Skip to content

IELTS Test Results competition

Student success: how Senthil prepared for IELTS and got Band 8

If you’ve been following IELTS-Blog.com for some time, you may remember Senthil Sarangapani from India, a winner of our December 2012 competition with an overall IELTS Band Score of 8. Senthil is a 32 year-old Indian test taker working in a financial services company. He took the General Training IELTS test in December last year, and here is what he said on the day his results were out:

“Hi Simone,Band 8 in IELTS

I scored band 8 in IELTS (GT) and much of the credit for my score goes to you and your book Ace The IELTS.

Your writing style is inspiring. I felt as if the best coach in town was sitting next to me and guiding me personally while reading your book. The strategies you have given for tackling each component of the test and the practical tips really came in handy while taking the test.

When I started my preparation I worried about the writing exercise, but at the end you really made me believe that even ‘a monkey could do it.’ Your assuring words boosted my morale and prepared me to face the test with confidence.

Thanks heaps!”

Today we would like to share the exam tips Senthil asked to pass on to everyone:

“The very first step in the IELTS preparation is to familiarize yourself with the question patterns in each module. My suggestion to all is to read the book ‘Ace the IELTS’ by Simone Braverman. It covers every type of questions that you might expect in IELTS along with the strategies to handle them and the traps to watch out for.

Take as many practice tests as you can in all the modules. Practice is the only way to score higher bands. If you are using practice materials from internet or CD, print them out and practise using the paper prints. While practising, adhere to the time limits of each module. Practise the listening, reading and writing modules consecutively without break to build your mental stamina. Download the blank sample IELTS answer sheet online, print it off and use it to write your answers while practising.

In the Listening and Reading modules, look for the instruction that tells you the number of words you should be using to answer the questions. As this number varies for each section within a module, check out the instruction at the beginning of each section before attempting to answer the questions.

Attention is the key to success in the Listening module. Keenly follow the speaker in the recording. If you have missed a word or a phrase related to the question you are attempting, do not startle or attempt to guess while the recording is being played. Move on to the next question and leave the guesswork till after the end of the recording.

In the Writing module, the length of your answer is as important as its structure. Too short will lower your score and too long will eat away at your precious time. Write down four to five lines of text in the sample answer sheet. Count the number of words you have written in each line. Assuming it is averaging nine words per line, you have to write approximately 28 lines to compose an essay of at least 250 words long. Set the length of each paragraph of your essay in such a way that when the lines of each paragraph are added up, it should come approximately to 28 lines. For instance, write an introductory paragraph of length about four lines long, then write three paragraphs, each of about seven lines long discussing the topic and then windup with a concluding paragraph of about three lines long. Thus, if you set the paragraphs length according to your handwriting, you would automatically control the length of your essay. You can follow the same approach while writing the letter as well.

Finally, if you have some time left at the end of each module, review your answers.”

Student success: how Sainattee passed the IELTS test with flying colours

What you’re about to read is a very inspiring story. It began in October 2012, when Kevin and Sainattee H, a family living in Thailand, needed to prepare for the IELTS test to move to Australia.

Kevin spoke English all his life, but his wife Sainattee, who is Thai, never had formal training in English after finishing high school. She learned English all by herself while working in the hospitality industry in Thailand, and it was fine for everyday use – but taking a formal English test was quite a scary prospect.

Looking for IELTS materials to help him coach Sainattee, Kevin came across IELTS-Blog.com and subscribed to our free daily tips. A couple of weeks later he decided to put his trust into our book
Ace the IELTS – and never regretted this step, because… this book helped him prepare his wife and just one month later she passed IELTS “in one go, with flying colours” – those are his own words!

Here is what Kevin says about their IELTS journey:

Passed IELTS in one go“I wanted to write to you to thank you for all the great work and effort you are doing by providing all these tools, tips and recommendations available for people who have to prepare for their IELTS test.

For myself the target score was never in doubt but for my wife who is Thai this was a very daunting target to achieve. But thanks to all your collateral, recommendations and book we bought she was able to pass the test in one go.

Although her English is very good for a daily conversation use, practising it in test situations is a completely different thing. She learned English all by herself after she left high school by working in translation offices and hotel receptions, as English was at that time only taught on a very basis level in Thai public schools. When I met her many years ago her English was already quite good and she was not shy to use it in daily conversations. But then to raise the level of her English knowledge up to the next level to be able to use it in a real test situation I was not sure if she could handle the stress of the IELTS test.

But thanks to your book, test samples and other collateral and my guidance she nailed it in one go. My wife has also learned a lot about English language grammar and structure thanks to your book and we have asked our daughter to use it as a guide to improve her English writing skills.

So there you go, a big thank you from 2 happy campers and I will recommend your collateral, books, sample tests and recommendations to anybody I know.

There is a lot of IELTS clutter out there, but your site captures all the relevant and required tools to pass the test so I think this should be known to those who have to take the test.”