Mengapa IELTS?

"K" #1 - KNOW the test : -

What is IELTS? Why take this test? What level is the test? What does the test involve? How useful is it? How is the test structured? How is it different from other standardized English tests like TOEFL?

Check the attached brochure and the website www.ielts.org

IELTS adalah singkatan dari International Language Testing System.

Tes IELTS adalah tes kamampuan bahasa Inggris yang lebih diutamakan di negara2 yang berbahasa Inggris. Negara2 tersebut yaitu Australia, Inggris, New Zealand, Amerika Serikat, Kanada, Singapura, Irlandia, Skotlandia, dan sampai Belanda dan Malaysia juga. Banyak negara yang semakin mengakui keberadaan tes IELTS.

Saat anda ingin melanjutkan sekolah atau berimigrasi ke luar negeri yang berbahasa Inggris, anda akan melengkapi serangkaian persyaratan. Dan salah satu persyaratan adalah tes kamampuan berbahasa Inggris. Dengan bukti dari tes tersebut, kemampuan anda dalam kompetensi Listening, Reading, Writing & Speaking dapat diukur.

Mengapa tes IELTS makin digemari oleh institusi pendidikan luar negeri?

Karena tes IELTS benar2 menguji anda dalam kompetensi tersebut di atas. Berbeda dengan TOEIC yang hanya mengutamakan kompetensi Listening & Reading saja. Berbeda dengan tes TOEFL yang menguji kompetensi anda di Listening, Reading & Writing saja.

Walaupun di tes TOEFL-ibt ada tes Speaking, anda harus berbicara kepada komputer di tes itu. Sedangkan di tes IELTS, anda akan berbicara dengan native speaker di dalam kontext yang lebih realistis di komponen tes Speaking. 

Mengapa kamu sendiri akan atau sudah memilih tes IELTS?

Learning, information and entertainment.

Go to the the Learning English website and sign up for their free newsletter*.

Make learning English easier by watching and keeping yourself informed about their new programs.

Visit their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/LearnEnglishAN for daily language tips and to connect with other learners.

English Bites are now also available in Vietnamese http://australianetwork.com/englishbites/s8_viet.htm (including Bahasa Indonesian http://australianetwork.com/englishbites/s8_indo.htm)

And a new series of English Bites based on the popular My Australia program is coming soon.

Keep up-to-date with their weekly posting of re-versioned episodes though their Facebook page or website.

English subtitles will soon be added to these videos - look out for the caption icon on the YouTube player toolbar.

Finally, download the Australia Network app  - stay connected with a path to good entertainment, knowledge, and learning.

*The newsletter will be delivered to you every 6 weeks and keep you up to date with English language programs that will help to improve your English skills.

Writing sample - Task 2

Published regularly on the IELTS-Blog.com website - sample essays for Task 2 with a predicted Band scores.

Suggestions and revisions by an IELTS teacher are also included.

This is a good way to compare and contrast your own writing skills and find your strengths and weaknesses.

Click on this link for a Band score 6, in Task 2 : http://www.ielts-blog.com/ielts-writing-samples/ielts-essays-band-6/ielts-essay-topic-globalization/

True, False, Not Given questions

-->

Answering True, False, Not Given questions

Let’s check the meaning of False below.

Dictionary definition of False -  |fôls| adjective -

1 not according with truth or fact; incorrect: the test can produce false results | the allegations were false.

2 deliberately made or meant to deceive: check to see if the trunk has a false bottom | a false passport.

• artificial: false eyelashes.

3 illusory; not actually so: sunscreens give users a false sense of security.

In True/False questions – False actually covers answers that are both False and also Not Given. In order to differentiate, focus on the definition of False and think carefully about the statement.

If a statement is not true according to the text, it is classed as False.

The statement in the question can be False because :

·      it contradicts the information in the text in some way, or

·      there’s no information about the statement in the passage.

A False statement contradicts the information in a passage or text because :

·      it’s the direct opposite of the original text e.g the text says ‘white’, but the statement says ‘black’,

·      it has the negative meaning of the meaning in the original text e.g. ‘light - dark’, ‘north -south’,

·      it’s neither of these, but it’s not the same meaning as the information in the text .

Reading

The reading test is a test of how quickly you can find answers to the questions. Check the strategies that will help you increase your reading speed and practice them regularly.

Strategies to increase your speed in reading.

ü Skim the title and the questions. They give you a summary of the passage.

ü Skim the text to obtain general information. Think about the general information not the detail.

ü Scan for the specific detail, don’t concentrate on the meaning of the text. If you start to read, you will find it difficult to locate the words your looking for.

ü Skim and read – skim the text, stop at particular points to look at meaning. Use the questions to be your guide or compass around the text.

ü Skim and scan – when you scan a text for a specific word, your eye touches the other information only lightly. Because your focus is on scanning, your eye skims the text naturally and does not slow you down.

ü Read the first sentence of a paragraph and then skim the beginning of each sentence in that paragraph. Ignore and don’t underline words you do not know.

ü Skim the verbs in each sentence. Start at the verb in each sentence and look at everything after that. The verb usually marks the beginning of new information in a sentence.

ü Skim the text to understand the theme. Are there facts or are there ideas?

ü Mark the connecting words (moreover, in addition, however).