1. Use connectors to make complex sentences (Note the punctuation and sentence pattern too!)Wrong: Some people tend to overspend, they do not earn that much.

   Better:

   1. Some individuals tend to overspend although they do not earn that much.
   2. Although/While some people do not earn that much, their expenditures exceed their income.
   3. Despite their limited revenues, some individuals’ expenses exceed their earning.
   4. A large section of the population does not necessarily earn exceptionally high income, but/yet they tend to incur excessive expenses.

 

 

• Use gerund (V-ing) to connect sentences.Wrong: Unemployment rate increase lead to higher crime rates need to be addressed immediately.

  Right:

  1. An increase in the rate of unemployment which would lead to higher crime rates needs to be addressed immediately.
  2. An increase in the rate of unemployment potentially leading to higher crime rates has to be addressed immediately.

 

 

• Use infinitive (to + v(1)) vs. Gerund interchangeably.Wrong:  It is not easy pass the English exam.

  Better:

  1. It is not easy to pass the English exam.
  2. Passing the English exam is not easy.

 

 

• Do the passive to introduce a point.Wrong: Some people always think passing an exam is only lucky.

  Better:

  1. Some people always assume that passing an exam is merely a matter of luck.
  2. It is invariably assumed that passing an exam partly depends on luck.

 

 

• Use a Noun Clause as a Subject.Usual: It is questionable what causes the problem.

  Better: What has caused the problem is questionable.

 

 

• Use a ‘perfect’ Modal.Usual: People can prevent the problem if they know first.

  Better: The problem could have been prevented.

Happy New Year and Happy Holiday!

 

24 December 2017

Telaga

 

 

It is highly recommended that students consistently use EITHER the U.S.or the U.K. Spelling convention throughout the entire exam. See the illustration below:

1. AmericanExamples:
   1. Favor, center, realize, traveling.
   2. While, among, amid, toward.
   3. Program, sceptical.
   4. Has proved, learned.
   5. Advisor, story, acknowledgment
2. BritishExamples:
   1. Favour, centre, realise, travelling.
   2. Whilst, amongst, amidst, towards.
   3. Programme, sceptical.
   4. Has proven, learnt.
   5. Adviser, storey, acknowledgement.

To avoid misspelling, break up the word into word parts.

• e.g., govern +ment → government
• dis + satisfied → dissatisfied
• Hobby + ist + s → hobbyists

To decide whether or not to double a consonant, notice the syllable stress.

• e.g., occur + ed → occurred
• occur + ence → occurrence
• prefer + ed → preferred
• refer + ing → referring
• BUT: prefer + ence → preference

Using accurate spelling as well as correct punctuation and spacing will save you at least a few points in Writing!

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

 

24 December 2017

Telaga

Continuing on from previous posts about common question types, this post will cover another frequently seen question type – one that asks for the “general topic” or “main theme” of a paragraph, or a variation on these. An example we will discuss is below.

In a socio-demographic study in 1988 among Lebanese, Turkish and Vietnamese women in Sydney, migrant women were found to be, much less likely than Australian women generally to report sterilisation operations. Compared with the Australian population, these migrant groups were more likely to marry earlier, to start childbearing earlier, to have larger family sizes, to use traditional methods of contraception in their earlier years and to turn to oral contraception and IUD use at a later age. Hysterectomy was also far less common. Among the migrant women aged 40-49, hysterectomy was reported by 3-7% across different groups of migrant women. Compare this with a national sample survey in 1986, which showed that 15 per cent of women aged 40-49 years reported having had a hysterectomy.

The general topic discussed in this paragraph in relation to the 1988 study is differences between migrant groups and Australian women generally…

•  in the reported use of sterilisation procedures
•  in terms of hysterectomy rates
•  in socio-cultural attitudes towards family planning
•  in the reported use of contraception

The first thing worth noticing is that all four of the answers are indeed covered within the text – we can’t rule any of them out for being wrong straight away. However, the important thing with any question asking for the “main” or “general” aspect of a paragraph is to pick the broadest, most overarching of the answers. As an example, hysterectomy is mentioned several times, but falls under the topic of sterilisation, so hysterectomy is not the general topic. Sterilisation itself also comes under the topic of contraception, as sterilisation is one possible route of contraception, and so sterilisation is not the general topic either. Finally, contraception is only a part of family planning, which also covers ideas about family size and the age of marriage and childbirth. Family planning is thus the broadest, most overarching of the answers here, and is the correct answer.

The big trick to be careful of in these question types is not to always pick the answer that has the most written about it, but is only a specific example of a bigger general topic. In this paragraph, sterilisation and hysterectomy are talked about a lot, so it is easy to pick one of these as an answer, but as we said before they are only part of the larger general topic of family planning.

 

This post will cover a relatively common mistake students make in Reading B, and something that the question writers use to come up with wrong answers that are easy to fall for. It is always important to keep two things separate – what does the text specifically say, and what is something you have made a logical step to assume is correct. As always, we will look at an example question.

 

“Many third-world countries use blood unnecessarily. Where stricter indications for blood use have been introduced in sub-Saharan countries, consumption has dropped by almost two-thirds. Blood is often also used when alternatives would be more appropriate such as crystalloid or colloid solutions, which must first be imported and paid for in hard currency. Construction of local or district-based blood handling facilities could make a big impact on blood safety.”

 

Which of the following statements about developing countries is the most accurate?

1. A) Many cannot afford suitable alternatives to blood transfusion
2. B) There is no understanding of alternatives to blood transfusion
3. C) Some have increased their rates of blood transfusion
4. D) Facilities for blood handling are too expensive to construct

 

Let’s look at the answers from D to A. C and D are both examples of the trick we are focusing on in this post – they are both statements that are probably true, but they are not directly said in the text. For example, in answer D, it is probably true that facilities for blood handling are not built in poorer countries because they are too expensive, but the text does not mention cost at all; it only says that building these facilities could improve blood safety. Answer C is the same error; it is probably true that some of the countries have increased their use of transfusion, but all we are told in the text is that some have decreased their use. Again, you have to make sure that what you pick is said directly in the text. The answer for this question is A; we are told that the issue with alternatives is that they have to be imported and paid for, but the answer itself is not important. What is important is that in the exam you are careful with your choice of response and make sure it matches what it says in the text, rather than needing a logical jump.

1. Use PLURAL forms for Count NounsWrong: government, the governments, individual, computer

   Better: governments, governments / the government, individuals, computers

   (TIPS: Simply add ‘–s/-es’ at the end of a countable noun (but if you use THE, then don’t use the plural)

2. Always use THE for some nounsWrong: public, media, internet

   Right: the public, the media, the internet

   (TIPS: Memorise them!)

3. Use THE when you use a noun phrase ‘N + of +N’Wrong: majority of people, rate of unemployment

   Better: the majority of people, the rate of unemployment

   (TIPS:  Remember a few exceptions, eg. a wide range of, a vast variety of, a number of, a series of)

4. Do not use THE when speaking generally about the noun.Wrong: many of the students, the humanity, the people, go to the school, the society

   Better: many students, humanity, people, go to school, society

   (TIPS: Most of the time, don’t use THE in Task 2, except when you have a good reason to do so)

5. Use Present Perfect / Modal rather than Present / Future Simple/Continuous.Usual: become, became, will become, is affecting

   Better: has/have become, would/may/might become, has been affecting

   (Reason: Present perfect has a wider time frame and WILL is too strong /opionated)

 

 

 

Infrequent grammatical errors will score you 7+ in the Grammatical Accuracy criteria and will be decisive to help you achieve your target band in Writing!

Next month, we’ll discuss the Grammatical range criteria.

 

Happy Writing!

26 November 2017

Telaga

Many students don’t know exactly how to conclude in Essay writing. You only have 2 minutes to do so convincingly and you need to write 2-3 sentences (20-30 words).

Just use any (up to 3) of the following methods to suit your purpose.  

 

Conclusion + MPs

Start with ‘In conclusion / To conclude/ Overall / On the whole…’ + Paraphrase of your main points / main reasons (the 1st sentences of your body paragraphs).

 

Conclusion + Position

Start with ‘In conclusion,’ + reiterate your position by paraphrasing the last sentence of your Introduction.

 

Conclusion + Contrast

Use ‘In conclusion,…’ + ‘however / while / although / but’ especially when you partially agree, discuss both sides or discuss advantages and disadvantages.

 

Conclusion + expected Effect / Outcome\

Use ‘In conclusion,…’ + ‘so / therefore / for these reasons,…’ to show an effect / consequence especially for ‘Problem-Solution’ question type.

 

Conclusion + Causes / Factors

Use ‘In conclusion,…’ + ‘because / since / due to… etc’ to summarise the factors leading to the conclusion.

 

Conclusion + Condition

Start with ‘In conclusion,’ +’if / unless…’ to show the required condition to merit a certain outcome.

 

Conclusion + Prediction / Warning

Use ‘In conclusion,…’ + ‘Otherwise,…’ to describe what would happen if a particular condition is not met.

 

After you finish your conclusion, remember to allow 2 minutes to proofread your grammar, vocabulary, punctuation and spelling.

 

26 November 2017

Telaga

WARNING: Before you see the suggested answer/s, do think about them yourself first as an exercise!

1. Use SPECIFIC / PRECISE and FLEXIBLE (non repetitive) Vocabulary 

   Eg.

   Too common: Children / Young people

   Better: Youngsters /. The youth / youths / teenagers / offspring / adolescents

   (TIPS: Do not just reuse words from the question)

   Eg.

   Too common: Some / Many / Most people

   Better: Quite a few community members

   Better: The majority of the populace

2. Use correct SPELLING 

   Eg.

   Wrong: Goverments prefered to belive that the occurences are rare.

   Right: Governments preferred to believe that the occurrences are rare.

   (TIPS: breaking down words into syllables and/or use the right syllable stress can help)

3. Use good COLLOCATIONS and PHRASAL VERBS 

   Eg.

   Wrong: take a decision; take the book to school; throw away rubbish; discuss about

   Better: make a decision; bring the book…; dispose of…, talk about / discuss

   (TIPS: Use natural English expressions, not translation from your native language)

4. Use correct WORD FORM in the Word Family  

   Eg. Conclude

   Let us … the discussion. (Verb)

   The … of the discussion has not been finalised yet. (Noun)

   Our team’s victory is quite …. (Adjective)

   We can safely say …. that the evidence is unfounded. (Adverb)

   (TIPS: Forms depend on structure patterns and then on suffixes used where appropriate)

    

   (V: conclude. N: conclusion. Adj: conclusive. Adv: conclusively)

A higher vocabulary score will be crucial to help you achieve your target band in Writing!

GOOD LUCK!

26 October 2017

Telaga

How do you enhance organisation of your sentences and paragraphs to achieve a high score in this criteria, which in turn will raise your Writing band? Simply use a combination of the connecting devices below:

1. Linking Words Eg:  However, Furthermore, Therefore
2. ConjunctionsEg:  but, and, so
3. Connectors for complex sentencesEg:  which, that, if / unless, because // due to^, although // despite^, ^ followed by a noun (phrase)
4. V-ingEg:  including…
5. Prepositional phraseEg: For these reasons, In such cases, In fact
6. AdverbsEg: Obviously, (Un)fortunately, Initially // Eventually,
7. DeterminersEg: This // these, That // those , (An) ofher/s, such, the former // the latter
8. PronounsEg: They // them // their,  We // us // our

Remember to use proper punctuations and look up 1-2 more synonyms in the thesaurus.

Your essay will surely have a better flow and connectivity now – and a higher score!

 

26 October 2017

Telaga

Reading B often has lots of long sentences, some of which can extend over four or even five lines without a full stop. When a sentence is this long, it can be hard for even a native speaker to hold all of the sentence meaning in their head at once. One way you can try to simplify long sentences is by cutting out phrases that are between brackets, commas or dashes – let’s look at some examples.

 

“Other ways to minimise stomach upset are to start at a low dose and gradually increase as tolerated (e.g. start with alternate daily dosing then increase to daily or twice daily dosing) or give smaller, more frequent doses (e.g. use oral liquid in divided doses)”

If we try to simplify this sentence by removing the information in the brackets, we get a much shorter and easier to understand sentence: “Other ways to minimise stomach upset are to start at a low dose and gradually increase as tolerated or give smaller, more frequent doses”

 

“The incidence of meningitis changed by −31% (95% confidence interval [CI], −33 to −29) during the surveillance period, from 2.00 cases per 100,000 population (95% CI, 1.85 to 2.15) in 1998–1999 to 1.38 cases per 100,000 population (95% CI 1.27 to 1.50) in 2006–2007.”

Again, we can take this quite complicated research sentence, and ignore the information between the brackets to get a much simpler sentence: “The incidence of meningitis changed by −31% during the surveillance period, from 2.00 cases per 100,000 population in 1998–1999 to 1.38 cases per 100,000 population in 2006–2007”

 

“Close and prolonged contact – such as kissing, sneezing or coughing on someone, or living in close quarters (such as a dormitory, sharing eating or drinking utensils) with an infected person – facilitates the spread of the disease.”

Here we have brackets and dashes – we can change this sentence multiple ways. If we ignore what is in the brackets we get: “Close and prolonged contact – such as kissing, sneezing or coughing on someone, or living in close quarters with an infected person – facilitates the spread of the disease.”

We can simplify it even further though, by removing what is between the brackets and between the dashes: “Close and prolonged contact facilitates the spread of the disease.”

 

This is an important trick to remember for reading complex sentences in reading B – if you are really stuck try re-reading the sentence but leaving out one of the parts of the sentence, and see if that makes the meaning clearer.

Thanks!

Aug 29, 2017

James Bergfield

How do you organise the contents of your paragraphs to achieve high bands in Task Response and Coherence & Cohesion criteria? Just follow the guide below:

Type 1:  Agree/Disagree

1. Body 1:   Specific reason for A/D + Explanations + Example + Recap statement
2. Body 2:   Specific reason for A/D + Explanations + Example + Recap statement

Type 2:  Advantages & Disadvantages

1. Body 1:    Specific reason for Advantage + Explanations + Example + Recap
2. Body 2:  Specific reason for Disadvantage + Explanations + Example + Recap

Type 3:  Problem & Solution

1. Body 1:    Statement of Problem + Explanation of Causes + Example + Recap
2. Body 2:    Possible Solution + Explanation + Example + Recap
3. Body 3 (optional): Another Possible Solution + Explanation + Example + Recap

Type 4:  Discuss both sides + own opinion

1. Body 1:    Discuss advantages of Side X objectively + eg + Recap
2. Body 2:    Discuss advantages of Side Y objectively + eg + Recap
3. Conclusion:     Say your preferred Side and give your Reason.

Type 5:  Double Questions

1. Body 1:    Discuss the answer to Q1 + Eg + Recap
2. Body 2:    Discuss the answer to Q2 + Eg + Recap

Type 6:  Outweigh Question

1. Body 1:     Specific reason for Advantage + Explanations + Example + Recap
2. Body 2:     Another Specific reason for Advantage + Explanations + Example + Recap
3. Body 3:     Specific reason for Disadvantage + Explanations + Example + Recap

Remember that for each type, you need a 3-sentence introduction (General Background + Expand Background + Thesis Statement of what you are going to say in the Body Paragraphs). For the Conclusion, you need a summary/concluding statement regarding the topic + a general reason for the statement.

26 September 2017

Telaga