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IELTS

 Recently a lot of people are asking about IELTS and how to prepare them.

Recently a lot of people have been moving towards OET for their GMC. I for one did OET because everyone was doing it and it was just easier. But when I did the OET and got my GMC, I didn't move to the UK right away as most people normally do. I stayed back a year. Unfortunately, nowadays people cant to do OET anymore due to the low number of seats. I had to do IELTS because for UKVI, as my OET had expired and the seats were limited

I got 8 in Listening, 7 in Reading,  7 in writing, 8.5 in Speaking and overall IELTS score was 7.5

How did I do that?

Honestly, practice & more practice. 

So how I would advise how to prepare?

The first question that we all need to ask ourselves is how good is our baseline in English. I have good spoken English. However, I am not a fan of writing, it sounds weird but it is true. I am not a fan of writing hence the low score of 7 in writing. In reading in fairness I could have done better, but I got distracted for a second which led to me scoring less in reading.

So I will divide it into steps.

Step 1.  The Books

The Book I would recommend to everyone who needs to IELTS is 

Barron IETLS: https://amzn.to/3ALRqfd

This book is good for people who already have a strong base or understanding of English, the idea of this book is to get you to know how the test is conducted or get accustomed to the way the test is conducted.

If you feel you probably need a bit more support than just the base book. then I would recommend Barrons super pack https://amzn.to/3AWvrm9

This is a good book and I would highly recommend this book.

One of my friends recommended this book and said this book really helped her: The Cambridge guide

If you feel you need a bit more practice IELTS 16 among other practice tests are the way forward.

https://amzn.to/3obEBFX 

However, I do feel you can find a few free online tests to practice. I will put the link down

https://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/take-ielts/prepare/free-ielts-practice-tests

https://www.english-exam.org/IELTS/practice_tests/

Step 2. The Videos

Youtube is an amazing source for IELTS preparation and there are numerous

I think Fast Track IELTS tips and tricks are pretty good I personally used them

https://www.youtube.com/c/FastrackEducation

The other person I watched was Adam.

https://www.youtube.com/c/engvidAdam

Step 3. The Exam Booking

So the Exam is conducted by British Council, IDP, English Australia, & Cambridge depending on your circumstances you have to maybe choose depending on your location. I gave IELTS twice in my life first time in 2013 and the second time in 2020, both time I chose IDP,


Step 4: My tips

1. Be Incredibly calm & make sure you have slept well & well fed. You don't want to be feeling, hungry or sleepy before the exam.

2. Be Hydrated, make sure you are well hydrated as dehydration impacts your concentration.

3. Practice the tests multiple times until you are familiar with the pattern

4. In listening, try to very quickly read the following paragraphs so you have an idea of what is going to come, and try to just focus on the keywords.

5. In reading, some people prefer to read the question and then scroll through the reading text, some read first and then look at the questions and just direct themselves to the particular paragraph. I have used both strategies and it worked fine with me.

6. In writing try to know before hands how many words you normally write in a single line, for example, I fixed myself to write no more than 8 words per line, So I can have a rough idea of the word counts

7. Take 5 minutes to construct your essay outline and what you want to say in the paragraph and then start writing it really does help

8. In speaking, make sure you speak a bit slower than your speed and make sure you are pronouncing your words fine.

9. Remember this is an English exam, not a Truth or False exam, so you can say utter nonsense or over exaggerate something or talk about traveling to the country you have never visited. Remember this is an English exam.

10. Finally Trust yourself.


Hope this really made things easy for you.






Comments

  1. Chuck BushDecember 4, 2024 at 11:09 PM

    This blog post provides valuable insights into the IELTS exam, and I appreciate how it breaks down the importance of understanding each section. One tip that has personally helped me improve my IELTS listening score is practicing with authentic audio materials, such as podcasts and TED Talks, to familiarize myself with different accents and speech speeds. Additionally, taking notes while listening can help retain key details for the questions.

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