IELTS Reading and Writing

 Endangered and Extinct Species

The environment and endangered species are topics that come up often in the IELTS test.

Of course everyone knows that the panda bear is endangered. Sadly, the dodo is now extinct.

EXTINCT = They are all dead.
ENDANGERED = They are NEARLY all dead!

How about some other examples? What are the reasons for extinction?




 

Reading

Check out the following link which shows some information about 15 of the world's endangered and extinct species:

ENDANGERED AND EXTINCT SPECIES

Of course there is no need to memorise all of them for your test!
 
Look again and ask yourself the following questions:

1. What do number 1,2 and 3 have in common?
2. Which animals on the list can you find in your country?
3. Looking at the pictures, are most of the animals cute or ugly? Why do you think this is?
4. What are the main causes of extinction?
5. Which industries are mentioned as causes? 
6. What solutions are suggested?
7. Each animal has two names, the common name and the scientific name in Latin. Which one should you remember and use in your test?

 
 SCROLL DOWN FOR THE ANSWERS!

Writing review

Now try the following cause and solution writing task using the ideas you have just read as examples:

Nowadays many animal species are extinct or endangered. What are the main causes of this? What can we do to protect endangered animals?

You should write at least 250 words.
Spend around 40 minutes on this task.

TIP!

This topic contains many commonly misspelt words. Make sure you check the following words:

environment
species 
endangered
extinct
preserve
habitat
conservation










 ANSWERS

1. What do number 1,2 and 3 have in common? They are all fish which are eaten for food (sashimi).
2. Which animals on the list can you find in your country? Answers will vary. The Chinese Cobra can be seen in Taiwan.
3. Looking at the pictures, are most of the animals cute or ugly? Why do you think this is? Most of the animals look quite ugly. Perhaps we can say that people care more about protecting "cute" animals than ugly or dangerous ones?
4. What are the main causes of extinction? Habitat destruction (5,7,8,9,11,12,13,14,15), consumption as food (1,2,3,4), global warming (9)
5. Which industries are mentioned as causes? Fishing industry (1,2,3), Mining / Quarrying (7,9), Construction (8), Oil and Gas (12), Farming (13,14) 
6. What solutions are suggested? Marine reserves /protected areas (1,2,14), Fishing quotas (1), Better conservation efforts (4), Education to raise awareness (14)
7. Each animal has two names, the common name and the scientific name in Latin. Which one should you remember and use in your test? Just remember the common name. You don't need to know the Latin name and they are usually found together in the reading.

COMMON NAME: Pacific bluefin tuna 
(Scientific name: Thunnus Orientalis) 

IELTS Reading

MUSEUMS in the FUTURE

This article will give you some ideas for talking or writing about how museums could be improved or how you think museums will change in the future.

You will also be able to practice:

• READING - T, F, NG
• VOCABULARY - reviewing adjectives
• SPEAKING - Discussion questions
• WRITING

Don't worry if you don't understand everything in the article. Just try to get a general idea. You can also watch the video to help you understand.

Read the article HERE.

  Then continue reading for the exercises..

IELTS - Integrated Skills

Childhood Obesity

CAUSES, EFFECTS, SOLUTIONS

The problem of childhood obesity comes up quite regularly in the IELTS test.

Before the test, try to prepare some ideas.

Think about:

• CAUSES

• EFFECTS

• SOLUTIONS

See if you can think of THREE ideas for each of the above.

Now continue for some reading, speaking and writing tasks...

IELTS - The Future

How will ... change in the future?

Nobody has a crystal ball to see the future, so it may be difficult to think of ideas!

Luckily, the BBC website has created a new section called BBC: FUTURE which contains articles, movie clips and audio files about the future. The content covers a whole range of topics from EDUCATION to HEALTH to TRANSPORTATION, and how they might change in the FUTURE.

These ideas, as well as the vocabulary and phrases used, can be useful for both WRITING and SPEAKING. Not only that, but you can also practise some LISTENING and READING skills too!

Here are some of the articles I think could be useful:

Future of Education (article) : Can technology kill off the exam?
Future of Transportation (article) : Can a city go car free?
Future Health (sponsored article) : Treating patients 3000 miles away
Future Transportation (video) : New design for electric scooters
Future Entertainment (slideshow and article) : Virtual Reality's Puke Problem

Hope you find it interesting and helpful!

IELTS - Integrated Skills

The Effects of Tourism - Reading, Vocabulary, Speaking & Writing

Tourism and historical buildings are popular topics in the IELTS test. This article helps you to practise reading, review vocabulary, prepare for the speaking test AND do some writing.

Continue reading for READING, VOCABULARY, SPEAKING and WRITING TASKS...

IELTS Writing Task 1 and Reading

Language of Trends (FUELS and ENERGY SOURCES)

Always look out for reports that contain language useful for the IELTS writing test.

Reading and understanding this report on trends in CO2 emissions and energy sources will give you lots of useful words and phrases for describing fuel use and pollution - a common data type in IELTS Writing Task 1.

Continue reading for four tasks to help you improve your IELTS READING and WRITING skills...

IELTS Integrated Skills

Review Writing, Speaking, Listening and Reading for IELTS

Although the IELTS test separates the 4 skills (L, R, W, S), we can save time when we prepare by INTEGRATING SKILLS. This means using all four skills TOGETHER

In this review exercise, you can improve your reading, writing, listening and reading skills at the same time.

Keep reading for the EXERCISE and TASKS....

IELTS Writing: Investment in the Arts

Investment in the Arts

A common topic in the IELTS writing test is investment in the arts.

 (The arts includes dance, drama, music etc.)

You may be asked to:

• describe advantages and disadvantages of spending government money on the arts 
• to discuss different views related to arts investment and give your opinion
• or to say whether you agree or disagree with investment in the arts.

It can be difficult to come up with ideas for this topic quickly in the test, so it helps to think about some ideas in advance.

An article in the Guardian newspaper from the UK details a recent report into the benefits of arts investment.

Continue reading for some extracts and task....

IELTS Writing : Task One REVIEW

If your test is coming soon, try reading this article for some quick review.

The article is from the Guardian Newspaper in the UK and reports crime rates.

Answer the following questions:

• Did the crime rate go up or down overall?
• When did the crime rate reach the highest point?
• Specifically, which types of crime rose?
• Which type of crime was different?
•  Which VERBSare used to describe change over time?
• Which ADVERBS are used with the verbs?
• Which NOUNS are used?
• Which ADJECTIVES are used with them?
• Can you see any comparatives (more than) and/or superlatives (the most)?

NOTE: Use the language for change over time from this article, but there is no need for quotes or opinions or interpretation of the data in IELTS Task 1

Crime  in England and Wales fell sharply last year with an 8% drop recorded on police figures and a 5% reduction according to the official crime survey.
The crime rate has halved since it peaked in 1995 and appears to be at its lowest level for more than 30 years. The  statistics show that all the main categories of crime recorded by the police fell, with violence down 6%, robbery down 13% and burglary down 9%. The murder rate also continued to fall in 2012, down 4% from 577 to 552 homicides. Knife crime fell by 16%.

The only category to see an increase was theft from person, which rose 8% to 107,471 incidents. Police said the increase, was driven by a rising number of mobile phone thefts, sometimes by youths on bikes.
The crime survey for England and Wales, which interviews more than 40,000 people about their experience of crime, estimates there were 8.9m crimes in 2012. This is the lowest level since 1981 when there were 11m crimes. The police figures recorded 3.7m offences, which is the lowest on this measure since 1989.

Crime rose steadily from 1981 to 1991 before peaking in 1995. Subsequently, the crime survey for England and Wales showed marked falls up to the 2004-05 survey. Since then the rate of reduction has slowed with some fluctuation from year to year.

The text has been adapted slightly from the original article.

Reading for Task One Writing

Reading to Improve Writing (Task One)

A good way to improve your writing skills and reading skills at the same time is by picking up a newspaper once a week and finding a useful article. Look for articles that talk about issues related to the IELTS test, for example the environment, crime and social issues.

Often newspapers publish the results of polls and surveys. These kinds of articles have lots of language for data description which you can "recycle" in your Task One writing.

Keep reading for an example and task...

 

IELTS READING - Y/N/NG

IELTS Reading – YES / NO / NOT GIVEN

One difficult question type type in the IELTS Reading Test is YES / NO / NOT GIVEN.

Often to answer this question type you need to identify the opinions held by the author. 

(T / F / NG is usually about FACTS, rather than opinions.)

Read the first paragraph of an article from the Guardian newspaper about neuroscience and decide if the following sentences are YES, NO or NOT GIVEN.
 

Our brains, and how they're not as simple as we think

I never used to discuss neuroscience on the bus but it's happened twice in the last month. On one occasion a fellow passenger mentioned that her "brain wasn't working properly" to explain that she had gone through a long period of depression. On another, an exchange student enthusiastically told me that one of the advantages of learning abroad is that a new language "made your brain more efficient". In each case, the conversation was spattered with references to the brain as casually as we mention family members– "I don't think my brain can handle multi-tasking" gliding between us as easily as "my cousin studied in Paris". A grey day in London, rain on the windows, talking neuroscience with strangers.

Note: neuroscience = the science of brain function

Write YES if the sentence agrees with the author’s opinion.

Write NO if the contradicts the author’s opinion.

Write NOT GIVEN if no information is given about the writer's opinion.

1. The writer never discusses neuroscience on the bus.  

2. The exchange student was keen to talk about the benefits of studying overseas.

3. Learning new languages can improve your brain efficiency.

4. The writer likes the weather in London.

Continue reading for the answers and tips...

Cities in the UK - Quick Guides

Not sure what to see and do in cities in the UK?

Do some quick reading practice and find out about some university towns in the UK with these Quick Guides

You can get some ideas about where to study or plan a trip when you are in the UK.

Manchester 

Oxford 

Birmingham

Brighton

Leeds

Newcastle

Liverpool

Bristol

A Chicken and Egg issue

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

This is a brainteaser question with no real answer. We can use idioms like this to achieve a higher score for vocabulary in IELTS writing.

One example of a chicken and egg issue is electric cars. Without electric cars, companies won't build stations to recharge cars. Without places to recharge, people won't buy electric cars. Therefore it is an endless cycle, just like a chicken and an egg.

In IELTS, another 'chicken and egg' issue is which should you study first, vocabulary, reading or writing. They are all connected so why not try reading about an IELTS topic and identifying some useful vocabulary, then using them in your writing.

Continue for reading and vocabulary exercises...