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IELTS Test Results competition

How Sabiha raised her IELTS score from 6.5 to 8

We all love success stories, perhaps because they present an opportunity for us to follow the same path. Today we’re delighted to share with you Sabiha’s story of how she overcame the difficulties and improved her IELTS result from Band 6.5 to 8. Strict IELTS examiners in London did not break her spirit!

Band 8 in IELTSSabiha is a lovely 30 year old lady (an Urdu native speaker, originally from Pakistan) and one of our IELTS results competition winners. Here is what she said about her IELTS journey:

“This was my third attempt in IELTS, previously two overall band scores were 7 and then unfortunately 6.5 – which led me to work very hard this time as I wanted no loopholes in my effort. Finally I was successful in leaving quite an impression on my native English Speaking examiners in London.

To show proficiency in a language in an English speaking country is one very important factor, according to my experience – but the most important thing is to follow the techniques fully as the test itself is very tricky, especially in Reading. Guessing the answer actually doesn’t work. One has to have a very good reading comprehension along with the Skimming and Scanning techniques. I scored 7.5 in Reading and to be honest, I have literally worked for 8 months, only on Reading.

One of my friends here took IELTS last year. She had prepared for her test through “Ace The IELTS” and I think I was very fortunate to have this valuable book that really strengthened my skills all the way through. My Reading score in the last two tests was 6 and I was desperate to improve it, and this book gave me the confidence I wanted. Thanks for that.

For Listening, it’s all about how one utilises the time as well as having a sharp Listening comprehension. Always try to take a bird’s eye view of the next session when you get the time to check your answers. I scored 8 in it.

Writing is just about being focused on the topic. A good introduction, level-headed and logical arguments (in favour or against) and a very proper conclusion, with variety of words is the key.

Lastly, Speaking is though the easiest but a well-assessed test. Within 12 minutes, the examiner judges the candidate’s ability to give an opinion, to make comparisons and their overall language communication. I got 9 here.”

IELTS Results competition winners in May 2013

In May we had as many as 15 winners in our monthly IELTS results competition. These hard-working people managed to get some seriously good scores – have a look:

Academic Module – 1st placeBand 8 in IELTS

  • Jestin George John from India, Overall Band 8.5 (with Band 9 in Listening and Reading)
  • Aung Zin Phyo Thein from Myanmar, Overall Band 8.5 (with Band 9 in Reading)

Academic Module – 2nd place

  • Victory Okata from Nigeria, Overall Band 8
  • Shoira Yakubova from Uzbekistan, Overall Band 8
  • Nandini Gupta Dasgupta from India, Overall Band 8
  • Sabiha Amin from Pakistan, Overall Band 8
  • Junjie Zhou from China, Overall Band 8
  • Saleh Alyafei from Qatar, Overall Band 8
  • Vineeth Kumar Cherakkara from India, Overall Band 8

Academic Module – 3rd place

  • Arpita Patel from India, Overall Band 7.5
  • Babar Khan from Pakistan, Overall Band 7.5

General Training Module – 1st place

  • Ajay Arora from India, Overall Band 8
  • Devanshi Shah from India, Overall Band 8
  • Daniel Enslin Swart from South Africa, Overall Band 8

General Training Module – 2nd place

  • Anna Hermane from Latvia, Overall Band 7

On behalf of the whole team at IELTS-Blog.com I would like to congratulate this truly international group of high achievers. Such scores are something to celebrate! To mark this special occasion we are sending your certificates of achievement to your emails, and your IELTS results will be displayed in the IELTS-Blog hall of fame.

As always, we would love to learn what helped these lovely people in their exam preparation. Some of them, I know, are our students – Junjie Zhou prepared by “Target Band 7”, and Daniel Swart and Anna Hermane used “Ace the IELTS” book. As for the others… we hope to find out soon!

Dear winners – for the sake of every test taker out there, please share your stories. Tell us how you prepared and studied, and what helped you achieve success in IELTS. Anything you can share will be posted on IELTS-Blog without delay, so everyone can learn from you 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.