IELTS Test Results competition

We can never have too many preparation tips, can we? Especially when they come from people who have proven themselves as high achievers, by securing IELTS results of Band 8 or above. Melvyn, Ahmed and Sumit, the winners of our IELTS results competition in May, wrote and shared their tips for success.

Melvyn said:

“My main advice is to be confident during the reading test. I realised that I answer more questions correctly when I’m confident. This is because the answers are very similar and if you are doubtful, you tend to keep making changes and mess it all up.

For the listening, I practised by listening to English songs on my mp3 daily and trying to understand every single word until I can sing the whole song. It really helped in my listening test as I was able to put together words and also repeat the words/sentences in my head after they were played.”

Ahmed said:

“Practice allot. Read articles and books, and when you don’t know the meaning of a word use English-English dictionary. Listen to different sources of English audio – TV, radio, or the Internet. When you listen to songs, radio news, etc, try to repeat what they say and imitate their accent. Read the questions in the listening part, so that you prepare your mind to collect the answer once you hear it. And above all relax, and try to enjoy the exam.”

Sumit said:

“I must say you have a wonderful web site for IELTS.

I did not prepare much for IELTS, but took a few practice tests a few weeks apart and monitored how I was progressing. I listened to a few good speaking test recordings and read essays that had low and high scores, which helped me figure out the difference. Spelling is important. I should acknowledge my English teachers at school who were very particular about spelling and I inherited those qualities.

Be alert, learn from your mistakes and have fun.”

Today I have a real treat for you. Dr Hina A. Razzak, a winner of our “Best IELTS result competition” in May has shared the reasons why she scored so high. Here is what Dr. Hina says:

“First and foremost, I would like to say that it is an easy exam, if you keep it easy and simple. You don’t have to study much, as this exam is all about how fluent you are and how well you understand English.

For the listening part I used to listen to podcasts from the British Council Learn English websites. There are hundreds of podcasts there. I used to listen daily to 10 – 15 podcasts. It is easy to download them to your iPod or mp3 player, or to just listen on a PC or a laptop. Also CNN and BBC have some useful podcasts and you can listen to them as well. I saw a lot of English movies, too.

For the speaking part as I was in the UK for about 6 months before my exam, I used to speak daily with my family. Also I used to speak on usual topics like my favorite program, my favorite movie, a book, any hobby, any work I like to do, any holidays I spent, these usual topics I used to speak on daily for about 15 to 20 minutes.

For writing, which I considered the most difficult, I used different websites and practiced in writing task 1 to see how many words can I write in 20 minutes, trying to make it 150 or 200, not too lengthy or too short.

For writing task 2 because we don’t know what topic will be given, I used to read different articles on topics such as MEDIA, COMMUNICATION, TELEVISION, FILMS, CAPITAL PUNISHMENT, CHILDREN AND FAMILY. It’s good to get a whole list of topics that appeared in previous exams and read articles or essays on those topics, and then it is easy to write 250 words – because you will have enough knowledge by then.

For reading again I used the British Council Learn English reading modules step by step guide, and also practiced Cambridge IELTS 1 to 6 series books. I read newspapers and Readers Digest whenever I had time.

I did all this in 15 days only and I have passed with Band 8 🙂

And last but not the least – IELTS-BLOG.com website really helped me throughout that period.

ALL THE BEST TO EVERYONE!”