certainly changed people's habits. But try to be accurate when you talk about the affect of the internet on people's reading habits in general, not just reading books. As internet usage grew, the time spent watching TV shrunk. But many people spend a large proportion of their time on the internet reading things on the internet. For these people, the amount of reading that they do has actually increased, compared to when they watched TV! The difference is that it is not paper books, paper magazines or newspapers that they are reading.