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IELTS Preparation tips

Tips for success and lessons learnt, from 3 IELTS high scorers

There are many reasons why we love our readers and think you guys are the best, and one of those reasons is your generosity. We asked the winners of our monthly IELTS results competition to share some useful IELTS tips, and they showered us with information you can use in your own preparation.

Susmita, a lovely lady from from India, who got Band 7.5 in General Training, said:

“Thank you so much for the award. Your material was really helpful.

My advice for the IELTS candidates is:

1. Practice and practice (with the right material, of course)

2. When you are watching any English movie or reading anything in English try to do it actively. {Susmita means here don’t let your mind drift away while reading or watching a movie, you need to stay focused and try to understand as much as possible}

3. Last but not the least, always stay confident. Try to relax as much as possible before the exam day.”

Next we have Alison, who lives in Vietnam and got an Overall IELTS Band Score of 7.5 with an amazing 9 in Reading. Believe it or not, Alison isn’t happy with her score, and intends to do even better! She wrote to us about the lessons she learnt from her preparation and exam:

“I’m honoured to receive this achievement. Thank you very much for your support.

One tip that I can give is to keep practising with a plan. Knowing our own strengths and weaknesses will help a lot in improving ourselves.

Even though I have not reached my desired score, I will keep learning. I know my strengths are in reading and listening, so will keep the same level of practice and performance in these two skills. As for Speaking and Writing, I learnt that I should pause and think carefully before speaking. I should also practice more in writing, as it seems I did not spend sufficient time to practice this skill.”

And the lucky last, Phyo from Myanmar, a bright young man who got an Overall Band Score of 8.5, with two straight 9s in Listening and Reading. Phyo said:

“I came across IELTS-Blog.com a while ago, and found the materials very useful and encouraging.

Here is my advice for other IELTS candidates based on my experience:

For the Speaking test, the three parts are quite predictable, and you need to practise with a partner for feedback and timing. However rigid and direct the examiner may appear, you should try to have a casual conversation with them, just like you are meeting a new friend. Keep it light and natural, and smile often.

For the Reading test, my main problem was overthinking. IELTS answers are rather straightforward, and after sufficient practice you will be familiar with their pattern.

Regarding Listening sections, the answers are, again, straightforward, and even more so for technical terms. It’s important to stay calm and focused; don’t dwell on the sentences that you missed, and practice is key to familiarize with the pace of Listening recordings.”

Targeting IELTS Band 7.5 to 8.5? Learn from these high scorers!

If your target IELTS score is in the range of Band 7.5 to 8.5, today’s post may be especially helpful, because we have quite a line up of IELTS high scorers sharing their best tips. Nothing beats learning from people who have been where you are and achieved what you are striving for!

Let’s start with Radhika, a young lady from India who got Band 7.5 in IELTS. Radhika said:

Band 7.5 in IELTS– My suggestion would be to practise as much as you can. Once you become familiar with the accents in the Listening test then gets much easier. For Reading try to practise with a timer on. Your aim should be to finish in 50 mins rather than 60. For Speaking find a partner, and if you don’t have one then make a mirror your best friend. Focus on your pace, vocabulary, eye contact and content. Writing was a bit hard for me. I had practised all the questions from our IELTS-Blog. If possible, first write your own answer and only then read other answers online to the same questions. They will give you new viewpoints, vocabulary and a better structure for your own answer.

Next we’d like to give the stage to Saika, a mechanical engineer from Bangladesh. Saika is a native Bengali speaker and got Band 8 in IELTS. She said:

– For my success, I am grateful to IELTS-Blog.com. This website helped me reach my desired band score in academic module. I subscribed to this website and got regular email notifications regarding most recent IELTS exam questions (specially for speaking and writing tests) and these made me prepared accordingly.

I would also like to thank Mrs. Simone Braverman for her stunning tips and techniques to conquer IELTS exam. I highly recommend this as a beneficial resource to all other students around the world.

And finally, our highest scorer and the winner of IELTS Results competition, Tam Nguyen from Vietnam. Tam is a doctor, and his IELTS score is the near-perfect Band 8.5! He has advice for you on each of the four IELTS sub-tests:

Band 8.5 in IELTSSpeaking: one advantage is that most questions are predictable, so preparation is recommended. You can use free text-to-speech websites to practice your pronunciation.

Listening: the first step is trying to be able to understand much of the conversation. When you get there, it means that your listening ability is good enough. Then you can practice IELTS listening samples to hone your exam skills such as taking notes, recognizing keywords, understanding paraphrasing. For multiple choice questions, it is advisable that you take notes when you listen.

Reading: reading techniques are widely available, so it is useful to apply them. However, reading is about testing your comprehension, so a larger vocabulary will lead to a better understanding and eventually a higher score. Therefore it comes down to learning as many new words as possible, which takes time.

Writing: make sure you know how essays are marked so you invest your energy in the right places. Your writing should be checked by someone else. Samples are easy to find on the Internet, but not all samples advertised as “band 9 essays” live up to their promises, so please choose your resources carefully.