IELTS preparation tips from winners

Achieving a great result in IELTS is very important to all readers and subscribers of IELTS-Blog.com, which is why you will probably find this post interesting. Nima, who recently got Band 8 in IELTS, is talking about the methods that helped him face the exam being well-prepared:

“I would like to share some quick notes regarding the IELTS exam so that the contestants achieve the best result:

First of all, I defiantly recommend the book provided by your website “Ace the IELTS“. My main reason is that this book provides the most vital and right to the point information one needs in order to take the exam. In my opinion reading this book is mandatory for people who are sitting the exam for the first time and is also very beneficial for others.

Speaking

Frankly, in my opinion this skill cannot be very improved within a short period of time. If you have listened to many English /American conversations such as movies or T.V series, you have already picked up a good accent. On the other hand I suggest speaking to other friends in English and trying not to cheat! Being in an English speaking environment is the ideal opportunity.

Listening

Practice makes perfect, and regarding this specific subject , try to get your hands on as many sample exams as you can, after taking 5 or 6 exams you’ll get the hang of it and figure out how the exam is going to be taken, so you will never be caught off-guard. I took all the tests provided by the Cambridge IELTS test samples and while taking the actual exam, nothing was new to my ears.

Reading

Again , you can gain the know-how of this subject by reading the “Ace the IELTS” digital book, it has explained everything so anything I say won’t compete with that, and then practice with the sample test I mentioned earlier.

Writing

This part was the bottleneck of my project. Frankly, I am not a big fan of reading books and novels and the only writing I have ever done is in the office which was mostly work related material. Try to get to know the common subjects that you will face in the exam and be creative, and don’t forget the rules of writing , if you go by the book you’ll be safe , and by now you know which book I’m talking about.

One last thing I want to say is that my speaking test experience in Iran was a little bit awkward. I have worked in international companies for more than 6 years and have talked to many different people with different accents, from Japanese to Chinese, Canadian, American, Australian and of course British. However, at the time of my interview the examiner talking to me had the weirdest accent which confused me very much, and his act was also quite weird. I have to say that this experience was the same for other students who took the exam with me; I did get an eight for my speaking exam, but I was expecting much more, so I guess what I’m trying to say is , aside all other things , be prepared for some unexpected stuff.

Many non-native English speakers think they would easily get Band 9 in IELTS, if only they spoke English from birth. They couldn’t be more wrong.

Even native English speakers require preparation if they want to score well in IELTS – and here is some practical advice on how to prepare from Angie Coleman, a young lady from the UK and our first place competition winner, who got Band 8.5 in her IELTS exam. Angie says:

“The advice I would share is simple: Don’t think if you are a native English speaker it will be easy, you still have to prepare.

Complete practice tests over and over again to ensure you know the format of the test and what types of questions are being asked, the pace of the test and get familiar with writing essays (by hand) over and over again.

Buy practice tests or access to a website for practice tests. I used a few freebee tests on the internet, but you can only use them once and then you know what they are looking for, so its not effective. I then paid for access to a website, the tests had a number of mistakes in them but it still helped me to get used to the format and I didn’t waste time searching for free practice tests.

On a practical level, the test conditions are not easy, so be prepared. I was in a room from about 9am until 14pm. During that time, no toilet breaks (you can go to the loo but it comes off of your test time), no snack breaks, it was freezing and you are concentrating hard from test to test. So best be prepared.

Get a solid night sleep the day before and don’t drink any alcohol, drink tons of water the day before, eat a healthy breakfast, don’t drink too much coffee or liquids in the morning before the test. Wear layers into the building. You have to check in your coat so make sure you will be warm enough. I had layers, but my teeth still chattered.

You move from room to room during the registration process, on the last leg try to go in near the end and use the loo one last time before the test. Otherwise you will sit in the room for an hour plus waiting for others to come in.

Listening

For the test itself, make sure you focus and don’t drift off in the listening. This is hard to do especially if you are not prepared on what to listen for. Scan the questions when you can so you know what to tune your ear into.

Reading

Read the questions first before diving into the text. You need to know what you are looking for. When its a matching section, answer question by question and if you do not know what it is, skip it and come back to it. After you have completed everything, go back and read the answer to the question to make sure it makes sense.

Writing

Answer the questions in full. Use a range of grammar and vocabulary. Learn 20 plus words that you can easily insert into almost any topic of discussion and practice your spelling of these words and other common words. During your practice tests, its useful to type your essay into a word document after you have hand written it and spell check it. You can then see any grammar or spelling mistakes you might not have otherwise seen. And also get a word count. If you run out of an argument to write about but are short on words, use personal experience to describe. Keep to the word limits, you get penalised for writing under the limit automatically.

Speaking

Practice with your friends. Get them to mimic the test format and test questions so you are comfortable answering questions in this way. Have them time each section so you are used to speaking fluidly for that amount of time. Use lots of description (not just yes or no) and keep answering the question until the examiner (or your friend stops you). If you run out of things to say about a topic, draw on personal experience or make something up. Remember its a language test not an interview.

Good Luck and Best Wishes!! Thanks again for helping me get through this test!!”