IN THIS UNIT YOU WILL LEARN HOW TO

• improve your score for Fluency and Coherence (FC)
• extend your Part 1 and Part 3 answers
• correctly use and pronounce a range of discourse markers.

01.The following idioms describe problems you should try to avoid if you want to express yourself fluently. What do they mean in the context of the Speaking test? Use a dictionary if you need to.

1. going round in circles

2. losing your thread

3. stumbling over your words

4. labouring the point

5. beating about the bush

6. talking at a mile a minute

02. Complete the sentences using the idioms from exercise 1 in the correct form.

1. I got too nervous in theSpeaking test and kept

2. I was really nervous at the start of the Speaking test and realised I was , so I took a deep breath and slowed down.

3. I'm not going to - unless you start working harder in class, you won't get more than a 6.0 in your IELTS test.

4. This Reading question is impossible. I keep thinking I've got the answer, but then realise I haven't. I'm just

5. My teacher gave me a lower score in my Writing Task 2 essay. She said my second paragraph was far too long and I ended up . She said I should have moved on to discuss some other aspects of the question

6. In Speaking Part 2, the candidate began OK, but then she and started talking about things unrelated to the task card.