Alicia is a young lady whose first language is Indonesian (as you can see from the photo, she’s a musician!). She had to take the IELTS test, and was short of time – but still managed to get an Overall Band 7. This is what she wrote to us about her exam preparation:
“Greetings. My name is Alicia Nevriana from Indonesia. I would like to express my gratitude to you through this e-mail. I read your book ‘Target Band 7 – How to Maximize Your Score’ while preparing for my IELTS test. I admit that I was late in preparing my IELTS and I just got to know your book the day before I took the test. I didn’t join any preparation course and my only source of study was your book (and a Barron’s book, which I couldn’t manage to study at all). However, I just got my results today and I was so surprised I could achieve overall band score 7.0! If it weren’t because of you and your book, I might not be able to achieve it.”
Not only did Alicia succeed in her IELTS test, but she also won our monthly IELTS results competition! In her own words, this victory “is the proof that the book had helped me achieve what I thought to be nearly impossible before”. Following our tradition of many years share her advice for other test takers:
“I think my best advice for those who are preparing their IELTS is to ‘allocate some time‘. Really, it was my mistake that I prepared it all in a rush (I only spared one day to study).
Follow the study plan that’s attached in the book, it really is helpful. The author always knew that there would be some candidates who didn’t have lots of time preparing it so he usually had tips for those kind of people (like me).
More importantly, do every task thoroughly. If you’re asked to record your voice as a part of listening exercise, do it!
Read and re-read the pocket tips, have them in your pocket, anytime, anywhere.
However, you shouldn’t push yourself too far, know your capacity and take a break.
Last but not least, pray. It worked for me, at least :)”