How did this young Indian student get Band 8.5 in IELTS?

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Today we are happy to share the IELTS tips we received from Maany R, who won in our monthly results competition. Maany is a 20 year-old Indian girl whose first language is Tamil. However, her English is almost as good as her mother tongue – and she proved it by receiving IELTS Band 8.5 Overall score with a remarkable Band 9 in Listening.

She was quite happy to see her result, and wrote to us:

“I just ended up getting a overall band of 8.5 in academic module. Thanks for all the tips on your blog, it was of great use to me. I really didn’t expect a 9 in listening and it was all because of the practice tests I took on the blog. If there is anything I could add on to the blog about my experience I would be delighted to help.”

And , of course, we asked for her best IELTS tips straight away Here they are:

“Listening: I found it very competitive but if you listen carefully there is a great possibility to score a 9. Since I got a 9, the only tip I could offer is stick to the conversation fully and avoid using erasers while the test is in progress.

Reading: Most of my friends who took the exam with me found reading very tough. Somehow I managed a 8.5 Looking for synonyms and not for the exact words mentioned in the question would be advisable. To avoid running short of time in the end always transfer answers to the answer sheet directly after every passage. Try answering the paragraph summary questions as you read it will save a lot of time.

Writing: Don’t write long passages. I wasted a lot of time finishing my writing early which is why I got only 7.5. Try to spend more time on the longer essay. After finishing if you have time try replacing some of the everyday words with fancy synonyms that might impress your examiner.

Speaking: My speaking went totally haywire but I still managed to get an 8. I believe I could have done a lot better if I hadn’t written down notes in the question card by mistake. Also try avoiding non-lexical fillers like ‘urgh’ and ‘hmm’ because they create a bad impression. Make sure you include some quote or idiom in your 2 minute speech. It would sound impressive in your introduction or conclusion.”