IELTS practice

IELTS exams are one way how to prove your level of English if you are planning to study at a university where the language of instruction is English. Here you can find some practice material that you can use either to prepare for IELTS or for your school leaving exam :)

Previous exam writing tasks

2009
Task 1 Your Best Quality
What do you think your friends or other people like most about you? What could you change about your personality and why? Write a diary entry in about 60 words.

Task 2 Giving Advice
Donald, aged 16: 'I don't know what to do. What's the point of staying at school? I ding maths and languages impossible. I don't need physics and chemistry. I have no idea what career to choose.'

Write Donald a letter (about 110 words):

• give him advice how to improve his results at school,
• explain the advantages of staying at school,
• advise him what he could do to choose a career. 

Task 3 Reasons for Leaving Latvia
One of the main reasons why people have left Latvia during the last few years is that they say they are better paid in other countries. Add two other reasons and discuss all of them in an essay (about 250 words), giving your own opinion.

2010
Task 1 Computer games
Write a paragraph for a school project expressing your arguments for and against computer games. Write about 80 words.

Task 2 Your town/village
Write a description of a sightseeing trip in your town/village for a tourist brochure.
Write about

• the area in general,
• 3 significant landmarks,
• accommodation and catering possibilities that might attract visitors. 

Write about 110 words.
Welcome to my town/village... 

Task 3 Young people's health 
Write a composition (about 250 words) describing 3 factors that affect young people's health and physical fitness. Explain why these factors are important and add your suggestions about how to keep fit and healthy.

New English Studies Page

I would like to invite you to check out a new English studies page provided by the British Council. There you'll find:

- tips for doing your exams better

- practical grammar and vocabulary activities

- blog posts on books, entertainment, life, etc

Some of you might find most of the things a little easy :)

If you have any comments, please, feel free to leave them here. 

More difficult tasks

For those of you who would like to do more challenging practice, here are a few pages to explore:

CAE (Cambridge Advanced English):
Exam English (also CPE you can practise here)

CPE (Cambridge Proficiency English):

English online (also CAE you can practise here)
Flo-joe (also CAE you can practise here)
University of Cambridge

Do the tasks, check for yourself, ask questions to me in person or in writing selgagold@gmail.com :)

IELTS exams

For those of you who are interested:

IELTS exam information and practice.

Got any questions? Ask your teacher :)

Exam tasks

As some of you have asked for extra practice, here are a few links that you can explore:

FCE practice exam that is similar in difficulty to our Year 12 exam

Some more practice tests from Flo-Joe

P.S. If you do the tasks, check them and have questions - don't hesitate to ask me :)