IELTS Preparation tips

Shortly after congratulating our competition winners and sending out their special certificates we’ve heard back from two of them: Srihari Venatile (IELTS Band 7.5) and Sylviya Todorova (IELTS Band 8). These delightful people were ready and willing to share the methods that enabled them to score high, so that other test takers could try and replicate their success.

Srihari’s IELTS tips

“Thanks for choosing me as the winner for this month’s contest. I would like to use this opportunity to share some thoughts and ideas that helped me succeed in IELTS.

Always believe in your potential:

I did not take any coaching or special materials to prepare for IELTS. All I had was sheer will and a positive mind to make it happen. “Target Band 7” and the IELTS-blog.com site would be excellent source for preparation. I came to this site after the examination. I would have scored better if i knew about this website prior to the exam. My advice for all those who are going to write this exam is very simple.

Relax and keep the head cool at all times. Watch and listen to the English programmes on the television.

Start writing anything that strikes your mind. Try to find out the grammatical mistakes and correct them every time. I didn’t have a friend to help me, but if any of you have don’t hesitate to call them and prepare few questions for you from any audio conversation that you listen to. I would prefer it to be from those programmes that ignite an interest.

Last but not the least, consider this exam as an opportunity to test your potential and not your confidence or pride. My best wishes to everyone!”

Sylviya’s IELTS tips

“First I would like say to say to all IELTS test takers to do the IELTS exam according to the right strategy and technique.

For the listening module the recording is played only once and there are no repetitions, so don’t let your attention wander. When listening for the answer to a question, be aware of the following questions. That way, if you miss the answer to a particular question you are more likely to notice when the answer to a later question is given and you are less likely to find yourself lost.

After each section you are given time to check your answers. As soon as you have done this, make use of the time remaining to start looking at the questions for the next section. This will give you a head start.

In the reading module be as concentrated as possible. Stay with sharp mind as the questions are ambiguous. The key to doing well in this part is practice. Read newspapers, magazines and books. Try and improve your reading skills and speed. Do the practice tests in all Cambridge books.

In the writing part be aware of the following:

Don’t try to pad out your script by copying the rubrik from the question paper. If you do, it won’t be included in any word count made by the examiner.

Don’t try to memorise a ‘model’ answer before the test. It is unlikely that you will have a task on the same topic and scripts that are memorised or plagiarised are easily detected by the examiner and will be penalised.

Write clearly. Although you won’t be penalised for untidy writing, if the examiner can’t read your script it will be marked down. Poor spelling, however, will be penalised.

When writing your script remember that it will be marked by an examiner who is looking to see if you have fulfilled the requirements of the task, that your writing is coherent, that you can use the appropriate vocabulary and have a good range of sentence structures. The examiner will be looking to see how accurately you can manage these things.

The speaking part will be easier if you look at it as a normal chat. However, always try to give full answers (instead of just Yes or No answers).

Do not worry about your accent, everyone has an accent when they speak English. The important point is that you enunciate the best you can so the examiner can understand you.

Use descriptive words. Don’t use boring words like good, bad, nice, or okay. Use exciting words that covey emotion. Practice using higher level words for every simple word you know – such as thrilled instead of happy, or depressed instead of sad. Do not use slang, you have 11 minutes to show the examiner your best usage of the English words and expressions. If you make a mistake and use the wrong word or verb form, then just say “sorry” and correct yourself.”

Yesterday we posted about Kingsley’s success in raising his IELTS score, and the first part of his advice to other test takers (read it here). Below you will find the rest of his tips.

Reading tips

The reading section is one of the frustrating areas as time is usually the problem. My score was Band 5.5, then Band 6.5 and then finally Band 7.

You do not have to read the passage to understand its content entirely, but you have to know what you are looking for. I discovered that questions that required filling in the gaps are usually located in one paragraph and they usually follow a chronological order thus saving me a lot of time.

To save time, if you see any of these questions in the reading section, try as fast as you can to locate the right paragraph and to complete these questions first as its answers can be copied from the text in to the spaces. This will save you much time to crack your brain solving the true, false and not given questions. These questions take much time to understand the context of the paragraphs. Please remember to read the instructions and not to fill more or less than the required number of words.

Do not panic as it will make you read but understand. Also, the passages and the answers usually try to test your ability in words that are synonyms.Try as much as possible to enrich your vocabulary by listening to English news and reading newspapers like “The Economist”. Furthermore, if you don’t know a word, read the whole sentence and hopefully you can guess its meaning.

Always aim at getting the highest score. Many students will say “I need just a 5.5 for my university” and so they will not have that enthusiasm to prepare hard, only to discover that they are spending their money and not achieving their objectives. Time waits for no man, and opportunities may come just once.

Writing tips

I had Band 6, then Band 6.5 and then Band 7

The Target Band 7 book is recommended to all test takers. It has all the tricks and advice. Paragraphing, and the use of connective words is very important. Make short simple sentence – not long and complex statements as they are boring to read. Repetitions will drag you down (for example the use of ‘and’ too many times to link sentences).

Look at other essay samples that scored band 8 or 9 and try to study them, but please do not copy them, as you will definitely go off topic while reproducing them. Look for someone to read your essays. Thinking that you are doing your best when you really get no progress is just like driving an old car that drinks much petrol but does not move. This was my major problem.

Speaking tips

I had 7.5, then 8 and then 7.

To me the speaking was the section I loved the most. I know many people will think otherwise. My advice is to let the examiner see that you are putting your best effort in speaking as they know its not your first language.

Do not be terrified or anxious as they are trained to be very friendly. The cue card questions that take 2 minutes of speaking are very important. To avoid running out of words, always plan by answering the following questions:

where did this happen
who was involved
how did it happen
when did it happen
what happened

When you plan in this way, you will be able to talk for a longer period rather than getting stuck after 30 seconds of speaking.

Good luck, dear friends.

Kingsley.