Skip to content

IELTS preparation tips from winners

IELTS high achievers share their secrets

Full time job and family duties didn’t stop Urvi from getting Band 7.5!

Being increasingly busy, many of us look back and miss the time when we went to school and didn’t have anything else to worry about. What can be better than an opportunity to fully concentrate on one’s studies? It seems a lot easier compared to juggling work and family responsibilities, while trying to prepare for a very important exam.

However, these difficulties don’t stop determined people from getting great scores in IELTS – and Urvi Manohar is a perfect example of that, and an inspiration to us all. Urvi is 28 years old, she lives in India and her mother tongue is Marathi. We met Urvi through our monthly IELTS results competition, when she became one of the winners, scoring 7.5 Overall in General Training IELTS.

Here are some useful activities Urvi recommends that you incorporate in your own IELTS prep routine, to achieve better results:

Band 9 in IELTS“To start with, I am a married working professional and it is no easy task to manage studies in addition to the regular work and household responsibilities. However, strong determination to work hard is the key to success. I came across IELTS-Blog.com and found it really good for preparation and therefore I subscribed to it. I bought the book “Ace the IELTS” and also opted for Writing correction service. I studied for about 5-6 weeks.

Speaking – I went through the previously asked Speaking questions and collected ideas. I practiced using a timer and recorded myself. This is how I got to know my mistakes and corrected them. The best possible idea would be to start speaking in English with family and friends in day to day life. This improves fluency and you can learn to speak without hesitation. During the exam I wore a smile on my face and also made hand gestures which helped me to be confident and relaxed.

Writing – I would have around 2.5-3 hours of time to travel to and from work everyday and I utilized it to read several sample essays and letters online. I practiced writing using a timer. In an essay or a letter, for each simple word, I would think about its synonym which would be more complex and replaced the simpler word with the more complex one. I kept a dictionary handy which helped me improve my vocabulary. Also, Writing correction service provided by IELTS-Blog.com was the best as I got to know my weaknesses and hence got a chance to convert them into my strengths.

Reading – One way to improve reading skills is to read newspapers or novels. I used the strategy of skimming and scanning. With this, I was able to finish reading section in 35 minutes in the actual test and used the remaining time to check my answers. Remember, re-checking of your answers is very important as there are chances that you make mistakes the first time you answer a question.

Listening – This section requires a lot of concentration as you need to listen carefully and note down the answers as you hear the recording and it is really quick. I believe, apart from watching English movies without subtitles, practice is the best way to score well in this section. I practiced a lot of sample questions.

Finally, I would like to wish all the best to the test takers. Be confident and practice a lot ! :)”

Do what Mino and Sachin did, and watch your IELTS score soar!

It’s always useful to be able to learn from the experience of others who’ve been where you want to be, and done what you want to do. So, if your goal is an IELTS score of 7.5 or higher, this is your chance to get great tips from two such IELTS candidates. They won in our monthly IELTS results competition and when we interviewed them about their success, they shared some interesting and useful advice.

Band 9 in IELTSMino Bartolini is a 31 year-old Italian, who got Band 7.5 in Academic IELTS (with 8.5 in Reading), in order to study in a university abroad. Mino said:

“From my personal experience, I’d recommend to keep on studying regularly and never give up. I found it very useful to dedicate 4 hours a day to the study of English, with a focus particularly on the IELTS test structure.

Needless to say, you may know perfectly well the English language, but you need to know the structure of the IELTS test on the day of the exam. For doing so, I bought two books, with a lot of exercises, tailored for the IELTS test: the first one to broaden my vocabulary and the second one to refresh my knowledge of the grammar rules.

After three months the hard work paid off because I scored a remarkable 7.5 overall, which made me feel so proud and also allowed me to receive an unconditional offer from the University I had chosen. I hope that my experience could be useful and I wish the best of luck to everyone who is planning to sit the IELTS test.”

Our other winner, Sachin Miskin, is 36 years old and lives in India. He got Band 8 in General Training IELTS with 8.5 in Reading and Listening. Sachin said:

“Some tips now that I have cracked both IELTS and PTE-A:

1. Commitment towards studies: ensure you dedicate 2 to 3 hours daily to theory and practice.

2. The format of the exam should be memorized so well that you should know what type of question to expect next.

3. Always time yourself during practice, it helps a lot.

4. For the IELTS Speaking, try to neutralize your accent and use varied vocabulary. Also, note that Speaking doesn’t mean blabbering, you should have ideas and thoughts to talk about.

5. In the Listening section guess the words even before you hear the speech. If your English is good, you will more or less figure out the missing words more easily.

6. For the Writing section, ensure the complex and compound complex sentences are used often with appropriate words, phrases and grammar.”