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Tips for IELTS | |
Macmillan
Author: Sam McCarter
64 pages
£4.95
ISBN 1-4050-9616 -0
This is not an English language textbook. No grammar is explained here, there are no pictures and no exercises. This book is about how to prepare yourself for the IELTS exam - just that and nothing else. For your money you get 64 pages of tips and techniques for taking the IELTS, with the advantage that the tips have been prepared by Sam McCarter, who is something of a specialist on the exam. (Think for example of the IELTS Testbuilder, which he co-wrote with Judith Ash.) A few of the tips are are so general that they are worthless. 'Use your time effectively' is not particularly helpful, since most students will have worked this out for themselves. However, most of the tips (for example 'When working with a chart, make general statements and then support them with specific information from the chart') are solid and practical.
The book is divided in the same manner as the exam itself, into reading ,writing, listening and speaking. The most important tips are in their own section entitled 'golden rules'. For example, 'When answering a reading question, scan the text for the meaning of the question, not the words of the question, since the examiners try to paraphrase.' (Say the same thing differently and more briefly.) There are also clear and useful instructions on how to fill out your answer sheets and techniques for the different papers of the exam, with the tips for the listening exam being particularly useful . At the back is a checklist of skills needed for the exam, which you can grade from 1-9. For example 'I can scan and skim a text quickly and accurately'; 1=no 9=certainly.
Who is this book for? A lot of the material and tips are available for free on the internet, and any competent IELTS teacher will know most of the rest. However, this book is very reasonably priced, the advice comes from an expert, and all the tips are gathered together and well organized, which makes this book good value for money. If you are a teacher who is new to teaching the IELTS, or studying on your own, this book will save you a lot of work. It will not improve your English, but it will help you to get maximum marks for the English you have.
Verdict: Not essential, but very useful
Assessment 8/10