Hello everyone! This is Simone Braverman, the author of IELTS-Blog.com. If you’ve spent some time studying with this blog and my books – you probably know me. If we haven’t met before, I’d like to welcome you to the biggest IELTS community world-wide.
For 364 days a year you come across my IELTS preparation materials first, but today is a kind of special day, so I’d like to put work aside and say a few words.
Dear IELTS test takers, teachers, language school managers, IELTS examiners, colleagues, family and friends! It’s amazing how a whole year zoomed by. Today, as we’re just about to step into 2013, can you look back and say – was 2012 everything you wanted it to be? How many things did you cross off your “2012 to-do list”? What are you looking forward to in 2013?
My 2012 … was too hectic to describe, but I’ll try anyway.
The number of this website’s visitors broke all records… again! In 2012 IELTS-Blog.com received almost 3.5 million visits, and close to 11.8 million pages got downloaded! No wonder we had to upgrade our servers (we hate making people wait for a webpage to load!), and our customer support team grew as well, so we can answer all emails as quickly as possible. I know you’re studying under time pressure – and so we have to respond FAST. Also, thanks to everyone who likes us on Facebook – all the 12,000+ fans, and to 30,000+ people subscribed to our daily tips.
My happiest moments in 2012 were receiving all those wonderful emails from people who prepared with IELTS-Blog, and got their target score.
My biggest disappointment this year was not being able to release a new IELTS book, that Stephen Slater and I wrote, as we planned in 2012. This unique book is based on 6 years of research and many more years of experience, and it turned out we underestimated the amount of effort needed to put it all together. But this was only a temporary setback! If you’re taking the IELTS test in 2013, you will be able to take advantage of “IELTS Success Formula”, as we’re releasing it very soon!
All in all, 2012 was a great year. I hope 2013 will be kind to us all. Here is to a peaceful and successful year that will see you reach new heights.
Happy New Year 2013 from Simone Braverman and the whole IELTS-Blog team!