Kamis, 20 Maret 2014

Top 10 Myths about taking the IELTS exam

IELTS Myths:
As a teacher, I hear many strange things about IELTS. Here is my top 10 list of IELTS myths.  These myths are all false, so don’t let these ideas or stories about IELTS disrupt your practice and preparation for the test! 

Non-native speakers can’t get a band 9 on IELTS: 
Many students have said this to me - that it’s impossible for a non-native speaker to get a band 9. Of course, this just isn’t true. The test is based on how good your English is, not where you come from. The band 9 rating is described by IELTS as ‘expert user’. It’s perfectly possible for people who are non-native speakers and who are excellent speakers of English to get a band 9. Not only that, but the opposite is true too. Not all native speakers can get a band 9, even on speaking!  

I have to keep practising tests to improve my score: 
This is a big myth but a very common one. IELTS is a test of English, not a test to test how well you know the test! The only way to improve your score, once you are familiar with the test, is to improve your English in all 4 macro-skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking. Doing more and more tests doesn’t really help you to improve. It just fills your head with answers. I know students who know all the answers to certain listening tests and can get 39 out of 40 but this doesn’t help their listening and on the real test they may only score 24 or 25 out of 40. Listening intensively to a variety of things - conversations, radio, news or even songs is the answer to improving your listening. Practise your listening micro-skills by going to the free practice exercise links on this page .

I need to learn long lists of vocabulary to be successful:
Of course vocabulary is important for IELTS to get a good score but you don’t need to learn long lists. You need to be familiar with words in all their forms and be able to use them accurately and appropriately. This is far more important than knowing a long list. Knowing a good variety of words and using them well and correctly will be enough for most people to get the score they need. Common topics in IELTS include education, environment and culture. Look at IELTS course books which will give you a good idea of what kind of words you need.


They make the IELTS test too hard so overseas students can’t get into university:

The IELTS test is an independent test of English used by governments and educational institutions to get information about a person’s English level. The governments and colleges or universities set the level themselves independently so that is why different universities have different IELTS test score requirements. IELTS is not connected with them in any way and has no influence on what band scores are required for different tasks or institutions. 

If I don’t understand the examiner in the speaking test, I will get a low band:

The speaking test is only about your speaking proficiency and listening is tested in the listening test. If you don’t understand what the examiner says, ask them to repeat or ask the meaning of a word. The speaking test only measures speaking proficiency, not listening.

Grammar is not important in the IELTS:

It is true that grammar does not have a separate test in IELTS but of course it is still very important. You will need grammar for all the skills and it is specifically part of the assessment in both writing and speaking (25%). In reading and listening your knowledge of grammar can help you write in the correct word form in an answer so it is necessary throughout the test.

If I take the test in my country, I will get a better score:

You may get a better score in your country if you take the IELTS test there, but this will more likely be due to the fact that you may feel more comfortable in familiar surroundings in your home town, rather than the test itself. All tests on the same day are the same everywhere in the world so the test itself is not any easier and is the same one you would have taken if you had taken the test overseas. IELTS examiners are highly trained to be reliable markers, so your score should be the same. If you are feeling a little more relaxed in your home town, you could get a better score, but this is a factor which affects you and your performance in the test. The test is not easier.

The examiner is looking at the clock in the speaking test so I must be very boring:

This cannot possibly be true! The examiner has to keep to strict times so is looking at the clock to make sure he or she is within those times. Please don’t worry about those things.

There will be certain question types at certain times of the year for the writing:

I heard this myth recently, where students were saying that a certain task comes up in May or June! IELTS would not be so predictable as to have certain task types on a given month of the year. Just prepare all your task types for the writing as normal.

Examiners at some centres are stricter than others in another centre:

All examiners go through careful training and retraining throughout their examiner life. If they are too strict someone will notice! It’s not the examiner, but more likely your performance on the day just wasn’t as good as on a previous occasion or in class, due to nerves or illness or something similar. It is hard, I’m sure you’ll agree, to tell how well you did in an exam! Sometimes you think you did a good job, but in fact it wasn’t so good.

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How to use Peer Review (IELTS Evaluation)

Question: 
We cannot help everyone in the world that needs help, so we should only be concerned with our own communities and countries. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

========================================================================

Answer:
The world has different communities and cultures where people have variety of mindset. Some of them have natural instinct to support their local public however, rest of them have belief that any volunteer service for other nations is not in our hands. This report will deploy both the situations along with evidence of support. 

On the other hand, I accept that our limits have some boundaries so it is not possible to outreach. In detail , people to help their neighbors and poor homeless persons of their nation because they are at their door steeps. They feel the pain and sufferings around those people. For instance, every nation and their citizens involve themselves in any sort of volunteer service which is the welfare of their country. Whenever a poor man cry for help, they show sympathy as their friend or relative. So, we can understand the feeling of people who prioritize local community rather than the whole world.

At the same time, helping other world countries is also indispensable by contributing at world level. It is more often seen that not that at international level where which rich countries are shouldering poor countries by providing them financial and other recoverable sources. For example, when natural disasters or dangerous diseases affect many developing countries then many rich countries come forward by paying for medicines, clothes and other articles. Moreover, some local masses also donate money and other useful material to revamp life in those nations. Hence, a common man can also participate in the charity programs beyond their boundaries for global issues. 

To sum up, after observing the above analysis, I do not think that we should bind ourselves in any regulations. No matter what if some people prefer to help their own countrymen, we should serve whole humanity as well are part of this world.



Paragraph 1
The world has different communities and cultures where people have variety of mindset. Some of them have natural instinct (1) to support their local public however, (2) rest of them have belief (3) that any volunteer service for other nations is not in our (4) hands. This report will deploy both the situations along with evidence of support. (5)

Comments
There are some grammar mistakes in this paragraph.
1. Write ‘a natural instinct’ because instinct is a singular countable noun.
2. The usage of however is also problematic. When you use however in a sentence, it is always a good idea to separate the two clauses with a semi-colon.
3. Write ‘the rest of them’. The usage of the phrase ‘have belief’ is laso problematic. The simple verb ‘believe’ sounds much better. 
Some of them have a natural instinct to support their local public; however, the rest of them believe that any volunteer service for other nations is not in their hands
4. Write ‘their’. Our doesn’t agree with ‘the rest of them’
5. Write ‘This essay will analyze both sides of the argument before arriving at a conclusion.’

Problem
The biggest problem with this opening paragraph is that it fails to present both sides of the argument.
The student writes that some people have an instinct to help their local community while others believe that volunteer service for other nations is not their hands. Isn’t he saying the same thing in different words?

Paragraph 2
On the other hand (1), I accept that our limits have some boundaries (2) so it is not possible to outreach. In detail (3), people to help their neighbors and poor homeless persons of their nation because they are at their door steeps. They feel the pain and sufferings around (4) those people. For instance, every nation and their (5) citizens involve themselves in any (6) sort of volunteer service which is the welfare of their country. Whenever a poor man cry (7) for help, they show sympathy as their (8) friend or relative. So, we can understand the feeling (9) of people who prioritize local community rather than the whole world.

Comments
1. On the other hand is not necessary because contradictory ideas are not presented in the sentence or the paragraph. 
2. Write ‘we have limits’. ‘Our limits have boundaries’ doesn’t make sense because the words limits and boundaries mean the same. 
3. Write ‘In general’
4. Write ‘of’
5. Write ‘its citizens’. Every is singular and hence a pronoun used to refer back to it should be singular in number. 
6. Write ‘some’. In affirmative sentences, we use some. In negative and interrogative sentences we use any. 
7. Write ‘cries’. The plural verb cry doesn’t agree with the singular subject poor man. 
8. Write ‘a’
9. Write ‘feelings’

Paragraph 3
At the same time, helping other world countries is also indispensable by contributing at world level (1). It is more often seen that not that (2) at international (3) level where which rich countries are shouldering (4) poor countries by providing them financial and other recoverable sources (5). For example, when natural disasters or dangerous diseases affect many developing countries then (6) many rich countries come forward (7) by paying for medicines, clothes and other articles. Moreover, some local masses also donate money and other useful material to revamp life in those nations. Hence, a common man can also participate in the charity programs beyond their boundaries for global issues. 

Comments:
1. Write ‘at the world level’
2. Confusing construction. Write ‘it is often seen that’
3. Write ‘at the international’
4. Use the simple present tense verb ‘shoulder’ instead of the present continuous verb ‘are shouldering’. Or better still, use a simple verb like ‘help’
5. The construction ‘recoverable sources’ is not appropriate. Write ‘financial and other valuable assistance’.
6. Omit ‘then’
7. Write ‘come forward to help them by paying’.

Paragraph 4
To sum up, after observing the above analysis (1), I do not think that we should bind ourselves in any regulations (2). No matter what (3) if some people prefer to help their own countrymen, we should serve whole humanity (4) as well are part of this world.

Comments
1. Write ‘after analyzing the situation’ or ‘after analyzing both sides of the argument’
2. Write ‘we should be bound by any geographic boundaries’.
3. Write ‘even’
4. Write ‘the whole humanity’

Evaluation report
This is not a bad essay. It isn’t first class either. The biggest problem with this essay is that the student fails to support his arguments with valid reasons. He could have made this essay much better adding some real life examples. 

Grammar and vocabulary analysis:
This essay is plagues by silly grammar mistakes. Surprisingly, there aren’t many major grammar mistakes. The student does manage to use a reasonably good vocabulary. However, he must resist the temptation to use complex words just for the sake of suing them. Take for instance, the verb deploy used in the first paragraph. It is not appropriate in the context. 
Cohesive devices: (e.g. on the hand, at the same time etc.) are used they fail to serve their purpose to a great extent. 

Suggestions:
Do not use unfamiliar words. In a bid to impress the examiner students often try complex grammar and vocabulary. Remember that the actual IELTS test is not the right platform to try out unfamiliar grammar and vocabulary. 

Do not use cohesive phrases just for the sake of suing them. Every word you write in your essay should have a task to perform. If a word isn’t necessary, remove it. 
Learn the rules of subject-verb agreement. Make sure that pronouns agree with their antecedents in number and person. 

The write of this essay is a 6.5 holder. In order to a 7+ score, writer needs to mend those issues. 

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Rabu, 19 Maret 2014

IELTS COACHING->HOW TO DETERMINE FALSE(TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN)

A detailed case study:
PREMISE:
In 1990, smoking caused more than 84,000 deaths, mainly resulting from such problems as pneumonia, bronchitis and influenza. Smoking, it is believed, is responsible for 30 per cent of all deaths from cancer and clearly represents the most important preventable cause of cancer in countries like the United States today.
QUESTION:
30% of deaths in USA are caused by smoke related diseases (True/False/Not given)

This is a contradiction. Why? The question says "30% of death in USA .When you compare the meaning of question to the text you get------>
TEXT_SIDE:
30% of all deaths in the USA, are caused by cancer because (=responsible) of smoking (text-side) (30% deaths from(because of)cancer and the reason for cancer is smoking).This is the meaning of the text so don’t get confused, read carefully.
QUESTION:
30% of deaths in the USA are caused by smoke related diseases (question)

Eliminate the same meaning from both sides. USA=USA, 30%=30%, caused= caused, smoke =smoking. After eliminating the same words or meanings, you will get some reminders (left over) such as "cancer deaths, deaths and related diseases". Compare these carefully.

cancer deaths(text) versus deaths(question) ---> death means total deaths because of any reasons or unknown reasons(general) in USA where as cancer death means death because of cancer. This is a contradiction because the context of text mentions "deaths from cancer is because of smoking" which will not match and disagrees with the meaning of deaths (all deaths in the USA).Text never says that smoking is the reason for 30% deaths in USA but it says cancer is the reason of 30% death and reason for cancer is smoking. 
Reason for death (30%) = cancer (text)
Reason for death (30%) = smoking related diseases(question)
This is a false statement which contradicts the truth. If the sentence in the text (by meaning wise) has been changed or deviated then it is FALSE. This can be seen here when they changed “cancer into smoking related diseases”. Therefore, the answer is FALSE.

Besides, note "related diseases" as well. The text clearly says “cause is cancer”( all death from cancer). Cancer is singular so the plural "diseases" will not match but disagrees/contradicts. So again, this is FALSE. You may see other diseases there but the context is “in USA”. The disease being mentioned there is not about the incidents in USA. So that is not the location and location must be correct before you judge the answer otherwise you will go wrong.


But why not Not given? Many students consider this question's answer is NOT GIVEN and the reason why they think that way is because “smoking related diseases” is not mentioned, the word “cancer” is not there in the question, the word “all” or so on.

To establish a question as a not given you have to go through 2 filters such as TRUE and FALSE. If the question doesn’t comply with the logic of TRUTH and FALSE, then only
the answer is NOT GIVEN. So, apply this principle to the question.

STEP 1: Does the question comply or agree with the topic? No, then go to next step  
STEP 2: Does it contradict anywhere? YES, So where? “Cancer versus smoke related diseases” contradiction 1 is change of specific disease(cancer into smoke related; where the text doesn’t mention cancer is smoke related disease) contradiction 2 is singular/plural.

You don’t need to go STEP 3 in here because the question ended up with contradiction. So, regardless of “not mentioned words/subject/object”, we can determine the answer. Even if there are “not given” information there, it can still be false. Therefore, one must use deductive logic to get answer .Not given will be the answer only when the question has no compliance with TRUE or FALSE at all, on the other hand it is not because a a word is not given there or not.
Elimination technique makes easy to concentrate on the exact place. So, you may use it as I explained beforehand.
All the IELTS tasks need a bit of logic and concentration so doesn’t underestimate the questions of IELTS because of your general capacity in English. In order to get a high score, a candidate needs accuracy in reading (concentration), grammar and logic. Just relying upon grammar will get you an intermediate score only. The scope of Ielts is not to estimate your general level but linguistic level as well.

HOW TO FAIL IN IELTS WRITING EXAM

Some rules How to miss 7 bands in writing.


I know a lot out there believing IELTS is all about grammar and some idiomatic phrases or concise vocabulary but the secret is it is not. Task response is the key to get a high score. By the way, 80-90% students fail in this exam in the first couple of takings. Even native speakers would stumble upon TASK RESPONSE and COHERENCE. Ok, In this section, I will show you how to fail in the exam (means get a less score such as 6 or 6.5 or 7.5 –borderline).


Some candidates think that IELTS admininstration do not want to give us a score and so on but this is not true. The way how they keep you under 7 band (or your target) score is playing up with the TASK RESPONSE. (.... but HOW?)

Read this last exam question (Academic and general. I am not 100% sure about the exact wording of the question but it is kind of like this).

1, Some people think that the money the government spent on artists such as painters, singers and poets should be spent on more important things. How far do you agree or disagree ( Academic -26/May).

2, Some people think cooking food at home is a waste of time and they prefer to eat from outside. How far do you agree or disagree ( General-26/May).

Most students (academic) would go like this:

To begin with, while talented individuals bring pride to the country these people have minimal contribution to alleviate social issues. For example, the Filipino singer Lea Salonga won the role of Miss Saigon. This award made her to be recognised globally and leaving the Philippines drowned to poverty.  Unless this artist patronizes his country, it will only benefit himself. Hence, it is advisable that government funds should be spent on more significant programs. 


First of all, this is not even a RELAVANT example for the given question because example doesn't show that goverment helped this artist or not and it doesn't clearly represent the TOPIC. See, how it ends up a generalization --> "Hence, it is advisable that government funds should  be spent on more significant programs". Even if the artist reciprocate his country, the paragraph doesn't answer the question WHY IT IS/MAY BE NECESSARY TO FOCUS ON THE OTHER SECTORS. This response doesn't even address the other part of the question ( Why should govt spend money on other sectors than creative industry). The ideal  response to this question is adressing the both sides and contrast. However, if you just wrote  a background of ' govt should not spend money for artists', it will not answer ' why goverment should spend money on other sector'. Ok, for instance, imagine, I don't want to spend money for a cup of coffee. Does it mean I want to spend or better spend it for a cup of tea or beer? Nope! This way of responding gets students below than 7. You may think I am just making this stuff up. Let' s see what IELTS.ORG says:

" BAND-6 addresses all parts of the task although  some parts may be more fully covered than  others  presents a relevant  position although the  conclusions may become unclear or repetitive  presents relevant main ideas but some may  be inadequately developed/unclear " 

"BAND-5 addresses the task only partially; the format  may be inappropriate in places expresses a position but the development  is not always clear and there may be no conclusions drawn presents some main ideas but these are limited and not sufficiently developed; there  may be irrelevant detail .  (http://www.ielts.org/pdf/UOBDs_WritingT2.pdf)


The above mentioned paragraph or those kind of responses will come under BAND 5 response.


Now I will show you what 9 band TASK RESPONSE is  and I am using the same example but I tweaked it a bit. Remember, in the IELTS test one can lie or fabricate any ideas but it should be logically arranged and convincing. 

Here we go:

"To begin with, while talented individuals bring pride to the country these people have no contribution to alleviate social issues. For example, the  Filipino government sponsored a singer Lea Salonga ,and she won the role of Miss Saigon. This award made her to be recognised globally and she left the Philippines.Not only she got the honour but also she did not contribute anything to the country. Unless  artists patronizes their country, it would only benefit themselves. On the other hand, while Australian/Filipino government aided many schools in the local or remote areas, children started to learn or gain some professional skills. Consequently, that area of the country started to develop so fast as these young graduates started to work and pay taxes. Moreover, more development occurred in such places in many facets of life. Hence, it is advisable that government expenditure be spent on more significant programs such as education".


Don't worry about its grammar errors or slips and vocabulary choices as we are just focusing on TASK RESPONSE of the question. You will see this response is a fully developed position.

9 band :

"fully addresses all parts of the task  presents a fully developed position in answer to the question with relevant, fully 
extended and well supported ideas". (http://www.ielts.org/pdf/UOBDs_WritingT2.pdf)



What would happen if you don't respond relevantly ? Any side effects? YES!

Coherence and topic specific vocabulary will not be there so examiners can not score you at a 9 band level. When the ideas are missing, it becomes generalised as you have seen in the first response. To maintain coherence, ideas should be flowing logically before reaching at a position.Otherwise, coherence score will be less. 

BAND -5 COHERENCE:

"Presents information and ideas but these  are not arranged coherently and there is no clear progression in the response". 


This is what the first response deserves. You may think of IELTS is only a English test but why do you need to prepare in this way apart from grammar and vocabulary. This is because anyone can memorise essays and write it. So in order to test a testee, it needs this type of scrutiny. IELTS only wants to pass a student who literally understand the question fully and respond to it. Many topics are online and students can memorise phrases and sometimes the whole essay. So the first filter is TASK RESPONSE. If you are not sure, ask any IELTS examiners such as Dominic coles and Simon ( from the UK). They have a public forum so students can ask questions. They normally respond if it is for general understanding. 

The first response,therefore, scored 6.5 . It seems candidates capacity is 7/8 in grammar and vocabulary and 5 or 6. Unfortunately I do not have the full essay as this candidate wrote it afterwards the exam.By assuming the rough score of Paragraph 1 , it can even hit band 8 in grammar and vocabulary and others, in that case, would be 5 bands ( 8+8+5+5= 26/4= 6.5).If the other paragraph or the overall essay is not that good as the first paragraph and addressed the question somewhat, it would be 7+7+6+6 = 26/4=6.5 again). However, this is only a rough evaluation. In the test, you will not score in GRAMMAR and Vacbulary sections but you will only get penalties. The total mistakes will be cut of from the 9 band accordingly. Many students think IELTS examiners will score each vocabulary and grammar structure and give a score. Unfortunately, it seems that is incorrect. Please research further if you really want to know how IELTS essays are being scored. 

This purpose of this article is to enlighten many students about the reality of IELTS.I did not proofread this one so it may contain a few errors. My aim is to tell you why you get such a bad score. 


Your grammar or vocabulary scores will not change that much. You will have roughly the same number of grammar and vocabulary mistakes in any essays that you wrote. To get this, you need to proof read it ( yourself or with a tutors' help). Count the mistakes in each essays and you will see pretty much same or close to it. Put it in this way:  few/ a few/some/more/many/a lot mistakes. This is what they key to understand where you are standing at in those sections. It takes normally 1-2 months to reduce the number of mistakes you write in 250 words or so. 


Students, therfore, need to learn how to respond to the questions and its formats first as it is crucial. I am not ignoring the need of idiomatic language and comlex structure but TASK RESPONSE will rule out these all. Learn how to write relevant examples. I have seen many students write irrelavant examples. These all are non sequitur. Please google it for further details. [Non sequitur (Latin for "it does not follow"), in formal logic, is an argument in which its conclusion does not follow from its premises.[1] In a non sequitur, the conclusion could be either true or false, but the argument is fallacious because there is a disconnection between the premise and the conclusion. All invalid arguments are special cases of non sequitur ] .This is why in Coherence criteria, it says ' logical flow' .Please refer the criteria –band descriptors.


IS there any tip to increase the writing score? YES!

1, don't try to impress the examiners by using heavy frequency words as you may make more mistakes than normally do. Use the words that you know.Avoid converting ideas from your mother tongue to English as it will not work out. Don't use the memorised phrases as you will only earn penalties. Examiners can see how some phrases and chunks used but when they look at the othersides of the essays, they will see silly errors. They look how your essay look in overall and not some phrases or chunks.So avoid fitting those in the essays and you will see a big improvement in the vocabulary section.However, if you are sure of the usages, you may do so. By and large, practice within your own capacity.

2, Use complex sentences and learn sentence diagramming and synthesis. More importantly, write error free sentences as this is the key to get 7 in the grammar section. Error free means : no preposition, pronouns, articles,subject verb agreement (etc) mistakes. Please find a tutor for this as you may not be the right person to evaluate your essays. 


3, Never write anything off topic to the question. Avoid  ' punch dialogues'  such as hot button topic, sizzling debate, or due to globalization phrases (most of them are memorised, not natural). Why? If the question has nothing to do with those, it is not going to impress your examiners but just OFF_TOPIC! . This you will see at the bottom of your exam writing paper. You may remember as it goes like this " examiner's use only --> off topic, memorised, illegible, total number of words ...etc... [ http://www.ielts.org/PDF/114184_IELTS_Writing_Answer_Sheet.pdf ]




I wish you goodluck and want to tell you IELTS exam is not just a basic ENGLISH test but more or less that of an ENGLISH aptitude test which needs accuracy. 

Free Tips: In reading:

Free Tips: In reading:
1,Start from question 40 and do it backward
2,Match the heading answer will be most repeated keywords or meaning of the passage;not the first or last lines.
3. just read this example given below---->

Statement:
It is advised that you should bring your own pencil

Question:
You should bring your own pencil [True/False /Not given]

The answer is False. but why? Though it looks like a TRUE , read carefully the whole sentence ( "advised").
This will change the modality "should". So in reality the meaning becomes " you may bring your own pencil but not a must".The word "advised" changes the meaning of " you should" into "YOU MAY".
However,if the scenario is "our advice is you should bring your own pencil",then the answer will be YES/TRUE because "advice" is a noun which means SHOULD.[Please visit http://www.grammarbook.com or any alternative sources].

IELTS examiner vs researcher

This is an Ielts Examiner's essay which has been rechecked by an Ielts researcher. The rechecked one is just below the whole essay ( retrieved from : http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/2012/10/ielts-writing-task-2-music-essay.html )

IELTS Writing Task 2: 'music' essay

There are many different types of music in the world today. Why do we need music? Is the traditional music of a country more important than the international music that is heard everywhere nowadays?

It is true that a rich variety of musical styles can be found around the world. Music is a vital part of all human cultures for a range of reasons, and I would argue that traditional music is more important than modern, international music.

Music is something that accompanies all of us throughout our lives. As children, we are taught songs by our parents and teachers as a means of learning language, or simply as a form of enjoyment. Children delight in singing with others, and it would appear that the act of singing in a group creates a connection between participants, regardless of their age. Later in life, people’s musical preferences develop, and we come to see our favourite songs as part of our life stories. Music both expresses and arouses emotions in a way that words alone cannot. In short, it is difficult to imagine life without it.

In my opinion, traditional music should be valued over the international music that has become so popular. International pop music is often catchy and fun, but it is essentially a commercial product that is marketed and sold by business people. Traditional music, by contrast, expresses the culture, customs and history of a country. Traditional styles, such as ...(example)..., connect us to the past and form part of our cultural identity. It would be a real pity if pop music became so predominant that these national styles disappeared.

In conclusion, music is a necessary part of human existence, and I believe that traditional music should be given more importance than international music.






There are many different types of music in the world today. Why do we need music? Is the traditional music of a country more important than the international music that is heard everywhere nowadays?

Paragraph 1
It is true that a rich variety of musical styles can be found around the world. Music is a vital part of all human cultures for a range of reasons, and I would argue that traditional music is more important than modern, international music.
Analysis
No major mistakes in the first paragraph. ... expresses his ideas clearly.

Paragraph 2
Music is something that accompanies all of us throughout our lives. As children, we are taught songs by our parents and teachers as a means of learning language, or simply as a form of enjoyment. Children delight in singing with others, and it would appear that the act of singing in a group creates a connection between participants, regardless of their age. Later in life, people’s musical preferences develop, and we come to see our favourite songs as part of our life stories. (1) Music both expresses and arouses emotions in a way that words alone cannot. In short, it is difficult to imagine life without it.

Correction
1. This clause is a bit confusing. It could perhaps be written as: and our favorite songs become a part of our life
Paragraph 3
In my opinion, traditional music should be valued over the international music that has become so popular. International pop music is often catchy and fun, but it is essentially a commercial product that is marketed and sold by business people. Traditional music, by contrast, expresses the culture, customs and history of a country. Traditional styles, such as connect us to the past and form part of our cultural identity. (1) It would be a real pity if pop music became so predominant that these national styles disappeared. (2)
1. Remove such as. The expression such as is used to give examples. However, no examples are given in this sentence and hence it is useless.
2. This sentence is grammatically correct.... uses the conditional forms correctly. But these unreal second conditional sentences aren’t exactly the right choice here. This sentence can be rewritten as:
It will be a real pity if pop music becomes so predominant that it leads to the disappearance of these national styles.
Paragraph 4
In conclusion, music is a necessary part of human existence, and I believe that traditional music should be given more importance than international music.

Analysis
A very good essay. There are no real mistakes in this essay... has a clear understanding of the topic and manages to present his arguments in a convincing manner.
...has good command over the language and uses vocabulary that is familiar yet powerful. He will have no trouble getting a band score of 8 or above.
Suggestions.No big suggestions. Keep writing.LOL!

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Diary of an IELTS examiner-- must read this!

This is an example of HOW an IELTS examiner would think when s/he assess your paper. Please read this carefully and patiently! 
( This gotta be an exhaustive one).                              

                                         TASK 2

It has been argued that it is totally unfair that athletes earn much more money than professionals who succeeding other vital fields. Those who claim that it is unfair, however, ignore the unique character of sports profession: athletes represent not only themselves but also the image of the whole country. Considering this unique trait of sports, the conclusion could be drawn that it is reasonable for successful athletes to receive more income than others.



As we know, athletes represent the nation to attend sports games. Once they win, the reputation of the country is built. Since the reputation of the country is so precious that it cannot be measured by money, athletes should be paid more as a kind of reward to celebrate their achievements. Consequently, it is quite fair that successful sports professional gain more wealth than people in other important areas. Hold China as an example to support this phenomenon. When Chinese athletes win in Olympic Games, they would receive a large amount of money from not only the central government, but regional government as well in that they are considered to gain reputation of China and they deserve these rewards.



In addition, those who believe that it is unfair to pay athletes more than others ignore the connection between the success of athletes and the image of the nation. They focus on how much money athletes earn, rather than their importance of national reputation. Hence, this claim is irrational and unreasonable.



To conclude, it is justified and reasonable that successful sports professionals receive more income than other specialists in various areas in that they build positive images for both themselves and the whole nation.




Task Fulfillment: 8

Coherence & Cohesion: 7 Quite good usage of connective devices. (Better to use ‘On the other hand’ rather than ‘Instead’.) Just a little difficult to follow in places due to vocab/grammar errors and inappropriacies.

Vocab & Sentence Structure: 5 (Several minor errors)


Task 2

Arguments, Ideas & Evidence: 6. Range of arguments, ideas & evidence too narrow.

Your interpretation of the meaning of a "professional athlete" is different to what most foreigners would consider to be a "professional athlete". Most other countries do not reward Olympic Gold Medalists as well as China does for its Gold Medal winners.

Most foreigners think of people such as Yao Ming or Tiger Woods when they think of professional athletes and the fact that you did not mention Yao or similar sportspeople leads me to believe that you are not sure of the wider meaning of a "sports professional". Yao Ming is the perfect example of an athlete who fits the description of, a " sports professional who earn a great deal more money than people in other important professions." Obviously, the original intention of the test question writer was for you to write about this group of athletes. In other words, athletes who primarily compete to represent their country, such as in the Olympic Games, Asian Games etc., are not the highly-paid athletes referred to in the question. Don't forget that IELTS Writing test questions are used throughout the whole world and therefore reflect the worldwide situation, not just the situation in China. For you to be aware of the world outside China, you need to read widely.

The usage of the term, "sports professional" instead of, "professional athlete" implies that there are others who make their living from sport, besides the athletes themselves. Do you really understand the meaning of, 'professional'? A weakness in your essay is that you only referred to one sub-set of 'sports professionals'. Sports is now a business and top sports managers earn high salaries. You only referred to professional athletes.

It is true that Chinese Olympic Gold Medalists are well rewarded when they return to China and that many of them move on to rather well-paid positions (compared to other professionals) in the sports world as a result of their Olympic success. It is also true that these people can be labeled as "professional athletes" or, after they retire from competition, as "sports professionals" if they continue to work in the sports world. Furthermore, your argument that the value of national reputation far surpasses the value of most everyday achievements is an acceptable personal opinion, although this level of patriotism is unusual overseas, where foreign IELTS Writing test examiners come from. However there is one serious weakness in your choice of Chinese Olympic Gold Medalists as, "sports professionals" - their income is not a great deal more than that of other professionals such as doctors and engineers. It is important to be factually correct in a Task 2 essay.

Your idea of the value of national reputation was the only idea you presented in support of the high salaries of these sports professionals. If you had given more details about why national reputation is so important your argument would have been stronger and more convincing. IELTS examiners want to see several ideas, not just one. These several ideas could be several ideas that support a single central idea or they could be several central ideas. If you had discussed the value of national reputation in more detail, that would have qualified as 'several ideas'.

Furthermore, you 'dismissed' all discussion of the other side of the argument by labeling their beliefs/feelings as, "irrational and unreasonable" simply because they do not have the same degree of nationalism as you. You did not give any further details about how or why their beliefs/feelings are, "irrational and unreasonable". This is not a good example of the kind of rational, logical argument that IELTS essays should contain. The essay instructions asked you to give your opinion and the opinion of the other side but you did not really do that in the balanced, 'academic' style that is expected in Western universities. To repeat: The style of writing that is expected in Task 2 includes your personal opinion and that of the other side of the argument, without making dismissive judgments such as calling those who disagree with your opinion, "irrational and unreasonable". [A 'dismissive judgment' seems to give you a good reason not to discuss the matter any further. But that is just an excuse, not a valid reason.]

Looking at the wording of the question again, we see that these words are included: "Some people think this is fully justified while others think it is unfair. " Basically, you gave your opinion concerning the justification for these higher salaries but you didn't really focus on the question of the fairness of these salaries; these two ideas are not the same, in fact, they are not even related. That is, the idea of 'unfairness' is really quite unrelated to ideas about the value of national reputation. Fairness involves a comparison with others to see if there is some kind of balance. The question says that, "others think this is unfair". Which 'others'? What unfairness? You did not touch on these questions. For the topic of this essay, 'others' are the people in other important professions, such as doctors, lawyers, engineers etc. The unfairness implied in this question is the fact that these other important professionals are much more educated than most professional sportspeople. The assumption is that educated (brain developed) people have a higher intrinsic value than those who are highly developed in physical skills and prowess because the assumption is that highly educated people contribute more to society than other people. Basically, this discussion is about the importance to society of professional sportspeople, relative to the importance of other professionals. This further leads to the question of how salaries should be determined - whether one's salary should rigidly reflect one's educational level, or whether salaries should reflect the importance to society of one's work, or whether 'market forces' should determine salaries.

If you had chosen to write about professional athletes such as Yao Ming, some of whom have annual incomes in the tens of millions of U.S. dollars, any comparison of such salaries with those of typical doctors, lawyers and engineers would have been pointless and ridiculous. The nature of the 'fairness' question would now be changed to the philosophical question of whether any one person should be allowed (by the system) to earn an income that is astronomical, compared to the average person, not just compared to professionals. Ultimately, this line of discussion leads to a re-examination of the socio-economic system itself.

Traditionally, taxation has been the means to create some semblance of fairness among people but even a rate of taxation of 60% is possibly too low when we are talking about a personal income of tens of millions of U.S. dollars per year.

Communicative Quality: 6. It's relatively easy to follow your logic. And you did use some connective devices appropriately.

However, there were patches where I had to pause to think about what you really mean. For example, your introduction was referring top professional athletes in general, (that means worldwide because you did not specify, 'in China']. It is important to understand that Task 2 topics are used all over the world. Therefore, the wording applies to the whole world, not just China. Yes, as an example, you can and should refer to what you know best, the situation in China. However, when you write about a situation that is unique to China, you must specifically mention that you are referring to China. (But first you have to know it is unique to China!) [What 'uniquely Chinese situation' was your introduction referring to? It was the idea that, "(professional) athletes represent not only themselves but also the image of the whole country". Most native English speakers such as IELTS Writing test examiners do not think that people such as David Beckham, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan (if he were still playing) or even Roger Federer are representing their countries to any great degree. But you might not be aware of this fact.]

In your writing, you should try to avoid causing the examiner to 'pause in order to consider your meaning' - if the reader has to do that, it means your meaning is not immediately clear. Remember, your overall aim in the Writing Test is to COMMUNICATE with the examiner, not to 'impress' the examiner.

In the case of IELTS candidates, especially those from cultures or societies that are quite different to the main English-speaking cultures, you have to remember that you are communicating not just across language barriers, you are also communicating cross-culturally. This means you need to understand how China differs to say, Britain, Australia & the U.S. in terms of culture & social system. For Chinese candidates, you need to be aware that your culture & society is basically composed of two parts: a) the traditional Chinese culture & society that was strongly influenced by Feudalism, Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism and, b) the modern Chinese culture & society that has developed in China since 1949. In both of these areas, Chinese people are quite distinctive, compared to people from most of the West.

Vocabulary & Sentence Structure: 6. A few (minor) errors balanced by some well-written sentences and suitable vocabulary.

Total for Task 2: 6.

Overall Writing Test total: Band 6.0 (Task 2 has more weight than Task 1)

Further Comments:

Speaking about professional athletes: These high salaries for some athletes result from the large amount of money that is connected with the advertising industry – the ‘saleability’ of athletes and their teams.

Another fact is that more and more professional athletes are willing to represent their counties in the Olympics, in contrast to the situation a few years ago when these athletes were more concerned about making large incomes.

Those areas in your essay highlighted in yellow have errors or unsuitable/inappropriate English. For example, ‘Olympic Games’ should always be preceded by the word, ‘the’. And, ‘traffic tools’ should be, ‘means of transport’, ‘forms of transport’ or ‘modes of transport’. I do not have time to point out and explain every error in your essay. This is the most time-consuming part of grading essays. I have other things to do.

The richness of your ideas and the strength of your arguments (including the logic, not just the strength of your English) is VITAL for getting a good Task 2 score. This requires a certain level of general knowledge, maturity and sophistication.

Wide reading is the key to improving your writing ability.


What is, "a hackneyed phrase"?

A hackneyed phrase is a set expression that has become boring to hear or read. It has become boring as a result of overuse and sometimes, as a result of misuse.

But if one is not a native English-speaker, and therefore does not read or hear a lot of English, how does he or she know that an expression has become hackneyed? That's a difficult question, which I cannot answer right now.

As for IELTS Writing test candidates, the best way to avoid hackneyed phrases is to be very careful when memorizing patches of English from 'model answers' of typical IELTS Writing questions. If an expression seems to be very frequently used in model answers that are written by Chinese English teachers, it is best to consider whether the expression is hackneyed or not before using it. Sometimes, it might be best to try to make your own expression for some of these commonly used expressions in model answers.

A good example of, (what I think is) a hackneyed phrase among IELTS Writing test candidates in China is, "Last but not least". If I read that in an essay, I either want to scream or I just yawn. In my experience, the phrase, "Last but not least" is most often used in spoken English and is usually used in group settings, i.e., used when talking among at least three people. To me, the expression has a 'folksy' and 'friendly' feel about it - obviously it must be rather informal English. A typical situation when this expression might be used is this: I'm the manager of a department in a company and this morning I will introduce four new employees to the other employees. I ask the four new employees to line up in front of the whole office staff. I begin by saying, "First, this is Mr. Wang. He's our new assistant accountant. Then we have Miss Li, who is a new receptionist , ........and, last but not least, we have Mr. Lin, who is our new website manager." Why did I say, "Last but not least"? Because I didn't want Mr. Lin to feel offended by being introduced last. (Even though it was he who chose to be at the end of the line!)

Just write, "Last" or "Lastly" if you can't think of another way to introduce the last item! Don't try to 'impress' me with, "Last but not least" in an academic essay.

What style of writing should an academic essay be? It's somewhere between normal spoken English, formal English and scientific, analytic English. Some candidates write in an unsuitably formal style and often this kind of candidate makes many mistakes because he or she is writing above their natural sentence-making ability. Task 2 should not be written in the highest level of formality because, after all, candidates are encouraged to include examples from their own experience. This element of "writing personally" cannot be done at a high level of formality because writing at a high level of formality is impersonal in style. Therefore, you should not attempt to write your essay at the very highest level of formality.

On the other hand, even though the IELTS Task 2 essay should not be highly formal, neither should it contain too many examples of expressions that are mostly used in spoken rather than written English. I believe, "Last but not least" is best used in spoken English situations and is not suitable for academic essays, even academic essays such as IELTS Task 2, which is not highly formal.

A similar hackneyed phrase is, "First and foremost". Avoid it in essays although it's not so bad for the Speaking test.

When I was an examiner, the proverb, "Every coin has two sides" was very much overused in essays. We examiners, when grading the test papers together, used to mock this expression (proverb) and say to our colleagues, "I've found another one!" and laugh. But we didn't really think it was funny - it was rather annoying, boring and disappointing to read such unoriginal language. What was even worse were examples of people misquoting this proverb, such as "As a coin has two sides". Proverbs, which are more often used in spoken language than written language, are meant to be quoted word-for-word, exactly as they are normally spoken.

I'm not sure about this (since my Chinese language ability is rather elementary) but I think that the use of proverbs in Chinese writing is much more acceptable than in English. Chinese culture highly values tradition, including the way people write. But this is much less the case for English speakers – we highly value originality of thought and in the use of language. We prefer to read something new and interesting rather than read language that has been used many times before.

This leads me to another example that was overused when I was an examiner: "With the development of science and technology, ...". Chinese students writing that were directly translating from Chinese. This phrase is not wrong or bad English and there are topics where it is suitable to use. But it just became overused and misused. For example, I used to see situations where the topic was something such as, "Do you think students have too much homework?" and the first sentence the essay was, "With the development of science and technology, ...". Boring.

My general advice for avoiding hackneyed expressions and for writing better essays overall is to read as many materials that were written by native English speakers as you can. These materials are articles that are similar in some ways to the essays you are asked to write (especially Task 2), that is, articles expression your opinion, or discussing two opposing points of view. Many students in China don't do this. The only thing they do is study some model essays in textbooks written by Chinese English teachers. Some of these model answers are quite good but there are others that you should run away from as if they were SARS patients.

There are some hackneyed expressions that have become hackneyed by overuse when written by native English speakers and you, an IELTS candidate, will be forgiven to some extent for not knowing that these are hackneyed for English speakers. However, there are always some expressions that have become hackneyed in China, when used by IELTS candidates. I think these expressions might change a little over the years as different IELTS Writing textbooks come onto the market, resulting in some expressions becoming "popular" to use in essays. These are the expressions that you should try to avoid.

Overall, as I have written elsewhere, you should mostly try to communicate your original, personal feelings and opinions in the Task 2 essays, i.e., communicate your ideas to another person, and try to make sure that the other person can understand what you mean. It is a big mistake to focus mostly on impressing the examiner with your language and forget that you are communicating to another human being. Very many candidates in China write in language that is much too formal and write using language that is above their real knowledge of English, in an attempt to impress. The end result is that the examiner does not understand what you mean and this is the most important thing in an essay, to communicate what you mean. So, many candidates who could get a score of 5.5 or 6.0 (for example), get a score of 4.5 or 5.0 for Writing because of this mistake. Try to write a little closer to the way you would speak or the way you would express your opinions or discuss a topic in a long email (e.g., 250 words), not an essay, to an English speaker. Yes, there are certain differences between an email and an essay but don't focus too much or only on the points of style of essays, especially highly formal essays.

Selasa, 18 Februari 2014

Meningkatkan Mind Mapping IELTS Anda


IELTS Kampung Inggris Pare
Mind mapping membantu dalam berkomunikasi dalam paling tidak tiga cara sebagai berikut: untuk menunjukkan bagian dari gabungan situasi; untuk menggambarkan hasil dari serangkaian tindakan; dan mempertegas jika saja ada hubungan yang tidak diketahui. Mind maps menggambarkan tindakan dan konsekuensinya, dan memberikan anda semua cara untuk memperkirakan kemungkinan hasilnya.

Mind mapping adalah sebuah teknik yang bermanfaat karena menginduksi pemikiran keseluruhan otak dengan dengan menghasilkan rantai pikiran dan ide terkait, serta menstimulasi keseluruhan sumber daya otak. Mind mapping juga mempekerjakan rangsangan visual misalnya warna, gambar, simbol, dimensi, dan segala seuatu yang dapat menambah kejelasan, dan sangat memperkuat ingatan dan penyiaran. Mind mapping terutama bertujuan untuk meningkatkan memori jangka panjang anda, dan memberikan kebebasan penuh pada pikiran dan prosesnya. Oleh karena itu memiliki kemungkinan untuk mengaktifkan kreativitas yang lebih besar, imajinatif dan berwawasan.

Mind mapping memberikan anda ide general, memperlihatkan sejumlah besar data dalam satu tempat dan kemudian Anda dapat melihat cara-cara kreatif baru dan informasi terpadu. Dan sebuah peta pemikiran bahkan dapat menjadi menyenangkan untuk dilihat dan dibaca.