IELTS Energy 1497: You CAN Talk About Science- Here’s How
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This is an IELTS Energy Podcast, Episode 1497. You can talk about science. Here's how.

Welcome to the IELTS Energy Podcast from All Ears English, downloaded more than 22 million times with former IELTS examiner Jessica Beck and Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz. 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. Go to allearsenglish.com

forward slash my score. Can you easily talk and write about scientific topics on IELTS? These are some of the most challenging questions candidates face. Today, you'll get some great examples of written and spoken answers, plus some advice about how you can get more scientific English into your IELTS brain. Do you understand English but struggle to speak confidently in real conversations?

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Hey, Aubrey. Can you tell us what happened in the year 1497? Yes, on March 9th, 1497. This was epic. This was historic. It was a red-letter day. Copernicus observed the moon eclipse the star Aldebaran.

And so observing this led to him developing his model of planetary motion, the heliocentric model with the sun at the center of the universe prior to that. Earth was the center of the universe. So this was groundbreaking. This was a big deal. And today it's episode 1497. So we need to make a big deal about it, right? Yes.

- Yeah, so in case you're wondering, you know, why Aubrey just had a little science lesson there, because we thought it'd be cool, right? This is episode 1497. So what happened in the year 1497? And there's a very cool fact about Copernicus. And we thought, hey, students have to talk about science on IELTS, write about science on IELTS. And that's often one of the most difficult topics.

Exactly, because you can definitely do this in your first language. You have all of the interesting vocabulary to maybe talk about Copernicus and his heliocentric model. But can you do it in English? If you don't practice, if you don't answer questions and learn this vocabulary, it would be difficult to talk about this or write about it in English. Exactly. So we're going to outline some answers to a couple difficult

writing task two questions that have science in there. And then we also have some speaking answers that we're going to provide as models for some tough science questions. Exactly. So I'll read our first task two question here. It is some people think governments should invest more in renewable energy sources to combat climate change. Do you agree or disagree?

Ooh, climate change. I'm sure you could talk about it in your first language. What about in English? Definitely more difficult. And you guys, you know the environment comes up on aisles. I mean, you know this. And this is a great example of something you have to practice because it's not easy to write about. It's not easy to come up with ideas. All right. So we've thought of the body paragraphs for this just to provide you a full model here.

So if the question says, do you agree or disagree?

I think most people would agree with this, right? That like we do need renewable energy sources. So we're going to approach this like an opinion essay. So both paragraphs are about agreeing, but there is a concession in the third paragraph to show that there is another side to this, right? To have that full spectrum of the option. So we fully answer the question for a high task score.

All right. We've talked about concessions here on the podcast. If this is unfamiliar to you, search concession on our blog or because this is something you need to think about. If you're doing an opinion essay, you still need to cover both sides and a concession is the best way to do that. So you'll see an example of one today.

Yeah, because they're not easy to do, right? This is a very high level way of organizing your essay. All right, so I'll go ahead and read out the agree paragraph. Okay, this is paragraph two of this essay.

Using oil and gas, a finite resource, is undeniably a major source of air pollution and global warming. Car and factory CO2 exhaust attacks the ozone layer, allowing Earth's atmosphere to heat up, resulting in a myriad of threats to the human race. Thus, I do feel that governments must invest in renewable energies like wind and solar in order to delay the effects of climate change."

Amazing. So much great vocab, high level details and examples to support the idea here. But notice some of the highest scoring vocabulary here are words that you might use on any task two essay. Finite, meaning limited. Myriad, meaning a lot of. That could be useful on whatever task two topic you get.

Yeah, I think a lot of students are keen to use to using plethora now, right? That's kind of a word that everyone knows now. So myriad, M-Y-R-I-A-D, I think that's a better alternative.

Awesome. And then the next body paragraph with the concession, I'll go ahead and read this one, though Jessica wrote it. So shout out to you, Jessica, you get your props here. Could be, however, I do understand that there are those out there who deny that climate change is a reality and desire to continue utilizing oil and natural gas as long as possible. Many of those people benefit financially from this option. Hence, instead of siding with capitalism, I side with scientists. The

Cool.

So this, if you look at the organization here, first, you have this concession, you're conceding that not everyone would agree with you that the other side of this argument does exist, and why people might think that. And in this case, it's kind of a dig on them. Because they're probably making money by supporting that idea. Yeah.

Yeah, I kind of worked in a lot of personal opinion there if you didn't catch that. But still, right, there's specific examples, right, like Hurricane Katrina, you know, hard data to support the weather is changing. So anyway, those are a couple great examples of full-on paragraphs that would score a band nine in an IELTS Task 2 scientific essay.

So let's try to fit in one more science question here and just sort of outline what we could have in that essay. Yeah, so another task two question might be, many people believe that technological advancements have improved the quality of human life. To what extent do you agree? So here, you're also talking science, but technology. What might be our paragraphs here, Jessica?

So in the agree paragraph, we could talk about how the existence of the internet has made working remotely possible, right? And then we could support that with details and examples about how it helps a better work life balance.

And guys, I think you could definitely come up with personal examples for this, at least if not for yourself, then of someone you know who works from home. Absolutely. And there is variety in those examples. Maybe it's less time commuting, so more time spent with family, right? Any details that would make that technology improve someone's

work-life balance. And then for the next paragraph, I personally would choose to write about that children are addicted to screen time. A lot of children, the children I know, this is a fight in my own life. And that this does deteriorate family relationships, social skills in children, as well as health and fitness, how active they are. So a lot of negative side effects of children spending more time using technology.

And I think here's a great opportunity where you could take what you know and pretend that you have some, you know, percentage and research on it. So like you could make it up and it could be believable because we all know that this is an issue, right? We all know that kids definitely suffer from too much screen time today. So you could say like in a recent NPR, no, in a recent interview I heard on NPR,

It is reported that children today are 50% more likely to suffer from type 2 diabetes than those children that were around before screens or that were around before smartphones.

Nice. This would be pretty easy to come up with some statistic because it's more like general fact. We know that, you know, these things are worse. So yeah, I love that idea. It could also be about just time, right? 75% of children spend more time on screen than children 10 years ago, something like that, right? Sort of a general statistic that is proving your point.

All right. So I wanted to sort of have a call back to what we talked about at the beginning with Copernicus.

So what that scientific fact is about is, could be related to astronomy, right? Astronomy as far as the science of the planets and the stars that we see in the sky, that is astronomy. And I think even native speakers sometimes confuse that with the word astrology. So Aubrey, how are those two words different?

Yeah, this astrology is the science of when you were born and how that relates to your personality. So your sign, whether it's Taurus or Gemini, right? There are certain assumptions that can be drawn about all people depending on when they're born, their star sign. So it would be interesting to get a speaking question on part one that's just, do you believe in astrology? How would you answer that, Jessica? I sometimes do.

I have phases where I like to read my horoscope. These usually coincide with transitions in my life where I might feel a bit lost.

And basically, I'll take advice from anybody. But no, I'm not like, I'm not one of those tried and true believers in astrology. I don't even know all the star signs, to be honest. Nice. What a great example. I remember as a kid going into a kid as a teenager going into like a bookstore and finding an astrology book.

and then looking up the star sign of whoever I had a crush on to read if we were compatible. When I was younger, I was really into that, but I haven't read my horoscope in years. That's so funny. Oh my gosh. There's so many online quizzes and stuff like that. Guys, just as a side note, reading about your star sign in English

Even doing like personality quizzes in English. These are, even if you don't believe, guys, these are fantastic resources for vocabulary and for like adjectives and details you could use to describe people. So that is a great resource for IELTS, I still think.

Yes. And of course, these questions are also going to come up on part three. Part two, you might have to describe new technology of something you're passionate about. And then maybe a part three question could be, why do you think children today might be better at science than their parents?

So that might be a tricky one. You might want to think about that so that you're ready to answer it. I could take a stab at that one. Should I answer that one? Yes. Okay. I'll be the examiner. Okay. Just one more time. Why do you think children today might be better at science than their parents?

We have a lot more resources at our disposal. I bought a science kit for my son that had not only the baking soda volcano of my youth, but crystals he was able to grow in the sunlight. And we had to boil a couple of substances together. I never had anything like that as a child. And that really sparked an interest and curiosity in science for him. And I was just able to buy that at Target.

What a great answer. Oh, there are so many ways that you could answer that. I love that you had those real examples, though, of like the kits and the actual experiments that you did. I remember growing crystals with James. That stuff is so fun. It is fun.

- Yeah, and it's interesting, a part three question like this, I would have a lot of difficulty if I tried to talk about society in general and what's happening in schools, but I answer the question saying we have a lot more resources available at our disposal and then dive immediately into a personal example. - Yep, that's so great. So for your own preparation, guys, I know some people are like, well, I don't have kids. I don't know how to answer this. Fair enough. How about you go onto any online shopping site

You don't have to buy anything, but just search like kids science kits or just kids science. Search in English, guys. Read about this stuff. You're going to have amazing vocabulary from there. You're going to get some great scientific ideas and details there that you can talk about. So consider these ideas from today, guys, for a little bit of extra preparation so you're ready for science questions on IELTS.

Awesome. Yes. Excited for you guys to practice these answers. Thanks, Jessica. This was really fun to celebrate 1497 with you. And 1497. I want to do a history podcast now. That'd be amazing. Okay, guys. I'd listen to it, Jessica. Thank you for joining us today and see you next time. Awesome. See you next time. Bye.

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