Happy New Year 2012 to all the past and future IELTS test takers, as well as their teachers, trainers, examiners, family and friends!

Whether you are going to a party, or spending the New Year’s Eve with family or friends at home, either way you surely will have a moment to yourself, to reflect on 2011.

Was it a good year for you?

Just think: 365 days went by. If you had to name the biggest challenge of the whole year, what would it be? What was the most rewarding thing that happened to you in 2011? Did you make any new friends? Did you help anyone who needed you? And what was the most important thing you learned this year?

Since I started this reflection game, let me go first.

2011 wasn’t a good year for me. It was an amazing year. So many great things happened, at work and at home, that I felt blessed almost every day.

The number of visitors to IELTS-Blog.com broke all last year’s records. In 2011 we had almost 3 million visits, and over 11 million pages were downloaded. Our team grew in line with our audience – we simply had to get more people on board to keep up with you all!

The biggest challenge of 2011 was to find a way to continue providing the best and the quickest customer support, after my books’ popularity kept on growing fast. I’ve been receiving emails non-stop from people who use my books to prepare for IELTS every day, and since there were too many for one person to handle, IELTS-Blog Helpdesk team came to my rescue. Together, we are happy to report that every single email we receive is answered within 12 hours at the latest – but normally much, much faster.

I can say with confidence that our teachers at the writing correction team have had the same challenge – keeping up with the demand. And they came out on top of it, every time. Thousands of essays, letters and reports were checked and returned to their happy owners in 2011 – quickly, accurately, and always with useful feedback. Thousands of test takers found a helping hand and raised their IELTS scores in 2011. Thank you, to everyone at Benchmark!

The most rewarding thing of 2011 was seeing the results of all the people who prepared with IELTS-Blog.com, and got their target scores in the real exam. It’s really hard to describe the feeling I get when an email comes in and it says: “Simone, I’ve got great news – look at my score, its Band 8, and I only needed a 7.5!”

Yet another rewarding thing was working on a new IELTS book that will incorporate 6 years of research done through IELTS-Blog.com. If you are taking the IELTS test in 2012, keep an eye on your email – we will be announcing the new book in the New Year.

I’ve made a lot of new friends online, and had a chance to help test takers who needed some advice, preparation materials, or just a compassionate friend who can listen. There were also so many people willing to help me – by sending their exam updates, tips and advice for other IELTS candidates, by providing testimonials and their own stories for us to share with the whole community. I feel truly grateful for the chance to meet these kind folks, and appreciate their contribution to IELTS-Blog.com

And the most important thing I learned in 2011 is that dreams do come true, if you have a goal, a plan and determination to follow through. I hope your dreams will come true in 2012.

Happy New Year 2011 from Simone Braverman and the whole IELTS-Blog team!

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If you haven’t heard, IELTS has officially become the most popular high stakes English test. Quoting from the press release on IELTS.Org website,

“IELTS has cemented its position as the world’s most popular high stakes English language test with latest figures revealing a record 1.5 million tests were taken around the world in 2010.”

“North America followed by the Philippines and Hong Kong experienced the largest growth over the year, whilst China, Australia and India continue to retain their positions as the largest markets for IELTS.”

And do you know what I personally find amazing?

That out of those 1.5 million test takers, 1.089 million used IELTS-Blog.com in their exam preparation in 2010.

This basically means that out of every 4 people who took the IELTS test 3 were browsing through IELTS-Blog.com. No matter where they live, and no matter what language they speak. These folks have downloaded the unimaginable number of 9.5 million pages in 2010 and spent collectively 136,091 hours browsing through the same website you are reading now.

How did they find us? Most people just Googled “IELTS” and saw IELTS-Blog.com in the search results, others came through our Facebook page, and many just heard about us through “word of mouth”. The “how” doesn’t really matter – but the fact that we were able to help that many people fills my heart with an overwhelming joy. I can only hope that we can break this record in 2011 and help even more people achieve their dreams of a better life for themselves and their families.

I invite every reader of IELTS-Blog.com to spread the word and recommend it to their friends who are about to embark on their IELTS journey.

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IELTS exam in Manila was shared by M from the Philippines, who remembered the writing and speaking topics.

Writing test

Writing Task 1 (a letter)

You have attended short course training at Canada. Your friend wants to attend the same course and he/she sent you a letter to ask about it. Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:

- Tell what you did in the short course.
- Explain how it has helped you.
- Tell what benefits your friend can get from it.

Writing Task 2 (an essay)

Older people often say that their life was better in the past than it is now. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Speaking test

Interview

- Can I see your ID?
- What is your full name?
- What do you want me to call you?
- Let’s talk about your hometown. Where is it?
- What is your hometown famous for?
- Have you studied about the history of your hometown at school?
- Why do you think that students need to study their hometowns’ history at school?
- Do you like meeting people?
- What are the common places where people prefer to meet?
- What were the places where people liked to meet in the past?
- What sports did you like to play when you were a child?
- What things can children learn from playing sports?
- Would you like your future children to play sports too?

Cue Card

Talk about a job that you would like to have. Please include in your answer:

- What job would it be?
- Why do you want to have that job?
- What skills are necessary to do the job?

Discussion

- Is it easy to find a job here in your country?
- What do you think people do first to have a job?
- What are the qualities that people must have so they can be employed easily?
- What are the qualities the bosses must have so they will be followed by their employees?
- Do you think it is important for the boss and employees to have a good working relationship?
- What do you think are the common complaints of the workers?

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Looking back at 2010, what do you see? What are your hopes for the year ahead?

When I look at 2010, I see a lot of hard work – spending much time at my desk, gathering exam updates, preparing materials for publishing, answering emails, you get the idea. This may not sound exiting to you, but to me … it’s completely different – in a good way

It’s hard to get used to the enormous number of visitors IELTS-Blog is seeing. In 2010 we had over 2.2 million people over, who downloaded more than 9.5 million pages! I am thrilled to see these numbers growing every day, and that more new readers choose my books for their exam preparation. My sincere thanks goes to people who sent me their testimonials and wrote reviews for my books, this is the best gift any author could ask for. I would also like to thank all the test-takers who shared their exam experiences and tips for success, and to all the teachers, tutors and trainers who use IELTS-Blog.com as a source of materials for their classes.

The teachers at Benchmark have a special place in my heart – these kind people worked very hard correcting essays, letters and reports for everyone with a remarkable speed and accuracy. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for helping many students raise their IELTS scores in 2010, and we all are counting on your help in 2011.

I feel incredibly lucky to be where I am, because every day of my life is filled with opportunities to help people, to fix things that went wrong for someone, to make your life easier and to help make your dreams come true. To have your trust means the world to me, and your support enables me to carry on with my work, 365 days a year.

Thank you all for that, and I hope that 2011 will be peaceful, successful and prosperous for you.

Happy New Year 2010 from me, Simone Braverman, and the whole IELTS-Blog team!

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Before I met T, a blind student from Indonesia, I’ve never thought about how blind people can take the IELTS test. No wonder – 99.9% of the people I’ve helped with IELTS preparation could see, and therefore read. When T wrote to me asking whether my book Target Band 7 was suitable for blind people, I was puzzled because frankly – I had no idea. All I knew about how blind people read was that they use Braille . After a quick trial T wrote back and told me that he could “read” Target Band 7 perfectly well – using a certain software.

It turns out these days the technology helps, and blind people can use screen readers to “read” books, in addition to Braille – in fact, the young prefer screen readers and their Braille skills can be not very good. In terms of IELTS this can pose a problem.

T prepared for IELTS using the materials I supplied him with and later on shared his exam experience. With his permission I am posting it here, hoping that it would help more visually impaired students to get an idea of what the exam is like.

Here is how T describes his IELTS exam:

“I cannot read Braille materials fast; in fact, I’m rather slow. So, I consider myself not a Braille reader, but an audio reader. Getting information from digital materials read out by a screen reader allowing me to “read” far faster. As a result, I could not even finish reading a single text out of three given texts. Furthermore, psychologically, after the one-hour reminder, I got frustrated and was consequently not focused when working on the subsequent problems. It was all in Braille.

If only Cambridge allowed me to just work with electronic materials, I would have been able to do the test far better with optimal attainment. So, the reading score I would later get does not actually measure my real reading ability because I hardly ever use Braille and obviously never use Braille for long reading passages like articles, journals, books. Braille, for me, is just for small notes when I urgently need to make whenever using a laptop is not possible. What a waste of time and money!

As far as I can remember, in my case as a blind applicant, there were three different texts. The first was about the planning of constructing a castle somewhere in France proposed by someone whose name was Guyot or else (not sure). The second was about the importance of bees in relation to human’s lives. The third I didn’t know because I did not even open the page. In Braille, a paragraph takes almost a page of the bulky booklet. So, one might be able to guess how many pages it takes for the whole texts each lasting for around nine paragraphs.

In this way, I’ll never be able to win any scholarships requiring me to take the IELTS test. I just can never know my actual reading ability unless I’m given a realistic alternative which is through digital means instead of Braille, it is impossible and frustrating!

The writing was divided into two tasks. The first task was to write a report on the rates of government spending on education and training and 18-24 years old participating in education and training in five different European countries in 2002. The second task was to compare two perspectives of whether greater international cooperation mainly brings about protection of environment or world of business instead. I felt my writing was not bad.

In regards to speaking, I found your blog and book were very useful. You are right; the outset of the test was just to tell my complete name for the sake of recording so I didn’t talk about anything else. I could tell this because the examiner sounded quite rushing while setting his recorder and spoke in his own voice labeling the date and other required information of the day’s date with me before asking my full name. Afterward, he asked me to introduce where I am originally from and asked me to give a complete information like what, where precisely. So, I told him what city and where it is geographically located in the country. Just after I finished he jumped to a question of whether the city where I am from is a good place to grow up. Then, I tried to answer diplomatically, by saying “it depends on how we see the city”. So, I gave him two possible perspectives on answering the question.

When I was done, he gave me a topic written in Braille. It was about a famous person whom I want to meet and I had to give some arguments why. Overall, I found the speaking test was relatively easy.

I got a lot of help from all the tips from your blog and the self study book. I was luckily able to answer perfectly and more importantly, I didn’t forget to always elaborate my answers contextually, logically, and comprehensively. I was definitely reminded by your blog and Target Band 7 book to be aware of important elements in all aspects: reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

I hope this sharing can be useful for other people. Many thanks for your help”

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Today I have an important announcement. I’ve just received an email from British Council India and it had some very good news for the students planning to study at universities overseas. I am going to share this email with you in a second:

“Hi Simone,

We enjoy reading your blog and find the information highly educational and inspiring.

I wanted to inform you about the newly launched scholarship from the British Council – The British Council IELTS Scholarship. The British Council is delighted to announce the 2010 launch of the British Council IELTS Scholarship for Indian students planning to study at universities overseas.

In line with its mission to promote the global sharing of knowledge and ideas, the British Council will select eight students from India, each of whom will receive an award of Rs.3,00,000 ( over £4000 , $ 6500) towards the cost of tuition fees.

In 2010, the British Council is also launching the award in three other countries with a total investment of around £60,000 (approximately $90,000).

Award winners will begin a full time post graduate programme at any overseas university which uses IELTS as a part of its admission requirements and as a reliable measure of English language proficiency. Because IELTS is accepted by over 6,000 institutions in 125 countries worldwide, university choice is wide.

For detailed information regarding British Council IELTS Scholarship Award, including application materials, click here. The last date for receipt of completed applications is 31 July 2010.”

How about that, I think this initiative of British Council is a great chance for people to live their dreams. Good luck to everyone who’s applying!

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IELTS exam in Philippines was just like the exam in Malaysia, so says J., and here are the Speaking question she had (thank you J!)

Speaking test

Interview

- What is your full name?
- How shall I call you?
- Where do you live and where is it located?
- How is the transportation in your place? Is it accessible?
- Do you think you would live there longer?
- How often do you spend time with your friends in your free time?
- Do you prefer to hang out with your friends at home or going out?
- What do you usually do when you’re together?
- What do people in your country mostly talk about when they are together?

Cue card

Talk about a conversation you had in the phone that was important to you, you should say:
- Who you talked to,
- What you talked about,
- Why it was important.

Discussion

- Which do you prefer, a face to face or a phone conversation?
- What would be the barriers in a phone conversation?
- Could there be problems in a face to face conversation?
- Do you think people who don’t know each other could have a functional talk? Give examples.
- Would they also talk about personal details?

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Oh no, today is the day Simone goes sentimental. But how can I help it? Every day I am wrapped up in the routine tasks, writing posts in IELTS-Blog, searching for more resources to offer you, looking for new partners to offer much needed IELTS preparation services, liaising with the evaluation team, chasing my tail like a dog on the beach. But the last day of the year is always different. On this day I take a break to look back and see what I have done and to make plans for the future.

Did 2009 treat you nicely? I sure can’t complain. Here are some of our accomplishments in 2009:

- “Ace the IELTS” book was published on Amazon following a huge demand for a printed version, in addition to the digital version.

- “Ace the IELTS” was also added to Google Books, and now you don’t need to download it – you can read it online in your favorite browser.

- A free online IELTS preparation course was made available.

- Benchmark institute and IELTS-Blog have joined forces to offer you 2 more services, writing and speaking evaluation – all very popular.

- The range of free IELTS practice exercises has expanded.

IELTS-Blog has gained many new readers in 2009. Frankly, I find it hard to believe – we had about 1.5 million visitors over the year and they downloaded over 6 million pages! I won’t even try to count how many emails I answered in 2009, that number will be too scary

Jokes aside, I really can’t put into words how much I value your support. I owe this success to my readers – the best readers in the world, my new friends and old pals, my gratitude to you is endless. Every one of your emails touches my life and gives me one more opportunity to help, to fix, to give advice, to make someone’s life a little bit easier – the greatest gift a person could ask for.

Thank you all for that, and I hope that 2010 will be wildly successful and enormously prosperous for you.

Happy New Year 2010 from Simone Braverman and the IELTS-Blog team!

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In the past ielts.org, the official IELTS website, used to publish a list of official IELTS dates. Those dates had a pattern: 4 dates a month for Academic exam and 2 dates a month for General Training.

However, they have changed this system, and now there are common IELTS dates and these change from country to country. The availability is, of course, different too – sometimes you will find that many exam dates ahead are booked and the first available date is months from today.

I’ve looked through most of the countries and compiled a list of IELTS dates for the first 6 months of 2010:

January 2010:
General Training test: 09/01, 23/01.
Academic test: 09/01, 14/01, 23/01, 30/01.

February 2010:
General Training test: 11/02, 20/02.
Academic test: 06/02, 11/02, 20/02.

March 2010:
General Training test: 27/03.
Academic test: 06/03, 20/03, 27/03.

April 2010:
General Training test: 17/04.
Academic test: 10/04, 17/04.

May 2010:
General Training test: 08/05, 20/05.
Academic test: 08/05, 15/05, 20/05, 29/05.

June 2010:
General Training test: 05/06, 26/09.
Academic test: 05/06, 19/06.

This list will help to get an idea of possible dates, but I would still recommend that you visit ielts.org and get the available dates in your country and your city, before you start planning. They keep changing their website, so the location of the dates search can move – right now it’s in the right upper corner on the homepage, where it says “Search Test Date”.

Good luck, everybody!

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Do you have any idea how many people were interested in getting one of my IELTS books for free? I was totally blown away, 217!

Thank you all so much for participating and for sharing with me your most painful problems in IELTS preparation. It is important that I know what you guys are struggling with, because then I can do something to help.

I know you can’t stand the tension, so here are the names of the winners:

1. Carlos Borsatti (carlos.borsatti@gmail.com), whose answers were:

Q: What is your biggest problem in the IELTS preparation?
A: Money and time. With the preparations for my wedding I can not spend more money and time is scarce.

Q: Why do you need to take the IELTS test?
A: To study at college Hillsong.

Q: What Band score do you need to get and in what module (Academic / General)?
A: I need Band 7.5 in Academic IELTS.

2. Sumeet Kaur (ersumeetdatla@gmail.com), who answered:

Q: What is your biggest problem in the IELTS preparation?
A: My biggest problem is I am not able to get feedback on my writings.

Q: Why do you need to take the IELTS test?
A: I am taking IELTS to apply for permanent residency in Australia.

Q: What Band score do you need to get and in what module (Academic / General)?
A: I need to attain & in each module of General Training Section.

Congratulations to the winners! All you need to do is send me your postal addresses and your books will be on their way.

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