Updated Nov. 15,
2013
IELTS Part 2 and
Part 3 Topics and Questions
Page 89
441.
A Plan (Sep. 1,
2012)
(Probably no longer used)
442. A Garden (4)
(Sep. 1, 2012)
(Probably no longer used)
443.
A Lesson, Class or Training Session
(2)
(Sep. 1, 2012)
(Probably no longer used)
444.
A Teenager You Know
(2) (Sep. 1, 2012)
(Probably no longer used)
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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441.
A Plan (Sep. 1, 2012)
(Probably no longer used)
Describe a plan you have for the future (but not related to work or study).
You should say:
what it is
why you have this plan
what the first step in your plan is *
what you will need to do in order to make the plan work (= be
successful)*
and
explain how you think you will feel after you achieve this (= succeed
with this plan). *
Notes
-
The asterix, *, means I do not fully know
if these are the words but people have hinted at these meanings.
-
"Not related to your study" means is is a
personal plan, not related to your formal study such as at
university. But you can have a plan to learn something, such as a plan to
learn to play the guitar. (See notes about the differences between "learn"
and "study"
here.
-
Of course, all plans have a final goal, i.e., a
plan is a series of steps that you hope to pass through in order to reach
some final goal. Your answer need not be a highly detailed plan. It can be
something like "an intention" but you do need to talk at least a little
about any steps or preparation that you will need to do in order to achieve
what your goal. This is what, "what
you will need to do in order to make the plan work"
means.
-
Your example can be quite simple, such as a
plan of what you intend to do tomorrow, a plan for a trip, a plan to lose
weight, a plan to become healthier or better at a sport, a plan to get
married, a plan to find a girlfriend or boyfriend, a plan of what to do in
your next long holiday, a plan of what to buy your mother for her birthday,
planning to learn to play the guitar, a plan for how to get your driver's
license, a plan for saving a certain amount of money, a plan for your future
child, ....
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Part 3
See also any related questions in the Part 3 of
Topics 217 &
380
The Importance of Planning
-
In general, do you think planning is
important?
FQ
-
Would would happen if a
person had no plans?
-
What is the reason why
people make plans?
-
(Similar to above) What
are the benefits of making plans?
-
What kinds of personal
plans do (or, should) people make for themselves?
-
In general, how do people
make plans?
-
Do you think people should
make highly detailed plans or just general plans?
-
For a person with
children, what influence does this have on their personal plans for the
future?
-
Do you think old people
should make plans?
-
Within families in your country, do both parents
plan for the future of their children?
Planning/Not Planning
-
What type of people likes to make plans?
-
What are some examples of jobs (or work) in which
making plans is important?
-
Why do you think some people don't like making
plans?
FQ
-
(Similar to above but
different)
Why do you think some people don't like doing
things according to a plan?
FQ
-
What kinds of people don't
like plans?
-
What do you think happens
to people who don't have plans?
-
Do you think things
generally work out for those people who have no plans?
-
Do you think some people
waste time? (Why?)
Career and
Educational Planning
-
Do you think it's
important for a person to have a career plan?
-
How do most people plan
their future education and their future career? (What factors?)
-
Do parents have much
influence on young people's career plans?
FQ
-
Do you think it's
important for young people to get advice from their parents when planning a
career?
FQ
-
Do you think it's
important to include the factor of one's salary in a career plan?
Day-to-Day
Plans
-
How does (or, how can) a
person make a plan for a single day (or a weekend)?
-
What are some examples of
a plan for a single day (or a weekend)?
-
Some people make a plan
for each day while others don't make plans. Do you think those who make
daily plans will be more successful than those who don't?
FQ
-
Some people like to have a
strict plan or schedule for each day but other people don't like that. What
do you think are the advantages and the disadvantages of a strict plan for
each day?
FQ
Government Planning
-
Is it important for
governments to make plans?
-
How do governments make
their plans?
-
What sorts of plans do
governments usually make? *
-
Do you think it's
important for governments to have some plans concerning the education of
their people? (Or should this be left to the marketplace to decide or to
people's personal preferences?)
***********************************************************************
442. A Garden (4)
(Sep. 1, 2012)
(Probably no longer used)
Describe a garden you visited and liked.
You should say:
where it was
what you saw in this
garden
what you did there
and
explain why you liked
it.
Notes
-
This might be either
Topic 142,
246 or
332 returning to the test. (Or possibly some of those were really
the same.)
-
Some people have reported that it says, "a
garden in a city" but i think that is probably just taken from someone's
blog and is not really on the card. After all, not everybody lives in a
city. "In a town or city" would be possible". If it does say that, it
probably means you should not describe a commercial garden, called a "market
garden", which is really a farm where vegetables are grown.
-
If the wording above is more or less correct,
the choices are, a) a public garden like a park or a
botanical garden, b) a private flower garden in someone's yard
outside their home or c, a private vegetable garden in someone's backyard.
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Part 3
See also the Part 3 questions for
Topics 142,
246 &
332
Public Gardens in The City
-
What do people usually do
when they go to a public garden in the city?
-
Do people of different
ages do different things when they visit a garden?
-
How do you think children
can benefit from a public garden?
-
Do you think the
government (mainly city governments) have built enough public gardens in
your country (or, hometown)?
-
Do you think that's a good
way for city governments to spend money?
-
Do you think people should
be able to enter a public garden for free (= at no cost)?
Growing Things /
Gardening
The Space Outside People's Homes
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A modified copy of
Topic 89
Describe a
class, seminar or training session that you enjoyed. *
You
should say:
what the session was about
who the teacher or trainer was
what
the teacher (and the students) did
*
what you learned in this class or training session
and explain why you enjoyed it
Notes
-
Of course, the card really only has three
points after "You should say", not four.
-
It seems that the card does not tell you to say
when this session took place. But you must give some indication of
"when" whenever you use the past tense, even if the card does not tell you
to do that.
-
It is not 100% certain that the word, "class"
is included in the first line.
-
This topic is most suitable for working people
but everyone should be able to think of an example of this experience. For
working people, not everyone has attended a detailed seminar or training
session that took place in a classroom or workplace, such as a one-day or
one-week training session. However, everyone who has (or has had) a job was
first given instructions on how to do the job. For example, even if your
supervisor at work just said, "You sit here and you do this" and even if
that explanation was only for a few minutes, it was still a minor example of
a training session. And everyone has had an experience such as attending a
swimming class, or a PE class in which you were taught how to play
basketball, a computer class in high school in which you were taught how to
use a computer or a music class in which you were taught how to play a
musical instrument. Basically, any experience in which someone taught
you how to do something would be a suitable example here. Even the
example of your mother teaching you how to cook a certain dish would be
suitable.
-
Make sure you emphasize how or why you
enjoyed it. The last line of the part 2 topics is always the most
important line.
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Part 3
See also the Part 3 questions for
Topic 89
Learning, (especially adult
education)
Note
The words, "old people" (e.g., retired people)
might be used. Or it might be "older people", which really means "not young
people" = over the age of about 25 or 30.
-
Do you think education is important?
-
Do you believe that we are ever too old to learn?
FQ
-
(Similar to above) Do (or, can) old people learn new things?
FQ
-
Do you think it's important to keep learning new skills
throughout life?
-
Do you think governments should make available free education
(or free training courses) for all adults?
FQ
-
What skills do you think
one needs in order to be a good student?
Teaching and Schools
-
How do you think schools could be improved?
-
What qualities should a
good teacher have?
-
Do you think the usage of
science and technology has changed teaching very much?
FQ
-
Do you think technology
will continue to change the more traditional ways of learning (or,
studying)?
FQ
-
Do you think teachers and
classroom learning will ever be replaced by using hi-tech method of study?
FQ
Distance Education
(Today. this would mainly be
done using the internet.)
-
Which do you think is
better, distance education or classroom education?
-
Do you think distance
education might one day replace classroom education?
Children's and Learning
-
Do you think it is better
for children to learn in a strict environment or in a more lenient
environment?
-
How do you think children could be encouraged
to be more interested in learning?
-
Do you think it's
important for children to have fun at school (or, have fun while learning)?
-
What do you think is the
best way for children to learn social skills?
***********************************************************************
444.
A Teenager You Know
(2) (Sep. 1, 2012)
(Probably no longer used)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 3
See also the many Part 3 questions for
Topic 133.
Notes
Whenever the examiner asks questions using terms
such as "young people" or "old people", it's a good idea to confirm with the
examiner exactly what ages the examiner means.
Usually, "children" = 4 to 12 yrs old; "teenagers"
= 13 to 19 years old; "young people" = about 13 to about 25; "old people" = 60
and older
Teenagers and Responsibility
-
What do you
think is the difference between children and teenagers?
-
How is the
behaviour of teenagers different to the behaviour of children?
FQx2
-
At what age
do you think people become responsible (for their own actions)?
-
What
responsibilities do you mean here?
-
How could
(or, should) schools educate students to be responsible people?
-
Do you think
children also should be responsible people?
The Culture of Modern Society / The Generation Gap
-
Do you think
modern culture is mainly a young people's culture or a culture for the
elderly? (Why?)
-
What do older adults think about
young people (or, young
people's lifestyles)?
***********************************************************************
Describe a wrong decision made by someone you know. *
You should say:
who made this wrong decision *
what the decision was *
what the situation was *
and
explain why you think it was the wrong decision. *
Notes
-
If the words, "someone you know" are written on
the card, for this case it doesn't have to be someone you know personally
(someone you have spoken to). Here, the words, "you know" can be interpreted
to mean, "someone whose name you know". What the wording means is that in
this Part 2 you need to say
who (the name) made the wrong decision.
However (!),
whenever the words, "you know" are used in a Part 2 topic, it is
safer
to talk about someone you know personally because some examiners might not
agree that you "know" people such as ex-U.S. President George Bush. (See
below.)
Another example would be someone you know who cheated in
an exam, whether or not they were caught, or someone who stole something. Or
maybe you know a guy who broke up with his girlfriend because he thought she
didn't really love him but you think he made a mistake, you think she does
love him. Or a girl who decided to study computer science when she was
completely unsuited to it and not really interested in it.
-
Your example doesn't have to be a major wrong
decision - it could be a rather simple mistake. On the other hand, you could
choose to talk about a legally wrong decision, i.e., a crime. Or you
could talk about a decision that is wrong in religion - this is called a
"sin" if it is a major wrong act against the teachings of that religion.
-
* = the wording is not yet fully known.
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Part 3
See also the Part 3 questions for
Topic 2 &
Topic 323
Decision-Making in General
-
Do you think
decision-making today is different to decision-making in the past?
-
Which do you think is
better, to make decisions quickly or to make decisions slowly?
-
Do you think it's a good
idea to make decisions when one is feeling strong emotions or is it better
to make decisions when one's emotions are not strong?
Decision-Making
in the Family
-
What are some typical
decisions that families make?
FQ
-
(Similar to above) What
are some of the most common issues that families have to make decisions
about?
FQ
-
In your country, how are
decisions made within the family?
-
In your culture (or,
country), which family member(s) usually make the major decisions in
families? *
-
Do you think parents
should make decisions for their children?
FQ
-
Do you think the children
should ever participate in family decision making?
-
In your country, do women
today have more power to make decisions in the family than before?
FQ
International
Decision-Making / International Co-operation
-
Can you give any examples
of how nations co-operate with each other?
-
How do people benefit from
this co-operation?
-
What are some examples of
problems or arguments that might arise between nations?
-
How do nations settle
these problems or arguments?
-
Do you think that there will be more international
co-operation in the future, or less?
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