February 2012

Today I would like to share with you the advice we’ve received from Roxanne and Muhammad, our competition winners in January 2012.

Roxanne Rombaoa from the Philippines ( Band 7 ) said:

“Before anything else, I want to express my ample gratitude to IELTS-Blog family, to those who are behind this website, great job guys. The sample tests in this website helped me lot especially in writing. I have learned many different techniques, not just in writing – but in reading as well.

The sample essays with corrections will help and will give you a clear picture or get an idea on how you will be scored by an examiner. I am a busy person and never had a chance to enroll my self in a review center, but since I have the willingness and motivation, I did it. By spending a couple of hours per day reading all your tips and techniques from the site, I got my target score.

You’re really the best study partner.”

Muhammad Irfan from Pakistan ( Band 8 ) said:

“I am extremely pleased and honored to have received this certificate and recognition for my IELTS results. I must say (without exaggeration!!) that your IELTS blog website was the only major contributor to my IELTS results. Specifically, the writing service which you guys have is an amazing tool to figure out the problems in one’s writing abilities.

I can’t describe any particular strategies of preparation because I had only three weeks to prepare for my exam, so I couldn’t quite organize my study plans. On top of that, because of my work schedule, I could only spend less than an hour every day to prepare for this exam. But as I said before, most of the time I was going through your website which has tons of helpful tips and information about IELTS.

I had frequently read about the book for IELTS preparation written by Ms. Simone. I couldn’t buy that because, as I said before, I was running out of time. But I can only imagine what better results I could have achieved had I prepared using the ‘Target Band 7’ book.

In preparation, one has to believe in both hard work and luck. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but usually the tests are easier than the practice materials which you use to prepare. That’s what happened with me. So besides the hard work, one should also hope for an easier test 😉

But, as they say, there is definitely no substitute for hard work. My concentration was mostly on practicing the sample tests from the IELTS blog website. The best advice I can give to others is to solve as many questions on all four sections as possible. You shouldn’t ponder too much on the strategies of how to go about the test. Solving sample questions would solve most of the doubts you might have.

Lastly, the feedback from others on your performance is like a roof on the house. Your practice wouldn’t be complete without it. Like I said before, the writing service provided by the IELTS blog website would go a long way towards making you realize your errors in writing. For speaking, you can go ahead and discuss with anyone who has mentored you before such as your professor, elder brother/sister (provided his/her English is good!!) or any IELTS expert for the feedback. For listening and reading, naturally you need the IELTS blog website to give you sample questions.”