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IELTS Test Results competition

Anita’s IELTS tips for Band 8 (working professionals – take notice)

Anita Williams is one of our IELTS results competition winners. She is a lovely 25 year-old lady who works full time. This IELTS exam was Anita’s second; in her first one she got 6.5 in the Writing section, which wasn’t enough for immigration purposes. This time Anita wasn’t going to take any chances – she prepared well and got IELTS Overall Band 8. Her writing improved from 6.5 to Band 7.5 and her listening and reading improved from 7+ to 8+. Here is what Anita told us about her IELTS preparation experience:

Band 8 in IELTS“I’m glad I won the competition and I am really happy to share my experience with the other test takers. I am a working professional, so devoting enough time to study was difficult. After my first IELTS attempt a few months back, I realised that I need to put a lot of effort in the writing section which was my weaker point.

In fact, I have noticed that many students struggle with the writing section as it’s extremely difficult to improve your vocabulary within a short span of time. So, I decided to go with the writing correction service offered by the IELTS blog along with ‘Ace the IELTS’ book.

If you’re taking the test for the first time and are time-crunched, I would recommend taking a sample mock test to know your weaker section and try to work harder on that one. Apart from this, I would say that “Smart Practise is the key.”

Writing

1. Understand the different types of essays and letters that appear in IELTS. If you read ‘Ace the IELTS’ you will find a lot of useful phrases which you could use in letters.

2. Never start writing as soon as you read the topic. Think and plan your work. Write points and plan the flow before you begin writing. Otherwise, you will only lose time and your content won’t appear organised.

3. Work on your speed and make sure you have at least two minutes to recheck your work. Also, it is important you don’t write too many words, always stick to the word limit.

4. Try to answer the essay first as it’s worth twice your score and try to avoid repetitive words, use synonyms instead.

Reading

1. Learn to skim and scan and work on time management. Take as many tests as possible and time yourself. This is an easier section to score well in, if you practise well.

Listening

1. Always read the questions before you listen and try to guess the answers. This will help you listen to keywords.

2. Sometimes, the speaker tends to stress certain words and may go really fast with the rest. This is a good indication that the answer is one of the stressed words.

Speaking

1. This is a interesting section and if you are calm then you can score very well. Just keep your cool and try to act naturally.

2. Practise this section by recording your voice.This is a good way to prepare for the Speaking test. Prepare for some general questions like introducing yourself and talking about your hometown, family, friends or hobbies.

Finally, before the test day take some good rest. The next day, just be confident and give it your best shot.

Gook luck to IELTS-Blog.com and I hope that my tips would be useful to the readers.”

IELTS Results competition winners in March 2015

March was a very productive month for IELTS test takers, with a lot of activity and many good scores. As a result today we’re happy to present 23 high achievers who won in our IELTS Results competition in March.

What a remarkably big group of winners, and also a very ‘international’ one – just look at the list of countries! This proves yet again that you can live anywhere in the world, and get a great score in IELTS – even if English isn’t widely spoken in your country.

Here are the proud owners of the best IELTS results in March:

Academic Module – 1st placeBand 9 in IELTS

  • Venus Rom Garcines from the Philippines, Band 8
  • Reza Indah Pribadi from Indonesia, Band 8
  • Sasha Alba Amy D’Costa from Portugal, Band 8
  • Adam Bahram from Pakistan, Band 8
  • Shaahabeddin Dayani from Iran, Band 8
  • Tomalika Rahmat Ullah from Bangladesh, Band 8
  • Farish Ismail from Maldives, Band 8
  • Sumi Shrestha from Nepal, Band 8
  • Lee Besana Gordoncillo from the Philippines, Band 8

Academic Module – 2nd place

  • Vanessa Lacerda Orsi from Brazil, Band 7.5
  • Ramadan Ferih from Egypt, Band 7.5
  • Phuong Anh Hguyen from Vietnam, Band 7.5
  • Megha Jasmin Pandya from India, Band 7.5

Academic Module – 3rd place

  • Ahmad Mahmoud from Palestine, Band 7
  • Sharef Mahmoud from Egypt, Band 7

General Training Module – 1st place

  • Ayudh Bhattarai from Nepal, Band 8.5

General Training Module – 2nd place

  • Anita Williams from India, Band 8
  • Ashwin Moheeput from Mauritius, Band 8

General Training Module – 3rd place

  • Kashif Akram from Pakistan, Band 7.5
  • Benix Stephen Masangcay from the Phillippes, Band 7.5
  • Minh Hoan Vu Ngo from Vietnam, Band 7.5
  • Fatima Cortes Espinosa from Mexico, Band 7.5
  • Estefania Cortes Espinosa from Mexico, Band 7.5

Congratulations to all the winners! You worked so hard to get here, and we are very happy you made it! To celebrate your big achievements we’re sending your special certificates to your emails. Your IELTS results will be displayed in the IELTS-Blog hall of fame – please feel free to show off to your family and friends!

So, how does one get a high Band score in IELTS? All we know is that Anita Williams and Lee Gordoncillo (Band 8) prepared using our book “Target Band 7”, and also that Kashif Akram, Benix Masangcay, Minh Ngo and Fatima Espinosa (Band 7.5) prepared using ‘Ace the IELTS’ e-book. Surely our winners can share some practical tips that helped them, and can help others score higher.

This is why we’re asking all the winners to send us their stories of how they prepared and studied, and what helped them achieve success in IELTS. Anything they wish to share will be posted on IELTS-Blog without delay, so everyone can use the same technique and get a better score in their own exam this month.

P.S. IELTS results competition runs every month, and everyone is welcome to participate. Learn how to enroll here.