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5 Scary IELTS Myths

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Today is the festival of Halloween, a day when children and adults dress up in scary costumes, decorate their homes and watch horror films. But for many IELTS candidates around the world, the speaking test can also be pretty scary. In this post, let's look at some common scary IELTS myths (false beliefs or ideas).

Avoid formal language

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In the IELTS speaking test, many candidates believe that they will impress the examiner by using very formal vocabulary. In fact, the speaking test is supposed to represent everyday 'educated' speech -- not highly formal, but at the same time you should not use language that is too informal, such as slang. In the table below, I include some examples of overly formal words and phrases that you should try to avoid in the speaking test.

Talking about changes

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In the IELTS Speaking test, the examiner may ask you about a recent change. The topic could be your home town or country, your work, the environment, fashion, eating habits, people's lifestyle, etc. In order to answer well, you need to use tenses correctly. In this post I will give you a useful grammar tip.


Difficult cue cards (IELTS Speaking part 2)

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Many candidates are worried about part 2 of the IELTS test. They mainly worry about having nothing to say. Unfortunately, you cannot choose the cue that you are going to get in part 2, so you should be prepared to talk for 1-2 minutes about any topic -- even about a topic that you do not know much about or have no experience with. Let's dicuss how you can do this.