E.C. IELTS

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Words follow different grammatical patterns. Understanding these patterns can help you to improve the accuracy of your writing and get a high IELTS test score. Learn the patterns that a number of useful academic words take in this free lesson.

Reference words such as this, they, them, it, those etc. are important to use accurately in the IELTS writing test. Learn more and practise by taking our free lesson here.

Memrise
The Memrise platform https://www.memrise.com encourages you to learn by creating ‘mems’. Mems are ways of remembering the vocabulary, e.g. visual images, sentences, translation etc. When you take a course you learn new words and then will regularly review them. The more you get the word correct when you are tested on it, the less you will have to review. The app functions well, although you cannot create new mems when using it. There are thousands of courses for studying English at different levels, including many IELTS courses. Memrise also has a premium option with extra features you must pay for but the standard free option is complete enough to help you learn English in an enjoyable way.

https://www.memrise.com/app/

Duolingo

The Duolingo app is completely free and provides comprehensive English courses, just like you receive on Duolingo website https://www.duolingo.com. You do a placement test to establish your level and there are many different areas of English you can practice., e.g. conversation, vocabulary, grammar etc. You can set a goal of studying between 5-20 minutes a day and you helpfully receive a text message and email to remind you. There are lots of different activity types,  dictation, word ordering, matching. Most activities involve translating from English to your own language and vice-versa. Translation can be helpful when learning English but Duolingo probably use it too much. After all, there comes a point when students have to start thinking independently of their own first language. There are some listening activities with a useful tool for slowing down speech. They also provide grammar explanations while you learn.

https://www.duolingo.com/mobile

Moodle for Mobile
The Moodle for Mobile app works with any course that is using the Moodle learning platform. You can search for courses at https://moodle.net/ but if you are interested in learning English and in particular preparing for the IELTS test then we highly recommend EC IELTS, https://www.ecielts.net. They provide free IELTS listening and reading courses which are highly rated by students leaving reviews on their Facebook page. The Moodle for Mobile App has come a long way and the most recent version is a big improvement on previous ones. You get many of the fantastic features that the Moodle platform provides from a computer, a range of quizzes, surveys, forums, assignments etc. optimised for studying from your phone.

Part 1 of the listening test often requires you to listen for names, dates, distances etc. Many people lose marks because they are not able to clearly recognise letters and numbers in English. Practise improving this skill by taking our free lesson.

One of the question types in the IELTS reading test requires candidates to label a diagram based on information given in the reading passage. Learn more and practice by taking our free lesson. 

In Part 2 of the speaking test you have to speak about a topic for two minutes. You have one minute to make notes and it is important to be able to make effective notes. This will help you a lot when you are speaking. 

The topic is a memorable journey and you need to say where, how, why and what was memorable about it. These four things should be the things you make notes about to ensure you stay focused on the task.

Here is one way you could organise your notes:

Some people like to make mind maps:

Other people prefer to just write key words without headings:

In Task 1 of the academic writing module, you may have to describe a chart that includes a projection into the future. This means using a variety of future forms accurately to get a high score. Learn more and practise here.

A common type of question in the reading module requires you to complete notes summarising the reading passage. Learn more here.