My IELTS Classroom Podcast

One of the main problems that students face when they start IELTS Writing is generating ideas for IELTS essays. Today, Nick and I look at one way that you should definitely NOT use to find ideas, and then look at two simple approaches that you should. You can read more about today's episodes at: http://blog.myieltsclassroom.com/ my-ielts-classro…for-ielts-essays / ‎ In this episode, we will d...

Hey! It has been a long time since we featured one of our student success stories. Why? Good question! I think that I have been so busy teaching lessons, making YouTube videos, and running the school that I just forgot! That's what I am delighted today to introduce you to Yiqi - one of our IELTS success stories from China. Yiqi was accepted onto a PhD course in the UK, but needed a 7.5 overal...

Hey! A couple of weeks ago, Nick and I looked at how you should approach multiple multiple choice questions   in IELTS listening. Today, I thought that we would look at the similar questions that appear in the reading exam - IELTS Reading Multiple Matching Questions.  These also ask you to select more than one correct answer from a list, but the technique that you will need to successfully complet...

In August, the new Cambridge IELTS 17 Academic book will be published. However, as always, the essay questions are already circulating on social media, so Nick and I thought that we would spend today analysing the four new essay questions to give you our ideas for each.  More importantly, we will spend time discussing how we would organise each of the essays, and why we think each one is difficult...

There are 13 points up for grabs in IELTS General Training Reading Part 2 and, as every text will focus on work or migration, a small amount of preparation can make a huge difference to the number of questions you can answer correctly (and the time it will take to do so).  Today, Nick and I discuss the language your should learn to maximise your potential in Part 2, and how you should approach two...

Hey! One complaint that IELTS test-takers have been making for decades is the order that the exams are taken on test-day. Starting with listening and ending with writing often means that students are tired when the attempt the most difficult (and often most important) section of the test. This week IELTS announced that this is about to change for students taking the paper-based IELTS test. Yes! Fi...

In the IELTS listening exam, there are two types of multiple choice questions : those where you are given 3 possible answers and asked to choose ONE, and those where you are given 5 or 7 possible answers and are asked to choose TWO or THREE. Today, we are going to look at the second type of question or, as I like to call them, IELTS listening multiple multiple choice questions. Many students are a...

The role of any teacher is to help their students maximise the scores that they will get in an exam. However, over the years Nick and I have noticed that many teachers are giving their students advice for the IELTS speaking exam that could actually harm their scores not improve them.  Obviously, this is not intentional, but it can be difficult as an examiner watching a student put into practice th...

At My IELTS Classroom, we take the emotional welfare of our students very seriously. In the past we have spoken to a trained psychologist about how test-takers can remain calm before and during their exam (and if you haven't watched that episode , I strongly recommend that you do as even I learned a lot!) , and have written a lot of about motivation and how to get it back if you have lost it...

Hey! Today Nick and I are continuing our "Let's do" series by completing a full IELTS speaking test . First, you will get a chance to answer the questions in a similar way to the real exam, and then you can listen on as Nick (our very own native speaker who is an ex-examiner) attempts the same test. That way you can listen to how the test is actually conducted and compare your answe...

Today, Nick and I look at the importance of learning IELTS lexis in context. We will start by analysing an Instagram post with synonyms for “highest” to show how the dictionary can definitely NOT be your friend. Then, we will review a set of IELTS flash card from Educational Software Technologies Limited, and give our verdict on whether they are a good purchase for IELTS students or not. You can v...

Hey everyone! In a recent podcast, Nick and I completed an Academic reading passage from Cambridge 15 Test 4. Today, we thought that we would do the listening from the same test. Click here to download the questions for the lesson Join us as we complete each section of the test. We will starting by outlining how we would approach each part and reminding you of the best way to approach each one.  T...

Hey! We all know that it can be hard to find the motivation to start studying for IELTS, which is why Nick and I have recorded so many episodes in the past about finding motivation. First, we did our 30-day motivation challenge , then we spoke about how to avoid procrastination in by eating those frogs , and last year we discovered a new way of self-studying by using metacognition . Today, we retu...

Hey! Today Nick and I are trying a new style of lesson. Instead of giving you lots of information about one topic, we are going to break down one element of essay writing - how to write an introduction to an IELTS agree / disagree essay. Join us to learn the three ingredients that you need to write an introduction well (they may not be what you expect) and how you can tackle questions that include...

Join Nick and I today as we go through the Cambridge IELTS Reading - Changes in Reading Habits from Cambridge 16, Test Four, Passage Two. We will show you how to put the technique into action. First, we will explain how to analyse the questions before you read (which will be a nice revision of Multiple Choice   and Summary Completion questions for those who have missed previous lessons). Then, we...

One of the most common questions asked about IELTS writing is how you should present your opinion in an IELTS Discuss Both Views essay. Do you need to write a separate paragraph with your opinion? Can you wait until the conclusion to "reveal" your opinion? And what does it mean to offer "positive" arguments for each view? That is what Nick and I will discuss in today's epi...

One of the most useful sentence structures in your grammar toolkit should conditional sentences. But, how many types of conditional sentences are there, and where can they be used NATURALLY in your speaking and writing? That is what Nick and I look at today. Useful Links Watch the first three lessons in our GT Task 1 Writing Course here: https://www.myieltsclassroom.com/categories/general-training...

Preparing for IELTS can feel daunting with four modules to prepare for and seemingly endless amounts of information available online to "help" you do so. But, how long do you really need to prepare for IELTS? And what should you cover if you only have one month or two months to prepare? That is what Nick and I will discuss in this episode. In this episode, we will  talk about where to st...

This week, Shelly is travelling in Brussels (drinking all the beer) so we thought we would have an easy episode this week and look at the Cambridge IELTS 16 essay questions. A couple of weeks ago Nick and I looked at the letter questions from the new Cambridge 16 IELTS General Training book, and ranked the letter prompts from easiest to most difficult. Who can forget the letter to Mrs Barrett?!!!!...

One of the enduring problems for many IELTS test-takers is being able to use uncountable and plural nouns correctly. Today, Nick and I take a deep-dive into the common problems that IELTS test-takers make in their writing and speaking. We will spend a lot of time discussing the definite article (the), so I strongly recommend that you watch our free grammar lesson so that you understand the 7 funda...

Hey! In IELTS reading matching sentence endings is a strange question type. At first glance, they can seem simple. After all, your only task is to match the start of a sentence with its correct end. And, as all of the possible endings are given to you, the challenge seems minimal. However, as we will see today, matching sentence endings question are unique as they rarely contain clear scaling word...

I repeat the YouTube channel is live! Yes, this is just a short reminder that from 7am GMT today, you will be able to watch 8 My IELTS Classrooms lessons for free on our YouTube channel. Just click here - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiLz9Dbe4NEIu5OCy0WA1sg Plus, we will be releasing a video every day in the coming week, including 3 that have only ever been available to my paying subscribers. ...

Hey everybody. This week Nick and I have a huge announcement to make. Can you guess what it is? No, we are not getting married (don't worry Nick), but we are finally launching our YouTube channel. Join us today to find out what content we plan to release. Plus, Shelly will share the techniques she used to get over her mental block over the channel - I mean, she has been promising to launch fo...

In recent weeks, Nick and I  have spent a lot of time talking about Academic Writing Task 1, so we thought that today it was time that we gave some love to our General Training students! Join us as we rank the four prompts in the new  Cambridge IELTS 16  in order of difficulty from easiest to most challenging. Trust me, the Cambridge IELTS 16 letters are NOT the same as previous Cambridge  books!...

Hey! This week, Nick and I look at how you should tackle IELTS Object Cue Cards, which are one of the most common in Part 2 of the exam. We will start with a brief review of IELTS Speaking Part 2 (as it has been along time since we did a speaking episode!), and then share a range of useful lexis to describe objects. Finally, we will demonstrate how you can put all of these skills together by compl...