IELTS Preparation Unit 2: Reading & Listening
Hello, I'm Rachel and I teach both IELTS and IELTS Writing at Kaplan Manchester. I've been teaching for 11 years and academic English courses are my absolute favourites!
Every month I'll be offering tips and advice for the IELTS exam to help you prepare properly, focus fully and improve immediately! The sky is the limit! Good Luck!
IELTS Reading and Listening Tip - Capital Letters
As you know, every new sentence always begins with a capital letter. e.g. Reading and listening are essential parts of the IELTS exam.
Also, understanding the types of words in listening and reading texts can make all the difference in the IELTS exam. If a word is a place, company, title or person etc. then the first letter is always a capital letter. e.g. People in the 1890s believed that France was the world's superpower.
Remember: Read the question paper carefully before you put your answer onto the answer sheet. If the word should have a capital letter (it's a name/place or it's the first word of the sentence) and you don't use one, then your answer will be marked as incorrect.
e.g. 1) These days _________ has the fastest growing economy in the world.
These days _china_ has the fastest growing economy in the world. ✘
These days _China_ has the fastest growing economy in the world. ✔
Tip: To avoid making mistakes with capital letters, you may write your whole answer in capital letters. e.g. These days _CHINA_ has the fastest growing economy in the world. ✔
Even if the answer doesn't need a capital letter at all you may still write your whole answer in capital letters. e.g. 1) has a special section which sells _______.
has a special section which just sells _shoes_ ✔
has a special section which just sells _SHOES_ ✔
It can take longer to write in capital letters. However, there's plenty of time at the end of the test to write your answers on your answer sheet.
Try out this tip the next time you do a reading/listening test in class and see how you feel. Let me know how it went!
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