Hello everyone. It is a great pleasure to invite Mark to attend 51ielts's interview .So, ...start asking now...

mark：Hello everyone!

網友 ：Hello!!! My speaking ultimate goal is 6.5 and I have several months to prepare.. Last time I got 4.5, I was quite nervous in the course of testing.. And I wanna konw how to overcome the drawback..... Could you tell me a effevtive method to work on ielts in daily life coz I have enough time(5-6 months) to do it. Thankyou!! By the way, happy new year!!!!

mark：You are a very special student. You understand that time is needed to prepare. Overcoming nervousness is simply a matter of practise. The more you do, the less nervous you will be. For preparation advice, check my books. Set yourself a few topics to practise each day. Get out and use your English as much as possible. Good luck!

網友 ：Hi,my ielts speaking is 5.How can i get 6?By the way,I have 2 months to prepare.
Thanks

mark：The key difference between 5 and 6 is range - of vocabulary and grammar. Make sure you can discuss any topic for at least a few minutes.

網友Cindra ：hello,I wanna ask whether there are many new topics in this month.coz I hear of that there are new topics in the first month every year than other months.I take the exam this weekend,so quite worry about it.

mark：There are new topics every month, but often the topics reported by candidates as 'new' are in fact old topics that have been reintroduced or perhaps slightly changed.

網友holly ：Hello! I will take the ielts test on Jan 17th. Could you tell me what I can do in the 10-day’ time to best prepare for the speaking test? Also I am having trouble with the writing part. I mean I can not finish both the two tasks within the limited time. I wonder if you can give me some suggestions on it. My goal is at least 7.If you cannot finish both writing tasks in 1 hour, you cannot achieve 7, so practise writing faster! Perhaps you spend too much time thinking about task 2. In that case, you need to have ideas in your head before the test, so do plenty of reading to get ideas. For the speaking test, just go out and practise with friends - or anyone.

網友 ：Hello ! i took the ielts test in Aug. i only got 4.5 in speaking

i want to get 6.0 scores how can i do it well ?

looking forward to your reply ^ ^

mark：If you have been truly using your English, you should now be at level 6 (after 5 months). As I have said in other answers, it's all about practise.

網友ET ：Dear Sir, thanks for your instructions.I took the IETLS exam in Oct 25th,2008 and i got 4.5 scores of oral part.It is really an embarrassing score.LOL~~ Could you tell me what is the best way to make the examer feel exciting?I will take it again on Jan 10th. There are so limited days can let me prepare ,and in part three ,if i don`t hear the question clearly ,can i ask him or her to repeat it? And can i ask him speak slowly?Thanks a lot!

mark：Examiners are generally extremely boring people, so forget making the examiner excited. If you don't hear the question, you can ask the examiner to repeat it - no problem. You can also ask the examiner to speak slowly, but remember that will leave you with less time to answer.

網友Lucy ：Hi,Mark,thanks for your time.There are so many so called JiJin these days, and students are trying their best to prepare enough information and materials for the questions in oral test.I'm just wondering how the examiner will give the score. Do they pay more attention to the fluency and comprehension, or they would prefer those who can give a lot of information without stopping? I mean there must be some who actually are good at communication in English, but are given some topics that either are difficult or of which they have never thought about and learnt about. thx againThe score is 25% fluency and coherence, 25% vocabulary, 25% grammar and 25% pronunciation. Candidates often claim that the topics are difficult - topics like 'your family', 'your hobbies', etc. Topics are difficult to talk about if you don't have the vocabulary!

網友 ：Dear Mark . Nice to meet you here . I had my IETLS Test last year 13/12/2008 and also I`ve got 6 on my Speaking . I will take the IETLS in 4/4/2009 this year . what i need is 7 for my speaking . If that possible .would you mind give me some suggestions or whatever. Thank you for your help .

mark：The key difference between 6 and 7 in speaking is accuracy. Many sentences, even complex ones, will be perfect grammatically. Your vocabulary will be wide and accurate. Your speech will (almost) always be clear. 7 is a high target, but it isn't impossible.

網友Mary ：Dear Mark,I'm very glad to see you here.I want to take IETLS exam.I have to get 6.5 score in every band .I have pass the six English level 2 years ago.And my listening and speaking isn't very well.So,can you kindly tell me how much time I need to prepare for the exam?Thank you very much!

mark：It depends on your current level. It generally takes 3 months to improve by 1 band.

網友 ：Hi, Mark, I am thinking about take the IETLS test, could you give me any idea for prepare for it? Thank you so much!

mark：Your first stop should be to check on the Internet to find out what score you need. Then you need to find out your current level. After that, seek advice from the experts (New Channel?). Your preparation schedule depends on many different factors.

網友 ：hi,sir,can you give me some suggestion about how to prepare the third part of oral test in detail,you know,it is comprehensive so it is hard to get to the point.thanks!

mark：It is really very easy to get to the point. Start an answer with your basic point, then expand on it. As I mentioned in another answer, reading is very important for preparation for the speaking test, especially part 3.

網友Cala ：Hi，mark!I will take IELTS exam in 15/01/2009.

mark：Good luck!

網友tower wood ：Hi, Mark,good morning. I know you for your book.I just received my results of IElTS on dec 20,2008, score on spoken english is 6. this is the first time that i talked with a native speaker in so long a time of 15 minutes. form my past experience, I always feet too shy to say in english, although I had quite some opportunities to talk with a foreigner, I have not made good use of them. I prepare this exam only in two weeks. My question is how to improve my score, that is , above 7, and what I should attach importance to?

mark：You have given yourself very little time. The quickest way of achieving your goal is to get an English-speaking bf/gf! As I mentioned before, accuracy is the key to a 7.

網友 ：您好，我準備明年4月考雅思，我學的是英語專業，已經通過了專四，您覺得我還需要參加輔導班么？口語考試的流程我只在網上看了個大概，但具體是什么我還是不太了解，您能給我講講嗎？謝謝！

mark：It is not absolutely necessary to attend a class. If you have other ways of learning (e.g. with a friend), you don't need a class. Any good IELTS book will show and explain the layout of the test.

網友 ：你好，我現在在法國，為了申請學校不得不在這邊考雅思，我報的二月考試，請問一下 在法國考雅思，看國內的考題預測有幫助嗎？聽說全世界的雅思考試是一個題庫，請問我看 那段時間的機經比較有用？因為在這邊復習無從下手，期待回信，萬分感謝！

網友 ：我上次考雅思的時候，出了點小狀況，先開始答的還可以，可是到了Part 3的時候，有一個問題沒有聽懂，可是又不敢問，我怕影響分數，所以就硬著頭皮答了。結果那次口語部分分數很低，您說是不是因為我沒有聽懂問題造成的？那下回我再沒聽懂怎么辦啊？

mark：In part 3 especially, you must be able to discuss topics in depth. Simple answers are insufficient.

網友 ：老師好，我想2月分考，可是聽別人講一般2月的題比較難，而且容易在2月份變題，想問下存在這種情況嗎？

mark：Take the test when you are ready, not when other people, using unscientific methods, tell you to take it.