IELTS tips with gaps which are useful language for the exam

IELTS tips with gaps which are useful language for the exam

Fill each gap below with one word, thinking about what it must be to fit grammatically and
make an accurate statement about the exam.

General tips for Writing


You should use your eraser as ____________ as possible.



Even someone getting a 9.0 will make a _______________ number of grammatical
mistakes.



Being ambitious can _________________ up for making basic errors, but the most im-
portant thing is being comprehensible.



IELTS Writing is ____________ less academic than journal papers and university
theses, for example because you are encouraged to mention ________ experience
and it is impossible to make reference to quotations. It is more ___________ to a
school essay than to a real academic paper.



Don’t waste time counting individual words – count the words on two lines, then calcu-
late a number of words per line. _____ that, count the number of lines and work out
the total number of words. Alternatively, it is even better do all your writing on official
IELTS paper so you know how many words per line you usually have.

Writing Part One


You have to write at ________ 150 words and it is best to write _______ over 150.
There is no ________ number of words but writing much more than 150 is wasting
time that you could spend working on Part Two.



In Writing Part One you have to describe one or more bar chart, _______ graph,
______ chart, _________, map, flowchart or other diagram.



The __________ majority of Writing Part One tasks are best written with a short two-
sentence introduction and then two main paragraphs.



How you decide to divide the information into two paragraphs has ______ importance.
It is much more important quickly deciding some way of doing so.



In the second sentence of the introduction, explain what you will write about in the
_________ paragraph and the one after that.



In each main paragraph, it is usually best to start with the most important or most
_________ information. This will help make sure that you select and summarise rather
than describe everything.



Unless it is impossible (as it sometimes is in ______ tasks), you should always
________ and contrast.



You should mention how slowly/ gradually or _________________ things rise/ go up/
climb/ increase or ___________.



Be careful about confusing “change from”, “change to” and “change ______”.



Don’t include your own ___________ or ideas of what the data might mean, just select
and analyse the data that is there.



There’s no need to conclude or _____________ (and it is virtually impossible to do so
well).

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2012

Writing Part Two


Read the question very carefully and underline important words, looking for
___________ but important differences in the instructions such as between “How
much/ To what extent do you agree?” and “Do you agree?”



Also pay attention to plurals in the question. For ____________, if the questions say
“Give reasons” you must give more than one.



The _______ advantage of brainstorming your ideas before you decide on your para-
graph structure is that you know you won’t run out of ideas while you are writing. The
greatest _________ is that it takes up valuable time.



Start your introduction with rephrasing the question and then say why the topic is im-
portant, topical, relevant or _______________.



If you weigh up both sides of the argument and then give your own conclusions, make
sure you say why one side of the argument is more __________ than the other.



The _________ common problem people have with Writing Part Two is running out of
time.



Support for your arguments should be realistic things like personal _______ and logic-
al ____________ rather than things you couldn’t know without research like direct
quotes and statistics.



Leave a ___________ of three or four minutes for editing and add better language
while you are correcting your mistakes.

General tips on IELTS Speaking


Ask ___________ time you are not sure about the meaning of a question, or state
your understanding of the question in your answer. Make all questions as specific as
____________________.

Speaking Part Two


You need to speak for ___________ one and two minutes.



Before that you have ______________ one minute to prepare what you are going to
say, making notes to help you if you like.

Speaking Part Three


Almost ____________ candidates find some Speaking Part Three questions difficult or
impossible to understand and/ or answer.

Listening


There are ______________ half points in the test. You get __________ points for a
wrongly spelt answer or the wrong use of punctuation such _________ capital letters,
apostrophes and hyphens.



Generally each text has __________ than one kind of question.



If there is more than one way of writing the answer, e.g. as a __________ or a word,
choose the one you are most confident about.



In general, the words that you have to write down will be the ________ as the text but
the words around them will be different.



You have ten minutes at the __________________ of the whole test to transfer your
answers to the answer sheet. This is a good time to _______ any answers you haven’t
decided on yet.

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2012

Reading


You need to transfer your answers onto the answer sheet ___________ the sixty
minutes of the exam. You will need up to ten minutes to do this, or some people prefer
to do it after they finish __________________ text.



Even someone getting a 9.0 will usually get some answers wrong, so you need to
learn when to give up on a question and _________ on to the next one. You can still
guess when you transfer to the answer sheet.



The texts _________________ in difficulty as you progress through the test, but there
will still be some easier questions with the final text.



Most people do not have ____________ time to read through the whole text first. If
you do so, it is only to get an idea of where the information is rather than to understand
anything and should be completed in _________ four minutes by using tactics like
switching to the next paragraph as soon as you know what a paragraph is about.



Under __________circumstances should you leave blank spaces on the answer
sheet.



You should only change your answers if you are _________ that the new answer is
correct. First guesses tend to be more accurate than second guesses.

How can you use the words above in useful phrases for the exam? What other phrases
mean the same thing? (Note: not all the phrases are useful in the part of the exam that
they are being used to describe).

Are there any other useful words or phrases in those sentences (apart from in the gaps)?
What are other ways of saying those things?

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2012

IELTS tips with gaps which are useful language for the exam – Suggested answers
General tips for Writing


You should use your eraser as ____little________ as possible.



Even someone getting a 9.0 will make a _____fair/ reasonable/ certain______ number
of grammatical mistakes.



Being ambitious can __________make_______ up for making basic errors, but the
most important thing is being comprehensible.



IELTS Writing is _____much/ far_______ less academic than journal papers and uni-
versity theses, for example because you are encouraged to mention ___your/ person-
al_____ experience and it is impossible to make reference to quotations. It is more
__similar_____ to a school essay than to a real academic paper.



Don’t waste time counting individual words – count the words on two lines, then calcu-
late a number of words per line. _____After ___ that, count the number of lines and
work out the total number of words. Alternatively, it is even better do all your writing on
official IELTS paper so you know how many words per line you usually have.

Writing Part One


You have to write at ____least____ 150 words and it is best to write __just_____ over
150. There is no ___maximum_____ number of words but writing much more than 150
is wasting time that you could spend working on Part Two.



In Writing Part One you have to describe one or more bar chart, __line_____ graph,
__pie____ chart, __table_______, map, flowchart or other diagram.



The ___vast_______ majority of Writing Part One tasks are best written with a short
two-sentence introduction and then two main paragraphs.



How you decide to divide the information into two paragraphs has __little/ minimal____
importance. It is much more important quickly deciding some way of doing so.



In the second sentence of the introduction, explain what you will write about in the
____second/ next/ following______ paragraph and the one after that.



In each main paragraph, it is usually best to start with the most important or most
__obvious/ noticeable________ information. This will help make sure that you select
and summarise rather than describe everything.



Unless it is impossible (as it sometimes is in ______flowchart____ tasks), you should
always __compare______ and contrast.



You should mention how slowly/ gradually or ___rapidly/ dramatically/ quickly/ sud-
denly_______ things rise/ go up/ climb/ increase or ___drop/ fall/ decrease/
decline________.



Be careful about confusing “change from”, “change to” and “change __by____”.



Don’t include your own ____opinions_______ or ideas of what the data might mean,
just select and analyse the data that is there.



There’s no need to conclude or ____summarise_________ (and it is virtually im-
possible to do so well).

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2012

Writing Part Two


Read the question very carefully and underline important words, looking for _small/
subtle__________ but important differences in the instructions such as between “How
much/ To what extent do you agree?” and “Do you agree?”



Also pay attention to plurals in the question. For _____instance/ example_______, if
the questions say “Give reasons” you must give more than one.



The ____main/ biggest___ advantage of brainstorming your ideas before you decide
on your paragraph structure is that you know you won’t run out of ideas while you are
writing. The greatest __disadvantage_______ is that it takes up valuable time.



Start your introduction with rephrasing the question and then say why the topic is im-
portant, topical, relevant or ______interesting_________.



If you weigh up both sides of the argument and then give your own conclusions, make
sure you say why one side of the argument is more ____persuasive_______ than the
other.



The _____most_______ common problem people have with Writing Part Two is run-
ning out of time.



Support for your arguments should be realistic things like personal __experience_____
and logical ____consequences/ arguments________ rather than things you couldn’t
know without research like direct quotes and statistics.



Leave a ___minimum________ of three or four minutes for editing and add better lan-
guage while you are correcting your mistakes.

General tips on IELTS Speaking


Ask ______each/ every_____ time you are not sure about the meaning of a question,
or state your understanding of the question in your answer. Make all questions as spe-
cific as ______possible______________.

Speaking Part Two


You need to speak for ____between_______ one and two minutes.



Before that you have ______exactly/ precisely________ one minute to prepare what
you are going to say, making notes to help you if you like.

Speaking Part Three


Almost ___all_________ candidates find some Speaking Part Three questions difficult
or impossible to understand and/ or answer.

Listening


There are __no____________ half points in the test. You get ___no/ zero_______
points for a wrongly spelt answer or the wrong use of punctuation such __as_______
capital letters, apostrophes and hyphens.



Generally each text has __more________ than one kind of question.



If there is more than one way of writing the answer, e.g. as a ___figure/
number_______ or a word, choose the one you are most confident about.



In general, the words that you have to write down will be the ___same_____ as the
text but the words around them will be different.



You have ten minutes at the _______end___________ of the whole test to transfer
your answers to the answer sheet. This is a good time to ____guess___ any answers
you haven’t decided on yet.

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2012

Reading


You need to transfer your answers onto the answer sheet ___during/ within________
the sixty minutes of the exam. You will need up to ten minutes to do this, or some
people prefer to do it after they finish ______each____________ text.



Even someone getting a 9.0 will usually get some answers wrong, so you need to
learn when to give up on a question and ____move_____ on to the next one. You can
still guess when you transfer to the answer sheet.



The texts ________increase_________ in difficulty as you progress through the test,
but there will still be some easier questions with the final text.



Most people do not have __enough/ sufficient__________ time to read through the
whole text first. If you do so, it is only to get an idea of where the information is rather
than to understand anything and should be completed in ___under______ four
minutes by using tactics like switching to the next paragraph as soon as you know
what a paragraph is about.



Under __no____ circumstances should you leave blank spaces on the answer sheet.



You should only change your answers if you are ___sure/ certain/ confident______
that the new answer is correct. First guesses tend to be more accurate than second
guesses.

Written by Alex Case for UsingEnglish.com © 2012