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IELTS Preparation tips

Otabek got IELTS Band 7.5 by turning his weaknesses into strengths

Preparing for IELTS, especially when you study at home alone, can feel a bit daunting at times – and when that happens, you need some inspiration to keep working towards your goal. There is nothing more motivational than seeing another person with English as a second language, who achieved what you want to achieve – so say hi to Otabek Bobomurodov, a 19 year old from Uzbekistan who speaks Uzbek from birth.

Otabek got an IELTS Overall Band Score of 7.5 with an impressive Band 8.5 in Listening and Band 8 in Reading. As a winner in our monthly results competition he had a chance to share his tips with our readers, and here is what he said:

“The first thing I would advise all the candidates preparing for IELTS is to dedicate enough time for preparation. The more you practice, the better your knowledge will be. As for me, I used to work on my weaknesses until I turned them into my strengths.

Listening

Listen to complex conversations and news until English starts to feel like your mother tongue before beginning official IELTS practice.

Reading

Make reading your habit and try to catch the meaning of advanced articles. One extraordinary way to improve reading is to read articles and make up your own IELTS questions for your friend and exchange your papers. This is how we used to work in pairs.

Writing

Writing task demands creativity along with a lot of ideas. Try to prepare for 10 most common topics, learning topic vocabulary and specific ideas on them.

Speaking

Try to speak to yourself for hours on any topic. Record your voice and listen. Keep recording until you like your own voice. Try to sound natural, not robotic. Sometimes be emotional, but not always.”

And this is the reward Otabek got for his hard work:

IELTS Band Score 7.5

Many thanks to Otabek for sharing his story with IELTS-Blog.com, and good luck with everything!

Trinadh overcame his fears, confusion and overwhelm, and the prize was IELTS Band 7.5

Exams make most people nervous, and Trinadh was no exception. Just like other IELTS test takers, he wasn’t sure about the best resources or books to use, and how to study. But the one different thing about him was, he didn’t give in to his fears, he went from confusion to clarity and achieved his IELTS goal!

Here is what he wrote to us, after receiving his IELTS score:

“Ace the IELTS made my dream come true!!!

I first heard about this book from a friend. Initially I was skeptical whether to buy this book or go with tons of resources available online, however, I’m overwhelmed and also perplexed by all the materials accessible over the net. After thinking for a while I chose the book, and trust me you won’t regret buying this book.

I wrote few practice tests before I start my preparation to know my current level so that I can plan my preparation accordingly, and my initial scores were worse than I expected. Then, I started preparing seriously for the test. This book has so many useful tips and strategies that helped me to overcome my fears. In addition to the tips, it also has a 21 day study plan that assisted me to practice well.

I’d say this book is a must read for all the test takers. But those tips come handy only if you implement them while practicing. So don’t neglect the practice.

Boom!!! On my result day, I can’t believe my scores. I was over the moon. I got the required scores for my immigration.

IELTS Band Score 7.5

Listening – 8
Reading – 7.5
Writing – 7
Speaking – 7
Overall – 7.5

I’m forever grateful to Simone.”

As a winner of our IELTS results competition Trinadh kindly shared his tips, to help everyone score their best in IELTS. Here they are:

Listening

It is not that easy as it sounds. Even I felt it was difficult during the initial stages of my practice. The tips in “Ace The IELTS” helped me a lot. In addition to this, I started watching BBC News to get used to peculiar accents. You can watch your favourite movies or TV programs, and make sure you watch them without subtitles.

Practice the High Scorer’s Choice tests by Simone Braverman and also Cambridge Tests 11 and 12. And after every test, play the listening audio again and identify how the answers are being embedded in the audio.

Reading

Again High Scorer’s Choice and Cambridge Tests. Though I’m okay with Reading, synonyms played the trick here. The more synonyms you know, the faster you’ll get the answer. For this I started reading newspapers and weekly magazines to improve my vocabulary. Understand and implement the tips given in Ace The IELTS book. Practice as much as you can until you constantly get above 35 out of 40. The tips in Simone’s book are succinct.

Writing

For writing, understand the question first and try to identify what type of question it is. Read the band 8 & 9 essays on ielts-blog.com to know the structure and format of the essay. Though I didn’t opt for writing correction services, I surely recommend it for the test takers if you want to score 7 and above. Make sure your style of writing is formal throughout the essay. And try to write the essays or letters/reports directly on the sample answer sheet that you’ll get on test day.

Speaking

Here comes the fun part. However, it’s not as simple as you may think. You need to get used to the sequence of questions. I tried recording my speaking while practicing few sample cue cards and general questions, and while listening to my own speech I identified my pain areas and focused improving on them. If you get a chance to talk to native speakers, it would be a great benefit for you. Refer to the band 8 and 9 Speaking samples on www.ielts-blog.com as well.

On behalf of our entire readership – thank you, Trinadh, congratulations on your big IELTS win, and good luck with everything you plan to achieve next!