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IELTS Preparation tips

An IELTS Giveaway – Get a Free IELTS Book

24 December Update: This giveaway is now closed.

Have you heard the word “giveaway” before? If you haven’t, it means that you get a chance to win some free stuff. With the holidays right around the corner I’ve been preparing some gifts for my loyal readers.

Here is what I came up with: this week 2 of you will win an IELTS book, shipped to your door, for free (no matter where you are in the world). The books you’ll win are two of my best-sellers, that will make your exam preparation SO much easier:

1. “Ace the IELTS” for General Training moduleAce the IELTS - How To Maximize Your IELTS score

Here’s a happy customer:

“I teach IELTS and own over ten IELTS books. This is one of my favourites because the author has delivered excellent information in a short, user-friendly book.

Importantly, it is written in plain English so it is easy to understand. It focusses on plenty of useful tips and tricks which can be of great benefit for anyone who is going to take the IELTS test.
D. Bottaro”.

2. “Target Band 7” for Academic Module of IELTS.Target Band 7 - How To Maximize Your IELTS score

People on Amazon.com say: “Its a very good book. I had very short time to prepare for IELTS, this book has so useful tips which helped me a lot to prepare in just 15 days.

Listening and reading sections have some useful tips which prepares you for the real exam and tells you how to manage the time as well. I improved my writing skills too.

Overall an excellent book, just go for it!
Amarvir Khangura.”

Here’s how to enter this giveaway

Please answer 3 simple questions:

1. What is your biggest problem in the IELTS preparation?

2. Why do you need to take the IELTS test?

3. What Band Score do you need to get and in what module (Academic / General)?

You can answer by

a) leaving a comment on this blog post (click here and scroll down to comments link),
b) using this contact form (click here) or
c) sending me an email to simone[at]ielts-blog.com.

Deadline: this giveaway will close on December 24, in exactly 3 days.

All the emails of people who answered the 3 questions above will be included in the lottery. We will randomly pick the 2 lucky winners. They will be notified via email and their names will be published on December 25th. Every winner will get to choose which book he / she would like to get, and once they provide a postal address, the books will be shipped immediately.

Looking forward to reading your answers!

IELTS Video tips

Today I’d like to share some unusual kind of tips – short videos with some useful tips for IELTS preparation. These were made by British Council in Sri Lanka and can serve you as both tips and listening practice. I was amazed by the quality and just couldn’t keep them to myself. Enjoy!

IELTS Reading, tip #1

“Looking at the title, the picture and the questions for a passage will prepare you for what you’re going to read.”

IELTS Reading, tip #2

“Don’t waste too much time on one answer. If you find it difficult, continue to the next questions and come back if you have time.”

IELTS Listening, tip #1

“Check your spelling, as you will be penalized for mistakes.”

IELTS Listening, tip #2

“Underlining keywords in the questions will help you focus when you are listening.”

IELTS Writing, tips # 1

“Write the correct amount of words – not too few and not too many. Look at the number in task instructions and count the number of words you’ve written.”

IELTS Writing, tips # 2

“Timing is important – spend 20 minutes on task 1 and 40 minutes on task 2”.

IELTS Speaking, tip #1

“Talk to yourself on a variety of topics, record yourself and listen back to see if you sound interested. To sound interested, practice in stressing the keywords.”

IELTS Speaking, tip #2

“It’s OK to ask the examiner to repeat the question. You won’t lose marks for doing so”.

IELTS Speaking, tip #3

“Watch the tense in the examiner’s question – it will give you an idea what tense to use in your answer.”

Note: the people filmed here are most likely professional actors, but the tips come from real IELTS candidates who achieved high scores.