IELTS preparation tips from winners

Every now and then I receive emails from people who generously share their IELTS preparation advice. Today I would like to offer you the opportunity to learn from Ayan’s experience – here is his IELTS preparation story that lead to Band 7 in the real exam.

“It was the beginning of the February when I took IELTS exam and now, when I know my results, I want to share the way I practiced and the tips I suppose would be very fruitful for you.

The first and, in my opinion, the most significant thing everyone has to bear in mind is that this website ielts-blog.com has heaps of truly useful knowledge and experiences shared by IELTS-takers. Thereby, you have to utilize this site wisely. Surely, I appreciate this website and I am very pleased now to thank the staff working there and you, Simone.

The second important trait of the preparation is having a plan, a very explicit one that you follow. I must tell you that whether you prepare with a particular tutor or prepare by yourself, you are to be very wise when trying to plan the curriculum. This is my utmost will to compel students to have a perfectly elaborated way they will go.

Thirdly all of you must obtain the book, which is, by the way, very popular IELTS Target Band 7. Many of you may mistakenly think this book can only help you gain Band 7 or less, however, I must gladden you – this is a very popular delusion. This book can assist you to achieve more than even Band 8, I mean, you can get the perfect result – Band 9.

Fourthly, you are to know that the more you practice by yourself, the better your score is. I know that self-practice can allow you to have more than with the help of the tutor you have. Thus, do not even pretend you cannot, you surely can if you want to!

The fifth, very crucial, thing you also have to be cognizant of – have an aim! Target yourself to have a preferable score! Be as much stubborn and placid as it is possible, as it’ll lead you to your goal.

Tips for practicing

Writing – you have to understand the structure firstly, and then you have only to have a great amount of practicing. This is not the most difficult part of the IELTS, just pace and time yourself ever when preparing. Make sure you’ve read and written at least 20 prefect essays. IELTS-blog.com will be very helpful when searching for essays. I’ve got 7.0 here.

Reading was the most complex skill for me. I’ve, unfortunately, got only 6.5 here. But do not think this is hard and the way you will be practicing in has to be very convoluted, you only should know that the book ‘IELTS Target band 7’ will be very important here and you have to practice the techniques given there.

Speaking – be careful! I have been practicing only for one day on speaking, as I thought it was the easiest part, yet my score here is 7.0 and I could get more. I want all of you to have a lot of practicing.

Listening – my score is 7.5 in the listening section. I’ve only done 2 practice tests. You firstly need to take the practice tests, secondly – check you results and, ultimately, listen to a tape again and simultaneously read the transcripts given on the last pages of all the IELTS practice tests.

My overall band is Band 7. In the long run, you have everything to attain any result you want. Now, do it and do not be scared of trying to shoot for the moon! It’ll be OK if you want to have 9.0 you will take it! Be persistent, optimistic and smart when preparing!”

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.”