IELTS Tips- Gap Fills

IELTS tips with gaps which are useful language for the exam

First of all without any help, fill each gap on the pages below with one word, thinking about what it must be to fit grammatically and to make an accurate statement about the exam.

Use these mixed words to help.

after                                        all

between                                      by

compare                                      consequences

disadvantage                                 drop/ fall/ decrease/ decline

during/ within                               each

end                                          enough/ sufficient

every                                        exactly/ precisely

experience                                   fair/ reasonable/ certain

figure/ number                               flowchart

guess                                        important

increase                                     instance/ example

interesting                                  least

line                                         little

little/ minimal                              main/ biggest

minimum                                      more

most                                         move

much/ far                                    no

no/ zero                                     obvious/ noticeable

opinions                                     outweigh

persuasive                                   pie

rapidly/ dramatically/ quickly/ suddenly     same

second/ next/ following                      similar

summary                                      table

under                                        vast

your/ personal

 

Check as a class or with the suggested answers.

Underline language in the tips that could be useful for IELTS Speaking and/ or IELTS Writing.

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Gaps to fill to make IELTS tips

IELTS Writing

IELTS Writing Tasks 1 and 2

• You should use your eraser as _________________________________ as possible.
• Even someone getting a 9.0 will make a ____________________________________ number of grammatical mistakes.
• Being ambitious with your language use (using more advanced language) can make up for basic errors, but the most __________________ thing is to be comprehensible.
• IELTS Writing is ____________________ less academic than journal papers and university theses, because you are encouraged to mention _____________________ experience and it is impossible to use references. 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 calculate a number of words per line. ____________________________________ that, count the number of lines to work out a rough total. It is even better do all your writing on official IELTS paper so you know how many words per line you usually have.

IELTS Writing Task 1

• You have to write at __________________ 150 words. There is no maximum number of words but writing much more than 150 wastes time that you could spend on Task 2.
• In Writing Task 1 you have to describe one or more bar chart, ___________________ graph, ________________ chart, _______________, map, flowchart or other diagram.
• The ____________________________________ majority of Writing Task 1 essays can best be written with a three-sentence introduction and then two body paragraphs.
• How you decide to divide the information into two paragraphs has ________________ importance. It is much more important to quickly decide some way of doing so.
• In the last sentence of the introduction, explain what you will write about in the ___________________________________ ______ paragraph and the one after that.
• In each body paragraph, it is usually best to start with the most important or most ________________________________________________________ information. This will help make sure that you select and summarise, and not 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.
• It’s difficult to write a good final _______________ paragraph (but one is not needed).

IELTS Writing Task Two

• 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 plan for your essay is that you will know you won’t run out of ideas while you are writing. The greatest _________________________ is that it takes up valuable time. For most people, the bad points __________________ the good points.
• Start by rephrasing the question, perhaps after writing why the topic is important, topical, relevant or _______________________ if that is not included in the question.
• If you weigh up both sides of the argument and then give your conclusions, make sure you say why one side of the argument is more __________________ than the other.
• The ____________ common problem people have with Task 2 is running out of time.
• Support for your arguments should be realistic things like personal ______________ and logical _____________________________________________________, not things you couldn’t know without research like exact quotations and precise statistics.
• Leave a __________________________________________________ of three or four minutes for editing, also adding better language while you correct your mistakes.

 

IELTS Speaking

IELTS Speaking Parts One, Two and Three

• Ask ______ ______________________________ time you are not sure about the meaning of a question, or state your understanding of the question in your answer.

IELTS 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.

IELTS Speaking Part Three

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

 

IELTS Listening

• There are ____________________________ half points in the IELTS Listening test. You get _________________________________ points for a wrongly spelt answer.
• Each of the three listening texts usually has ____________ than one kind of question.
• If there is more than one way of writing the answer, e.g. as a ___________________ or as a word, write the one you are most confident is correct.
• The words that you have to write down are always the ________________________ as the words you hear in the text, but the words around them are usually different from the words written on the question paper.
• You have ten minutes at the _____________ of the test to transfer your answers to the answer sheet, which is a good time to ___________ answers you haven’t decided on.

 

IELTS Reading

• You need to transfer your answers onto the answer sheet _____________________ the sixty minutes of the exam, perhaps after finishing ______________________ text.
• Even someone getting a 9.0 will usually get answers wrong, so you need to learn when to give up on a question and _________________________ on to the next one.
• 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 should only be to get an idea of where the information is (not to understand anything) and should be completed in __________________________ four minutes, using tactics like skipping onto the next paragraph as soon as you know what a paragraph is about.

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Suggested answers

IELTS Writing

IELTS Writing Tasks 1 and 2

• 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 with your language use (using more advanced language) can make up for basic errors, but the most __important___ thing is to be comprehensible.
• IELTS Writing is _____much/ far_______ less academic than journal papers and university theses, because you are encouraged to mention ___your/ personal_____ experience and it is impossible to use references. 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 calculate a number of words per line. _____After___ that, count the number of lines to work out a rough total. It is even better do all your writing on official IELTS paper so you know how many words per line you usually have.

IELTS Writing Task 1

• You have to write at ____least____ 150 words. There is no maximum number of words but writing much more than 150 wastes time that you could spend on Task 2.
• In Writing Task 1 you have to describe one or more bar chart, __line_____ graph, __pie____ chart, __table_______, map, flowchart or other diagram.
• The ___vast_______ majority of Writing Task 1 essays can best be written with a three-sentence introduction and then two body paragraphs.
• How you decide to divide the information into two paragraphs has __little/ minimal____ importance. It is much more important to quickly decide some way of doing so.
• In the last sentence of the introduction, explain what you will write about in the ____second/ next/ following______ paragraph and the one after that.
• In each body 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, and not 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/ suddenly__ 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.
• It’s difficult to write a good final __summary___ paragraph (but one is not needed).

IELTS Writing Task Two

• 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 plan for your essay is that you will know you won’t run out of ideas while you are writing. The greatest _______disadvantage_______ is that it takes up valuable time. For most people, the bad points ____outweigh___ the good points.
• Start by rephrasing the question, perhaps after writing why the topic is important, topical, relevant or ______interesting_________ if that is not included in the question.
• If you weigh up both sides of the argument and then give your conclusions, make sure you say why one side of the argument is more ____persuasive_______ than the other.
• The _____most____ common problem people have with Task 2 is running out of time.
• Support for your arguments should be realistic things like personal __experience_____ and logical ____consequences_____ , not things you couldn’t know without research like exact quotations and precise statistics.
• Leave a ___minimum_____ of three or four minutes for editing, also adding better language while you correct your mistakes.

 

IELTS Speaking

IELTS Speaking Parts One, Two and Three

• Ask ______ every_____ time you are not sure about the meaning of a question, or state your understanding of the question in your answer.

IELTS 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.

IELTS Speaking Part Three

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

 

IELTS Listening

• There are __no_____ half points in the IELTS Listening test. You get ___no/ zero_______ points for a wrongly spelt answer.
• Each of the three listening texts usually 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 as a word, write the one you are most confident is correct.
• The words that you have to write down are always the ___same_____ as the words you hear in the text, but the words around them are usually different from the words written on the question paper.
• You have ten minutes at the ____end___ of the test to transfer your answers to the answer sheet, which is a good time to ____guess___ answers you haven’t decided on.

 

IELTS Reading

• You need to transfer your answers onto the answer sheet ___during/ within________ the sixty minutes of the exam, perhaps after finishing ______each____________ text.
• Even someone getting a 9.0 will usually get answers wrong, so you need to learn when to give up on a question and ____move_____ on to the next one.
• 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 should only be to get an idea of where the information is (not to understand anything) and should be completed in ___under____ four minutes, using tactics like skipping onto the next paragraph as soon as you know what a paragraph is about.