Likes, Preferences,

by | Oct 5, 2022

Practice Questions

Do you prefer coffee or tea?
What are your hobbies?
Do you like going to art galleries?
Why do some people like eating spicy food?
Which pets are popular in your country?
Would you rather watch a movie at home or at the
movie theater?
What kind of music do you like?
Is it beneficial to learn a musical instrument?
Would you rather settle down in your hometown or
move somewhere else?

Part 1 questions come in a variety of forms. This includes questions related to liking and preferences. You must demonstrate to the examiner your proficiency in “language of liking.” You should show your ability to paraphrase an IELTS question using different vocabulary, which is an extremely crucial first step in answering any question. This might include:

  • I am a huge fan of…
  • I am really into…
  • I am quite keen on…
  • I am recently I have been quite obsessed with…
  • I absolutely adore…

BAD ANSWER

I really like scary movies. I think watching scary movies can make me feel really excited. I like to
watch scary movies to see monsters and other bad guys. For example, I like the Nightmare on
Elm Street series. It is very good.

This is a terrible answer!  Why?  Because it does not prove to the examiner that you possess high-level language abilities. This answer lacks both depth and length; it mostly lacks topic-specific vocabulary; and fails to show many of the higher-level language features that the examiner is looking for during the exam. 

So, what can we do?

We can use The IELTS Heroes Building Block Method to build our answer using features that will impress the examiner.

The goal of The IELTS Heroes Building Block Method is to assist you in including relevant and impressive linguistic features in your response that the examiner will undoubtedly notice.

Have you ever attempted to respond to a question but found yourself at a loss for words? By using this technique, you can train yourself to always include the kinds of things that will impress the examiner.

Lets take a look to the right and see what possible options we can use to “build our answer”.

Personal Story

I love the genre of horror films so much. My dad and I have a long tradition of watching scary movies together that began when I was a kid. All of us loved the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, which used to give me the chills every time I saw one. It’s scary how terrifying Freddy Kreuger can be as an antagonist. You know, whenever I go home for the summer, my dad and I always make time to check out the most recent horror movies together – which is a ton of fun.

Recommendations

I am a huge fan of horror films. I find that watching them late at night with the lights out creates an especially eerie atmosphere, which I find fascinating. Gives me the creeps every time. Actually, if you are into horror films, I think hands down the best recent one is The Witch. You ought to check it out

Synthesis

I love the genre of horror films so much. You see, when I was a little girl, my dad and I would sit down and watch scary movies like every single night. All of us loved the Nightmare on Elm Street movies, which used to give me the chills every time – especially, Freddy Kreuger who is such a terrifying antagonist. By the way, I would say that The Witch is hands down the best horror film released in the last few years. Like, it has a really unsettling atmosphere, so you should definitely check it out. So, yeah, I can’t get enough of scary films.

Personal Stories

Personal stories are, without a doubt, the most important skill in IELTS. Explaining why you like something or can do something, requires you to be able to explain something that happened in the past. Use them! You can impress the examiner using narrative tenses and transitional phrases.

Recommendations

Yeah, the question didn’t specifically ask for recommendations, but you are a real person who realizes that when you are telling someone about something you like, you are probably going to do some recommending! It’s a useful skill and helps you build your answer up!

Topic Specific Vocab

  • Scary Movies
  • Gave me the chills
  • Terrifying Antagonist
  • Horror Film
  • Eeerie Atmosphere
  • Gives me the creeps
  • Hands down the best
  • Genre of film