IELTS General Training common mistakes
IELTS General Training · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
In Listening, candidates write the first answer they hear and stop listening to the rest of the sentence, so they miss the speaker's self-correction (e.g. 'Tuesday - no, sorry, Wednesday').
Spoken English in Sections 1 and 2 is full of repairs, hedges and restated information, and candidates are anxious about losing their place, so they write immediately and stop processing the audio.
What to do instead
Train yourself to hold an answer in working memory for two or three seconds until the sentence finishes. Practise with recordings that deliberately contain corrections, and rehearse the habit of crossing out and replacing an answer the moment a speaker revises it.
In Listening, candidates copy the word exactly as they hear it without checking the word limit or the part of speech the gap requires, producing answers that are grammatically wrong or over the limit.
Under time pressure the instruction 'NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER' is read once at the start and then forgotten, and candidates focus on meaning rather than on the grammar of the sentence around the gap.
What to do instead
Before each section starts, underline the word limit and write it at the top of the page. For every gap, predict the type of answer (a plural noun, a number, a time) before listening, then check your answer against that prediction during the transfer time.
In Listening, candidates lose the thread after one missed answer and let the error cascade through the following three or four questions.
Questions run in order, and candidates frantically try to reconstruct the missed item instead of moving forward, so they are still thinking about question 4 when the answer to question 6 is spoken.
What to do instead
Adopt a strict 'abandon and move' rule: if you have not heard an answer by the time the next question's keywords appear, leave it blank and rejoin the flow. Recover the blank at the end using logic and the surrounding context rather than memory.
In Reading, candidates read the whole passage closely before looking at the questions, then run out of time for the final passage.
School reading habits teach full comprehension first; candidates feel they cannot answer without understanding everything, and the three-passage, 60-minute structure punishes that approach severely.
What to do instead
Work question-first. Skim headings and the first sentence of each paragraph for the topic, then read the questions and scan for the keywords. Allocate roughly 20 minutes per passage and hard-stop at that point, guessing any remaining answers.
In Reading, candidates answer True/False/Not Given by matching words in the passage to words in the statement instead of checking whether the passage actually confirms or contradicts the claim.
Keyword matching feels efficient and often produces a plausible answer, but these items are designed with paraphrased or partially overlapping wording that does not settle the truth of the statement.
What to do instead
For each statement, locate the relevant sentence, then ask two explicit questions: does the passage say this is true, and does it say this is false? If neither, the answer is Not Given. Practise by writing T, F or NG beside paraphrased pairs and justifying each with the exact words from the text.
In Reading, candidates spend too long on Matching Headings or Matching Information items and leave no time for the questions they could answer quickly.
These item types are the most time-expensive because they require repeated returns to the passage, and candidates do not triage question types by cost.
What to do instead
Do the passage's easiest question sets first (sentence completion, short-answer) to bank marks, then return to matching items. Leave matching-headings questions until you have read the paragraphs for other questions, since that reading gives you the gist you need.
In Writing Task 1, candidates copy the prompt wording into the opening sentence instead of introducing the letter's purpose in their own words, and they omit or blur the required bullet points.
Candidates under time pressure treat the prompt as a template, and the three bullet points in a General Training letter are often addressed unevenly, with one point reduced to a single clause.
What to do instead
Write a one-sentence opening that states purpose and relationship in your own words (e.g. 'I am writing to ask whether you could look after my flat for two weeks in July'). Then give each bullet point its own paragraph with at least two developed sentences, and check the tone matches the required register (formal, semi-formal or informal).
In Writing Task 2, candidates answer only part of the question or drift into a related topic, so the Task Response band is capped regardless of language quality.
Candidates prepare memorised essays on broad themes and try to fit the prompt to them, and they misread instruction words such as 'discuss both views and give your own opinion' as a single task.
What to do instead
Spend three minutes underlining every instruction word and planning a position that addresses each one explicitly. Before writing, state your position in one sentence; after writing, check that every body paragraph supports that position and that each instruction word is visibly answered.
In Speaking Part 2, candidates run out of things to say after 40 seconds and stop before the two minutes are up.
Candidates treat the cue card as a factual memory test and try to recall real events, so they exhaust their genuine content quickly and have no strategy for extending.
What to do instead
Use the one-minute preparation to write four or five keywords, one per bullet plus one extra detail. In the talk, move through the bullets deliberately and extend each with a reason, an example or a contrast, using signposting phrases ('The reason I remember it is...', 'What made it unusual was...').
In Speaking, candidates answer Part 1 and Part 3 questions with single sentences or one-word responses, giving the examiner no extended sample of language.
Candidates fear making errors and treat the interview as a factual questionnaire, so they give the minimum and never show range in tenses, vocabulary or complex structures.
What to do instead
Practise a fixed extension pattern: answer, then add a reason, then add an example or a contrast. Record yourself and count how many seconds each answer lasts; aim for 20 to 30 seconds in Part 1 and 40 to 60 seconds in Part 3, and review the recordings for repeated simple structures.