IELTS Energy 1635: How to Evaluate Opinions for Higher IELTS Scores

This is an IELTS Energy Podcast, Episode 1635, How to Evaluate Opinions for Higher IELTS Scores. Welcome to the IELTS Energy Podcast from All Ears English, downloaded more than 35 million times with examiner-trained IELTS whiz Aubrey Carter and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer. If you are stuck with a low score, our insider method will help you get the score you need to unlock your dreams. Get your estimated band score now with our two-minute quiz at allearsenglish.com slash myscore.

On IELTS Speaking Part 3, you might need to share what you think about someone else's opinion. Today, get four winning vocabulary words to do it and find out why your answer should be a bit nuanced.

Lust auf einfach guten Kaffee, wann immer du willst? Bekommst du mit den Cubo-Kapselmaschinen von Chibo. Denn das ist Kaffee in seiner besten Form. Cubo verbindet ausgewählte Kaffees aus besonderen Anbaugebieten mit innovativer Press-Brew-Technologie.

Für vollmundigen Geschmack und samtige Crema. Ob Espresso, Kaffee-Crema oder Kaffee-Grande, du hast die Wahl. Cubo liefert Kaffee-Vielfalt auf Knopfdruck mit Gelingen-Garantie. Entdecke jetzt die Cubo-Kapselmaschinen von Chibo.

Hey, Lindsay, how are you today? Hey, doing pretty well, Aubrey. What about you? How's it going? I am great. I have a question. Sure. This is interesting.

We're talking today about discussing someone else's opinion. Do you ever find yourself sharing your opinion about someone else's opinion? Yeah. I do, for sure, for sure.

And then sometimes I'll be halfway through it and then I'll think, hmm, how is this going to land for this third party, right, that I'm sharing this other person's opinion. We were having a conversation with some friends in Crested Butte over the weekend and we had listened to a podcast about money and like – The idea that millennials think that they should receive their inheritance early so they can afford to buy homes. It was on Today Explained.

It was an interesting episode. And we were sharing that opinion. But we weren't sharing our opinion. We were sharing what people on the podcast had thought.

Like people that were interviewed on the podcast. Yeah. So yes, I do do that. Yeah, this happens a lot because sometimes you do want to separate yourself from the opinion you're discussing.

You maybe don't want to share your opinion about it. And this happens a lot on IELTS, especially IELTS Task 2, where you're given maybe two opinions or one opinion and you're asked whether you agree or disagree or just to discuss the opinion sometimes, right? Yes. You need language in order to describe whether an opinion is valid, has merit.

So we're going to share a few phrases, high scoring phrases today to do this on IELTS, both speaking and writing. Yeah, I think today's skills are not only going to be amazing for your IELTS score, but also for your general social skills, because this could also be a way of hedging and seeing what someone thinks about something without actually coming out and saying, here's what I think, right? Absolutely, yes. It could be a good way to hedge and get into a topic.

So guys, hit the follow button here on IELTS Energy. We show you how to achieve that seven or higher on every part of the test, the target score that you need to move on with your life. Right. Yes.

Right. Hit follow so you don't miss any of our amazing episodes. Let's dive in first with the vocabulary. And for each of these, we'll share something you might say in a speaking answer about this.

So first of all is have merit for something to have merit, right? This means it has value. It's a good idea. So for example, Lindsay, if you are asked about the trend toward working from home on speaking part three, how might you use this phrase?

Yes. I might say something like, I think remote work certainly has merit because it allows employees a greater amount of flexibility. And we love that. This is so much higher scoring than just saying, I think this is a good idea, right?

This is a bad name phrase to say an idea has merit. Or if I were asked about ways for cities to improve transportation, I might say, although banning cars from city centers has merit, it may not be practical for every community. So this is a great way too, to share the idea and say, I could see that that has merit, but, and then share a disadvantage. Yeah.

Yes. And then it might be a double-edged sword. I love this one. I use this sometimes. This is an interesting concept, something that has both advantages, but then it also has disadvantages.

So it could help you, but it could hurt you. Exactly. So if I were asked about social media use in part one, I might say social media is a double-edged sword. It helps people stay connected, but it can also increase anxiety.

I definitely believe this about... phones and technology. It's a double-edged sword. There are pros, but also cons. Yeah. And AI too, right? AI is a double-edged sword offering remarkable efficiency, but it also creates concerns about employment, right?

So it can help you, can hurt you. Right. There are likely to be more and more topics on both writing and speaking about AI. So you need to be ready with ideas like this.

You could definitely call it a double-edged sword. What about the phrase on the surface? Do you like that one? Yeah, right. This means at first glance or based on first impressions.

What might you say if I asked you about the benefits of studying abroad on writing or speaking? I might say on the surface, studying abroad seems exciting, but there are many challenges that students don't expect. Right. So this means sort of at first glance when you don't know a lot about it, right?

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Another example, maybe just on the surface, lowering taxes appears beneficial. However, it could reduce funding for essential public services.

A sentence like this is great because we often use... Lowering taxes or government intervention as a reason for a lot of different topics, right? This could be your idea. This can be fixed through government intervention.

And so this would be perfect to say on the surface, lowering taxes seems great, but then provide a disadvantage. or trade-off. We like to use this phrase trade-off. This is a compromise.

We're gaining one benefit, requires sacrificing another, similar to a double-edged sword, right? So if we're talking about the pros and cons of living in cities versus living in rural areas, a common question on speaking part three, you could say the trade-off is that people earn higher salaries in large cities, but they usually face a much higher cost of living in cities. Yes. That's such a good example.

Or if you're asked on writing task two about how an issue faced by society can be improved, for example, environmental issues, this is what we're sort of talking about where often you're going to want to talk about what the government could do. You could talk about trade-offs. You could say governments must carefully consider the trade-off between economic growth and environmental protection, for example. Yes.

Okay. All right. So here we've got all these phrases on the surface, right? Trade-off, double-edged sword, and to have merit. So now we're going to take these phrases we've just learned and show you how to actually implement them into a question that you might actually be asked.

All right. So as soon as we get back from this break. Okay. Karen wanted to apply for permanent residency in Canada. To do this, she knew she needed the highest scores on IELTS she could get.

She thought she might do okay on listening and reading, but she was super worried about speaking and writing. So she decided to trust Three Keys IELTS. She made the right choice. She ended up getting an overall 7.5.

If you're taking the general exam to immigrate or the academic exam to study abroad, Three Keys IELTS has all the resources and practice you need, and you get personalized feedback and scores on your final exam. Go to allearsenglish.com slash keys. That's allearsenglish.com slash K-E-Y-S.

Okay, Aubrey, we are back from the break. So do you want to ask me a part three question? Let me ask you a part three question. This vocabulary is going to be most useful on speaking part three or writing task two, where you're needing to up-level your vocabulary.

You need topic-specific vocabulary, but also more formal vocabulary. And all of today's phrases are great for boosting those vocab scores. So let's look at how this might look in some sample answers. So Lindsay, I'll ask you a question and give us a full part three answer here.

All right, I'm ready. Many people believe that young people today are less resilient than previous generations. What do you think? Oh, that's a great question.

Well, I definitely think that that view does have some merit. I mean, particularly because many young people have grown up with technology, lots of technology, and it's provided instant access to information and services.

So as a result, they may actually have fewer opportunities to develop patience in some situations. However, on the surface, that opinion, it seems more convincing that it actually is. And to be honest, I think that young people are actually more resilient. They face challenges that previous generations just didn't face.

Things such as intense competition in the job market and constant pressure from social media. Nice. Awesome. Great use of this vocab. You first said, yeah, I definitely think that that view has some merit, right?

And this is a great way to start these. This is actually a really good filler phrase as well. If you're asked a question on speaking part three that you haven't thought a lot about, you need just a second to think this would be a great filler phrase to say, I definitely think that that view has some merit because you're hedging. You're not committing to that.

You think it's a good idea or a bad idea with this statement. You're just saying, There's some value here. Yes, I love that. So you can score points right away for good vocabulary while you give yourself time to think of your answer.

Yes, and you want your filler phrases to have high-scoring vocabulary, but then practice them so that while you say that, you're actually thinking about your ideas. how will I answer this, right? Give yourself that room. And then instead of pausing to think, you can say that while you think.

Yeah. So that's an amazing filler phrase. And you also used on the surface, right? To say, you know, on the surface, that opinion seems more convincing than it actually is.

This is such a high scoring phrase. You're sharing like, that opinion seems really convincing on the surface, right? But actually, and now you're going to share why you disagree with it. I'm going to pivot there a little bit in that answer.

Interesting. Okay. Should I do the next one or do you want to answer the next one? Do you want to ask me a part three question here? Okay. All right. Here's your next part three question.

So many people believe that children should spend less time using digital devices. Do you agree or not? Okay. I can certainly understand this opinion.

Smartphones and tablets are definitely a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they provide access to educational resources and help children develop digital skills that are vital in today's educational world. Nevertheless, excessive screen time can affect their concentration and reduce the amount of physical activity they get. So I think the real trade-off is between preparing children for a technology-driven world

and ensuring that they have enough opportunities to be a kid, to socialize, exercise, and develop those other social skills, life skills. So for that reason, I don't think the solution is to eliminate digital devices altogether. Instead, parents should focus on setting reasonable time limits so children can benefit from technology without becoming overly dependent on it. Nice.

Band nine. Love it. Yes. All right. Nice. I like what you said. So you utilized a couple of the keywords from the episode today, a double edged sword, right?

So you're saying they can be smartphones and tablets can be a double edged sword. Yeah, completely. Right. They can help you. They can hurt you. Right.

Exactly. And I'm sharing the negatives as well as the positives because it's really easy to be like, kids shouldn't be on screen, but that doesn't acknowledge the fact that

schools are giving them Chromebooks now, right? They, all their friends have like, it's difficult to just say that flat out. You need to acknowledge that technology is a big part of education and kids need to know how to use it. And also not good for your score.

So I think on part three, the examiner expects a bit more nuance to your answer, don't you think? I mean, you kind of need to fill that space and time a bit by exploring both sides of things in a way. Yeah, you need details. You need ideas that are backed up, right?

You can't just share an idea with no... evidence, no supporting details. You need to provide all of that with high scoring vocabulary. So yeah, a part three answer is close to a minute.

That's a lot of time. That gives you a lot to say. You need to share details. Yeah. You can't just say they should not be on digital devices, period. Right.

Full stop. Nope. That's not going to suffice. Right. So you added a little bit of a solution here in your second piece. You said, I think the real trade-off is between preparing children for a tech-driven world and ensuring they can be kids, right?

They can go outside and play and make friends. Right. So that offers that nuance in your answer. Yes. And keep in mind, whatever you're asked, you can definitely share both, right?

You see the pros and cons. You think the answer is somewhere in the middle, like some of both, right? With task two essays, that's harder to do. You have to fully support your ideas.

So often it's easier to commit to one or the other, easier to support that. But in part three answers like this, if you see this that like, One or the other is not right at the best of both worlds is somewhere in between. Share that.

Wow. Lots of great tips today. I mean, just using these high scoring vocabularies will immediately, vocabulary words will immediately push up your score guys, but also the way we structured the answers. I mean, go listen to this episode again.

If you're not sure about speaking part three, really good stuff today, Aubrey. Yes, and an amazing filler phrase to definitely add to your vocab notebook that has band name vocab. We also want to make sure if you missed it, scroll up and check out 1633, Pei Yao's practice IELTS speaking exam. We did an amazing two-part series where a three-key student took the full speaking exam here on the podcast.

And then in part two, we provided feedback and scores. So you don't want to miss that. You'll learn so much that'll help you improve your IELTS speaking score. Yeah, go check that out, guys.

And we'll be back here on the podcast again very soon. All right. Awesome. See you next time. Okay, bye, Aubrey. Take care. Thanks for listening to IELTS Energy.

Hit subscribe now and don't forget to find your estimated band score at allearsenglish.com slash myscore.