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IELTS Test Results competition

IELTS preparation tips from Gayatri – Band 8 in reading and speaking

Every time I meet someone who got a high score in IELTS I ask how they did it. Here is the answer of Gayatri, who received the overall score of 7.5 with Band 8 for reading and speaking.

“Frankly speaking I didn’t study much for the exam, but the one thing I did religiously every day was check the IELTS-blog . It was my mantra for the day, the book and study material from British Council was very helpful, especially the CDs which helped me get a good score in the listening section.

I would advise everyone to read, read and read some more for the reading section. One can use newspapers, magazines, books for this purpose. Don’t forget we are not getting evaluated on our knowledge, but on how fast we can focus and answer the question within the time limit.

Another piece of advice is to practice the exam pattern, and solve IELTS-like exams regularly.

Since the writing section is quite unpredictable, it’s always better to be ready with some common topics, and practice writing your views on paper. One must always time oneself since this is the most exhaustive section of them all.

For the speaking section which is my favorite the golden rule is “Don’t look at the recording device” during the exam, just speak your heart out and the rest will fall in place.”

IELTS Preparation tips from competition winners

The response from the competition winners was simply overwhelming. Nothing makes me happier than seeing how people while being very busy still have so much compassion, that they make time in their evenings and write back, to share advice and help others.

Here is what Radi Ivanov (Band 7.5 in Academic IELTS) said:

“As far as I am concerned – practice, practice, practice! I spent a month preparing for the exam, using IELTS-Blog.com and the Target Band 7 book.

I wrote lots of essays and reports, and also read many on the Internet. Reading books, magazines and newspapers in English also helped me. I carried out mock exams at home and tried to act as if I’m in an exam situation. This helped me a lot with getting used to the test format and the timing, which is very important.”

And here is some advice from Annette Helling-Benze (Band 7.5 in Academic IELTS):

“To answer your questions, I just followed your tips in the book, practiced intensively for 4 weeks and I used the Writing Correction service for reports and essays. The comments from the teachers were the best source for me to do assignments better. I bought 2 x 8 corrections.

The different subjects for essays or reports were a great challenge for me, too. I could improve my writing skills a lot and I can use them now for my University courses.”

On behalf of all the readers of IELTS-Blog I would like to thank Radi and Annette, for their kindness and help.