ielts-yasi.englishlab.net

Updated Aug. 11, 2018

 

IELTS Part 2 and Part 3 Topics and Questions

Page 170

856.  A Public Place that Needs Improvement (Jan 2018)

857.  A River (Jan 2018)

858.  A Time You Saved Money for Something (Jan 2018)

859.  A Season (Jan 2018)

860.  Good Service (Jan 2018)

 

RETURN TO PART 2 TOPIC INDEX

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

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856.  A Public Place that Needs Improvement (Jan 2018)

Describe a public place (in your town or city) that you think needs improvement.

               You should say:

 what this place is

 what it is used for

 why it needs improving

 and explain how it could be improved.

              .

Notes

  • This is a previously unused topic.

  • The "improvement(s)" here would be of two different types: a) an improvement to the appearance of a place and, b) an improvement to the functionality (usage) of a place.

An example of a) is an area where the buildings are old and run-down (= not well-maintained, dilapidated). Two examples of b) are: a footpath that has many broken or missing bricks or slabs of stone that people walk on, causing people to trip and fall; and, a busy intersection where many people cross the road but where no traffic lights are installed. An improvement would be the installation of traffic lights and/or an underground or overhead walkway.

  • A "public place" is not necessarily a publicly-owned place (a government-owned or government-run place). For example, a cinema is open to the public, after they buy a ticket to enter, but most cinemas in the world are privately owned. There are also private (or semi-private) places and facilities such as clubs or gyms where you have to join some group in order to use those facilities. If you choose an example such as a cinema, it might be best to quickly explain this point when you talk, in case the examiner has a mistaken idea of the definition of "a public place". Basically, a "public place" is a place where the public can go. And they go there because they want to use this place => the place is a public facility

It's hard to think of any public "place" that is not also a public "facility", where a "facility" here means something that is used. A road is used, a footpath, a bridge, a park, a railway network, a bus system, an airport, a town square, a police station, a school, a hospital, a bank – all are places where the public can go in order to use them. Privately-owned places that are meant for public use such as cinemas, gyms, some sports centres,  restaurants and shops can also be described as "public facilities".

Overall, think that "public place" = "public facility" = "a facility that the public can use".

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Possible follow-up questions:

  • Do you think that place will, in fact, be improved?

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Part 3

Public Facilities

City vrs. Country Living

Public Transportation   See Note 1

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857.  A River (Jan 2018)

Describe an important river or lake in your country. *

               You should say:

 where it is

 how big it is

 what it looks like

   and explain why it is important. *              .

Notes

  • The first line might say something like, "Describe an important body of water in your country, such as a river or lake". Other "bodies of water" could be: an inland sea (similar to a very big lake), a reservoir, a marshland (= a swamp), a canal ...

  • I haven't seen any reports on the last line but usually it is connected to the key word in the first line, which is "important" in this case.

  • For the cue, "and explain why it is important" you could say something like, "birds use a marshland as a breeding site (which is important for the birds and for bio-diversity)" or, "farmers and people living near a river use it as a source of water and it's also used for transportation (ships, barges or other boats)" etc.

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Possible follow-up questions:

  • Do you often go there?

  • Are there other places like that in your country?

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Part 3

See also any similar or relevant questions in the Part 3 of the following topics:

The sub-topics, "Recreational Activities Near Water" and "Occupations Connected to Places with Water" have been used before and you should look at those previous questions, especially the work-related questions because not many questions have been reported this time for that topic. I don't think the topic, "Rivers and Other Bodies of Water" has been used before.

Recreational Activities Near Water

Occupations Connected to Places with Water

Rivers and Other Bodies of Water

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858.  A Time You Saved Money for Something (Jan 2018)

Describe an example of when you saved money for something special.

               You should say:

 what you saved for

 how you earned and saved the money

 how long you saved

   and explain how you felt after getting what you saved for.

              

Notes

  • This looks like a repeat of Topics 535 & 48

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Possible follow-up questions:

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Part 3

See also Topics 535 & 48

Spending and Saving

Children & Saving

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859.  A Season (Jan 2018)

Modified copy of Topic 164

        Describe your favourite season or time of the year. 

              You should say:

                      what season (or time of the year) it is

                      what the weather is like at that time

                      what you usually do at that time

              and explain why you enjoy that season or time of the year

                                                   or

             and explain why you enjoy that season or time of the year more than other seasons or times of the year.

              .

 

Notes

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Possible follow-up questions:

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Part 3

See also Topics 517, 406, 164, 95 & 25

The Seasons in Your Country

    Cold Weather Places

Work and the Seasons

Climate Change  See Note 2 

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860.  Good Service (Jan 2018)

Copy of Topic 783

Describe a time when you experienced good customer service (e.g., in a shop, restaurant or other business).

            You should say:

who offered the service

when and where it happened

how you felt about it

            and explain how the service was good.

 

              

Notes

  • This looks like a repeat of one or more of Topics 783 & 600

  • For this usage, "service" is a non-count noun. So we say, "some good service" or just "good service" not, "a good service". But we can say, "an example of good service".

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Possible follow-up questions:

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Part 3

Customer Service in Shops and Other Businesses

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Note 1

All over the world, public transportation systems, especially in cities and big towns, have traditionally been examples of publicly owned (= government-owned) facilities. "Government" here refers to local, state or provincial government in most cases except for such systems as national railway systems that connect various parts of the country. But more and more of these public transportation systems have been privatized in recent years. That is, more and more are now owned by private companies.

What's the difference between a publicly-owned public transportation system and a privately-owned public transportation system? On the surface, a privately-owned subway line, bus line (or other service such as an electricity or water system) might seem the same as a publicly owned one. However, publicly-owned facilities were never intended to generate income for the government, (even if you have to pay to use a train or bus) since they were providing what is considered to be an essential service. They were intended to run "at cost" or even at a relatively small loss. Privately-owned public facilities, on the other hand, exist for the purpose of making a profit (the most profit they can make) for the investors in those companies. The result is that privately-owned essential services are always more expensive for the consumers of those services than state-owned essential services.

Note 2

This is a highly contentious topic in the West! It has become more of a political topic than a scientific topic. The fact is that the science of climatology is still very much an evolving science; there is still much that is not understood about it. It is far from "settled science" (a settlement between two opposing views). But be careful of what you say when answering questions on this topic because some examiners might treat the topic like their personal religion!

Note 3

"Warm" does not mean "hot".

Note 4

Can you think of any examples of work that is dependant on the seasons?

The examiners are really asking for examples of "seasonal work" but they probably won't use that term, at least not at first.

Note 5

This question is mainly about hotels that cater to tourists. It's a question about hotel occupancy or how busy hotels are in different seasons.

Note 6

Do you think the climate of a place has influenced the culture of the people who live there?

This question is referring to the evolution, over hundreds or thousands of years, of the culture of the people in a certain place. Food, clothing styles, and the style of their houses are three examples of this.

Note 7

If you're interested (but don't spend too much time on this), you might want to research the term. "Grand Solar Minimum". We are fast approaching, or have already entered, a Grand Solar Minimum period that is predicted to last several decades. But the media mostly avoid this topic. A solar minimum period is indicated by an extended period of low sunspot activity.

Previous solar minimums were accompanied by global cooling, (which are even sometimes referred to as "mini ice ages"), instances of extreme precipitation & flooding, increased earthquake and volcanic activity, and increased cosmic rays from outer space hitting the earth as a result of a weaker magnetic field from the sun, which deflects cosmic rays away from the earth. Millions of people died of starvation in previous solar minimums such as the Maunder Minimum and the Dalton Minimum when crop failures were widespread.

 

(Graph from https://scied.ucar.edu/sunspot-cycle)

 

 

Two other web pages to look at are:

http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=31&month=07&year=2018

https://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/solar_minimum09.html

The connection with GLOBAL COOLING is this: Until recently, scientists knew that the Maunder & Dalton Solar Minimum periods were accompanied by global cooling but no feasible explanation was available to explain how it happened. However, recently Dr. Henrik Svensmark, in Denmark, ( http://thecloudmystery.com/The_Cloud_Mystery/Home.html ) proved that clouds are formed by growing around seeds of cosmic rays, which was a new discovery.

It was already known that the sun's magnetic field deflected cosmic rays coming from outer space, away from the earth. And it was already known that solar minimum periods were periods of increased cosmic rays hitting the earth.

Historic estimates of cosmic ray input into the earth's atmosphere in the past have been made by other scientists, and those records confirm that the Maunder & Dalton Minimums were times of peak cosmic ray inflow into the earth's atmosphere.

The coming global cooling is predicted to be much stronger than any warming of the earth produced by greenhouse gases, whether man-made or naturally produced greenhouse gases.

Svensmark's work did two things; a) it discovered how clouds are formed and, b) it explained how solar minimum periods result in global cooling. To sum up – in times of a Solar Minimum, more cosmic rays hit the earth, producing more clouds. Clouds are the cooling mechanism of the earth against the sun's radiant heat.

It's the sun that controls climate on earth, not CO2 (manmade or otherwise). But to say that to some IELTS examiners will be considered to be a kind of blasphemy! This is the age of "political correctness" in the West.