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Simone Braverman

Simone Braverman is the founder of IELTS-Blog.com and the author of several renowned IELTS preparation books, including Ace the IELTS, Target Band 7, the High Scorer's Choice practice test series, and IELTS Success Formula. Since 2005, Simone has been committed to making IELTS preparation accessible and effective through her books and online resources. Her work has helped 100,000's of students worldwide achieve their target scores and live their dream lives. When Simone isn't working on her next IELTS book, video lesson, or coaching, she enjoys playing the guitar or rollerblading.

IELTS Results competition winners in January 2023

IELTS Results competition winners in January 2023

What would IELTS Band 7 mean to you, would it make you happy? How about Band 8, would you be jumping up and down with joy? Today we are celebrating 11 test takers whose hard work was rewarded with an awesome start to the New Year!

The people in this diverse group come from Italy, India, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, Romania and Turkey, so it looks like the entire globe will be sparkling with happiness today! Put your hands together and give them a round of applause.

IELTS results competition winners of January 2023

Academic Module

  • 1st place – Loris Zevrain from Italy, Band 8
  • 1st place – Ridhima Chawla from India, Band 8
  • 1st place – Sai Krishna Gupta from India, Band 8
  • 1st place – Anhad Dhiman from India, Band 8
  • 1st place – Precious Omobolaji Oluboyede from Nigeria, Band 8
  • 1st place – Kasthuri Kanagarah from Sri Lanka, Band 8
  • 2nd place – Amirshox Axmedov from Uzbekistan, Band 7.5
  • 2nd place – Preetraj Singh Gujral from India, Band 7.5
  • 3rd place – Iuliana Daraba from Italy, Band 7

General Training Module

  • 1st place – Juliet Mamu-Igbuwe from Nigeria, Band 7.5
  • 1st place – Mustafa Basaran Bozbiyik from Turkey, Band 7

These are some impressive scores! To mark this happy day we are sending our winners their certificates of achievement via email. We are also adding the winning IELTS results to the IELTS-Blog hall of fame – so please feel free to show them off to your friends!

How did they score so well?

It feels amazing to see our student take the first place!

Loris used the book Target Band 7 and our practice tests in his exam preparation and loved them so much that he wrote a 5-star review for every book. After receiving his IELTS score he certainly wasn’t disappointed – this email says it all:

“I’ve already taken the test and got an 8.0! I’m so happy about that, I didn’t expect that result. Thank you so much again for helping me.”

Another student of ours, Amirshox, took IELTS on computer and prepared for it on our IELTS Online Prep platform, because it provides a very close simulation of the computer-based IELTS, in terms of look and feel, functions, task types and difficulty level. Amirshox was thrilled when he received his IELTS results – Band 7.5 was exactly what he needed!

As for the other winners – we would love to hear from you, because when you share your stories and tell us how you studied, you are helping thousands of test takers, preparing for their exams right now. Any useful tips will be posted on IELTS-Blog.com, so that everyone can use the same technique and get a better score in their own exam this month.

Did you know? IELTS results competition runs every month, and everyone is welcome to participate. Learn how to enroll here.

IELTS Speaking Test, Part 2 question with model answer (Describe something that you lost and found)

IELTS Speaking Part 2 Model Answer 2023

Here is a high-scoring Speaking Test Part 2 model answer for the cue card that was shared by a student from Nigeria. The answer shows a good way to respond to this question.

Speaking test

Part 2 (Cue Card)

Describe something that you lost and found. You should say

– what it was
– when you lost it
– how you found it
– and explain how you felt about it.

Answer

I recently lost and found my wallet, which was a huge relief. It had all my identification cards, debit and credit cards, as well as some cash inside, so it was quite a valuable possession to me.

I lost it about two weeks ago when I was shopping at the mall. I usually keep my wallet in my back pocket but for some reason, I must have forgotten to put it back that day. So, naturally, when I got home from the mall in the afternoon, I realised my wallet wasn’t there and immediately started searching everywhere for it.

Luckily though, after a few days of looking around and asking people if they had seen my wallet, it turned up again! Apparently, someone who worked in the mall saw me leave it behind in the dressing room and decided to turn it in to the shop’s customer service counter instead of keeping it for themselves.

When I heard this news, it filled me with immense joy – firstly because all my personal belongings were still safe and sound inside the wallet; and secondly because there are still honest people in this world who don’t just mindlessly go around stealing things that don’t belong to them. Looking back on this incident has made me realise how much these kinds of small gestures can mean to people, when they are vulnerable and in need of help or assistance. This experience highlighted to me how important human kindness is.

Read more model answers on the VIP Club website