The Review:
I've been quite involved with IELTS
over the years. I used to run a one day intensive training course which
wasn't so much about teaching the students English as about showing them
how not to lose points needlessly in this rather particular test.
Unlike the better-known
Cambridge exams such as the First Certificate (FCE) or the Cambridge
Proficiency (CPE), you don't pass or fail the IELTS (International
English Language Testing System). Like the TOEIC or the TOEFL, you get a
grade, which you hope is high enough to be accepted by the people you
are going to show the result to. And those people are very often
English-speaking universities where you would like to study as a
foreign student, or a country you are hoping to emigrate to such as
Australia, who want to make sure you'll be ok in an English-speaking
environment.
Common mistakes at
IELTS Advanced, and its companion, Common mistakes at IELTS
Intermediate are not, therefore, about two different exams. These
useful little books look at the same exam, but using papers which
achieved different scores. Grades in IELTS go from '0', which basically
means you didn't even lift your pen, or more realistically '1', meaning
you are, frankly, useless in English, up to '9' where you are pretty
much bilingual to all intents and purposes.
Common
mistakes at IELTS Advanced is aimed at people who need a fairly high
score, for studying things like literature or medicine in English, for
example, and want to be aware of some of the most typical problems which
still appear at this level.
I'm quite of fan of this
series, which has titles for all the Cambridge Main Suite exams (KET,
PET, FCE, CAE and CPE), and which always takes the same format. There
are thirty one-page units, each of which covers a common problem very
simply and clearly. After every three units there is a two-page test on
those three units. It's as simple as that. And because these problems
have been taken from real exam papers you can be sure the points
presented are as useful and they could be.
I often use these books
with my students, either in class or at home where they need to
consolidate very specific points easily. As each unit is so short they
can easily be used for a short and snappy warm up exercise on something
the students are supposed to know, and the tests are also ideal for
homework or a progress check.
The ten two-page tests
are also in the style of sections from the IELTS test, helping students
to become familiar with the specific layout of questions they will be
asked.
As with all the other
titles in this series, thoroughly recommended for anyone studying for
the IELTS test at advanced level or even those who just need to
fine-tune their already competent skills in academic English.
Common
mistakes at IELTS Advanced
