IELTS Test Results competition

Akshay Deep is one of the best scorers in September, who received Band 8 in a General Training IELTS exam. He found IELTS-Blog.com helpful in his exam preparation, and wanted to help other test takers in our international family – so here are his tips:

Magic Mantra – Practice, Practice and Practice!

The secret behind my good scoring in Listening (8.5) and Reading (8.0) was that I had taken more than 35 Practice Papers over the course of my 2 month IELTS Exam Preparation. These practice tests gave me the confidence to do well in the main exam.

My Tips / Strategies for Listening and Reading:

1. If your handwriting is bad (like mine), it will be better to answer all the questions in CAPITAL LETTERS. This strategy will also come in handy in situations where you are not sure whether they should be starting with CAPS or not. Please note you need to practice this strategy many times before you are comfortable about using it in a real exam.

2. Make it a habit to write your answers to all practice papers on the actual IELTS Exam Answer Sheet. Click here for the Listening answer sheet, and here for the Reading answer sheet.

3. In your real exam use the same pencil and eraser that you use in the practice exams. It made me comfortable in the real exam.

4. Read instructions very carefully before you answer the questions (especially for questions where they state that answers should not be more than 2 words, 3 words, etc.)

5. Always make sure you have some time left in the end (say 6-8 min) for revision. Use this time to check your spelling mistakes.

6. For the Listening Section, be careful while transferring answers from the question paper to the answer sheet. Needless to say, only the answers on the answer sheet count.

My Tips / Strategies for Writing:

1. Make it a habit to read English newspapers, English magazines. This habit will go a long way in improving your writing.

2. Practice writing Task 1 and Task 2 in 55 minutes flat! Last 5 minutes should be left for proofreading (checking your spelling and punctuation). I did not do this enough. That’s why I got only 6.5 in Writing!

3. Practice your writing tasks also on the actual IELTS Exam Answer Sheets. This will help you check your word-count also in practice. Needless to say, you have to write 150 words for Task 1 and 250 words for Task 2.

My Tips / Strategies for Speaking:

1. At least till the time you take the IELTS Exam, make it a point to speak in English as much as possible in your daily routine. This will improve your fluency.

2. As most of you use smart phones, use the voice recorder app to practice the 2-min monologue. Listening to what you said can help you identify common errors. For instance, I never realised how many times I use the word “like” in my speaking!

3. More than grammar, intonation, etc, I feel CONFIDENCE is the KEY!!! Practice speaking confidently. This rubs off positively on the examiner.

4. Speaking Test is like a Personal Interview. Dress well. Present yourself well and be courteous & polite to the examiner. Learn using common salutations in the beginning and the end – things like asking permission to enter the room, to sit down, thanking the examiner for their time, etc.

Finally, take this journey of IELTS Exam Preparation actually as an opportunity to ‘really’ improve your English. Aren’t we taking this exam to settle in an English-speaking country?

Hope my input has helped! All the very best for IELTS Exam Preparation.

Kalpaka is a 20-something, bright lady whose efforts resulted in IELTS Band 8.5, with a perfect 9 in Listening. No, she isn’t a native English speaker – her first language is Tamil and she comes from India. Kalpaka won the first place (GT) in our August IELTS results competition, and when we asked what tips she would have for other test takers, Kalpaka said:

Listening

I was using headphones for practising listening exercises. However, the day before my exam, I realised that the passages would be played aloud in the examination hall. I strongly recommend avoiding the use of headphones while practising. The key to scoring high in this section is to read the questions in the allotted time before each passage is played. Once you know what the passage is about and what needs to be answered, you just have to pay attention to the passage. For more complex passages, there is plenty of information to listen to and process. In such cases, it might be helpful to make some notes while the audio is played. Later you can use these hints to choose the right answer.

Writing

I found the sample essays on this blog very helpful in preparing for the writing test. The key to scoring well in writing is to answer all parts of the question. If it’s an argument, both sides need to be discussed before an opinion/conclusion is provided. There’s a word limit on both the writing tasks. So making some notes or writing a rough draft would be helpful before setting out to answer each question. Time management is also very important. If you are in IT like me and have not written with pen/pencil for long, I recommend trying to write down some sample essays to avoid writer’s cramps during the exam. Use of a good vocabulary could boost the scores on top of answering the question appropriately.

Speaking

This section is probably the easiest to score well if you are comfortable conversing in English. Remember that the examiner is trying to help you score while trying to converse with you. Making the conversation interesting and informative will help score well in this test.

Reading

It would be really helpful to practice academic reading passages if you are taking up the General Training test because of the higher levels of difficulty in the academic exercises. Again, the key is to read the questions first and skim the passage for answers. Reading entire passages could mean running out of time. Personally, the trickiest questions are the ones where you choose true/false/not given. Assuming something is true or false based on personal knowledge will affect the scores adversely. See what the passage says about the subject in question before choosing the right option.