IELTS preparation tips from winners

You may remember Kirill as a winner of 1st place in our August IELTS results competition. He got an Overall Band Score of 8.0, with a straight 9 in Reading, and it was more than he expected! When we approached Kirill for his tips to other test takers and insights into his preparation, here is what he said:

“I used various techniques which I have found online.

First of all, I was writing essays and letters as often as I could. 1-2 pieces of writing daily is perfect. I have used 16 writing corrections from IELTS-blog.com to make sure I was good. I was getting 6.5 usually, but I have managed to get 7 in the exam.

Also, I was listening to podcasts every day for 1 hour while commuting to the office. I have not trained speaking at all, because I use English almost everyday at work.

As for reading I also read some books, but what I think is a great strategy is listening to an audio book while reading the same book. This practice will not only load information to the brain fast, but also will help you improve vocabulary along with pronunciation.

I have finished a monthly course of IELTS preparation also, it was 1.5 hour twice a week. Overall, I spent roughly 1-1.5 months to prepare. Also, my attitude for the exam was relaxed and I did not care about the result, I was perceiving it to be a test shot. I was not confident about my writing, but all my friends told me that I will handle it and I did, to my own big surprise!”

Preparing for IELTS, especially when you study at home alone, can feel a bit daunting at times – and when that happens, you need some inspiration to keep working towards your goal. There is nothing more motivational than seeing another person with English as a second language, who achieved what you want to achieve – so say hi to Otabek Bobomurodov, a 19 year old from Uzbekistan who speaks Uzbek from birth.

Otabek got an IELTS Overall Band Score of 7.5 with an impressive Band 8.5 in Listening and Band 8 in Reading. As a winner in our monthly results competition he had a chance to share his tips with our readers, and here is what he said:

“The first thing I would advise all the candidates preparing for IELTS is to dedicate enough time for preparation. The more you practice, the better your knowledge will be. As for me, I used to work on my weaknesses until I turned them into my strengths.

Listening

Listen to complex conversations and news until English starts to feel like your mother tongue before beginning official IELTS practice.

Reading

Make reading your habit and try to catch the meaning of advanced articles. One extraordinary way to improve reading is to read articles and make up your own IELTS questions for your friend and exchange your papers. This is how we used to work in pairs.

Writing

Writing task demands creativity along with a lot of ideas. Try to prepare for 10 most common topics, learning topic vocabulary and specific ideas on them.

Speaking

Try to speak to yourself for hours on any topic. Record your voice and listen. Keep recording until you like your own voice. Try to sound natural, not robotic. Sometimes be emotional, but not always.”

And this is the reward Otabek got for his hard work:

Many thanks to Otabek for sharing his story with IELTS-Blog.com, and good luck with everything!